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Diet, strength and health So you're overweight, what do you do? Go look for a diet. And there it gets complicated, very complicated. All sorts of so-called experts push all sorts of methods from no fat to high fat, low carb, high carb, eat once a day, eat all day long, go vegetarian, go meat only, etc., etc.. It's always fun to read the comments on Slashdot as soon as some new scientific diet is developed, everyone has their own way to get lean and mean. So, here's the way I see it after reading a load of articles and all the science behind it: Stop eating bad stuff in large quantities! You body has been developed in thousands of years of evolution (go away you closed minded religious folk!) and knows best when it needs energy to keep the plumbing going, and when it has enough. Listen to it. Wake up in the morning and have a bite to eat. It doesn't have to be much if you're not a real breakfast person like me, as long as it's something to start off your digestion. Then, for the rest of the day eat something when you feel hunger coming up, and I mean the real hunger, not the craving between your ears. When you eat, eat slowly and don't gobble up the food, that's bad. When you eat slowly you will feel when your body says it's had enough. Don't go grab the extra dessert or second helping because it tastes so good (that's the hard part), just quit. Don't worry about missing something, you'll feel a bit hungry again in a few hours. The average digestion of a meal is about 3 hours so you'd eat 5 or 6 times a day which should keep your body more stable in energy level. This is proven by the fact that most people feel an afternoon dip 3-4 hours after lunch, and that is of course used to sell soup. Now, most diets also speak about what you're allowed to eat and what not, the bastards. Why would anyone follow that for a long time when all the good tasty stuff is forbidden? Well, the one good reason is because it's more healthy food. Healthy food like vegetables, low fat meat, fruit is always good, and can be tasty enough but doesn't always satisfy psychologically. It doesn't have to be all healthy at every time you eat, just try to stick to it as much as you can. There's so much junk in modern food to keep you addicted that it's almost like quitting a drug addiction. Especially when it comes to fluids. Drink water. It's what the body runs on and it's cheap and available (usually). No need for fancy bottled water, which is just the same as from the tap, nor drinking a minimum amount a day. Just drink it when you're thirsty. And don't worry about time. Don't be hasty and try to lose kilos in a few weeks, it'll come (or better yet, go) after you've adjusted to a new way of eating. Besides the change in eating habits, exercise is obviously a good idea(TM). It doesn't have to be something rigorous, go for (long) walks, ride a bicycle, or try something low impact like Tai chi chuan. The point is not only to burn extra calories (the measure of taste as this cat calls it), but also to keep your body from rusting shut. If you do want to get into exercising to gain strength I say go for the Russian kettlebell challenge instead of the fancy and expensive gym equipment. I'm not sure how I came across it, but it peaked my interest and I've gone through a lot of info Pavel brings into this (check out his various books). The basic idea is quite simple, go play with heavy weights as often as you want but don't tire yourself out. The more you use various heavy weights, the more you get used to handling these and build strength, just like I got used to handling on average 165 18 to 36 kg cilinderheads from truck engines during working days (luckily I didn't have to lift most of them but I still had to manually move them and I could see the veins on my biceps after a year). Simply said, body conditioning. It was also during that time that I believed more in increasing weight instead of increasing the number of repetitions to gain strength, which is also a view of Pavel. You won't be able to lift more weight unless you lift more weight. But the most important part is to forget about "feel the burn" and "no pain no gain". This will only damage the muscles and then it takes longer to recover. Just get the muscles used to heavier loads gradually up to the point where recovery is quick enough. I own a pair of dumbells I got years ago for cheap, using just one now as I combined the weights to the maximum of 17.5 kg, but I can't use that to turn it every way around, the block might just break off from the pressure of the discs. That's why kettlebells are perfect, these are just solid iron weights, no worry about breaking unless you hit it against some hard surface. And now (the end of 2009) I ordered myself one set (16, 24, 32 kg) of kettlebells so I can toss these around whenever I like. Because they're so simple to use they can be used instantly and take up less space. And even after just a few hours since I got them and lifting them a couple of times I feel like I'm a strongman, talk about a psychological effect... Psychology does play a part in it, I managed to dor 4 military presses with 24 kg with my left arm when I was feeling good in the evening. That morning I managed only 2. I'm curious as to how long it'll take for me to be able to use the 32 kg kettlebell as easily as the 16 kg, and how long before I can do the one-legged pistols and one-armed pushups. Getting to know the bent press and doing it with the dumbell already made me sense my muscles in a new way. One tip, as mentioned by Pavel as well, focus on making the move, not the weight. Just forget about the weight you're holding, only think of the movement you want to make like stretching your arm or back. Even if you don't want to gain a lot of strength, playing around with a kettlebell or dumbell daily will make you feel physically better. Just doing 5 reps of the press with the 17.5 kg dumbell like it was nothing will make me feel like one of the strongest men of the world. I might just be able to call myself a real girevik one day. Now, I'm not an athlete (except for the days I worked at a Dutch Truck factory), nor am I really lean. I also have this ring above my hips, but I don't feel worse for it. That thing started years ago when I left manual labour to do IT in an office. The thing is that my body feels good (yes, all you girls may touch it afterwards :-) ). Trying to lose weight or gain a better lifestyle and feeling worse for it is counter productive. You're not ever going to feel good about yourself if you don't already in a few weeks. Just keep the healthy stuff fun.
	The reason why is just as important as the answer to the question	mail? nystrom.nl, marcel