Hey everybody, this is Mike Uhrlaub with another episode of Power Your Life. Today I am going to share with you, The 1 Thing You Can Do Now to Lose Weight, Get Lean, and Have More Energy. Most of us are looking to lose weight and get lean, but even if you aren’t working toward that you could probably use more energy. Between work, kids, and life in general energy is something that we all need more of. So I would like to share a trick to increase your energy and help you lose weight at the same time..
But before we dive in, this last Friday, we got a lot of snow. My son, Garrett, and I spent the better part of Friday afternoon clearing the snow from our driveway. We were working on clearing the drifts and I realized very quickly how wet and heavy this round of snow really was. You know how it is, it gets kind of slushy at the bottom with a layer of ice. My snow blower had a lot of trouble getting through all of that, especially the really thick drifts.
It was layering the bottom and we ended up having to break it up with shovels to completely clear the driveway because the snow blower wouldn’t go down to the cement. It was a lot of work! We were scraping the packed snow and ice that the snow blower couldn’t clear. We just had to stick to it. Eventually we got the driveway clear.
Snow Covered Relationships
As we worked on it I started thinking how clearing snow from the driveway is a lot like the relationships in our lives. There are many kinds of relationships. We have acquaintances, coworkers, business partners, friends, family, significant others, spouses, et cetera.
The depth of those relationships is directly proportional to the amount of work you put into them.
We all want deep and meaningful relationships with those who matter most to us. At times, it can really feel difficult to develop. There’s so many roadblocks and issues that seem to get in the way. But if you keep working at it. If you invest your time into those who matter most to you and never give up on them, you eventually will develop a deep and lasting bond. It might be painful and difficult to complete, but if you persevere the rewards can last a lifetime.
Now, what I want you to do is as you go about your day and week, I want you to think about the people who mean something to you. I want you to think about how you are working on the relationships with those in your life who really matter to you.
What are you doing to improve it?
Are you giving that person what they need from you? What can you do differently to make your relationship with them better? Life isn’t about what you acquire or what you achieve. Those things could be taken away and fade over time. Life is about the relationships with those who matter most to you.
Taking care of your health is also an important part of investing into your relationships. If you’re not healthy, then you can’t be there for those who matter most to you. Losing weight and getting your health on the right track can help you be there for your loved ones.
Let’s get into the one thing you can do now to lose weight, get lean, and have more energy without exercising.
I got some questions for those of you out there.
- Can the timing of your eating cause you to lose weight?
- Improve your health and help you to live longer?
- Can when you eat improve your rate of weight loss?
- Does the timing of your eating effect your energy level?
I’m going to tell you the answer is yes to all of these and more. That one thing is intermittent fasting.
If there is one thing that can do all of this, why isn’t everyone doing it?
One of the reasons many of us do not use intermittent fasting is we often think it’s going to be too hard to do. Some people think they cannot go that long without eating. What I’m going to tell you is, intermittent fasting is one of the easiest things you can do right away. All it takes is for you to stop eating for 16 hours a day. That’s it. You only eat during an eight-hour period.
It’s not complicated. It’s not hard to implement. All you do is stop eating, for example, at 8:00 PM and then don’t eat again until noon the next day. It’s as simple as that. Most of the time you’re actually sleeping so you don’t miss not eating. If you feel the need to eat right away in the morning, just fill yourself up with some hot coffee or water. Hot coffee will satisfy those hunger pains and eventually those go away.
Another reason many folks fail to use this amazing way to lose weight is we have been told for years breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
Do you know who coined this quote?
That line, breakfast is the most important meal of the day, was invented clear back in the 19th century by James Caleb Jackson and John Harvey Kellogg to sell their newly invented breakfast cereal.
This is simply a marketing scheme they made up in the 19th century to sell us more cereal from the food industry. Now, let me ask you this question. What do you think their motivation was? Right! It’s to sell you more food filled with carbs and sugar to make you want to eat more and more of it! The result is you get heavier, unhealthier, and suffer. Meanwhile, the food industry makes more money and get rich by making you sicker. I don’t know about you, but that just seems flat out wrong to me.
Tried Everything, Nothing Works!
Another reason many people won’t do intermittent fasting to lose weight is they have tried so many other ways to lose weight and failed. You know what? After several failures, many of us start to learn to deal with it. We start to feel that well, we just can’t lose the weight effectively. We get stuck in a rut. When you learn to deal with something, what you’re doing is you’re accepting it. You’re accepting that you are heavier than you want to be. As you’re unhealthy, you can’t find the energy to live like you want to. Then you become complacent and just stop trying. But the problem gets progressively worse. You’re going to get heavier. Your joints hurt more. Your blood pressure rises, your blood sugar rises. You lose energy and you lose your self-confidence. Later, you’re going to regret accepting it and allowing it to get worse.
Don’t let this be you! You are worth it! You were designed to live a life of love, joy, and peace.
I want you to check out this recent article by the New England Journal of Medicine from December 26th of 2019. It’s titled The Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging and Disease. This article talks about the many, many benefits of intermittent fasting, including:
- losing weight
- reducing inflammation in the body
- improved blood sugar levels
- reducing arthritis
- improved stress resistance
- and increased lifespan.
There is also a decreased risk of neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Improved thinking and cognitive function, even improved balance and coordination! Reduced risk for a stroke, heart attack, cancer, asthma effects and many more. The list goes on and on! I don’t know about you, but those are some really awesome benefits.
Those are life-changing benefits. All you’re going to do is change one thing in your life. That’s it. The timing of your eating.
How can you get this started?
One of these easiest ways to get started with intermittent fasting is plain and simple. Start out with a 12-hour time span. You don’t have to go the full 16-hours right away, just go 12-hours and see how you feel. It’s a lot easier than you think since you’re going to be sleeping a big chunk of that time.
Example:
Let’s say you eat dinner around 6:00 PM, load up your plate and enjoy your food. If you can, cut out the sugar and refined carbs. That’ll make the fasting easier and get you the best results since your body won’t be busy pumping insulin through your system to process the sugar. Next, don’t eat for the next 12 hours. That means no late-night snacks. Go to bed and get a good night’s sleep. Grab a cup of black coffee when you get up in the morning. I’m not talking about a Starbucks latte. I’m not talking about the Grande, Venti, or whatever it is you guys are drinking out there. Just a cup of black Joe. That’s all you need. Black coffee.
You’re going to stick with that for a week and then see if you can add in more time. See if you can add an additional four hours before enjoying a late breakfast or early lunch. It’s really simple. Before you know it, you’re going to be on a regular schedule of fasting for 16-hours and you’re going to be eating in an eight-hour window each day.
