Working With God
To 'Keep Your Healing'

Being overweight is very bad for your health. Doctors recommend that you have a Body Mass Index (BMI) that is between 20 and 24. However, you can remain fairly healthy with a BMI in the 25 to 29 range. When your BMI hits 30, you are medically obese and you start to have a much higher risk for dangerous health problems such as cardiovascular or gallbladder problems or diabetes. Likewise, if your BMI drops below 20, you start having risks for digestive and pulmonary disorders.

BMI is calculated as

(weight in Kilograms) divided by (height in meters squared)

For those who are not on the metric system, it would be

(weight in lbs multiplied by 703) divided by (height in inches squared)

However, BMI charts are widely available on the internet and in literature. It is much easier to simply look up your BMI from a BMI chart using your height and weight than to calculate it mathematically. The goal (health wise) is have a BMI between 20 and 29. If you are concerned about physical appearance and want to look trim/slim, you should shoot for a BMI that is between 20 and 24.

Fad Diets and Rapid Weight Loss Diets Are Dangerous

Many people are overweight these days, and many are preoccupied with trying to loose weight -- and most do not successfully keep it off. There are many fad and "rapid weight loss" diets that have emerged over the years. Unfortunately, many of these are nutritionally unbalanced and some can cause health problems of their own, sometimes health problems more serious than the obesity-related problems they are trying to prevent.

Even the diets that are not total extremes can cause health problems. For instance, the high protein, low carbohydrate diets can cause gout and increase arthritis-like symptoms. Diets that are high in citrus fruits and acidy foods (such as the famous grape-fruit diet) can cause digestive tract problems when sustained for too long of a period. Diets that drastically reduce or totally exclude meats and seafoods and fats can cause vitamin B deficiencies, which have their own set of nasty side-effects, including muscle cramps and even heart problems. Diets that are too low in calories can leave you feeling weak, lethargic, tired and may cause you to feel emotionally depressed.

Fasting can do wonderful things for you spiritually, providing God has called you to fast. But from a physical health perspective, it is very bad for your body. There is often a supernatural grace on you if God has called you to fast, where He protects your health. But if you try to fast to loose weight instead of because God directed you to fast, that is a VERY BAD idea.

There are some medically supervised "fasting" types of weight loss programs, such as WMP in San Francisco that are safe and good. They use the term "fast" but it is not a "true fast" because the participants take about 500 to 800 calories of protein each day and they also take daily fiber, sodium and potassium supplements as well as multiple vitamins. This causes the participants to metabolize their own stored body fats instead of breaking down muscle tissue. Participants in this type of program are monitored weekly for blood chemistry and blood pressure and heart rate. They have periodic EKGs to monitor their heart. If you go on a medically supervised fast, that is usually safe and OK.

However, if you try to fast to loose weight, you are setting yourself up for great failure. Most people will gain back all of the weight they lose from a fast and even gain a bit more. That is because most of the weight you loose on a fast is muscle tissue, not fatty tissue. So you have increased your fat-to-muscle body ratio, which in turn lowers your metabolism. The higher one's metabolism is, the more calories they burn when "at rest" like sleeping, sitting, etc. If you lower your metabolism by fasting, then when you go back to your old eating habits (after the fast is over) your body will gain weight on the same number of calories that used to just maintain your weight. E.g. you can eat the same, or in some cases even eat less, than what you ate before the fast and still gain weight.

In addition to metabolism issues, your body chemistry (electrolytes) gets way off when you fast. If you do a water-only fast for more than just a few days, your magnesium and potassium levels can get off and your heart might loose it's ability to regulate your heart beat.

I once did a three week fast where I drank juices and a little milk. Twelve days after ending that fast, I thought God called me to a long water-only fast. About eight days into the water-only fast, I started having shortness of breath and my heart would race for several minutes from really minor activity, such as walking up a staircase. I also got muscle spasms and cramps in my arms and legs. I ignored these symptoms and continued on my water-only fast. About two weeks into the fast, my heart started palpitating and would not stop. We called my doctor, who told my husband to rush me to the nearest hospital.

I had put myself into a live threatening situation through unwise fasting (a water only fast shortly after a previous 3 week fast). My electrolytes had gotten so messed up that my heart could not regulate itself and I could have died if I had not received prompt medical attention. In addition to all that, I had become severely dehydrated from the water only fast... as strange as it sounds, if you drink only water (and in large quantities) and have no sodium intake, your cells can't retain the water and you become dehydrated.

The reason I shared that testimony is to underscore how important it is to make sure God is calling you to a fast.. never fast to loose weight. Fasting is the most unhealthy way to loose weight and chances are very high that you will gain it all back and more besides, that you will lower your metabolism and that you will mess up your body's vitamin, mineral and electrolyte balance in the process.

Safe Weight Loss

Remember that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and God expects us to be good stewards of these temples. This means He expects us to eat properly and to behave in healthy ways. Part of that is getting proper sleep and exercise and part of it is keeping our weight at a medically safe level. In other words, if you are overweight to the point where your BMI is 30 or above, it is time to start loosing weight.

You want to loose weight by eating healthy. You want to consume the proper nutrients and the proper vitamins and minerals. You must keep your eating balances and cut down on the total calorie intake per day. Increasing exercise will also help you to loose weight.

The rules really are simple... 3500 calories equals one pound in our bodies. This means that if you want to loose a pound a week, you need to reduce your weekly calorie intake by 3500 calories or by 500 calories a day. Typically you eat 10 times your weight in pounds each day to maintain your current weight. If you weigh 180 pounds, your calorie intake (not counting any calories you burn off through exercise) is about 1800 calories per day. If you want to loose a pound a week, you would need to cut your daily calorie intake from 1800 to 1300. If you wanted to loose 2 pounds a week, you would need to cut your daily calorie intake from 1800 to 800, which is too low to be safe. You should never cut your daily calorie intake below 1000. So you would have to "make up the difference" of 200 calories a day in additional exercise.

Exercise burns calories, but not nearly as fast as you think it might. For instance, it does not matter if you walk slow, walk fast or jog, you burn the same number of calories for each mile you go. For instance, if you weigh 150 pounds, you will burn about 100 calories for every mile. (This is according to a chart put out by Lorraine Galanrite-Schwarz and Lawrence T. Stifler in 1996.) Of course you cover a mile much faster when you are running than when you are walking. You may cover 6 miles, or burn 600 calories, if you jog for an hour. You may cover 4 miles, or burn 400 calories, if you walk briskly for an hour. You may cover 2 miles, or burn 200 calories, if you walk slowly for an hour. But it works out to about 100 calories per mile (if you weight 150 lbs). If you weigh more, then you can calculate your calorie burning by multiplying the calorie values by your weight and then diving that number by 150. For instance, if you weigh 200 lbs you burn about 133 calories per mile. If you weigh 120 lbs, you only burn 80 calories per mile.

Here are some other calorie burning counts per hour for a 150 lb person doing the activity for one hour (from the chart by Lorraine Galanrite-Schwarz and Lawrence T. Stifler):

housework/shopping - 100 calories per hour
weight lifting - 100 calories per hour
golf (walking and continuous play) - 150 calories per hour
stationary bike (low intensity) - 200 calories per hour
water aerobics - 250 calories per hour
rowing machine (continuous motion, light resistance) - 250 calories
recreational tennis - 275 calories per hour
bicycling at 12 MPH - 300 calories per hour
mountain biking (beginner) - 300 calories per hour
stair machine (supporting body weight) - 300 calories per hour
aerobic Rider - 300 calories per hour
basketball - 400 calories per hour
Roller blading - 400 calories per hour
stationary bike (medium intensity) - 400 calories per hour
treadmill with 5% grade - 450 calories per hour
medium intensity aerobics - 500 calories per hour
step aerobics - 500 calories per hour
swimming - approximately 500 calories per mile
stair machine (not holding on to support body weight) - 500 calories
expert mountain biking - 600 calories per hour
stationary bike (high intensity) - 600 calories per hour
treadmill with 10% grade - 600 calories per hour
cross country ski machine (constant use of arms & legs) - 600 calories

Also, when walking up a staircase, you burn 1 calorie for each 5 steps you take.

Calories you burn in exercise can be subtracted from your daily calorie intake. For instance, if you ate 1500 calories today and you played tennis for an hour, you could subtract 275 calories, making it as though you had only eaten 1225 calories. That is why exercise plays an important role in weight loss.