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Exercise Bulimia: In your quest to achieve a flat stomach, you are doing more harm than good.

One day, you suddenly feel enough is enough, let's burn this stubborn fat and get back in shape. That is a very important day in your life if you are seriously considering to change things for good. But, most people start without knowing much about fitness, just like I did. The basic motto which almost everybody who is new to fitness follows is "More Workout equals More Fat Burning". And you start working out more than you should, eating less than you should and you think about workout all the time. As a result, you start losing fat, which motivates you to further increase the intensity and frequency of your workouts and be more diet conscious. This is where things get messy, people become obsessed with workouts and their ignorance of nutrition and other basics of fitness lead their body to physical weakness and mental stress. This is a disorder known as Exercise Bulimia. 

If you do not know what you are getting yourself into, you will eventually end up hurting yourself. I agree working out is very important to stay in shape, but too much of anything is always a bad idea. Our body needs food to survive and thrive, if you deprive the body of the very thing it depends upon, how can you expect it to be better in future? And on top of it, whatever is left in your body, you are just exhausting that with your intense workouts. Just because this practice makes you look slimmer does not mean it is the right way to do it. Moreover, you will eventually have to get back to normalcy because your body will demand proper rest and food after being torn for period of time, then you will start gaining back the weight which you lost with huge sacrifices.

How to do it the right way?

For a majority of people, fitness means workout and better appearance. But, what it should mean is internal health, endurance, strength, and nutrition. In simple words, maintain your body like an American Muscle car, feeding it the right nutrients, doing some effective workouts and treating it like a temple. Physical appearance is just a by-product of maintaining your body. Instead of getting obsessed with workouts, focus on eating the right foods at the right time and trust me, you will be surprised with the results. Getting mentally stressed also affects your professional and personal life, you feel no longer interested in anything but workout, and soon you will start feeling left out. As a result, your stress hormone (cortisol) is always at the peak, not letting the happiness hormone (serotonin) nowhere near it, thereby increasing your body fat percentage and the very purpose of your intense workouts, which was to get rid of stubborn belly fat, fails.

Feed your body 5-6 times a day with good nutrition and see the magic happen, include workout and it will create wonders for you. You will start to feel more active and energetic You will start picking interest in other important things in life, like friends and family. Fitness is not complicated, our lack of knowledge makes it complicated, and we end up doing more harm than good. What good is your physical appearance is if you cannot lift, or run like other people? A beggar who does not eat anything is slim, but that does not make him healthy.

Always remember, working out every day without following proper nutrition will weaken your body. Instead, give your body time to recover with nutrition and then workout, this will increase your results and make you stronger and happier. If you do it the right way, you can continue it for the rest of your life, you don't have to continue getting stressed and obsessed with workouts, the decision is yours.

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