The Secret To Fat Loss

I’m glad you’re here today because we are talking about one of my absolute favorite subjects dealing with fitness and weight loss. Now I’m going to tell you, you and only you, the secret to losing fat. Not weight, not just seeing that number move on your scale. But I mean fat, I mean fat, that stuff that we don’t care for whatsoever. I know it’s an energy store, we can take in plenty of ready-to-use energy by eating food, but we’re going to get rid of fat today. The key to fat loss is pretty simple. It’s one that of course being a personal trainer, and involved in exercise for as long as I have been I’ve got people that come to me for weight loss, we’ve got a fantastic lifestyle change program that deals with weight loss called Catalyst, and it’s heavily involved in. We’re getting down to the nitty-gritty today, folks not beating around the bush, we’re not talking about a variety of exercises, or some kind of ab exercise, or something that busts belly fat, we’re talking about getting rid of fat all around the body. I mean, it’s a simple concept. It’s a simple, simple part of something you do every single day that you ought to be taking in as much as you possibly can. If you haven’t figured it out by now, it happens to have something to do with the reminder I give you on every blog post and every podcast episode.

That’s right, it’s the most valuable resource on the planet. And it’s the one that actually makes you get rid of fat. It is water. Now I’m sure this is something you’ve heard before. But you’ve never heard it from the kid who always asked “why, why, why? Tell me why”. And today I’m going to tell you why. Why water gets rid of fat, not weight, but gets rid of fat. Now water can do a lot of things, I’m sure you’ve heard that. And we’ve all heard of the great benefits of water; the majority of our body is made up of water, the majority of the planet is made up of water. And that’s why we need water. It’s good for you, I hear that. I know, you’ve heard that in every fitness program or diet program; they’ve got water in there. You’ve heard me talking about drinking water, you know, I’m always gonna mention water and it just passes over you because you’ve heard it so many times. But you’ve probably never known exactly why. Why it’s important to drink water. Why it’s important to drink water for fat loss. Now a couple of benefits of water: lubricating different body parts through fluid from water is great for keeping your blood more viscous, or in other words, a little bit thinner. And so it moves easier through the body, which actually if your blood is moving easier through the body, then your body doesn’t have to work as hard. And actually, it doesn’t take as much energy. So not only does it help lower blood pressure, but also it increases energy, just by drinking water. Because you’re making your system not have to work so hard. It’s working more efficiently. It carries nutrients to cells and carries waste products away, it aids indigestion. It aids in every single body function. Every single organ functions, your organs work better with more water. One of the biggest examples of that is if you’re having difficulty thinking clearly, you’re having difficulty remembering names, you’re having difficulty trying to put together a speech or trying to be creative about something most likely check your water, check and see how much water you’ve had to drink. Because I bet you 9 times out of 10, you’re going to be low on water. I do aggravate my clients, I believe because they believe I have one answer for a lot of things they tell me and that drinks more water, but it’s true. If the majority of your body is made up of water, and you’re low on water, believe me, everything’s not going to work well. And you’re going to have problems, such as more difficulty, cramps, sore muscles, the list goes on. So let’s get back to what I was talking about earlier. And that is how water gets rid of fat weight. How does it not indirectly, but directly get rid of fat? Well, there are several ways that this actually happens. One of the ways is through what we call the Krebs cycle. Now, if you’re not familiar with that, and you think back to your days in high school and biology, you learned about the Krebs cycle. And I’m not going to get too deep into all the steps, but the Krebs cycle is basically talking about dealing with liver functions. And if you’re older and you’ve been to the doctor, and you’ve had some difficulties where they’re just doing some simple blood tests, one of the things they’re testing is liver function, because your liver handles a large number of jobs. Well, one of the biggest things that it handles is breaking down and processing fat, either storing fat or getting rid of it out of your body. It’s basically the central work center for dealing with fat and it actually does break it down and helps process it. It processes alcohol; a lot of people know about that. It does the same thing with fat. Well, if it’s processing fat, breaking it down, and getting rid of it, we want it working as fast as it possibly can and as hard as it possibly can. We want it on overload. We want to pay it over time. We want it working as much as it possibly can. Well in order for that organ to work at full capacity, then the kidneys have to work at full capacity. Think about it as the gasoline for the liver; or If the water is like the gasoline, then the kidneys are basically the engine that helps it run the carburetor and whatnot. If you have your carburetor lubed up and doing well it’s cleared out, your engine is gonna run a lot faster. So the kidneys have to work full capacity in order for your liver to be working at full capacity. Don’t worry, stay with me, I’m getting back on track soon. But that deals with the Krebs cycle. In order to keep your kidneys working at full capacity, we have to have a lot of fluid going through those kidneys. Now, notice I say fluid. I didn’t say water. But if you’re drinking something else besides water, I’m not against anything. But if you’re drinking something else besides water, most likely whatever is in that drink, tea, coke, alcohol, whatever, the water that is in that drink is probably needed just to counterbalance what is in that water. Mind you during this whole talk, I’m not going to tell you not to drink anything else. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about just drinking water, and about high liver function. If we have two kidneys and a liver working at full capacity, then we have the liver processing fat as fast as it can. And that’s one way that water gets rid of fat. Another way is that just those three organs (two kidneys and one liver) working at full capacity, burn more calories than 75% of your bodily functions. Now that may not seem like much, but blinking your eyes and whatnot, none of that burns as many calories as two kidneys working at full capacity and a liver working at full capacity. Again, just drinking water keeps those kidneys going 90 to nothing, keeps the liver working at full capacity. And just those two organs burning those calories. One glass of water is not gonna make a difference. But if it’s constant throughout the day, where you’re taking in large amounts of water, and you’re continually keeping water going through the body, then over time, you’ll burn more and more fat and you can make your liver a constant high functioning organ. It’s also good for your liver. It needs the exercise. Now another way that water gets rid of fat is by burning calories. The way it burns calories is if you drink cold water. And when I say cold water, I know a lot of people don’t like cold water. You may not like the way it feels on your teeth, etc. My wife always orders every drink, water especially, without ice. She does not like ice in her water. That’s okay. But when I say cold water, it just needs to be colder than body temperature. Now normal body temperature is 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. And unless you heat the water upon the stove, or in the microwave prior to drinking it, every bit of water that you drink is cold water. It’s cold compared to the body temperature. Well, think about this. Sometimes when you drink cold water, you can actually feel it going down in your system. And it actually feels cold in your system. But what’s happening there is actually an energy transfer. Now I’m gonna do a slight analogy here. Let’s take a piece of hot metal. And let’s tilt it. And on the uphill side of that metal, we’re going to pour some ice water on it. And we’re going to let it roll down that hot, hot piece of metal. And it’s going to roll off the downward side. Now think about the temperature of the water when you pour it ice cold onto the high end of that hot metal. And then as the water runs down that hot metal and comes off on the other side, what happens? Well, it warms up, right gets a little warmer, of course. What has happened is called an energy transfer. And I’m going back to chemistry class in high school now. The measurement of energy is a calorie. Calories are how we measure energy. It’s the same exact calories that we’re talking about that we’re trying to burn, that we’re trying to get rid of, that we’re trying to not take so many in. Well actually what is happening there is that cold water (colder than body temperature, which is 98.6 degrees), goes down your system, your body is literally burning those calories by trying to heat that water up. Again, as I said earlier, eight ounces is not going to make a difference. But 16oz, going on up to 24oz, knocking out 72oz of heating this water that you drink folks, will make a difference. If you can, I highly recommend 100 ounces a day. If you’re doing that every day of the week, every day that ends with a “Y”, every single day, even that day that you think you shouldn’t, yes do it. If you’re doing it every single day, then you’ve got not only that high functioning liver, and those high functioning kidneys burning calories, but you’re also burning calories, just drinking in the water with that energy transfer. Now if you put all those together, that’s a heck of a lot of calories that you’re burning. And your body only stores fat when it tries to make sure that it’s got enough energy to survive. The body’s first job is to keep the body moving. And so therefore it’s not going to store that fat if you’re burning off those calories as they’re going in. Yeah, that sounds fantastic. Now those are just three of the many ways that water gets rid of fat, but it’s nowhere near the number one way that water gets rid of fat. And this is the key, this is the reason to drink a lot of water. Now a lot of people think that diet programs have water in them because they think water fills you up prior to eating, or whatever. My favorite thing I hear is the myth that water flushes you out. Well yes, it does help digestion, and your digestion will not function normally if you don’t have enough water. But it doesn’t really flush you out or wash away calories. I had somebody that began a weight loss program with us and before they got involved in our Catalyst program, they literally thought if they were to overeat, they could just drink a lot of water and it would wash those calories out. I’m sorry, folks, your body, nor my body, nobody’s body can do that. So the difficulty that a lot of people have is they believe that the laws of exercise physiology don’t pertain to them. Yes, they do, they do pertain to you also, but the best way, the number one way that water gets rid of fat is it keeps you from putting fat into you in the first place. And what I’m talking about here, and we’ll talk more about this when we get into some of our Catalyst programmings and also talk more about nutrition. But there’s one way that we pack on extra fat. There’s only one way that we gain weight, period that’s overeating, period. That’s it. But sometimes people say a lack of exercise causes weight gain. Well, if you’re not overeating, you don’t need exercise. Well, I hate to say that, since I’m in the business of selling exercise and all, but it’s true. Overeating is the way we gain weight. Why do we overeat? We don’t overeat because we’re hungry. As surprising as that might be to some people; you may feel like you think you’re hungry, but you’re not actually hungry. You’re actually craving. If you’re interested in finding out the difference between hunger and craving, it’s very simple. Think of a green vegetable that you like. It can be broccoli, green beans, asparagus. Not deep-fried, not seasoned with butter and/or cheese. But think of this green vegetable in its natural state. Next time you think you’re hungry or you’re craving something to drink maybe, such as a Coke, some kind of soda, or alcoholic drink, or sweet tea or whatever. Think to yourself, What if I had that green vegetable? What if I had that broccoli (which happens to be my favorite vegetable) in front of me right now? And when I say broccoli and I do this example, I think of this perfect bowl of broccoli. There happens to be a great restaurant here in town that I absolutely love, and I can see it in my mind’s eye, and man, I’d kill their broccoli; it’s slightly broiled, man that stuff is just great. Nothing on it, no hollandaise sauce, none of that. When I think I’m hungry. I think, what if I had that perfect bowl of broccoli in front of me? What if I had that perfect bowl of that green vegetable in front of me? Would that take care of this hunger situation I’ve got going on right now? Well, if you have to verbalize it, you may lie to yourself. But your mind will tell you the truth. The mind will say “Gosh, I could kill some broccoli right now. That’d be fantastic. I love to have that broccoli. Awesome, I’d be all over it”. Well, if that’s happening, then that’s hunger. But if you’re thinking, I really don’t want that broccoli, what I want is that bread over there or that something else over there. That’s a craving. It’s not hunger, it’s craving. And what’s interesting about it, you’ve heard many people talk about the famous Ron White talking about his mother saying to him “You know, if you’re hungry, you should drink more water”. To which he replies, “Mom, you won’t be less hungry. You will be less thirsty”. He’s the one that probably popularized what a lot of people have said, but it’s true. What is happening the majority of the time that you’re craving, you’re craving because craving is a product of the brain that has nothing to do with hunger. It has to do with the body, not physically whatsoever. It’s strictly in the brain. And we crave for many reasons, most of the time we crave for a variety of reasons. Stress makes us crave, problems that we have going on make us crave, and we answer those cravings. But the other reason that our body craves, remember, I’ve mentioned before that the body is the most intelligent machine that you’ve ever come across. We’ve studied it for years, and we still don’t understand much about it. Your body knows it can only go three days without water. If you drink no water whatsoever, your body can get water from many sources. It knows that it knows it can get water from other liquids, it can get water from food and your body knows how to get you to drink water. Simple. Okay, let’s say you’re taking any water in. Your body will say, “Hey, we’re going to get some water. Do you know that sugar craving that you’ve got? We’re just gonna reach up into the cerebellum of the brain where that craving is controlled and stoke that craving. And we’re gonna stoke it until you go and get us something to eat. Because I know that if you eat something, you’ll drink something, and if you drink something, then I can get some water. If you eat something wet, I can get water that way, too”. And that’s what your body does. Your body uses the cravings to get water. That’s why you’ve heard the popular phrase, water cuts cravings, that’s exactly what’s going on. The majority of the time that you’re craving, there is a lack of water going on. A lack of water is not to thirst. Thirst is the first sign of dehydration. So you’re past that point. That’s why I am so passionate about this.

I’m always taking in, what most people would say is a large amount of water. It’s actually a normal amount. We’ve heard for many years that 8 glasses is the norm, that’s what you should take in. That is actually the bare minimum. That’s the bare minimum to keep you from getting dehydrated. Taking in on a regular basis, every day of the week, even Friday, even Sunday, whatever day, Christmas day, that day that you weren’t going to drink water, doing it every single day on a regular basis is going to keep you burning fat, it’s going to have your body run more efficiently. And I’ll tell you some added benefits to it. Think of products that people buy, or maybe you buy, maybe your senior relatives bought, parents grandparents. Look at the section of the store, they go shop in, and one of the things you’re going to see with a lot of personal hygiene products that they buy is going to have one keyword on them that’s highly attractive, it’s going to have hydration, it’s going to have hydrating; hydrating moisturizers, skin moisturizers to keep you young, this kind of moisture, this soap, that shampoo, this is moisturizing. Why is it saying that? Because across the board worldwide, we don’t drink enough water. And the whole reason we’re now trying to race to catch up and keep things hydrated is that we’re getting wrinkles and whatnot because we’ve dehydrated our skin for so long. That now the collagen has been leached out of our skin because we don’t have enough water. That’s why we’re not staying looking young. That’s why these hydrating creams, which are temporary, don’t have a long-lasting effect. You have to use it over and over again. You have to keep buying that oil, Oil of Olay, or whatever it, is maybe a great product, but it doesn’t do what drinking lots of water does. And if you see people that drink water on a regular basis in high amounts and have been doing it for years, you will see they actually look younger. So there’s another benefit besides just burning fat. Okay, here comes the question I know I’m gonna get if I haven’t gotten it already. I get it every time I give this talk. This is part of the beginning of our Catalyst program, we actually talk about water usage. And one of the first things people want to know when I tell them that they should start drinking 100 ounces a day, is they want to ask, “How many times am I going to be going to the bathroom?!” Okay, I’m gonna get into the nitty gritty here and tell you exactly how to start drinking large amounts of water. But I’m gonna address that problem that I know everybody’s thinking about first. Well, your bladders an organ, just like your stomach. Everybody knows exactly how to make their stomach bigger: Eat more, and keep eating more. You’ll feel stretched out and bloated when you eat that amount. If you keep that up day after day, eventually, you won’t feel bloated anymore. Nobody questions the fact that the stomach grew. And if you want to eat less, you want it to go down, you do the same thing and reverse. Your bladder is the same way. If you start tomorrow, let’s say you’re not drinking water on a regular basis and you start tomorrow, doing 100 ounces, which I do not recommend. But if you started doing that, would you go to the bathroom a lot? Sure, absolutely. This is just an example, but let’s say you’ve got a 9-ounce bladder, and you’re trying to put 32 ounces in at a time. It’s gonna get rid of that stuff. It’s gonna run like a nine-ounce bladder run. But let’s say you start with just a little bit more 12 ounces, 15 ounces, 20 ounces of wherever you are, start there and you keep it consistent. Well just like constantly overeating grows your stomach, constantly over drinking water, your bladder literally expands, it gets to a point where it can take in more it can handle more it can process more. What ends up happening, and pardon me for getting disgusting here but I like to be descriptive and I want to give you the why to exactly what’s going on here. You end up going less often or actually as much as you may be going now. But you end up going at a higher volume and the capacity is much larger. So the way I recommend doing this is first thing is to start carrying a water bottle or water container around with you all the time One that is socially acceptable, that you can take with you everywhere. And I don’t mean “I’m in here but my water bottle is in my car>” I mean with you. If you happen to see our video of our podcast you will not see me without my water bottle. A fun trick I do with my clients is to challenge them to try to catch me without my water bottle. My water bottle goes everywhere I go. It has been around the world. I had it in Pontevedra Spain with me just a month or so ago. It was at church this past Sunday. It goes everywhere I go and the reason I say make sure you have that water wall with you is it’s a nervous habit. You’re going to constantly drink water if you’ve got that bottle with you. So the first thing you want to do is you want to have that bottle with you. Number two, you want to have a way of measuring it. Now if you’re watching this on video or if you ever see me out, you’ll see that I’ve got rubber bands on my water bottle and yes, they are Personal Edge Fitness rubber bands, if you can believe that. The reason I have them is that it’s a simple kindergarten way of measuring. Now there are bottles out there that measure your water and whatnot, but I use a simple system, that I have used for 19, or 20 years now.

This seems like a good time to remind you to drink some water right now.

Now, back to my rubber bands. The reason I use this system is every time I finish drinking a bottle of water, I move one rubberband up (or down to the bottom, depending on how I’m measuring that day). Now, the rubber bands are very key, the rubber bands do not leave the bottle ever. The reason they don’t leave the bottle is that you’re going to lose them somewhere if you do that. So they just travel up or down the bottle. Use whatever direction you want, they can go from the bottom to the top, top to the bottom, bottom to the middle, whatever, it doesn’t matter. But every time you drink a bottle, move a rubber band, and you want to put enough rubber bands on there that meet your goal for the day. You want to stay consistent with that for at least 7 to 10 days. The normal human body can regulate somewhere between eight and 10 ounces of water more. So if you start out at eight ounces, after seven to 10 days, move to 16 after 7to 10 days, keep going. See what I’m saying? Keep adding that certain amount and maintain that amount. You can’t skip days, if you skip days, you’re gonna be upset with me gonna say, Man, I’ve never stopped running to the bathroom all the time. That’s because your body’s never regulated. You want to keep it consistent. So your body regulates and you want to have a way of measuring it, if you don’t measure it, I promise you, I promise you, you won’t be successful. Even after doing this for 20 years. If I’m not tracking mine for whatever reason, I’ll look down and I’ll see I’m behind. Even when I have my bottle with me, which I have everywhere I go. Even after doing this for 20 years, I will look down at my bottle, sometimes in the middle of the day, which I’m usually over 100 ounces by the middle of the day, but by that time, I’m not measuring, I’ll know I’m behind. I promise you if you’re not tracking it, you will forget. The third thing is to slowly increase. Just slowly add those water ounces. Don’t jump off a cliff and do 100 ounces tomorrow. Don’t try to do any large amounts, keep it consistent, slowly increase and after a certain amount of time depending on mathematically where you start, you’ll be up to 100 ounces or more. And you’ll find out you’ll really know that you’re doing it right when you finish an entire bottle. Even after not doing any kind of heavy exercise and you want another bottle you find yourself almost thirsty for another bottle. That’s when you’ve trained your body to handle a lot of water on a regular basis. And that’s where we want to get to, that’s what you’re looking for. Always be thirsty, always be hydrating.

Hey, thank you so much for reading along. If you’re interested in more information, please don’t think twice about giving us a call. We’d love to have your comments if there’s something pertaining to one of these topics. 251-278-EDGE (3343).