Ramadan is nearly upon us and as we’re psychologically preparing ourselves and doing the pre-Ramadan shopping, I want you to take a moment to pause and decide what you want to have happen to your body during this blessed month.
I’ve already written and taught a lot about the spiritual and psychological transformation that’s possible during Ramadan, but now let’s look at the three possible ways your body can transform this month.
OPTION ONE: You Get Fat.
Yikes – was that too blunt? Weight gain is a sensitive topic, but dancing around it won’t help. Most the Muslims I know who fast during Ramadan pay absolutely no attention whatsoever to what they eat in the evening. They’ve done the ‘hard work’ of depriving their bodies of food and water during the day, so they figure: “Let’s pig out!” (without actually eating pigs 😉
This is why all the scientific studies on Intermittent Fasting don’t apply to the Muslim fast. Just as our bodies are about to reap the immense benefits of the incredible self-control we’ve demonstrated for 12 – 18 hours… we make sure to lose all those benefits in the time it takes to inhale a couple of deep-fried samosas and some baklawa.
This is the most ordinary option. But if you were an ordinary person, who settles for average… you wouldn’t be reading my articles.
OPTION TWO: You Stay The Same.
This is becoming more common particularly in the UK, Northern Europe and Canada, mainly because the fasts are so long these days, that even if you eat (almost!) whatever you want, you’ll probably hit your maintenance calories. In other words, you’ll end up taking in about the same amount of food as you normally do over an entire day.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this… if you’d like to keep your body looking exactly the way it does right now.
Plus, a lot of people who take this option, especially in Northern Hemisphere countries, will actually lose a little bit of weight, completely without trying. Maybe one or two kilo’s just because after a few days of pigging out, we actually settle on eating less overall, without noticing.
OPTION THREE: You Get Lean.
There is an uncommon option, which is backed by a lot of scientific studies. By eating wisely, in moderation, during the short eating window, your body can completely transform this Ramadan. You can lose the unwanted belly-fat that’s been hanging around for years. You can finally reveal those abs. And all the while you can do it while eating more closely to the actual Sunnah – the way that the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings upon him, taught us to eat.
This uncommon option benefits your life and health the most. And it has a surprisingly uplifting effect on your spiritual life.
You’ll be more enthusiastic about fasting, because you’ll know that all the while you’re getting a tangible physical result that you’d previously only dreamed of. And that physical benefit is nothing but a small reminder of the eternal, spiritual rewards of fasting this month. If your Ramadan has completely transformed the way your body looks externally, we can only imagine what has happened to your soul, internally.
This method of fat-loss works extremely fast. In fact, according to Dr. Michael Mosley, one of the top authors and researchers on the topic of intermittent fasting, if you get this right, you could burn between 5-10kg of weight – almost all fat – by the end of the month. In fact, after eating the way we recommend for a few days, your body will actually start burning fat for energy 24 hours a day, for the entire month.
In other words, get this right, and you can tick ‘dieting’ off your goals list this year – because you’ll be done by Eid. That’s what my wife and I plan to do this Ramadan. And that’s The Ramadan Challenge I offer to you and everyone in The Ocean.Â
