We’re coming to the end of 2024 and if you still haven’t reached your Fitness goals, this video is for you! Did you know that according to the National Institute of Health 42% of adults are obese? Are you one of them? Are you waiting until 2025 when the #1 New Year’s resolution is to either get in shape or lose weight? Unfortunately, only about 8% succeed in that area. The best way to ensure that you will lose weight in 2025 is to start working on it now in 2024. In this video, I’m going to give you the 3 steps that I would take if I wanted to lose weight and get into shape by the end of the year. The 2rd step you probably never heard of. When I was in the Navy, I indulged in the martial arts and other activities, so I was in very good condition and quite muscular at the time. At the tender age of 22, I was approached by one of my superior officers, who thought it was necessary to provide some unsolicited comments about my muscular physique and how by the time I reached his age of 26, I would no longer have that lean, muscular physique, I would start to look like him, out of shape and flabby. Well, decades later, I think back to that conversation and realize what he said as of this day never materialized. Why? because I made fitness a part of my life, and today, I’m going to share my expertise with you, so let’s go! #1 Don’t Eat Three to Four Hours Before bedtime. Your metabolism slows down at night, and eating before bedtime forces your body to digest food when it is least efficient, meaning you will store extra calories as fat, and you are loading your body up with fuel that it does not have the capacity or time to burn. This one thing can cause weight gain, especially around the midsection which is the worse place to carry fat. #2 Intermittent Fasting In my Six Weeks to Fitness programs, I discuss and strongly encourage Intermittent Fasting for weight loss and to reduce chronic disease. Intermittent fasting is nothing new. For thousands of years, it has been utilized as a healing and spiritual practice. In recent years, fasting has taken on a new direction, one that has its focus on accelerating fat loss. With intermittent fasting, you not only losing weight, but you gain mental focus and clarity. For those of you who are not familiar with intermittent fasting, it is basically time restricted eating, in other words, you only eat during a specific time. So, it’s not really dieting, it’s just another pattern of eating, and just in case you are under the impression that you can’t fast, think again. Every human being on this planet fasts. When you go to bed at night and wake up 6, 7, 8, or more hours later, you have fasted during that length of time, and when you eat your first meal, you are breaking the fast, and that’s why it’s called “breakfast.” There are various methods of intermittent fasting out there, but the most popular is the 16:8 intermittent fasting method. This method involves limiting your intake of foods and calorie-containing beverages to a set window of 8 hours per day. You abstain from food for the remaining 16 hours, though you’re still allowed to drink water and other no-calorie beverages, like black coffee or tea (no crème or sugar). You can choose to start your fast at 8:00 p.m. in the evening and fast until the next day at 12:00 p.m. for a total of 16 hours, after which you break the fast with a light meal. You can eat regular meals during the 8 hours and start back on your fast at 8 p.m. What if the 16:8 intermittent fasting method doesn’t work for you because of the long fasting hours? I would suggest you try 12:12, in other words try fasting for 12 hours and have an eating window of 12 hours. Over time your body will adjust to longer fasting hours such as 14:10, 16:8. Intermittent fasting places your body in fat burning mode during the fasting phase. The first nutrient your body uses for energy is carbs, followed by fat, then protein in that order. When you limit the amount of carbs for 16 hours, your body will seek out the next energy source which is fat, and that is why this type of weight loss program is so effective. Most people are not aware of the fact that the body heals itself while it’s in a fasting state, which is another reason why you should fast. Let me read some quotes from some very famous historical figures from our past: It was Plato, who said “I fast for greater physical and mental efficiency.” Benjamin Franklin said “The best of all medicines is resting and fasting.” Why? You are allowing your body to rest and heal itself. Mark Twain who said "A little starvation can really do more for the average sick man than can the best medicines and the best doctors." – #3 “Peak 8 High Intensity Interval Training” High Intensity Interval training is a type of physical training that involves short bursts of high-intensity work mixed in with periods of low-intensity work. The high-intensity periods are ...
