weight loss – Christian Vitality | Christian Weight Loss | Christian Health & Fitness

How to lose 2-3 lbs per month effortlessly and pain free?

Lose Weight by Drinking Ice Water?

Yes, it’s true. By drinking ice cold water you can lose weight. Here’s how (with a mini physics lesson):

When we drink ice water our bodies have to heat that water to maintain our normal body temperature. So, from ice water at 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius) our bodies have to heat it to 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degress Celsius).

The formula calculate the amount of energy in calories that it takes to hea that water we need this formula:

1 calories = the amount of energy required to heat 1 gram of water 1 degree Celsius

For an applicable example to our everyday life is:

1 bottle of water (usually about 500ml or 16.9 oz) is equal to 500 grams

Let’s assume the water is a 32 F (0 deg C)

So, how many calories will it take to heat that water?

500g x 37 degrees C = 18,500 calories

A nutritional Calorie (notice the capital ‘C’) is actually a kilo-calorie so the amount of nutritional calories that it takes our body to burn to heat the water from a 500ml bottle of ice cold water is 18.5 Calories.

It doesn’t seem like a whole lot. But think about this, if you’re leading an active lifestyle it’s recommended you drink about 6 liters of water or more per day. (I usually shoot for about I usually shoot for closer to about 1.5 ounces per pound I weigh on super active days in Arizona weather).

So, for 6 liters of ice water per day we’d be using an additional (12 bottles x 18.5 Calories per bottle which equates to) 222 Calories. If you’re like me, on an active day, you have 333 more Calories used.

So, if all you do is change your drinking water to ice cold from room temperature you’d be using an extra 1,554 – 2,331 Calories per week (or 6,660 – 9,990 Calories per 30 day month).

Those Calories have to come from somewhere, right? Assuming we didn’t change anything else in our diet or exercise we’d be burning stored fat to make up the difference.

1 pound of fat equals 3,500 Calories.

So, if we drank ice water for our recommended amount of water consumption for an entire month we burn about an extra 1.9 – 2.9 lbs of fat.

How to lose 2-3 lbs per month easily doing nothing difficult, hard, or stressful?

Drink ice water all day.

Notice I said ice water, not ice cold beer, soda, diet soda, or any other beverage that has calories or artificial sweeteners. Those can all be counter-productive for your fat loss and may prevent you from losing weight.

8-minute Miracle that can revitalize your metabolism and turn you into a fat-burning machine

It was one of those mornings when I was running short on time and I knew that my day was booked solid, so it was likely I wouldn’t be able to squeeze a workout in all day & evening. I was committed to my weight loss program and didn’t want to accept defeat so easily and throw in the towel so to speak.

From my previous experience years ago reading the “Body for Life” by Bill Phillips, I remembered that a workout out first thing in the morning on an empty stomach helps burn 300% more fat than a workout later in the day after you’ve eaten. Bill also taught me about Hight Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) in that book. At the time, it was a fairly new type of training that was said to supercharge your metabolism and fat-burning even more.

A short workout on an empty stomach first thing in the morning like this can be equivalent to an hour (or more) long workout late in the day on a full stomach. It stokes your metabolism (body’s furnace). It also helps keep your metabolism burning extra calories all day long and research shows that this furnace stoking can last up to 48 hours after your exercise is over.

So, I made time for a workout and jumped on my Elliptical Machine at home. I only had 10 minutes to spare and I made it happen using High Intensity Interval Training also known as High Intensity Intermittent Exercise (HIIE) or Sprint Interval Training (SIT). It’s also more popularly called (in the last two decades) as Tabata Training after the Japanese Professor who popularized it with a study in 1996

So, I jumped on the Elliptical machine for a quick 10 minute workout and burned 256 calories. I warmed up for 2 minutes at a mellow pace with the machine setting to 30% inclination grade (my normal setting) and the resistance set to 15 out of 20. The RPM on the machine was about 40-50 RPM. When I do my normal, what most would call medium intensity workouts for 20-30 minutes I use the same settings, but run/glide at about 60 RPM for the whole duration. So, the 40-50 RPM is a fairly low intensity for me.

After 2 minutes of warming up at a low intensity I then run/glide as fast as I can (about 90-100 RPM) for 30 seconds followed by 30 seconds of low intensity (again about 40-50). Each of these 60 second periods could be called one set, of which I do 4 of them. So, slow for 30 seconds then fast for 30 seconds for 4 minutes straight. I then do a cool down for 2 minutes at the low intensity level of 40-50 RPM.

The whole workout is 8 minutes long and if you think this sounds kind of wimpy, you’re dead wrong. I finish these workouts about to lose my breakfast (which I would have, had I eaten any) and my lungs feel like they did when I was forced to run the mile (as fast as you can) as a Freshman in High School…they hurt and I cough throughout the day from time to time as a reminder. It seems to kick up all the crud in your lungs.

Even though the Elliptical Machine display only showed 256 calories burned from these short workouts…it is likely that those calories were mostly taken from fat storage. In addition to slimming down my waist-line by a small amount, I will also burn more calories just sitting at my desk at work today from the extra metabolism boost. You might call that a double-bonus. 🙂

So, don’t ever underestimate the value of a short workout. Anyone can make time for the 8-minute Miracle.

This should also help you not ever have an excuse for not getting some exercise in. You should be able to squeeze at least a 8 minute workout in, anytime.

So, go ahead and hate me for it…I just stole the main reason people don’t work out when on a weight loss program from your list of excuses. 🙂

You can learn more about the history of the High Intensity Interval Training by visiting our Wikipedia friends here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training

Sacrifice Comfort & Junk Food to Give Glory to God and Lose Weight Too!

12 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Romans 12:1 ESV

Can all this sacrifice of calories, junk food, comfort (by exercising) be a living sacrifice to God?

Yes! It can.

You can make a lot of the things in your life a sacrifice and it will become a form of spiritual worship. Fasting for one is a way to demonstrate spiritual worship to God through physical sacrifice.

12 1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. Romans 12:1 The Message

I love the way The Message translates this scripture. ‘Take your everyday, ordinary life’ (and every aspect of it) and ‘place it before God as an offering’.

The part about embracing what God does for you relates perfectly to how I’ve often shared with you those moments that I am reminded that “God is my source!”. Everything in your life comes from him.

The part that says don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. This really speaks to our whole way of life. Not only spiritually, but through our diet and exercise we can also be counter-culture for the Glory of Jesus Christ.

We are to fix our attention on God and what HE wants from us and are promised that we will change from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from us and quickly respond to it. We’ve got to be listening, so that when we hear him, we can take action right away.

That’s so awesome don’t you agree?

If we will turn our lives & our commitment to Christian Weight Loss into a living sacrifice to him, God will bring the best out of us and develop well-formed maturity in us. I think that sounds like another example of God’s undeserved Grace abounding blessings into our lives through our simple obedience.

Let’s do it together! What do you say?

Another day towards a new you and a new identity

When we receive Salvation through our Faith in Jesus Christ, by confessing with our mouth and believing in our heart that Jesus is the Son of God, we become a new creation. Our identity now lies with him and in him. We are believers, followers, we are Christians.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

I don’t want to take away or distract from that, but when you’ve committed to a Christian Weight Loss Program you’ve also committed to building a new identity for yourself. A healthier, happier you who is more like Christ in spirit, but one who is also eating right & exercising.

You are no longer that overweight, clothes-fit-too-snugly, person that you’ve been with for the previous part of your life. You, although the outside appearance of your body may not 100% agree YET, are a healthier & happier version of yourself.

You are working on a new identity. Pretty soon you will be known as the guy/gal who is pretty disciplined with how he/she eats and exercises.

Funny how the word disciple can be extracted from the word disciplined. In conjunction with your evangelism for Christ (sharing the goodness of Jesus Christ) you will also be sharing the good news of eating healthier & living happier (how you learned here). My main point is start to see yourself differently. Divorce (yes that is a strong word) yourself from your old identity. That’s not me anymore is your new attitude.

Doing so will make your new life in Christ and Christian Weight Loss easier and more natural as you make better choices that will get you down the path to a healthier happier you.

Let me be honest. Even if you go through a few or several 40-day cycles and lose significant weight over the next few months and longer, it won’t last and you’ll gain it all back UNLESS you buy into a NEW identity.

So, as you go through your day today start to work on thoughts and actions that support your identity in Christ, but also your identity as a healthier, happier version of yourself…one who’s lost a ton of unnecessary baggage (fat).

May God richly bless you as you make it a great day friend!

I’m going to really focus on opportunities that I can shift my focus to how I will be a new creation. What it will feel like to be able to wear some of the close I gave up on because they were too tight. How, when I’m down significantly I won’t be down on myself anymore. I’ll likely have to go shopping for more clothes because my pants won’t stay up. My belt may not even fit anymore. I won’t be that guy “whose always been a bit of a big guy”. I’ll be the guy people look to for advice on how to get fit and live healthier & happier while following Jesus. That’s the new me…my new identity.

Join me today in doing the same!

Excerpted from the Christian Vitality™ Weight Loss Program

Those that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength & power

Growing wearing when on an exercise and weight loss program is often a setback. If we keep the right mindset and perspective however, we can renew our strength and continue building fat loss momentum.

When I went out on my bike ride today this song came to me. It’s sung in various circles performed by different people, but they all get the words from the same scripture verse.

31 But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired. Isaiah 40-31 Amplified Version

Though many take the words from the King James Version, I looked at several versions and the Amplified Version struck me as applicable to you and I on our journey towards weight loss (and long-term fat loss). Wait in the Amplified Version is defined as [who expect, look for, and hope in Him], which we should definitely do. We should tie our expectations & hopes in the Lord and look for evidence of his prescience in our lives.

One of those God moments where he shows himself through those odd (what secular people would call coincidence) circumstances happened to me today.

One of our key Bible verses in my small group at church today was this scripture verse and as we had a dialog about how it applied to our lives a friend of mine, Jenny, was sharing some difficulties she was having letting go of a situation between her brother & mother. She admitted to being a worrier her whole life and that she just couldn’t let go.

I felt like the Holy Spirit was reminding me of a close friend of mine (who is the Pastor of thriving church in Oregon) once told me that the Greek word for the word wait in the verse from Isaiah 40:31 is actually better defined as someone who waits on you. Like a waiter. Always there asking “is there something I can do for you? Do you need anything? How can help you?” I shared this with her and told her that every time she feels compelled to worry she should take it to him…let it go and ask…”what do you want from me Lord in this situation? How can I serve YOU? What do you want me to do Lord? That way she can transform herself from worrier to warrior for Christ.

I pray friend that today you would wait on the Lord. For everything. Renew your strength and not grow weary as you pursue Christian Vitality through exercise and better eating..

Fasting for Fat Loss!

Fasting for Fat Loss & Spiritual Growth

In modern-day church circles, at least in the USA, fasting seems to be an almost dying art. A mysterious custom from the days of yore, which most if not all Christians don’t practice and may not even understand the concept behind it.

I don’t kid myself to think that I know all there is to fasting, but I thought I’d do a little Bible study on fasting to give you the Biblical perspective of fasting and also give you a brief overview of all the benefits that modern science has determined in recent research. Turns out God has it right, fasting is good for you.

Biblical Wisdom about Fasting

Isn’t fasting only Old Testament stuff? It’s truly not for people in this day and age, right?

Wrong. There are almost as many references in the New Testament as Old Testament about fasting. Since we take most of our current Christian customs and practices from the New Testament to model the early church…it is absolutely for our day and age.

Why, Biblically, should we fast?

Fasting is a sign of submission to God’s authority and a way to honor him by following his commands. It is a way for us to also humble ourselves before him. James chapter 4 has a great promise that comes as a reward for humbling ourselves. “God will raise (exalt) the humble”.

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. James 4:10 ESV

Jesus went without food for 40 days in the desert. So, if you want to know what Jesus would do. If he was around today, he would be praying and fasting.

The early church is also an example for us as they often “prayed & fasted” during important times in the church.

Fasting is absolutely something for the Christian in 2014 and beyond from a Biblical perspective.

How should we fast? It’s a personal one-on-one (secret) expression of your faith and God will reward you.

“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Matthew 6:16-18 ESV

Why should we fast? To humble ourselves before the Lord. For a sign of repentance when we return to his ways.

When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach. Psalm 69:10 ESV

“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; Joel 2:12 ESV

When should we fast? In times of preparation. During times of prayer. When we are trying to get closer to God. During special times of commitment to God and asking for God’s mercy and blessing.

I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks. Daniel 10:3 ESV

And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. Acts 14:23 ESV

Modern Science Backing the Benefits of Fasting

Why should we fast from a modern science perspective?

Fasting has been researched significantly for many years and some of the findings and positive ramifications it can have for our long-term health is astounding.

I could right volumes of books just going through all the research, but I’ll just ask that before you do any fasting that you research it yourself and absolutely, before you engage in longer-term fasting you consult with your doctor. For the most part, fasting in the Christian Vitality program and Christian Fatloss Program means skipping a meal, or refraining from eating after 8:00pm which is a commonly a held belief and encouraged practice by even the most conservative health practitioner.

For people in their later Christian Fatloss Cycles an option to increase the amount of fat loss is to implement what is commonly called Intermittent Fasting. It is typically refraining from eating for 12+ hours. It’s typically not recommended to fast for longer than 24 hours in most circles, but in VERY recent research it is deemed okay to go longer. Do your research and consult your doctor before doing so.

I implemented Intermittent fasting for 6 out of 7 days for cycles 2 – 5. In cycle 2 I was a little hit and miss, but was able to train my body to adapt to it and consistently, without fail, fasted for 16+ hours for 6 days per week in cycles 3-5.

There are several ways to implement it, that have been proven to be effective, both for increasing health and for increasing fat loss.

Some kinds of fasting can be every other day (called alternate day fasting), every day for short periods, fasting after a workout or exercise to help increase growth hormone production (to keep you young and vital) and variations. A popular one recently was called the 5/2 diet. Where your fasting for a couple of days and ate normally for the others.

The Christian Vitality Diet & Christian Fatloss Program is typically 12 hours or more if you are in later Fatloss Cycles. Some mainstream people would call this a “condensed eating window”. So, that’s the sustainable and practical version of what I did.

Here are just a few of the scientifically documented health benefits of fasting:

Longevity: It can help you live longer
Blood Lipids: It can help with you bad cholesterol levels.
It has been proven to be as or more effective than calorie restriction in overweight women to help repair damage from metabolic syndrome
Every other day (alternate day) fasting has been proven to lower LDL-c numbers and also reduce LDL particle size.

Celebrate & Rejoice your Christian Weight Loss Victories

When we are on weight loss program or just living life in general, it’s easy to forget to celebrate the small victories and rejoice & be glad.

Feel free to download these Christian Wallpapers for your phone or desktop and share them with friends and family.

Be blessed my friends.

Set sail for continued weight loss & spiritual growth with routine!

Set sail for weight loss & spiritual growth — Routine can be the key to new growth towards your weight loss & spirtual growth.

With the weight loss doldrums behind us lets set our eyes on Jesus and set our eyes back on the goal of Spiritual & Physical Recovery. Press on by looking forward so to speak.

Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Proverbs 4:25 ESV

“fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” Hebrews 12:2 ESV

Routine can get you out of the doldrums — Lose more weight & grow spiritually with routine

Get back to a routine. For me this meant get back on the bike yesterday even though I didn’t feel like it. It meant starting my fast again the night before last, even when I was hungry. It meant get back on the supplements I was taking. It meant jumping back on the scale yesterday and today (which I was blessed by seeing some additional weight loss). It means doing what is right as far as eating right, exercising, and spending quiet time before the Lord. Doing so consistently. That’s the key. Routine will help you build momentum and help you power through the ups and downs of life that are thrown your way.

Look back on the last few weeks and analyze what routines have been working for you. What are some routines (maybe a new exercise routine or reading the Bible everyday) that you can add to your life that would help you become a more physically and spiritually fit person.

Do so and you’ll find that you’ve set sail again on the weight loss voyage of a lifetime. Remember all things are possible for him who believes.

ALL things are possile! — “‘If You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes.” mark 9:23 NASB

Setting the Record Straight About Tomatoes Once & For All!

Tomatoes are full of nutrients. Who would of thought you could turn such a simple fruit into such a complicated thing — Tomaytoe vs. Tomotoe

Well, first of all, I bet your wondering what the big controversy is. There are 2 that we’ll address today, in addition to listing some of the nutritional benefits & reasons why you should be eating these beautiful vegetables (or are they really fruits?).

Ok. The first controversy that I already hinted at, is whether or not Tomatoes are fruits or vegetables.

Scientifically they are…fruits! There you have it you can finally with confidence & conviction tell your friends you absolutely know the truth. If you are a cook and only interested in whether you are working on a savory dish or not, they are most often (by 99% of the Chefs out there) referred to as vegetables. So, if you want to be scientific, tomatoes are fruits not vegetables.

The second controversy, that has gotten press more recently, is the fact that tomatoes are in a family of fruits (or vegetables) that are called nightshades. There’s a great article written by my long-time mentor Mark Sisson here if you want his take on it, but basically nightshades are in a family of produce that can cause some minor reactions to a portion of the human population.

So, if you are not one of those people that are technically allergic to nightshades, the benefits outweigh any of the risk of minor reactions that you could have. If you are not certain whether you do or do not have an issue with them, try a 2-4 week hiatus from them to see if you notice any difference on or off of them. This is admittedly difficult to determine because how can you be certain that it’s not the tomatoes that made you feel funky that day or the Sushi you had with your friends. If you have any doubt, try a little bio experiment out.

Assuming you are not allergic to them, here are some great benefits and unknown facts about tomatoes that I think you’ll find valuable and interesting.

Tomatoes are a great source of Lycopene which may help prevent several types of cancer in humans
Fun Fact: Studies have found that tomatoes do not have to be dark-red in color to have high levels of Lycopene and researchers have also determined that paler tomatoes (orange & tangerine colored tomatoes) have a form of Lycopene that is easier for our bodies to absorb. This is definitely counter-intuitive to this certified nutrition counselor.
Tomatoes are a great source of numerous antioxidants including Lycopene which have been proven to help prevent bone loss (and osteoporosis) in post-menopausal women.
Researchers who compared conventionally grown tomatoes versus organically grown found that the growing method made a less overall difference than the actual variety of the tomatoes when looking at antioxidant capacity. While all tomatoes showed great antioxidant capacity the better varieties are: New Girl, Jet Star, Fantastic, and First Lady. Further research is needed, but these findings are interesting to say the least.
Researchers are only now starting to identify some of the phytonutrients in tomatoes. Several of the heart-health benefits that come from tomatoes are: preventing atherosclerosis, lowering total cholesterol, lowering (bad) LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides. A couple of the phytonutrients in tomatoes that have these benefits are esculeoside, which is a glycoside (for you techie types) and also a flavanoid called chalconaringenin. Another one they believe to have significant health benefit is 9-oxo-octadecadienoic acid a fatty acid. Needless to say, you should put tomatoes on your heart-healthy list and stay tuned as the research catches up to our belief that tomatoes are great for you.

After going through this list, I’ll stop looking at pale tomatoes as the less preferred choice. I’ll definitely keep them on my list of go-to fruits (or vegetables for you die-hard cooks) and not feel guilty about buying the hot-house (non-organic) variety.

==============================================

Excerpted from the soon to be released Christian Fatloss™ Program

==============================================

My Journey Alongside Yours: A fairly normal day along the path of weight loss for me. I hit the mountain today and completed my 11-mile out-and-back mountain bike ride, even though it’s starting to get pretty warm here in Scottsdale, AZ. It was 83 degrees F when I started my about 1 hours bike ride. I’m not complaining about the heat in any way, as some of my friends in Canada right now are seeing -1 degrees C and snow at the time of this writing. I feel blessed to live where I do and don’t even mind when it hits between 105 deg F and 115 deg F on a regular basis in the summer.

I finished out the night right on my calorie budget and am thankful to have the opportunity to share this journey with you. Thanks for joining me on your own Christian Fatloss™ Journey.

Don’t Forget: You’re an awesome Victory in Progress™!

I’m glad we are in this weight loss program together. You’re often my motivation to keep on keeping on and I hope & pray that I am the same for you. Amen!

In times of FAILURE get back in the saddle again!

Get back in the saddle toward your success! — In times of failure whether spiritual or weight loss or nutrition. Don’t focus on the failure.

Imagine for a moment that you are riding a horse…I know you may not yet have had the pleasure like I have, but you’ve likely seen plenty of folks on TV or online to at least get the idea.

Ok…so you’re galloping along (which is faster than trotting, but not a full out run and your enjoying the scenery. The sun is shining and your surroundings are beautiful. All you hear is the rhythmic sounds of your horse’s feet hitting the ground and the snort from your horse breathing.

All of a sudden you hit a tree branch and are knocked to the ground flat on your face.

Ouch!

Your horse being an awesome, owner-loving-horse (nothing like my last horse Malika) stops just a few dozen feet ahead of you and does what horses do…immediately starts grazing on some grass next to the trail.

I share this somewhat painful imagery to hammer home a point of getting back in the saddle.

So, what should I do if I’ve cheated on my weight loss nutrition plan, or I’ve missed my workout three days in a row, or I binged on Chocolate Cake & Ice Cream last night…whatever the personal “failure” it doesn’t matter.

So, in a sense you’ve lost some momentum somewhat like you just did on your imaginary horse. So, what?

The good news is that its’ only been a little while since you were riding the horse off into the fat loss sunset, before you decided to gracefully (on your own accord) dismount and take a break. again…Ouch!

In our Christian Fatloss Program (not yet released as of the time I’m posting this) I designed some breaks from the diet & exercise on purpose. It’s helpful by design. It allows your body & mind a reset the system of sorts and help break up any thoughts of monotony.

So, partner, its time to saddle up and start back down the trail to your Spiritual & Physical Recovery. Dust yourself off (get rid of any bad foods you’ve might of indulged in during your free/cheat days) pick yourself up (get ready to exercise & eat clean again) and mount up.

Some of my victories along my journey to lose weight — Celebrate your accomplishments on your fat loss journey

It’s much easier mounting this horse this time, than it was when you started, isn’t it? You’ve likely made some gains and had some small victories. Allow yourself to celebrate them. You are a Victory In Progress.

Your new title: V.I.P.

Doesn’t that feel great?

Celebrate now…take a quick look down the road from where you came from and turn back down the road to a healthier happier You!

So, what changes have you made in your life so far that you can celebrate? Any diet or exercise changes? drop any pounds (or stones for my UK friends) that we can celebrate with you? Please share in the comments below…