Mariah Carey did it! Do you think you can do it just like her?
No, no. no. I am talking about how my favourite singer managed to slim down to her former glory and looked all toned and fit. Even if you are not a fan, you would have seen her getting quite plump the past few years. It's not very flattering to be plump and wearing so little. But I forgave her because she made it up by singing really well.
That all changed this year. Nowadays, I am full of admiration when she goes on stage. Want to know her secret? Just read all about it at Mun's Blog.
And that brings us to today's topic. How you can lose weight even if you are not as rich as Mariah and cannot possibly afford a personal trainer who also doubles up as your chef and have a say in what you can or cannot eat!
OK, if you are a man and cannot identify with Mariah, how about reading how you can build a body like Will Smith?
Now in case you are the type of person who says you are comfortable being fat and don't have the slightest desire to lose weight, let Merqury tell you 10 good reasons to slim down.
Although I’m not fat or overweight, I know a lot of people who are. What’s more, Malaysia has the most number of fat people in the ASEAN region, and the number is increasing.
Most Malaysians attempt to slim down by going on a diet and also exercising. But they may be doing it the wrong way. Learning how to lose weight from books mainly written by authors from outside Malaysia does not really help because these books usually do not take into consideration our culture and food.
Which is one reason why I recommend this newest book called “Slim Malaysians” by Jayden Chen which I found at MPH bookstore. This book is specially written for Malaysians in mind and gives very good advice on what Malaysian food to eat and to avoid in order for us to lose weight.
And so, let me present you 5 sure-fire ways to trim those fat and lose weight.
1. Eat more frequently and in smaller portions.
Instead of eating the 3 main meals daily ie. breakfast, lunch and dinner, switch to 5 or 6 meals a day. However, for each meal, eat smaller portions of what you usually eat. The advantage of this is three fold.
Firstly, by eating frequently, you will not go hungry and therefore won’t binge or overeat on your next meal.
Secondly, by eating frequently and less at every meal, you are in better control of your blood sugar. Your blood sugar won’t suddenly spike and make you feel lethargic. You’ll be more energetic throughout the day. (By the way, this is especially useful for diabetics)
Thirdly, by eating in smaller portions, your body can make use of the food instead of storing excess food as fat in your body.
A great way is eat every 3 hours, eg. 7.30am, 10.30am, 1pm, 4pm, 7pm.
Warning: You must eat much smaller portions for every meal, or else you’ll be eating more than what you did previously and become much fatter than before!
2. Do high intensity interval exercises 3 times weekly.
Instead of your usual 1 hour aerobic exercises daily, switch to high intensity interval training for just 20 minutes every other day or 3-4 times a week. When you jog continuously at the same speed for 1 hour, you will lose fat during the exercise, and that’s about it! If you start to overeat after your exercise, the fat will all come back!
In contrast, if you do high intensity interval training, you will raise your metabolic rate and your body will continue to burn fat hours after your exercise! Would you rather burn fat all the time or just during exercise?
A very simple way to do interval training is this. Let’s say you choose jogging. First you run as fast you can for 1 minute, then you jog slowly for the next minute. Keep alternating between running at high intensity and jogging slowly every minute for the next 20 minutes. You can adjust the intensity and duration depending on your fitness level. For example, if you are just a beginner, you may want to jog for 1 minute, then walk slowly for 2 minutes and keep alternating for the next 20 minutes.
Research has shown that interval training not only helps you to lose weight more effectively, it is also more efficient at strengthening your heart than if you continuously jog for 1 hour at the same rate.
You may ask, why limit to 20 minutes? Why not 1 hour? Well, the answer is simple. Because of the intensity of this kind of exercise, you cannot strain yourself too long or else your immune system will suffer. Anyway, why exercise for 1 hour when you can see better benefits for just 20 minutes?
3. Lift weight and build some muscles.
This is the BIG secret not many people know about! Most people think that weight-lifting only helps you to build muscles and has nothing to do with weight loss. How wrong they are!
Now here’s a shocking revelation – building muscles will boost your metabolic rate to such an extent that you will burn fat even while sleeping! It’s not wrong to say that the more muscles you have, the more calories you’ll burn daily!
Furthermore, if you don’t lift weight, and only do cardio and diet to lose weight, you won’t look very good even when you have slimmed down. You need weight-lifting to tone you up.
4. Eat your breakfast.
Don’t ever, ever skip breakfast. If you want to lose weight, you simply cannot afford to ignore this rule.
The reason is one, when you eat breakfast you raise your metabolic rate for the day. That helps you to burn fat.
Secondly, by skipping breakfast, your blood sugar will drop and you will start craving for sweet stuffs the rest of the day. You also tend to overeat for your lunch!
By the way, never skip any meals and remember to eat every 3 hours to keep your blood sugar stable at all times.
5. Do not eat after 8pm.
One way is to brush your teeth right after dinner so you won’t be tempted to eat anything after.
The reason for this is any food taken in excess at night will very likely end up as fat because you are mostly inactive a night and the body’s metabolic rate also dip at this time. As such, your ability to burn fat is compromised.
Another reason you should not eat late at night is because your liver is working hard to detoxify itself at this time and you do not want to make its job even harder by adding food into your system.
If you really must eat something after 8pm, choose low calorie, easy to digest food like fruits.
Now if you seriously put the above 5 rules into practice, you will definitely see a more slimmer you. No need to be jealous of Mariah or Will Smith. You can do it too!
Good article. Simple (though may not be easy for some) and practical tips.
Determination is everything.
I'm gonna give it a try. I just told my husband that I can no longer eat after 8:00 pm.
Thanks for sharing the tips. :-)
Great tips. I read about Mariah story from Mun's blog also. Very inspiring on her recent huge fitness change.
Regarding the 5 law, I agree to you on the top 4 not the last point. Avoiding eat after 8pm? What is this about? How if we hungry? Our metabolic rate is very high and we might feel hungry for evrey 2 to 3 hours daily. Some experts even advice to take slow release protein and carbs at 4am. Taking 5 to 6 meals a day is not enough.
Maybe, 6 to 8 meals a day is sufficient. We are talking about 200 - 250 calorie intake each meal. Never exceed more than that. And we can always take some fruits, high fiber food, milk after 8pm.
It is not wise to starve after 8pm because this is the time your body repair. And, it is worst on your exercise day. All you cells need protein to repair damaged cells. And, this is done during sleep hours. If we not take any protein shakes or meal after 8pm, we might slow the process of recovering and this is not healthy way of living.
I'm just sharing what I learned from few professional fitness gurus.
I really enjoyed these tips. I did not know Mariah had lost 30 lbs. She looks incredible in her "touch my body video"-now I know how!!!
mun, thanks. Who ever say losing weight is easy? But I think gaining weight is not easy for some people too.
cc, yes determination to lose weight is important, but just as important is the reason why you want to lose weight.
jacqueline, that's great! But don't worry if you don't follow this after 8pm rule once in a while. If you are hungry, go ahead and eat!Don't starve yourself. Just make sure it's low in carbs, high in protein and easily digestible.
reena, thanks for your comments. Yes Mariah's story is very inspiring.
It's a good thing you disagree about the "don't eat after 8pm" rule. You are not alone on this. This rule is actually debatable and controversial. There are diet gurus who are all for it and fitness gurus who are totally against it. Both have their valid arguments.
Personally, I would recommend it if you are aiming to lose weight (and this is a topic on losing weight) but would not recommend if you are a bodybuilder or if you are trying to bulk up. For example, Oprah Winfrey's diet guru, Bob Greene advised her not to eat after 8pm as a technique to limit total calories. Jayden Chen is his book "Slim Malaysians" said the same thing and he is a certified Professional Fitness Trainer(UK)with a certificate in Optimum and Sports Nutrition specializing in Body Shaping and Weight Loss.
However, if you did heavy exercise on that day, it's not recommended to stop eating after 8pm. Then again, this depends on when you go to sleep. If you sleep early say, at 10pm, you definitely should not eat so near bed time. You should take your protein drink before 8pm. However, if you sleep at 12am, then it's OK to eat something but make sure it's nutritious and not too heavy on the digestive system.
If you are hungry, by all means eat! It's your body telling you to take in some food. I believe we must listen to our body first and foremost and this rule definitely overrule all weight-loss rules!
Alternative health experts and some Tai Chi masters actually recommend not to eat after 8pm because it seems to burden the liver which is doing heavy detoxification at this time. However, food that is easy on digestive system like fruits and vegetables are OK.
So I guess whether to eat after 8pm or not depends on what you want. But for people trying to lose weight, I recommend this rule. However, no rule is so rigid that you can't break them once in a while.
Having said all that, I welcome all views on this matter.
health nut wannabee mom, yes Mariah is incredible, isn't she? She looks better now than when she first started out as a singer.
i can follow everything here except vigorous workout three times a week. i will change it to whenever i can. see how it is after 3 months
It is a long explanation with so many references to support your point on not to eat after 8pm.
However, I agree with you on one point.
LISTEN TO YOUR BODY!
This is 100% true.
Everyone is unique in this world and not to say that Oprah's formula can work for me or Mariah's formula can work for you. It is about our own body and we need to see what system works best for our body. We can try out this Oprah, Mariah, Certified Professional trainers formula (that formula works best on them), and hoping that it will also work on us.
I'm sure any of those guru's or any certified with extensive experience fitness masters will agree with this point. I always don't force myself. I eat when I'm hungry, even though it is 4 am, but not excessively. Keeping moderate and healthy diet always helps.
I'm always not against to starving method as it have moral values in it. Plus, Ramadhan month is just around the corner. Islam also encourage fasting to clean our internal system. The whole year our internal organ works, and during Ramadhan month, we can lesser and give rest to our internal organs. It is scientifically proven. Fasting also done in many cultures. I feel like I'm going out of topic here... Well, my point is still sticking to feed our self whenever hungry unless you are fasting.
BTW, Foongpc,
This is an excellent topic that can bring many of us with different idea to share their point here in health and exercise topic.
bengbeng, haha! If everyone can lose weight by working out whenever he or she can, then no need personal trainer or self discipline anymore!
reena, totally agree that everyone is different and the best way to know what is suitable for us is to listen to our body : )
Ok...I'll just listen to my body. Hopefully, it will tell me that I'm done eating for the day. :-) Thanks everyone.
Foong,
Yesterday I tried do Interval cardio on cycling and treadmill... OMG, it really rocks.
Normally, I could do cycling for 30 minutes at moderate resistance.
Yesterday, I tried cycling for
- 1st minute lowest resistance level (1 of 12), then
-2nd minute (8 of 12 resistance level) then
-3rd-4th minute (1 of 12 resistance level),
-5th minute (8 of 12 resistance level)
- 6th minute (1 of 12 resistance level)
Then, I gave up at 6 minute. The sweat and tiredness almost like doing cycling for 30 minutes but I can feel that in just 6 minutes. I just sat and did nothing for 5 minutes before start my abs workout. It really works.
Thanks for sharing it.
Hmm, another lose weight tips. Okie will see if suitable for me.
10s 4 sharing.
i did lose 4 kg after 6 mths of gym workouts. no special diets, eat as much as i cld also .... haha.
go ard and ask all the people u knew, see how many of them exercise. wld dare to say that almost 90% dont.
reena, glad you tried the high intensity interval exercises. It saves time and you can see the results faster. So here's wishing you reach your target weight in less than 4 weeks! : )
amei79, try it out and see the results!
johnny ong, well everyone is different. Depends on your body's metabolic rate.
I totally agree with your 3rd point! Thanks for the tips!
wonderful tips, foonpc. im taking note of this!
btw u wrote very well on this! :)
quachee, thanks! Glad to be of help! : )
old post i know, but she is just so wow! i cnt do what she is doing at all!!! =/
xin, she's incredible, right? But she has a personal trainer and chef who makes sure she is disciplined. We don't so it's tougher for us. But follow my 5 ways and you will find it's not that tough to lose weight! : )
My weight lose tips would include: not eating after 8pm, drink a ton of water, drink low fat coffee, eat 5 fruits and 2 vegetables daily, don't visit fast food restaurants,do at least 30minutes exercise a day and get at least 8 hours of sleep.
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