Jon Finkel is the author of The Three Dollar Scholar: Awesome Advice for Acing Life’s MajorDecisions and Mindless Debates. He has written for GQ, Men’sHealth, ComedyCentral.com, and The New York Times, among other publications.Follow him on Twitter @3dollarscholar. I have written for Men’sHealth magazine, Men’s Fitness magazine, Maximum Fitnessmagazine, Muscle & Fitness magazine, Muscle & Fitness Hersmagazine and Muscle & Performance magazine. I have written dozens and dozensof articles on every possible fitness goalimaginable, from specific goals like getting thickercalves, to the all-powerful “lose X amount of weight in X amount of days”articles. I have interviewed Olympic gold medalists and hall of fame athletes in almost every sport, and in most cases, I have interviewed their world-class trainers andnutritionists. I have visited many of the top athletic training facilities in thecountry. I have spent 10 years writing about losingfat or gaining muscle in every conceivable way, and I can tell you with absolutecertainty that no matter what you’ve heard or read or talked to your localBally’s Fitness trainer about, achieving your fitness goals doesn’t beginwith diet or exercise or a fitness plan or a DVD or a personal trainer. Getting in shape,whatever you define “shape” to be, all comes down to one word: Habit That’s thesecret. If you have shitty eating habits, you’re probably fat. If you have shittydrinking habits, you’re probably fat. If you have shitty exercise habits,you’re probably fat. If you have shitty sleeping habits, you’re probably fat.If you have more than two of these shitty habits, you’re probably overweight. Threeor more? Obese. If you have all of them, you might be morbidly obese. Habit. Habit. Habit. There’s no sense in lifting a single weight or walking a single mile if you haven’t evaluated the shitty habits you have that have made you into the fatversion of yourself that you have become. Not being fat is all about breaking badlifestyle habits and replacing them with good ones. There are no magical cures to yourweight-loss dilemma. You won’t get thin overnight. In fact, you won’t getthin over a week’s worth of nights. But if you erase your bad habits, you will getthin. What follows is not an exercise plan or diet regimen. It’s not something to print out and take with you. It is simply an extremely easy way for you to get started inturning your health around. It costs nothing. In fact, it will probably save you money.Trust me. If you’ve never exercised or have spent most of your life 20 poundsoverweight or more, following these easy steps to the letter will get you thinner over a fairly short amount of time. The good news is that you can literally start losingweight right now. Seriously. This very second you can start becoming less heavy.Ready? Let’s begin. Month 1: For one month, eat exactly as you havebeen, but the only beverage you can consume is ice water. Ice water with breakfast. Icewater with lunch. Ice water with dinner. Ice water when you’re thirsty. Ice waterbefore bed. The icier the better. No more coffee, sodas, fruit juices, energy drinks,sports drinks, etc… Simply ice water. This will literally cut thousands of emptycalories out of your diet every week. You’ll also slowly flush out some of thetoxins you’ve accumulated and give your body a chance to hydrate. Even if all youever drink are diet sodas and zero-calorie Crystal Light drinks, this switch will behighly beneficial for you. Just remember, you must drink water, and there must be ice init most of the time. That’s it. There’s all kinds of science behind why icewater is good for you and I won’t bore you with it here. But do not add zero-calorie sweeteners, either chemical or natural. Add nothing. If you do this, youwill lose weight. Lots of it. After the first week of getting used to drinking water,chug one full glass of ice water before you begin any meal. It will fill up your stomachand you will eat less of whatever you’re going to eat.Month 2: Continue drinking only ice water, but feel free toadd a bag of green or black tea to the water for some flavor. Also, a squeeze of freshlemon or lime or even orange is OK, too. A few slices of cucumber are surprisingly goodin water as well. Now that you’ve proven to yourself that you can break yourdrinking habit on a day to day basis, it’s time to add a little physical element.Walk for 30 minutes every day. No exceptions. The 30 minutes don’t have to be continuous; could be 10 minutes after each meal, or it could be five minutes sixdifferent times a day. But you have to get it in. You can even pace around your familyroom during The Office if you want, but you have to keep moving. By findingthose 30 minutes every day to walk, while drinking ice water with your meals, you havenot only eliminated tens of thousands of empty calories from your diet, but you are now burning calories by getting your blood moving for an extra 30 minutes a day.You can handle that fortwo months, can’t you? More tips on forminghealthy habits to lose weight, next... Continue Reading

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