Writing your first eBook!

3 reasons YOU should write an eBook:1. They are a great value add to give to your clients2. They position you as an expert in your field3. They can be used on your website or social media pages 

to generate leads (free eBook if they enter their name, phone and email.

Many people are unsure where to start when writing an eBook and feel they lack the writing or publishing experience to put one together. Here are some tips to help you get started:• eBooks can be as long or short as you would like them to 

be• If you are unsure how to get started, think about the 

topic you wish to write about and do your first draft in bullet points about what you wish to cover. From there you can leave it as a bullet point list with expanded notes underneath (for a short eBook) or expand each topic to become a chapter (for a long eBook)

• You can use Powerpoint to create your eBook which will provide you with professional looking templates (this is what I have used for this introduction) or you can use Word or any other program and simply add some graphics and color

Writing your first eBook!

• Use the same font throughout your eBook and keep the theme the same throughout. Eg. Heading the same font/size, paragraphs the same font/size. Use of color is great to draw attention to important points, but only use one or two different colors to keep it looking professional

• Titles which capture attention really well, are things like ‘5 Tips To XX’ or 7 Things You Must Know Before You XXX’. Research shows that odd numbers are better than even!

• The most important tip, it doesn’t need to be perfect! Often people’s fear of not having the most professionally designed eBook stop them from creating one. Start off simple and eventually you will get more comfortable with writing and designing.

• If you would really LOVE to write an eBook and just can’t get into the flow or perhaps you are short on time, you can search the internet for ‘ghost writers’; so you can outsource your book and pay someone else to do it for you but still retain the credits and copyright to the book 

Attached on the following pages is one of my first eBooks. It is very simple and basic but it did the trick. So hopefully it will inspire you to get writing and publish your own eBook too!

Sonja Bella

“The 17 Little Known Secrets That You Must Know So That Your Weight Loss Plans Don’t Fail”

By Sonja Falvo

Professional Speaker, Author & International Body Transformation Specialist www.RealBody.com.au

17 Secrets 2009 Real Body Enterprises Pty Ltd

1. Dieting can make you fat! Most diets are based on calorie restriction; deprivation and some just feel like down right starvation. All of these will initially induce “weight” loss. Unfortunately the weight you lose is not all fat. Some of the weight you lose will actually be water and lots of muscle tissue. Losing muscle tissue means a slower metabolic rate and a slower fat burning ‘engine’; this means regaining the weight you have just lost as soon as you revert back to your old eating habits and because you have a slower metabolism, you will usually put on more weight than you lost!

2. The science behind dieting The enzymes that are responsible for lipogenesis (storing of fat in the fat cell) increase in concentration during dieting (particularly in women) as a protective response for the preservation of life. This means once you end your diet and go back to normal eating you have more enzymes capable of storing more fat into your fat cells – meaning you will get fatter!

3. How much FAT can you REALLY lose in a week? Next time you are thinking of going on a crash diet, here is an interesting fact for you: 1KG of fat is equivalent to 7,700 calories. Do you really think it is possible to lose fat

at a rate of 1-2KG per week as advertised by many diets, particularly without exercise, when the average person only eats about 8400 to 12600 calories per week?

4. Dieting can be bad for your health What most diets do by restricting your calorie or food intake is they also rob your body of essential nutrients…your body requires a certain amount and variety of foods to sustain and maintain your health; so if you are not getting enough nutrients from your food especially calcium, your blood will leach it from your bones and other parts of your body. So if you continuously diet, you may be increasing your risk of developing osteoporosis or other nutrient deficient health issues/diseases.

5. Fat versus Sugar Fats should actually make up around 20-30% of your total calorie intake. There has been a huge swing towards ‘fat phobia’ because low-fat food manufacturers have spent millions of dollars trying to convince consumers that all fat is bad – simply not true.

The biggest problem with low fat foods is that most manufacturers will add sugars to their products to replace the taste and texture removed with the natural fats – this usually increases the calories back to the original amount, if not higher, and then you have the problem of increased insulin levels due the food now having a high GI rating (and over a long period of time, consuming high GI foods could also contribute to Type II or Adult onset Diabetes).

17 Secrets 2009 Real Body Enterprises Pty Ltd

6. But doesn’t fat have more calories than other nutrients? Yes, it’s true that fat has 9 calories per gram, as apposed to carbohydrates and protein that have only 4 calories per gram, however fat is essential in the diet to ensure proper functioning of your mind and body. Fat also makes you feel full and satisfied; so if your diet consists of mainly ‘low fat’ foods you may end up eating more calories overall as you generally eat more low fat food before feeling full and satisfied.

7. Not all fats are equal The best sources of fat are from cold-water ocean fish, raw nuts, seeds, olives and avocados. Cold pressed extra virgin olive oil is great for salads but loses its integrity during cooking, so if you do need to cook with oil try using cold pressed grape seed oil.

8. Never skip breakfast Breakfast really is ‘the most important meal of the day’, but do you understand why? Your metabolism is exactly like a campfire….if you stoke up the fire and then go to bed, what happens in the morning? There are red-hot embers but no fire, so to start it again you need to put some more logs or fuel on the fire – your metabolism is exactly the same. When you go to sleep it slows right down and it wont be at peak performance again until you eat – so if you are not eating until mid morning or lunch time, you are wasting all that time in between waking and eating with a sluggish metabolism when you could be burning fat instead!

9. Eat regular meals throughout the day If you starve your body with dieting or by skipping meals, then your metabolism will slow down to try to conserve energy and you are at a higher risk of being in ‘fat storing’ mode rather than ‘fat burning’ mode. Try to plan your meals, especially on days you know you will be busy, so that you are eating regular small healthy meals throughout the day to maintain your blood sugar levels and keep your metabolism running at peak capacity.

10. Scales are your enemy – unless you are in the weight loss ‘industry’ Many commercial weight loss programs (notice I didn’t say fat loss) – don’t encourage exercise, particularly strength training, because they teach you to measure your progress by the scales. It is in their best interest – not yours – for you to lose muscle tissue because it will show a greater reduction in overall body weight (because muscle weighs more than fat). If you were to keep your muscle and only lose fat it would slow down the process and ultimately they couldn’t advertise ‘quick results’ – muscle is your friend because it is what helps keep your fat burning engine running – do you really want to lose this precious resource?

17 Secrets 2009 Real Body Enterprises Pty Ltd

11. How to tell if you are about to go on a diet or a long term healthy eating plan… Be a SMARTIE If you do feel the urge to go on a diet or you are unsure if it is a ‘diet’ or a long term healthy eating plan then firstly ask yourself the following questions:

S Is it something you can Stick to Simply for the rest of your life

M Is it in Moderation

A Is it Achievable

R Is it Realistic

T Is it Time-efficient

I Is it Interesting

E Is it Enjoyable

If the answer to all of the above is yes, congratulations because you have found a sensible eating plan, if the answer to any of these is no – you are about to go on another diet….and what do diets do….they can make you fat!

12. Alcohol stops you from burning fat Alcohol actually contains no fat – not one gram (watch out for liqueurs and cocktails that contain added milk or cream); if you observe true alcoholics (people who drink lots and eat little), you will find that they are not fat.

Alcohol is actually a toxin, which means that the body needs to get rid of it and it can’t be stored anywhere in the body; so when you drink alcohol and eat fat, the body is so busy burning off the alcohol to get rid of it that your body will not burn any fat from the food you have eaten. Where does the fat go?…into the fat cell, with no chance to burn it off.

13. Coffee can actually assist with fat loss Up to 3 cups of coffee daily is actually recommended to assist with fat loss and some studies are showing a definite benefit for a pre-strength training cup of coffee – you will train harder! However, remember caffeine also has a dehydrating effect so you will need to drink more water and like all things, your body will get used to the ‘caffeine kick’ so a few ‘caffeine free’ days a week are recommended.

17 Secrets 2009 Real Body Enterprises Pty Ltd

14. Water is important for burning fat Water is the most important thing we put into our body!! You could live for 3 weeks without food – not a good idea!! But you could only live for 3 days without fluid. Water makes up 2/3 of our bodies; brain cells are 80-90% fluid and muscles are 60-70% fluid.

Water actually aids our bodies to function normally – including :

Digestion Metabolism Temperature regulation Respiration Nutrient transportation Elimination processes – meaning water is required to assist the process of fat burning and

elimination

If you don’t drink enough water the body will actually retain fluid and be less efficient at fat burning. But how much is enough? I am sure you have heard that you should be drinking 8 glasses a day (the equivalent of 2 litres per day) but the scientific research actually states that you should be drinking 1 litre for every 25kg of body weight.

Water can come from - water, juice, soft drink, cordial, milk, fruit, vegetables, tea and coffee….be careful though, any soft drinks, tea and coffee containing caffeine actually cause ‘dehydration’ rather than ‘re-hydration’!

15. So how do YOU actually become a Fat Burning Machine Between the ages of 20-30 the average person would have lost approximately 2.2kgs of muscle. As each 2.2kg of muscle is responsible for burning approximately 50 calories per day, that equates to 250 calories per day that your body is no longer able to burn – this is more commonly referred to as ‘middle age spread’ and

DOES NOT NEED TO HAPPEN!

By introducing as little as 45 minutes of strength training per week into your life, you will be able to replace lost muscle tissue and increase your metabolism (energy expenditure); this means a faster metabolism, faster fat burning and less chance of getting fat – PLUS you will burn MORE fat when you do your cardiovascular or ‘huffy puffy’ exercise! And strength training really isn’t as difficult as it seems; if you have never done strength training before or the thought of going into a gym is a bit daunting, then enlisting the help of a personal trainer is usually a great way to get started. Alternatively, if you prefer the privacy of your own home, the www.RealBody.com.au can show you how to exercise safely and effectively with only a few small pieces of exercise equipment, such as resistance bands, a mat and some dumbbells.

17 Secrets 2009 Real Body Enterprises Pty Ltd

16. Strength Training Myth (for women) One myth I would like to dispel - strength training does not make women bigger! The vast majority of women do not have sufficient quantities of testosterone (the ‘growth hormone’) in their bodies to produce the increase in size associated with ‘body builders’ – instead of getting larger muscles, women get tight, toned and yummy muscles!

So to let you in on a little secret - one gram of FAT is almost twice the size as one gram of MUSCLE. So if you have a choice (and you do!), would you prefer to have more muscle or more fat?? Muscle is smooth, lean, hard and small - Fat is lumpy, flabby, soft and big!

17. There is no such thing as specific exercises that burn fat from specific areas Spot reduction exercises promote working on a particular body part or muscle to burn fat from the worked area. Unfortunately, this theory goes against every scientific principle of exercise physiology. You cannot choose where you want to lose fat from. When you exercise regularly, eat healthy food and lift weights, you will lose fat from all over your body. Where from and how quickly will depend on your genetics and your general body shape.

Exercises that work one body part at a time, such as crunches and side leg raises, create a burning sensation in the muscle which is commonly misinterpret as exploding fat cells; this burning sensation is only a build-up of lactic acid – the substance produced by the body when you are working your anaerobic energy system (which does not use fat for energy!)

A combination of regular cardio exercise (to work your aerobic energy system) and strength training (to build muscle and increase your metabolism) is the fastest way to burn fat from all over.