In this video, I explain my philosophy of getting healthy, losing weight, and keeping the weight off.
Fat is not a cushion or an insulator. Its purpose is to store energy. It's a survival mechanism to help you survive during times of threat or excessive stress. When your health decreases and your stress increases, then your body starts holding onto fat.
The reason that so much of our fat is stored around our bellies is because that's where our vital organs are. Our bodies hold the fat there to provide potential energy for those important organs -- extra energy the body thinks they need in stressful times.
Therefore, the more health you create in your body, the more fat will come off. I'd like you to change your goal from losing weight to gaining health. That's the only way you will succeed.
When you start losing weight, at first you lose water weight, and then you hit what seems like a plateau. But that's really a healing phase. During this phase, you should focus on gaining the kind of real health that comes from eating the right foods, following the right eating plan, finding out your body type, doing the right kinds of exercise, and eliminating your stress.
While you are in this healing phase, we look for indicators that show your health is improving. Indicators include your having more energy, feeling stronger, having fewer cravings, and having a better state of well-being, including becoming free of pain.
We don't expect you to follow the program with cravings. Cravings mean that your body is starving and missing something. When you put the right things in, cravings will go away in about three or four days.
Once you've gone through this healing phase, the plateau will end, and you'll start to lose fat.
You'll continue to lose fat until you achieve your ideal weight goal. After that happens, the real program starts, and we will get you really fit on the inside, giving you more endurance, better sleep, and greater strength. As your body gets older, you'll feel younger.
Dr. Eric Berg
08/31/2023
