It’s that time you have been dreading. Those promises you made to yourself only a week ago have come around like the credit card bills falling on your door mat. You’re scared to step on the scales as that will only crystallise your over-indulgence. But, your resolve is strong and its a new year, a fresh start, a new you…maybe.
Anyone who knows me relatively well, knows that this year I have lost quite a bit of weight – over 40lbs and six inches off my waist. I have significantly changed my body shape, eating habits and lifestyle. During this journey, I have lost count of the number of people who have asked me how I did it, what was my exercise routine, how much food did I eat, etc.
My answer has always been the same. Eat less, move more. I’ve put together this blog to help those who wish to embark on their own similar journey, or are just interested in my process. Please note, I am not a fitness instructor or remotely qualified to give you dietary advice – this is just what worked for me.
If you have a question about my journey which isn’t covered in this blog, then do so on my “ask me a question” page. Remember it may sound simple but it’s not easy…
Ps. I’d love to hear about your journey. Send me a comment at the end of these posts!
My fat loss mission coincided with a new product that my gym are promoting. They are offering gym members a “Trans4mation” package to transform individuals body shape and look. This could be over a 3 or 12 month period. If you are interested the link is www.profile-health.co.uk/trans4mation.html.
As part of the launch, the gym ran a competition to qualify for a make over and photo shoot. To be a winning candidate you had to have been successful in changing your body shape. I was one of three successful candidates.
The timing of the photo shoot could not have been better, as I had been in maintenance mode for a number of weeks. The photo shoot gave me a new goal and I decided to follow a body builder’s diet leading up to the event. The aim was to deplete and cut out carbs for a week, in order to get a little more ripped. Below are some of the photos from the photo shoot, and my schedule running up to the day.
If you have seen Kung Fu Panda, you will recognise this quote “there is no secret”. There is no quick fix either despite numerous magazines and internet articles trying to sell you all sorts of wizardry.
Sure you can strengthen your core, and abdominal crunches, leg raises and the plank will do this. Its important that you have a strong core for stability when weight training and about everything else that requires physical movement.
However, if you still have a fat deposited on top of your six pack then it won’t show. You need to lose the fat and I hope that this blog helps you towards that goal.
So apart from the obvious weight loss what other benefits have I noticed?
Health
My complexion is better and I have far more energy. I had my cholesterol and blood sugar levels checked out and they are all pretty low. I was never someone who suffered much from stress, but its now even lower, if that’s possible! It’s hard to measure but I’m sure I have lowered the risks associated of being overweight.
I started my journey by wanting to know how much weight and inches someone could lose over time – a benchmark of sorts. I researched this over the internet but couldn’t find anything conclusive. Normally people tell you their starting and ending points, but not what happened in between. I hope by adding the details of my measurements helps with your expectations and acts a guide.
The hardest part of my journey was nutrition. But it was the most important part, and the part most people who try to lose weight fail at. It’s not just about the amount of calories you consume, but the nutritional quality and frequency.
Research points to eating small meals regularly in order to boost your metabolism. And, eating protein is important to help recover and build muscle mass. You may have read in another of my posts, I believe having more muscle fibres raises your metabolism.
I started my fat loss journey on 2nd January 2009. For more years than I care to remember, my number one resolution was to lose weight and get fitter. By March this resolution would be stamped into the dust.
This time it wasn’t a New Year resolution that prompted me into action. It had taken several weeks of reflection on why I wanted to get into shape and lose the fat. For you to fully understand this, I need to explain the circumstances going on at this time.
Given a choice I prefer to do weight training then cardio. When I read that high intensity interval training (H.I.I.T) increased your metabolic resting rate better than long low intensity cardio, training became a bit more bearable.
H.I.I.T suits me perfectly, it allows me to do a good cardio session within 30 mins. Which is great when you have a limited time during lunch breaks.
My cardio workout normally consist of:
There are plenty of sources, from magazines to internet articles, for weight training exercises. This post details my approach and goals for weight training.
Why weight train?
In my post “My Game Plan”, I discuss that my overriding objective is to raise my metabolic resting rate (MBR). Raising my MBR means that my body will require more calories for maintenance and with a reduced calorie intake, the body needs to either find the calories from fat reserves or muscle.
The diagram on the left depicts the approach I took following a trans4mation programme (for more details on trans4mation click here). I’m not a scientist nor a fitness guru, this is what seemed to work for me.
My overriding objective was to raise my basal metabolic resting rate. The basal metabolic resting rate is the amount of energy expended while at rest. I thought of it this way, if my body needs more energy (calories) just at rest, and I rest more than I am working out, then I need a greater calorie consumption. And if I reduced my calorie consumption as well, then the overall loss is greater.
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