The Mind of Mubarak: March 2012

So this post is basically about how to lose weight and get healthier, mostly for the females but its applicable to the guys as well. A lot of research goes into knowing exactly how to achieve this but I have tried my best to provide a summary of what you need to do. So to lose weight, you basically have to DIET RIGHTLY and EXERCISE. That’s about it. The bigger issue is what to eat and how to exercise. Not eating and exercising correctly would be a waste of time. We have all heard people say “I exercise but I still cant lose weight” or “I think it is in my genes to be fat”. Genetics do actually play a major role in how much weight you can gain/lose, but everyone can gain/lose weight regardless of what type of genetics you possess. SO YOU HAVE NO EXCUSE. IF we are clear on the facts, Here we go!!

WARNING !!

Before we begin, I would like to say; there is no magic way to lose weight. There are no pills or drugs to that can help you achieve weight-loss in a healthy way. ALL those weight-loss drugs and pills are DANGEROUS, so stay away from those. Second rule: If you are not disciplined and determined to losing weight, don’t even bother trying because that is not going to happen. With that out of the way. Here is the Mubarak's guide to weight loss. Get your pens & papers ready y'all. Lets Rumble !

NUTRITION:

DON'T DO THE FOLLOWING:

DON’T STARVE YOURSELF. Most people start their weight loss routines by starving themselves. That will work, but that’s not healthy and let’s be honest you cannot continue that for long. You will eventually breakdown and say “screw it”, so that’s not advisable. What you can do is to eat normally but to reduce the amount of food you take in at any point in time. Also instead of eating the usual 3 heavy meals, you can eat, say; 5 or 6 times smaller meals. This will prevent you from consuming too many calories and prevent you from staying hungry as well.

STAY AWAY FROM SWEETENERS. Cut out all sodas (cola etc), fruit juices, cakes, candy, and chocolate. These stuff have no nutritional value and they contain lots of simple sugars. Simple sugars are basically stored as FAT in your body. A lot of fat people usually say “I don’t eat a lot”. Well it’s not necessarily eating a lot that makes you fat; but NOT eating right does. Also stay away from white rice, white bread, potatoes and rather go with brown rice, brown breads, oatmeal and sweet potatoes. The "white" stuff have all their nutrients taking out. They are basically simple carbs which are essentially sugars. Also eat a lot green leafy vegetables, they have almost no carbs in them and they have a lots of fibers so they keep you full for a long time and they also have no fat. It's an excellent choice if you want to lose weight.

DON’T SKIP BREAKFAST: After 6-8 hours of sleep, you need a healthy breakfast within 1-2 hours when you wake up. Personally, the first thing I do when I wake up is drink a tall glass of water. When you eat breakfast, it makes you eat lighter at lunch since you don’t feel as hungry as when you don’t eat anything at all. Hence you can control your calorie intake and this can help with your weight loss. That notwithstanding, not all breakfast is healthy. Avoid sugary stuff and go with foods with high protein and fiber like wholegrain cereals, a boiled egg (without yolk since it contains high level of cholesterol), a piece of fruit (apple, banana) and nuts (peanut, walnut, groundnut...etc). Nuts contain a LOT of protein hence they are good all-day-long and they prevent you from getting hungry due to their high protein and fiber content. People usually complain about not having time to prepare breakfast. If that’s the case, grab a piece of fruit (apple) and/or a bottle of water on your way out of the house. That will do too.

ALCOHOL/CIGARETTES. This is what happens when you drink alcohol; Naturally, your body burns fat to produce energy. But when you drink, your body’s source of energy at that time is the alcohol. That means, your body uses the alcohol as the preferred source of energy instead burning fat for its energy source. Meaning u don’t burn any fat, and you store more. Also, alcohol messes up your testosterone (growth hormones in men) and converts some of these hormones to Estrogen (hormone in women). No wonder men who drink over a long period of time develop man boobs and get fat bellies. Your liver helps you burn fat as energy right ? Alcohol messes ur liver up. So how the hell do you expect to burn fat now that your liver is all saggy? see. About cigarettes, what don't you already know? It’s bad, messes up your lungs and kills you, PERIOD.

I don’t want to claim that you cannot lose weight when you smoke or drink but all I will say is, IF you are serious about losing weight, you wouldn’t do neither.

DO THE FOLLOWING

The do’s are the opposites of the don’ts listed above. But here are a few more;

One food that probably has the most amounts of protein and fiber is beans. Beans are extremely nutritious so that should be a major part of your diet. They contain complex carbohydrates and fiber and they regulate your blood sugar level. Complex carbohydrates simply mean they digest slowly and that's the best choice of carbohydrates if you want to lose weight, unlike simple sugars or simple carbs that digest fast, making u hungry and fat. Also all kinds of peanuts are good, including peanut butter (groundnut paste).

Try to eat low-carb diets. These are foods low in carbohydrates. Low-carbs are excellent for weights loss and obesity treatment. Examples are vegetables and some fruits. Most people think its Fatty foods that make them obese. Its not, healthy fats are actually good for your body because they provide you energy. Its bad carbohydrates and sugars that are “evil”.

My most important point here is: DRINK A LOOT OF WATER. Let me explain why WATER is probably your best option if you want to lose weight and be healthy. Water is needed to flush out the calories you get from eating. In other words, water helps speed up your metabolism. If you are dehydrated, your metabolism slows down and you don’t burn out your fat. Also, If you drink water often, at different times of the day, it prevents you from feeling hungry which will in turn prevent you from eating too much and will help with your weight loss. Water also prevents shortage of blood and helps the body run smoothly. Vehicles breakdown or overheat when they don’t have adequate water in their tanks, and your body does the same.

Let me bet you this. Drink about a gallon (about 8-10 glasses) of water a day and I can guarantee you will lose about 5-10 pounds of fat in a week or two. Weigh yourself now, start this routine and weigh yourself again after two weeks. See what happens. Water is extremely important for weight loss, JUST WATER…not soda, or juice or any sweet liquid. JUST PLAIN H20.

2. EXERCISE

The first part talked more about nutrition. That’s not difficult to do. The rest isn’t that hard. Its mainly exercise and rest, with exercise being the most challenging. 6-8 hours of sleep is probably the easiest thing to do. For exercise, the best thing to do is:

CARDIO: The best is running or jogging, brisk walking or biking. If you are a beginner, try to jog slowly at a constant pace. Not too slowly like a snail and not too fast like a cheater. Do about 30-45 minutes of cardio 5 times a week and rest without exercising for the 2 other days. If you cannot do that, do it every other day (leave a rest day between each day)

WORKOUT ROUTINE: Once you get into jogging and get used to exercising, you should include a weight training or strength training program to your cardio. Here, its advisable you combine both the cardio and the strength training to achieve maximum results. Here is a routine you can follow: ALWAYS START WITH 20-30 minutes cardio and afterwards, work on a separate body part each day. A total of 45 mins-1 hr should be more than enough for your daily exercise. DO NOT OVERWORK YOUR BODY !!

Mondays: 20-30 minutes cardio, then work on chest exercise by doing different bench press exercises. I have attached some pictures below. Then on Tuesdays; again start with 20-30 minutes cardio and work on another body part, say your arms (biceps) by doing exercises with dumbbells or pull-down exercises. Make sure you do not repeat the same exercise you did on Monday on any other day. Work on each body part once a week. On Wed, again cardio for 20-30 minutes and then work on your legs by doing leg extensions, squats...Etc. Thursday; cardio 20-30 mins and work on triceps with dumbbells and on Friday, you can do some exercise on your back by doing some pull down exercises. Rest on Saturdays and Sundays. These exercises will help burn the fat and get you fit, strong and healthy. Don't worry about doing separate exercises for ABS (6 packs). Cardio is the best you can do when it comes to burning stomach fat or revealing your 6 pack, so DON'T do crunches and sit-ups. That’s a waste of time, especially for a beginner.

WEIGHT LOSS TAKES PATIENCE, It might take you several months to see massive results. So avoid checking your weight everyday. I suggest sticking to the routine and being disciplined. Just before you start your weight loss program, take pictures of yourself from all angles and keep repeating this every month to check your progress. After about 3-4 months, compare your current pictures to when you started and I guarantee that you will be amazed at your progress. Usually people don’t notice how much progress they've made because they keep staring at the mirror all day. AVOID THAT and surprise yourself.

So yeah, that’s pretty much it. This might have been a bit lengthy but I’ve tried to make it as understanding to the average person without having to go through all the technical terms these professionals will give you.

In summary, you need basically two things to lose weight and live healthy. First, and most important thing is your diet and second is exercise. Most people actually do these two but don’t realize any change because they don’t do it correctly. Follow this routine and you will be OK. I don't usually do this but If you have any questions or concerns, please leave a comment below (add name and email), or shoot me an email (fulani50@hotmail.com) and I will get back to you.

Keep these two quotes in mind: (1) TEMPORARY DISCOMFORT FOR LIFETIME PLEASURE, (2) NO PAIN, NO GAIN.

Thanks for reading y’all…….ONE LOVE