Slow Down For Maximum Body Fat Loss

Do you want to speed up your results from your fitness/fat loss routine? The number one killer of your healthy lifestyle is stress. It’s killing us. We are all running around like chickens with our heads cut off. We are too stressed for success. It is true that we are living longer, but are we living better?

With all the technology, the speed of information, our keeping up with the Jones’ mentality we are like the hamster on the wheel, going nowhere fast. We are becoming disconnected with ourselves, from each other, from our ancestors, from God, and from the earth.

Here is a good tip fat loss tip that will give you maximum fat loss. I believe the best thing that you can do to become truly successful and fulfilled is to slow down and carve out some solitude time, or "you time”. This will allow you to reconnect with the most important things in our life. The number one way to get the most bang for your buck with solitude time is exercise…with no head set, television, I-pod, cell phone, etc.

When you exercise, it should be like a meditation. Meditation is to the mind what sleep is for the physical body-it regenerates you. We are constantly trying to get to the bottom of our "To Do List”. But have you realized that the faster you go, the more behind and stressed you get? Is it really possible to slow down enough to smell the roses? Meditation could be the key to becoming less stressed, and more balanced.

Here’s the real nitty-gritty: your mind runs 200 mph during the day and even faster at night while you sleep. You’ve seen the part in the movie when someone’s life passes right before their eyes as they are about to die. That’s what REM (rapid eye movement) is like. At night the mind is trying to process the overflow of information received earlier in the day.

Meditation is a technique use to quiet and clear the mind of all sensory input. It helps you to concentrate and focus on your daily tasks. Weight training and cardiovascular exercise can be a great outlet, but if you want to really clear your head, try meditation.

Meditation can help alleviate:

Diabetes
Hypertension
Back pain
Anxiety
Sleep disorders
Immune dysfunction
Migraines

The first two health issues, diabetes and hypertension, are the main contributors to heart disease. While meditation reduces your stress levels, it physiologically reduces your risk for heart disease. According to Dr. Robert Sneider, the mind can contribute to heart disease (stress and anxiety), and it can contribute to healing disease of the heart. If sleeping is physical rest and relaxation, then meditation is the rest and relaxation for the mind.

There are many ways to meditate. Just like an exercise routine, you can create a technique that works for you. Try the following technique, or alter it slightly and see what works for you. The key is to schedule it, and stay consistent with it.

Meditation in 4 easy steps

LOCATION: Use a dark quiet space. I used a walk-in closet because it was the only place that I could get away from my kids.

POSTURE: Kneel on your knees, or sit Indian style on the floor, whichever feels more comfortable. To take tension out of your hands, lightly touch your index fingers to your thumbs with palms up and lightly resting on your thighs. Lightly close your eyes and let the tension in your face just melt away.

MINDSET: Focus on a real or made-up white noise (I used the clicking of a clock). You can use the sound of a refrigerator motor, or a make believe humming in your ear, it doesn’t matter. The main objective with meditation is to clear your mind of any thoughts. Whenever a thought enters your head, acknowledge it, then just let it go.

BREATHING: Use diaphragm breathing. This means that as you breathe in (through your nose) your stomach pushes out. This allows the diaphragm to fully utilize the full capacity of the lungs. We all breathe too shallowly, limiting our intake of oxygen. As you breathe out, pull your belly-button back toward your spine. For women, it’s like a Kegel squeeze. For men, visualize tightening your internal weight belt.

Challenge yourself.

How slow and long can you breathe in through your nose, taking in as much air as possible, and then hold it for four seconds, and how slow and long can you breathe out through your mouth?

Once you get every ounce of air out, pause for four seconds. Now breathe quickly and shallowly for 5 seconds to recover from the long breathe challenge, and then start the next one. Try to mediate for 24 minutes.

Eating slower at least once per day with family and in social situations is a must. It is a challenge because we obviously are preconditioned to swallow our food whole (I mean com on; we eat 6-8 times per day). But, we must remain aware of the importance of "slowing it down”. In a time with so much technology and being disconnected, at least one meal per day, stop and smell the roses. I believe that if we habitually eat in a rushed, semi-stressed state that our digestive systems assimilates that stress and transfers it directly into our cells. The outcome. The Slow Food Movement grew out of Italy, some two decades ago, to counter the encroaching fast food movement. But it is not just about slow-cooked, healthy food -- it’s an entire lifestyle/mindset. I know it sounds like an oxy-moron, but we need to try.

Eating slower has several benefits:
Lose weight. Eating slowly gives your body the time it needs to register that it's full, which curbs overeating.
Gastronomic pleasure. You have to eat -- why not make it an enjoyable experience?
Improved digestion. Digestion starts in the mouth, so the more you chew, the less work your stomach needs to do. Put together with that, that your anabolic healthy hormones are peaked because you are laughing and loving your family and you have a situation were your body can fully utilize its incredible processes to digest, assimilate, and remove waste.
Reduced stress! No time to defrag and meditate? Let mealtime be your moment of mindful being.
Connect with the people around you.

The biggest excuse that I hear from people when I confront them with their unhealthy lifestyle is "I do not have enough time! Hey, look…we all have the exact amount of time in a day – 1440 minutes. When your workout is part of a precisely planned fitness routine, you will actually gain time, along with extra energy, better quality sleep, stress relief, more confidence, better self image, etc.

Yes, you DO have time to work out! The truth is, you don’t have time not to work out. You only need to exercise for 2, 3, or 4 hours a week. And what you do the other 164 hours has a huge impact on your gains in fitness, health and energy.

When do you think your body improves and gets stronger? During a workout? Nope-you’re actually tearing it down then. You get better when you recover, so you need to allow time for that. Good nutrition (small meals often) and 7-8 hours of sleep are vital.

Our mind is much stronger and more powerful than we know. Everyone, for the most part, knows the four pillars of fitness/fat loss; how to lift, how to do cardio, how to eat, and social support; But they do not do it on a consistent basis, for what ever reason. But when you start with the mind, the resistance, the cardio, the nutrition, and the social support fall much more effortlessly into place. When you master the mindset of fitness and these fat loss tips, you will be well on your way to being the best that you can be.

Seed Newsvine

Bookmark this article in your preferred program

Comments

Add Comment

Popular Articles in this cathegory

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.