If you really want to lose weight, I recommend that you try something new this summer. It’s a program we use here at the Whitaker Wellness Institute that is so simple, so logical, so easily implemented, and so inexpensive that it’s like the missing glasses you finally find resting on your nose. It’s the “mini-fast” coupled with exercise.
Here is how it works. Simply get up in the morning and drink a glass of water or a cup of coffee or tea with a little creamer or low-calorie sweetener like xylitol or stevia. You can also take your supplements if they don’t upset your stomach, but do not eat breakfast or drink anything else.
Then put on your workout gear and do some aerobic exercise. You can walk briskly, jog, or cycle; use a treadmill, stair-stepper, mini-trampoline, or stationary bike; or take an aerobics class or work out with an exercise video at home. The important thing is that you exercise for 30–45 minutes with moderate effort. (Don’t go overboard. You don’t want to burn yourself out before you get started.)
After you exercise, get on with your day, but continue fasting until lunch. Drink water, of course, and feel free to have coffee or tea. And don’t worry about being too hungry to make it through the morning. You may have to try this to believe it, but this fasting/exercise combo seriously dampens your appetite, and the caffeine in coffee and tea helps blunt hunger as well.
At lunchtime, break your fast and eat normally for the rest of the day. Get plenty of lean protein and low-fat, low-glycemic carbohydrates. You don’t have to count calories, but you don’t want to pig out at lunch or dinner, either. Fortunately, you’ll find that eating sensibly for two meals a day requires far less discipline than cutting calories all day long. This mini-fast program also makes sticking to the routine much easier over the long haul.
If you’re burning fat, you’re losing weight. Obviously, if you miss one meal per day every day of the week, you’re making a significant dent in your overall food intake. This caloric restriction in and of itself contributes to weight loss. Furthermore, regular exercise also burns calories. What’s unique about this program, however, is that exercising while in the fasting state burns mostly fat.
You see, when you eat no food from dinner until breakfast, your body burns up available carbohydrates. This puts you into ketosis, which means you’re burning fat instead of carbs. Skipping breakfast and then exercising accelerates the process, allowing you to rapidly burn fat. And if you want to eliminate fat from your body, you’re going to have to burn it.
Try the mini-fast today! If you want to lose weight or are dealing with any of the many health concerns associated with obesity, I urge you to give this regimen a try. By maximizing the substantial benefits of exercise and calorie restriction, the mini-fast with exercise can be your ticket to weight loss, lower blood sugar and blood pressure, better health, and a longer life.
