How to Strip 7 Inches of Fat Off Your Waist Using “The Wilderness”
Learn how stepping out into the wilderness—or simulating that environment—can help trigger important health markers and massively accelerate fat loss, even leading to over 7 inches being stripped from your waist!
Ben Greenfield
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How to Strip 7 Inches of Fat Off Your Waist Using “The Wilderness”
I don’t think it’s any secret that I’m a big fan of the outdoors. After all, I live in the Pacific Northwest, which is a fishing, hunting, skiing, hiking, mountain biking, camping, and all-around-wilderness mecca.
So, as you can imagine, I was quite pleased to see their results of a recent study entitled “Influence of a 10-Day Mimic of Our Ancient Lifestyle on Anthropometrics and Parameters of Metabolism and Inflammation: The ‘Study of Origin.’”
Now, I realize that that may sound like a mouthful of propeller-hat, nerdy, fitness-geek speak, but in fact, the study contains some very important instructions for how you can quickly strip over 7 inches of fat off your waist – even if you don’t live in the wilderness. Let’s jump in and see what we can learn, shall we?
The Study
In this study, each of the participants embarked upon three separate 10-day summer trips through the Spanish Pyrenees in order to “experience the impact of ancient lifestyle on their own health and well-being.” More specifically, the participants lived outdoors and walked from one source of water to another. Food was provided by the researchers who organized the study, and participants were assisted with forest-guards (our Western version of a forest “ranger.”)
The diet of each participant was prescribed based on the average daily food intake of the traditional Hadzabe (also known as the “Hazda”) people of Tanzania (more on that later.) This last part, though, may make you want to run away and quit listening: in addition to plenty of outdoor fresh air and ancestral foods, the use of mobile phones or other electronic devices was not allowed.
Let’s delve into a few of the nitty-gritty details here:
- Exercise
The schedule included daily walking trips from waterhole to waterhole, with an average walking distance of about 8-9 miles per day. The participants carried their own backpacks, which had an average weight of about 17 pounds. In addition, some manual work was done to clean mountain trails, as agreed upon with the Catalan Government of the area where the study took place.
- Food and Water
The participants consumed two meals daily: The first meal was provided halfway through the walk, and the second meal was provided upon arrival at the camping site.Animals (including ducks, chickens, turkeys, rabbits, and fish) were delivered alive and prepared by the participants. Fish were also caught with nets in the nearby river, and other foods consisted primarily of seeds, nuts, berries, fresh fruits, and tubers, such as carrots and sweet potatoes.
Lots of hydration and good drinking behavior was also on the menu, with participants encouraged to drink as much as possible (up to satiety) upon reaching the waterholes, which contained non-chlorinated drinking water.
- Sleep
The participants slept outside in sleeping bags on small inflatable mattresses, generally going to bed at sundown and rising at sunup. The night temperatures got relatively cool, varying from about 50-65 degrees Fahrenheit.
So what happened?
The trip caused huge decreases in body weight and BMI, hip circumference, waist circumference, and waist/hip ratio, including over 7 inches of fat off the waistline of some participants.
Researchers also found decreases of glucose (12.5%), insulin (55%), the inflammatory marker HOMA-IR (58.1%), the 3 month snapshot of blood glucose levels HbA1c (1.8%), triglycerides (20%), total cholesterol (13.7%), LDL-cholesterol (21.9%), and triglycerides/HDL-cholesterol ratio (19.3%).
Wow!
So what Quick & Dirty Tips can you take away from this study, especially if you decide you don’t want to spend 10 days out hiking in the wilderness?
1. Engage in Low-level Physical Activity All Day Long
The walks and small amounts of manual work provided these participants with the stimulus many of us lack. These folks weren’t doing Crossfit or participating in triathlons, obstacle races or bodybuilding; they were just walking and doing some light manual labor, similar to gardening or working in the yard, which should be easy to integrate into most daily routines.
Stuck in an office? Here’s how you can replicate this same effect in an office:
4 Ways to Stay Fit in the Office
7 Ways To Burn Calories By Standing More
2. Fast Intermittently
Contrary to popular belief, eating two meals a day isn’t going to suppress your metabolism or cause starvation syndrome. Instead, it causes you to experience light hunger and all the beneficial hormone releases this comes with, including upping regulation of the enzymes responsible for fat loss and mitochondrial density (aka superior fitness!)
3. Drink Plenty of Clean Water
Participants certainly were experiencing thirst (which has shown to actually cause the anti-inflammatory release of oxytocin), but when they got to the water stations, they were drinking as much good, clean water – without chlorine and other chemicals – as possible.
4. Sleep Naturally
Participants got plenty of sleep, plus limited artificial light exposure at night and natural sun exposure in the morning. They weren’t staying up late at night watching Netflix, nor were they rising early in the morning to the sound of the blaring alarm clock.
5. Vary Your Temperature
Participants experienced both slightly uncomfortable heat during the day and cooler temperatures at night. But guess what? This causes the body to burn calories. And there are plenty of other benefits of fluctuating temperature that you can read about here:
More Proof That Ice Can Help You Get Fit
12 Unconventional Ways To Burn More Fat (Part 1)
12 Unconventional Ways To Burn More Fat (Part 2)
So that’s it! Do low level physical activity all day long, limit your snacking, drink lots of good, clean water, sleep naturally, and don’t be afraid to get hot or cold. With these simple tips, you don’t need a trendy diet plan or hard-core exercise program to lose fat fast.
Do you have questions, comments or feedback about how to strip 7 inches of fat off your waists with the wilderness? Join the conversation at https://www.Facebook.com/getfitguy.
Images courtesy of Shutterstock.
About the Author
Ben Greenfield received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from University of Idaho in sports science and exercise physiology; personal training and strength and conditioning certifications from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA); a sports nutrition certification from the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN), an advanced bicycle fitting certification from Serotta. He has over 11 years’ experience in coaching professional, collegiate, and recreational athletes from all sports, and as helped hundreds of clients achieve weight loss and fitness success.