Wednesday 13 November 2013

Lazy Fat Bastards Guide To Weight Loss Day 2

Ok, so at long last you are here at the start of the weight loss journey, the day you begin to implement lots of new ideas, new things to try and a new way of living. The premise of this journey is to give everything a try, you might not agree with everything but give it a go anyway. After all it's only for 30 days that is hardly any part of your life and you have spent years getting your body to where it's at now so 30 days won't kill you.

Today is all about what we do when we first get up in the morning and this is the easiest of all things. Get up, get straight into your kitchen and pour a large glass of water, ideally a pint or a litre if you feel really up for it. The get loads of ice and add it to the water. You need iced water and you will be drinking it over the next 5-10 minutes. It will be refreshing, it will be cold (that's the point), it may annoy you or get your teeth on edge but make sure every day for the remaining 28 days you start your day with the same glass of iced water.

"What a stupid idea" I hear you say.... "how can that possibly help?" It's all to do with cold thermogenesis and I will go into greater detail in later posts about this but for now here is a little story explaining the benefits of Cold Thermogenesis.

The story of Michael Phelps is an amazing one. The most decorated Olympian ever, a truly gifted swimmer who has smashed every record in swimming and made himself a household name. Did you know that at his peak he was eating around 12,000 calories a day! Now that is some eating regime! If I tried I don't think I could manage 8,000 so whay does he look so good if he eats that much and what makes it worse is that so much of it is so called junk food.

This paradox really go to Ray Cronise. How in the hell could Phelps get away with that?

Yes he swam, ALOT, but that in itself could not account for the massive amount of calories he injested daily. If we look at the calories in and calories out idea then Phelps should weigh a hell of a lot more than he does and should never achieve what he did.

Swimming is non weight bearing, in other words it's tough and exhausting but there is no contact with the ground like in running and the water has a sort of massaging effect on the body. This makes it a great sport for everyone, even f you can't swim because you too can get the benefits of cold thermogenesis and the fitness that messing around in a pool can give you provided that pool is cold!

So back to Pheps. Cronsie determined that the only way Phelps managed this weight loss and physique was not only because of the weights he lifted (a small part), or the amount of swimming he did (a little bigger part) but because of the cold environment in which he swam!

Swimming in cold water causes the body to become a furnace for fat loss. The body needs to become warm, it likes being warm. It regulates itself to become warm when faced with cold. Phelps spent a crazy amount of time every day in cold water and it was his bodies reaction to this that helped him to burn all the excess calories he was eating.

So whilst I would love yo to freeze your bits off in a cold pool, the sea or in constant cold showers we are lazy bastards so we start small and build. The small start is the glass of iced water each and every day before anything else in eaten or drunk.

Your stomach will have to warm that water, that will burn calories without you knowing it and with no sweat or effort. This is the easiest and laziest way to build cold thermogenesis into your life.

if you are feeling ninja and want to read or listen to more about the benefits of Cold Thermogenesis then here are a few of my favourite resources on the subject and some of the people who have taught me so much about fat loss and the body.

Ben Greenfield, Ironman Triathlete and all round guru on everything fitness and health related. Owner of Endurance Planet which is a MUST listen to podcast
http://www.bengreenfieldfitness.com/2013/09/tim-ferriss-cold-thermogenesis/

Tim Ferris author of The Four Hour Body, life hacker extraordinare and all round interesting guy
http://fourhourbody.com/

Ray Cronise, scientist and cold investigator
http://hypothermics.com/home/

thanks to these guys for helping me in my journey and I hope to help you get there too.

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