Disclaimer -
This is not advice or a suggested program, it is just my findings through experimenting with training and diet. You should always seek professional advice before taking part in any physical fitness program or changes to your diet.
Background -
After getting injured in March, not being able to train and starting “proper” work again I found I had quickly gained weight (fat) due to in-activity. Although I was coaching Martial Arts my participation in physical exercise had reduced significantly and my diet had been pretty poor.
This is how I lost over 10kg (1.5 Stone) over a 6 week period.
Baseline
Yes I work in IT, a Baseline is our starting point. Here is mine
Starting weight – 95.6KG
Date – 23/07/2012
This is the heaviest I have been in a 3 years.
Diet Changes
We all know what foods are good and bad, it is amazing how we can convince ourselves that bad food is ok to eat and still expect to meet our weight loss goals.
We all know on the most basic level what foods are going to help our weight loss needs, people sometimes get confused because of fad diets. Here is what I ate and worked for me:-
Carbs
What tends to work best for me is cutting out processed carbs (Pasta, Rice, Breads etc) and eat more Fibrous Vegetables example:-
Asparagus
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Green Beans
Kale
Leeks
Lettuce
Mushrooms
Onion
Peppers
Radishes
Spinach
The Carbohydrates in fibrous veggies take longer to digest than most process Carbs, which can help you feel fuller for longer because they are high in fibre. I boiled the veggies until they were soft and in most case used Frozen veg as it is quick and easier to prepare.
Protein
I didn’t really use any protein drinks in this 6 week period, I got most of my protein from:-
Chicken – Breast (I used this for about 75% of all my meals)
Beef – Extra Lean Mince and steak
Ham – Gammon
Fish – Salmon and Cobbler
Fats
The only fats I used were Extra Virgin Olive oil for cooking, sauces (try and stick with tomato based) and udo choice tablets. Up until the last 2 weeks I would add little bits of chorizo with the veg just to give it a little flavour.
Seasoning
This is the important bit, if you enjoy eating it is important that you try and make things taste nice and this is where seasoning comes in. After boiling my veg I would let is drain and then cover with “Spen’s Special Sprinkle” to give the veggies a little bit of flavour.
Experiment! Chilli flakes, Tabasco, Turmeric, Mixed herbs….
Drinks
I tried to drink at least 4 litres of water a day, I also had coffee without sugar (most of the time) and Green tea.
Training Changes
As I mentioned before my activity levels had reduced significantly, I had gone from training 2 to 3 times a day to coaching 3 times a week and not really participating in a full hour session…. This had to change.
I change my training to include the following each day Monday to Friday:-
Morning
20 mins HIT on a cross trainer or a 30 min run
Evening
2 hours of TRAINING (not coaching) in Martial arts (MMA, Kickboxing etc)
At least twice a week I would do a Kettlebell work out also, but what really seems to make the weight fly's off is the morning training session. I did the HIT/run before eating, this seems to have an excellent effect for me. I didn’t do every day, sometimes I had to work so I may have missed the odd session, don’t beat yourself up that’s life.
MAKE YOUR TRAINING COUNT!!!! Just being in the gym does not burn calories! You need to lift stuff and break a sweat (Sauna does not count) RUN, ROW, BIKE!!!!
Motivation
It’s everywhere you look cookies, pies, pizza …………. But what do you want? If you want to lose weight (and you have to want it) then you have to train and eat to lose weight.
Did I have any naughty meals? Yes … loads in the 6 week period. Fry ups, Pizza, Chinese food and beer …. And so on but 2 things:-
- I only had these meals at a weekend
- I had to earn these meals
These 2 rules helped motivate me to get to training and hit the gym!
The other thing is recording your progress, weight, measurements and pictures are really good for this. I have read people would also use pictures, holidays and fights as motivation.
Finished Result
Finishing weight – 83.4kg
Date – 07/09/2012
I lost over 10kg in 6/7 weeks, I had a bunch “Earned Meals” and Beer as well.
This is what worked for me if you are interested in personal training or a personalised training plan email us for more details:-
Suggested Reading
Some very good ideas in here, I have tried a couple of things Tim suggests and have seen a difference. There are some other things I am wanting to experiment with, which I will update you on.
Feed Back
Did this help you lose weight? Let me know it would be great to here from you.
