Things to remember

• Going to take time - can’t wish for overnight success
• Need to understand the basics
• Don’t feel satisfied - keep going, keep wanting to improve

First principles

• fitness = physical, mental, emotional, social - all of them are equally important (book’s focus is on the physical part)
• fat loss over weight loss: weight = fat mass + muscle mass + water + skeletal system + organs. aim for fat loss.
• find a lifestyle fit: fitness choices = diet + exercise + rest. they must fit into our lifestyle. trying to adopt someone else’s lifestyle not going to work for a long time. find what works for you.
• Adherence is key: going to take time. need 2 things: visualization (who you want to be / how do you want to look like) and realization (executing the plan day after day)
  • don’t give in to the voice that asks you to quit, to boredom, lethargy
  • need to say no to parties, when offered a lot of food, buffets, etc.
• Fitness is Science: the science part is not emphasised in the mainstream content platforms.

Fitness is science

• most people treat their bodies as if it is dispensable and replaceable - don’t take out time to care for it and give it the respect it deserves
• our body needs fuel - which comes from food
• just having food is not enough - need to have mechanism to convert food to energy → metabolism.

Metabolism

• processes take place throughout our body - they have 3 functions
  • convert food into energy (catabolism)
  • convert food into the basic building blocks of our body - cells (anabolism)
  • removing waste from the body
• Body needs a certain amount of energy at every point of time and the amount needed differs throughout the day. Even while we are resting, we need energy - heart pumping blood, lungs drawing air, brain still functioning.
• BMR = Basal Metabolic Rate = amount of energy needed when the body is at rest
• TEF = Thermic Effect of Food = amount of energy needed to digest the food we eat