COVID Lockdown - what to eat to lose that weight gain?

 

Whats the best diet?

I think I should elaborate and ask – whats the best diet for you??? And this is key. In my opinion each person wishing to lose a little weight or even a lot of weight needs to find a diet that suits them , their lifestyle and any health condition they may have.

I have tried the Ketogenic diet as suggested to me by Steve Maxwell and although I had some loss with it, I found it kind of difficult to be on. This is the one whereby you only eat veg, some fruit and a high amount of protien. After a few days you can test your urine with some colour changing ketogenic sticks and they alert you to your body being in a ketogenic state. To the lay man it means your body is using your fat as fuel. I find this one a good diet if you don't care much for breads, pasta, etc and have the pocket to pay for protien for every meal. I will however state high quantities of protien in your diet is meant to put a strain on your Liver and since I used to have ME/CFS then my liver may not function to its best on this diet. As a side not I must also state that there were metions that people with certain types of ME/CFS do not mobilise Glucose well suggesting you steer clear of Lucozade unless you are sick.

Another diet I tried is the 5:2 diet and I really gotta say this works for me, however I took it too far and instead of eating around 600 cals on my 2 diet days I tried not eating at all. This turned out to be detrimental and I started putting weight back on. I cannot define if it was due to my 5 days normal eating becoming larger portions to compensate for the 2 days famine or if I did in fact cause my body to go into starvation mode and when feeding time came round again my body said – “store it – for the love of God … store it.

I have tried a few other diets but found that moderating your intake and trying to remain active to be a good solution. However, during this Covid lockdown the motivation for being active is kind of lacking due to all the restrictions, and also over the winter period in Scotland and more particular Arbroath, I find the howling gales a definite procrastination being the result.

So what am I trying now??? Well it is a version of the 5:2 diet and some would say is the predecessor of the 5:2 diet and its called FMD – Fasting Mimicking Diet.... Yep – sound weird doesn't it. Well I studied the science behind it from a variety of sources and checked out people who had tried it. I gotta be honest, it sounds too good to be true but there is a lot of science behind it with health benefits teaming out of it. So I decided to give it a go. The originator is Dr Valter Longo and although he does have ties with the FMD diet solution which costs around $250 for the 5 days I thought I'd do my own version with some minor tweaks to suit myself. I drink coffee not tea, I use generic multi vitamins, with a couple of extras to boost my levels such as Vitamin B, C and D – not to excess though. It is suggested you follow the diet for 5 days but results can be seen in 3 days. I opted for the 4 days in my version. There are many conflicting suggestions about how many times a month/year but I am aiming at twice per month reducing to once per month when I hit my weight goal. This is my 5^th day and I have lost 7lbs – yep about 3.3 Kg in 4 days... Now my goal is to lose some (5lbs) and then maintain it. Bear in mind you MUST get clearance from your Doctor and I am not telling you to do this, it is entirely up to you. This diet also stipulates that you must rest during the diet as the food intake will not compensate for basal metabolic rate and exercise. However, I ignored that bit and ramped up my cardio and weight training (not much though – just a bit).

OK so what did I eat...... da da!!!

For each of the 4 days I had:-

Breakfast

1 Coffee (no sugar)

1 Lidl Nut Bar

Miltivitamins

Lunch

1 bowl (½ tub) of Lidl Tomato Soup Chunky

5 olives

1 Coffee (no sugar)

Dinner

1 bowl (½ tub) of Lidl Carrot and Corriander Soup Chunky

15 cashews or 5 brazils or 8 almonds

1 Coffee (no sugar)

Snack

5 dry Lidl Crackers (no sugar)

Lots of water to drink.

So the suggestion is about 600-900 calories per day – no cheating!!! And when you finish the diet – don't just jump into a big meal – burger, pizza, pasta etc!!! Your stomach has actually shrunk a bit and your body will not be able to cope with a tsunami of insulin released with your first normal meal – TAKE IT EASY!!!

Stay safe people – and stay happy and healthy.

No BS Weight Loss for Everyone

Ok so lets get to the nitty gritty and avoid buying all those books or the latest magazine or the latest fad diet. What I am about to tell you is my own method of weight loss which I have found works for me. Some people rant about this or that but in reality if you want to lose weight you got to find one that works for you. I will give you a run down here and hope this will work for you too.

Ok as I said in my other post many moons ago not all calories from food are equal and so the biggest thing you got to start considering is do you want your machine (your body) running on premium unleaded or are you just gonna sit there and complain I can't shift this fat or weight??? By this I mean write down what you eat for a day or two or even a week. Be honest!!! No I said be Honest!!!! Now when you look over that list can you quickly identify the junk??? The crisps, the chocolate, the cakes, the toasties, the pastries etc. This is the JUNK.... Now can you identify the food that was once living? The meats, fruit and vegetables!!! This is the good stuff. Now consider from the 'Good' foods which ones were fried or wrapped in pastry, pasta or bread??? Yep - you just found something important there!!!  Ok For the next month try eating food from you good list only which was boiled, broiled, steamed, baked or grilled!!! Keep the bad list to a minimum or not at all!!! Have a sandwich or pasta now and then or cereal (preferably Bran). This is Step 1.

Step 2 - How often do you eat? Some say you need 6 meals, some say 3 and some say fast.... What do you do? For me I have 3 meals - a tiny breakfast - bran flakes or a breakfast bar. Yep neither of these were once living but breakfast derives from 'Break the FAST' which is what your body did all night sleeping so I enjoy my cereal or breakfast bar. I then have lunch usually meat and salad or sandwich of meat and lettuce/tomato etc. And finally I have dinner again meat and veg with condiments but not swimming in them. Right sounds normal eh? Well this was my usual food intake with the odd packet of crisps/chocolate bar here and there but these are treats for the week - not the day. Now I don't eat much but since I work as a computer geek my weight still climbed. Even when I did more training my weight just averaged the same. Slight fluctuations but nothing much. Due to my sedentary job it made things too easy for me to add weight relatively easily. So I found my answer...... If I was lifting heavy and doing manual labour I would find I would lose weight on the above but I wasn't so I needed to change. My secret came from Intermittent Fasting and before you run away screaming let me explain how simple this is. I designated Wednesdays and Fridays as my FAST days. Yes Thursday is a normal day as is the rest of the week. Yes, my fast is broken with that Thursday but that's the trick. I found if I fast 2 days together, I would turn mad!!! No seriously, that's how I felt food cravings were driving me mad and my concentration started to suffer. But I found the break on the Thursday broke the madness. Tuesday I would eat as explained. Wednesday I would get up and still have breakfast but then nothing until Thursday where again I'd get up have breakfast and eat my next 2 meals normally. Friday would be a repeat of Wednesday. Now there is a really important thing you MUST GET INTO YOUR HEAD!!!! Even though you are fasting on Wednesday and Friday that DOES NOT GIVE YOU THE RIGHT TO SAY "oh I'm fasting tomorrow (or yesterday) that means I'll have to make up for it" NO NO NO!!! If you say that.... get up, walk over to the nearest mirror, look at yourself and with your right hand give yourself a SLAP!!! If you do 'make up for it' you are defeating the purpose of this!!!! SILLY PERSON!!!! I won't lie, the fasting part is a nightmare when you begin but then when you get used to it, you will look forward to your stomach feeling empty. I find I have more energy not less.

Step 3 - Ok so how can I make it work better??? Well you gotta get off yer butt and do something!!! More muscle means your body will burn more calories even in its sleep. You just gotta get more muscle. My plan is 1-3 times a week weights and about the same for cardio. Now listen - before you go running screaming 'Nooooo!!!' If you are female you will NOT bulk up and look like the Hulk. Whatever sex you are you will tone and build elegant functional muscle. I do not spend excessive amounts of time in the gym, in fact I don't go to the gym. I have weights in my office and I spend a maximum of 30 minutes for my workout!!! Yes 30 minutes, 1 to 3 times a week!!! My main regime is 8 exercises of complex exercises done to the MAX!!! To the point I want to hurl, blow chunks, shout at my shoes, etc. Some weeks I cannot do more than 1 session per week so I move on to all-out body weight or some other variant I invent. So the take home message here is if you are younger than 18 do bodyweight exercises, Above 19 then do weights and gauge them to 80-90% of your max, no-one else - yours!!! But if you are able to talk or sing while working out with your weights then give yourself a slap and get your ass in gear!!! Now I will mention the cardio - again 1-3 times per week. If I do once then it will be a 5-10 mile jog, or over 20 mile cycle (fast). If not then I choose 20 mins jog, long relaxed cycle with my son, rowing machine 2Km all out. Walking or swimming is not an exercise which will help you burn sufficient calories. Yes, I hear you say but I read swimming burns loads of calories and my retort to that is "how do you swim? Breast stroke without getting your hair wet or are you Navy Seal standard???"

Step 4 - Cold water therapy - Yes Wim Hof style. Look him up, study his breathing then get yourself into the cold. Steve Maxwell first introduced me to this when he was with me and wanted to go hunt Nessy. So I joined him in Loch Ness - boy was that cold. Then Systema introduced the health benefits of cold water dousing. Then I attended a day with Wim Hof which culminated in the class mastering our breathing techniques and sitting down in a large Lidls Pool of water complete with about 100 bags of ice..... Yep - Wake UP!!! Now I am not telling you to jump in an ice bath but what I will suggest is every morning for the last 30 seconds of your nice toasty shower turn it to cold!!! Right off the mains cold! When this seems easy slowly increase until you can do 5 minutes or even just have a cold shower. When this is easy then fill the bath using only the cold tap straight from the mains and again time yourself. Start at 30 seconds and gradually increase the time until you can hit 10 minutes. Warning though - do cold exposure gradually!!!!! The benefits from cold water exposure are amazing. From converting white fat (horrid unsightly storage) to brown Fat which you body can use directly to feed the muscles. You will also release endorphins, reduce depression, reduce inflammation, and lots more - read up on it yourself! Here in Scotland cold water from the mains is cold, more so in the winter but if the 10 minute bath becomes easy then start adding some ice cubes. Through time your body will be able to accept baths at 3 degrees C and you will reap the benefits but TAKE YOUR TIME!

Step 5 - You can try taking a sip of Cider Vinegar either morning or night. This stuff is a miracle and has been proven to stabilise your Insulin, block fat absorption during assimilation from your meals. It is an acquired taste..... I am still trying to acquire ;-)

Step 6 - Stick to this plan from this day on and you will improve. I am not telling you to go on a diet and I am not telling you not to eat whatever you like. Just prioritise what you eat from the good food list and limit the bad food list. Protein consumption for the 2 meals should be your palm size. Not your partners or your child's. Your palm size. Limit the non-living carbs to this size too or even better not at all. As for the good carbs, the living ones such as lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, cruciferous veg like broccoli or cauliflower you can have double that amount provided it is not swimming in condiments, chocolate or cheese!!!!

I hope this helps you. I works for me. For men the ideal ratio between waist and chest is 10 inches Steve Maxwell once told me from the Physical Culture era. I have a 42" chest and about 32.5" waist. At 5'8 I am 173lbs and my goal is 170lb. I have functional muscle and a 6 pack. I still have room for improvement and I am to do just that but I write this as a legacy for my son to read and to help you - whoever you may be.

Stay Happy, Stay Healthy and Stay Fit :-)

Tough Mudder Scotland 2012

Well the day eventually came round, the 14th July 2012 when Gordon and I were faced with the mighty task of Tough Mudder at Drumlanrig Castle. Here is The Official Map.There were 22 defined obstacles with a route of around 12 miles.

Gordon asked me to train him and his friends for this event back around Christmas 2011, I agreed. By January I heard he was to face it alone as his comrades had deserted him, so I offered to step up to the challenge. I won't go through the 6 months of torture I put us through but I will take you through the actual event.

Our set off time was 8:20 am and were advised to be there 2 hours early, it made sense, there were a lot of cars filled with spectators, participants and first aiders. Make sure you follow their advice and fill in your forms and have your picture ID available or you won't get in. The journey in was spectacular, beautiful rolling roads, and driving in to the castle grounds through the early morning Scottish mist. Ah.. makes you proud to be a Scot!

I hooked up with team mate Gordon, and he had brought some spectators. Being honest, I was so happy to see his partner and friends, it was a good moral booster. We checked out the other competitors and more to the point, what they were wearing. Superhero outfits, a jock strap (yep, that was all!), wet suits, t-shirts, vests and 3 guys had on a suit and tie with running shoes. They reminded me of the bad guy in 'The Matrix". Some people were off getting their mullet trimmed or a mohican which I believe was free if you were a contestant. Hmmmm. There were a few tents scattered round selling food, drink, protein supplements, Under Armour gear and a DJ tent. All good!

We checked in the little baggage that we had and watched as the first batch of Mudderers left after, in my opinion a terrible warm up given by the hosts at the DJ stand. Adrenalin high, testosterone on a whole new level and hearts a thumpin. Next it was our turn 20 minutes later.

We heard over the tannoy, we had to make it to the starting line. He didn't say we first had to climb over a 7 foot wall but that was no biggee. Thats it, about 500 of us were huddled together in a little pen, getting riled at the Start line. The commentator was playing "Eye of the Tiger" and strangely enough "Walk 500 miles" and shouting things to us so we shouted back. We were mixed with other veteran Tough Mudders from around the globe just wanting to tick off another one. American, Australians, Italians, French and I believe a Hawaiian. The count down was on 5, Gordon leaned in and said he felt a bit butterflies, I  began to question myself and found I didn't, and then wondered if it was good or bad. Ultimately I put it down to "well, we trained hard enough for it, we are as ready as we are gonna be". The air horn blew and we were off....

1. Braveheart Charge This was simply a warm up just to get the legs, heart and lungs working together in unison. We had both agreed "slow and steady" after all this was not a race but an event for camaraderie and of course crossing the finish line still alive. Steady jog climbing slowly up hill, met by the occasionaly Broadsword weilding Scotsman shouting "ARR" and "OCH!" and a few other swear words I won't document here.

2. Kiss the Mud 1 This was a crawl under a mesh of barbed wire. Your objective was to keep your ass down, so if you are thinking about taking a bum bag or hydration system - don't. Theres plenty of places to get water.This works your core as you mainly use bent arms and a wee bit from your legs.

3. Artic Enema Yes, this is a bad as it sounds. Jump into a container full of iced water up to your middle, wade over to a wall and plunge your head under, go through an opening in the wall and come up the other side. Make sure you know how deep the hole is and don't header the wall as I did, giving me another attempt in this icey hell. I made it, but by then my arms and legs were numb and cramping. I would say maybe about 3 minutes I was in but it felt longer. Where was Gordon, aw he was in and out before I could say 'bloomin eck thats cold!'. But remember as Bear Grylls says get your core back up to temperature asap, even if you have to do some star jumps. Preparation for this is cold showers, then cold baths no longer than 30 secs though.

4. Boa Constrictor Now I know why there was a plumbing company sponsoring the event. They supplied the pipes. You had to crawl into pipes which led down into a pond, where you ended up about 60 percent submerged, you then had to climb up and out through the next, muddy wet, smelly pipe. I had on knee protectors, which were a good idea but not for this as they prevented me from being able to use me knees as I couldn't bend my legs the pipe was too narrow. Thats when I got a hefty push and appreciated push from another competitor coming up behind. Thanks mate - needed that. Again Gordon snaked through with the ease of a grass snake.

5. Walk the Plank What can I say, climb up a quite dodgey looking platform so you are about 15 feet up , from a murky deep, cold, dirty, muddy, big pond. (Bearing in mind Scottish water only changes around 3 degrees throughout the entire year). Then YEEHA!!! Jump in!!! Great, always wondered what that would feel like and how far under the water line you go, and of course would I panic breathe in the water due to the temperature. The Answer is quite deep, and no, you just breathe when you get back to the surface. (Wanna do it again).

6. Kiss the Mud 2 Same as last time, get on your elbows and knees with your chest on the mud and crawl a long and slightly uphill under barbed wire (not razor wire, but not fake plastic wire either, as the holes in my new T-Shirt proved).

7. Cliffhanger Now, it may have just been me (or the 10,000 volts)but I cannot recall this one, nor can Gordon. We couldn't have cheated as you follow orange tape almost everywhere but we don't think this actually existed. However there is another, I call 12A, see later. I will take this opportunity to say even at this point around 4 miles all muddy track so far has been practically uphill. Calves and thighs beginning to scream as the lactic acid builds up. Also there was a stream / river that we had to keep crossing and some parts were chest high deep and that was before you slipped. Watch out going under the bridge - bits of it are very deep and getting out is good old unforgiving mud.

8. Berlin Walls 1 2 walls at about 10 feet, with a tiniest of ledges at about 20 inches from the ground and the oly hand hold 10 feet up. The best idea, get help, especially if you are a bit on the short side like Gordon and I. I got Gordon up then he either pulled me or another competitor helped me, who I then helped too. Nice team work - thanks to all. Since this was after a water break it felt relatively easy.

9. Kiss the Mud 3 Beginning not to like this now, but am still ok, not really fatiguing yet.

10. Underwater Tunnels Hmmmm...not quite. Underwater... Yes! Tunnels...No! Ooooh this was cold. This time effectively crossing yet another expanse of bottomless murky water, and ducking under tethered Big Blue Plastic Drums, 5 of them to be precise. You got to swim between them and then dive under and come up the other side. Not too physically demanding but if you are in the water long enough due to people before you, you just can't feel you legs or arms much towards the last third and to help you pull your freezing ass out of the water and up the muddy verge. Oh yeah, and I remember Gordon leaning to me as we were jogging only 5 minutes before this saying "I think we've got the worst overwith"

11. Mud Mile Gordon and I were jogging along this thinking this isn't so bad, but yes its still uphill, but hey its ok. Then we realised, we weren't actually on it yet.... The next corner and stream crossing led us to the thigh deep sticky, smelly, sinking, gooey, shoe eating mud... he he it was fun. No photos here though I think the camera man was devoured in the black mineral dense mud. Thlwop! Splurge!!

12. Quagmire Which means to me muddy marsh... and I was right. Lotta laughs here though. There were peaks and troughs carved out of a field leaving a fantastically undulating fromation of slippery muddy hills, embankments and equally deep water filled pools of mud to slip and slide into. This is where all possible array of microstones and mud make their way into your shoes and down your pants, etc. You get the picture. I watched as this big tall guy made it look easy until he jumped from one hill into what looked like a puddle only to vanish, Laurel and Hardy style, into the brown opaque liquid with no trace for a second, then pop back to the surface shocked.Hah hah, that made me laugh, even now I chortle.

12A. Devils Beard (not listed) This was a huge cargo net that we had to crawl under. Not lying flat this time just bent over. If I can speak for Gordon and I, we found it a 'piece of cake.'

13. Firewalker This was what appeared to be the first downhill jog to this obstacle, it could be smelt though for miles. Bails of hay soaked in kerosene and set on fire, a bit like the neighbours barbaque. Looked easy enough but you could feel the heat. It was a bit like something out of an old gunslinger movie, because you were hard pushed to see anything beyond 10 feet. We entered and I noticed Gordon beginning to lag. I slowed my pace and turned to him, "Are you Ok?" I said, he looked at me as if I was stupid and said "the flames are helping me dry off". To that I laughed and said, "Ok yeah, I see your point" and continued at a more scenic pace. Somewhat charred though.

14. Trench Warfare A further jog uphill in the mud through a beautiful wooded area, we were then confronted with a queue. A long queue. Ahead of us were 4 seperate trenches hand dug into the muddy woodland. They started at a depth of about 3 foot bet gradually reduced to around 2 feet and narrow. The were also covered to make them pretty dark and claustrophobic with logs, sheeting mud and of course more barbed wire. There elevation was downhill which allowed a trickle of a stream to flow down them too. For added effect, the set up crew had a Scots Piper playing battle hymns on the bagpipes, with large speakers echoing the sounds of first world war and just to really soak in the atmosphere they also let off a few pyrotechnics. This was cool.

15. Logjamming This was a series of logs you had to alternately climb over the under, with each one getting subtly higher, again complete with mud and barbed wire. This had the added bonus of a female, raising your blood pressure, shouting at you to move "faster", "get your leg over" and "come on, thought you were real men". We were all cursing her during the obstacle until at the end we saw she was pregnant. We met her with a smile, knowing that, what ever pain we were going through, she would have to endure her own torture during her up and coming child birth, very, shortly.

16. Hold your wood Simply an amble round another pond, oh, yeah, but carrying a log. Remember and pick one that is challenging. I spotted a few with twigs, but conversely, I did spot a few with trees, and jogging.

17. Spiders Web In the middle of a forest, we found the spiders web. Oooo, a vertical cargo net tidied up between 2 trees. Easy enough but make sure of good footing and good grip. And don't get kicked in the teeth from a fellow participant at the top as you switch from 1 side of the net to the other.

18. Berlin Walls 2 Aw naw... These were 12 feet high and as per the last set only offered you the teensiest of footholds at knee height, more of a joke than anything practical. Again I got Gordon up first, but my arms were beginning to fail. A fellow gave me a hand up and over the first, then on to the second. Same approach, Gordon up and over then ..my turn, no-one there... All of a sudden a guy who just completed it comes back around and helps me again great. With renewed spirit and by this time some spectators and flung myself up, Gordon pulled and the guy pushed. I triumphantly threw my leg over the top as Gordon got down and... uh oh... to much speed/aggression whatever. I was coming down on the top of the wall. Crunch, the only phrase that sprung to mind was 'crush a grape' I gasped, Gordon in horror looked up gasped too, as did the guy that helped me and about a dozen spectators. I leaned forward and slid off the wall like a pancake sliding out a frying pan. At least that was the last wall. We were on the downhill straight now.

19. Electric Eel What fresh hell was this??? Much like Kiss The Mud you had to crawl along on your belly, no mud though, just a thick black plastice sheet like something Dexter would use. Also no barbed wire, no.. no ..no..no that was replaced be hundreds of little dangling wires. Some containing a few volts whilst I've heard others containing 10,000volts. Yep, I knew its only deadly if the current is high but 10,000volts is the equivalent of a tazer. Gordon and I stood at the edge just looking, wondering what the best path was, oh yeah and there was a lady with a hose spraying all contestant with yet more water to help the electricity conduct. We looked at each other and went for it. Gordon jumped in first and I followed hot on his heals. As I was crawling I felt my left hip be zapped and my leg kick out outwith my control. I paused and thought "that wasn't bad, I could handle that, its ok." I crawed on more, this time my right shoulder. Same power as my arm flew off to the side. Yep, ok, ok. I crawled some more, then all of a sudden I got zapped, I think on the right rear of my skull, my jaw shot open, and although I felt as though I froze it appear there was a blackout, but only to me. Just a fraction of a second, then a groggy feeling and blurred vision came back. In front of me was a sign and I was just beginning to be able to focus. I then remembered where I was and thought "gotta get outta here now." I crawled frantic and fast and within the last 3 feet zapped again, but that one was ok.

20. Funky Monkey The Monkey Bars next as Gordon and I jogged towards it, he grunted "I'm no goin in that watter again" translated to any non scots out there is "I will not be falling in to that water again". I laughed, he also commented, "the gloves are comin aff" (translated "I won't wear my gloves") and that was us. I grabbed the first rung, tested it with my weight and grip. Its good, I'll manage. I got 3 rungs more then I straightened my toes to stop my lower body swaying too much - a trick I had been practicing. Then all of a sudden, the toes of both curled, the soles of my feet cramped. This quickly spread to my calves, my thighs and hips. I thought I screamed in pain but no sound errupted. Alas, I was falling, back to the murky depths of yet another pool. A deep pool. The ice cold water kept my convulsing limbs in torture, I couldn't use anything below my hips to swim. I got to the surface thinking. That guy in red(Emergency Team) will have to pull me out. But I thought "No" I didn't come this far. I tread water with my arms and breast stroke to the other edge. I made it. Then I thought, swing my legs forward and push off to get out of here. They still we locked an writihing agony. I had to spin myself around, and lift myself out backwards, but I still couldn't bring my knees up so I just collapsed back on to the platform. At last a contestant came over and helped me back to my feet. I turned back to see Gordon complete the Monkey Bars - DRY!!!Good on you!

21. Everest I had to walk my legs back to normal and as I did with my trusty partner Gordon I looked at the structure that before us. I try not to swear but I may have murmurred something when I saw it. A greased quarter pipe, that was seriously some height. In the queue I witness some contestants with tissues quenching the blood after this structure befell them and the plunged face first into the quarter pipe. We were not looking forward to this. We tried, and failed, attempt 2- both failed. 3 again - failed. At that point I looked on as I watch others fail with some victorious and from that I said "I WILL DO THIS!!! IT WON'T BEAT ME!!!". Thinking of all people that gave me strencth and direction, both ficticious and real, I'm gonna do it! Attempt 4, 5, 6 all flew by but on my seventh attempt I made it - it was a glorious feeling. I quickly turned and threw out my hand for the next contestant, and the next and of course Gordon. I had helped 12 people complete that - Hooah as they say!!

22. Electroshock Therapy Gordon and I trudged on, battered, bruised and exhausted and knew there was only one left. Well here is where our demons are left behind. Similar to Electric Eel but longer cables and this time you've to run through while dodging the strategic hay bails, of course with minimal shocks if possible. We stood on the edge, watched a guy in front of us go, who appeared to make it unscathed and as we were about to trace his path, "zap" he fell head first over a bail of hay with a whimper. Too late now to change path, go go go. I run Gordon followed. I was almost at the end when 2 wires crossed together like streams of light from ghostbusters and landed perfectly vertical down my forehead. "Zap", I staggered on, partly forgetting about Gordon till I looked up and read the amazing white letters on a black inflatable gateway F - I - N - I - S - H....Woo hoo I turned to Gordon so we could cross together. We were met by girls placing our infamous Orange Tough Mudder Headbands on, a tin of beer, a table of bananas, our Tough Mudder t-shirts, protein bars and foil sheets to keep us warm. We did it. Raising money for Dementia (over £1500) and Cancer Research (over £500).

If anybody is thinking about doing this next year and want training tips or a run down of the equipment I wore, then drop me a line. Will we do it again? ... stay tuned!!!

Diet Versus Nutrition

Due to it being the start of the year, I have now had a few people contacting me about their diet and what they should be doing. My first consideration is usually with their current build. Usually I say if you are of average build but want to tone up then consider resistance training and nutrition and not diet. Lets take no bones about it if you are chubby, or lets face it fat, then you gotta consider diet and resistance training. 

Whats the difference between Diet and Nutrition? Well, diet means usually cutting out certain things from your diet, for example if you are overweight, maybe you should consider a Ketogenic Diet (from Steve Maxwell) or a Neolithic diet where you eat primarily proteins with little or no carbos. Whereas, if I have mentioned to you Nutrition that means eat pretty much what you do eat but try and get the basics, in other words eat your Proteins, Carbs, Veggies and Fruit while they still look like the original thing. I don’t mean you should have a pigs leg on your plate but you should still be able to recognise a bit of meat without it being wrapped in pastry, shredded and mixed with potato etc, or smothered in some creamy sauce with sprinkles of parsley….

Now before you guys start reaching for the diet books, you gotta remember I have read a lot of these books and tried a lot of their advice and even tried cheating with Fat Metabolisers, Hydroxycut and things like Thermogenic serum. None of these supplements did any measurable good, however, I did find the Ketogenic Diet worked well for me so I suggest if you want to tone up a bit and drop a few pounds try this one out. Remember though this is only the case if you are overweight, chubby or fat. If you are average build but just want to tone go straight to the nutrition phase and just monitor your portions. Another thing that I have found is that everyone is shouting about how good this diet is or that diet. I think a lot of these diets work well individually for different people so not all work all the time for everyone. So, bottom line forget the diets for a minute even if you are fat, and yes, I do mean you reading this blog…In the words of the old masters – “CALORIES IN EQUALS CALORIES OUT!!!!” I can go out for a killer 20 Min HIIT Run burning around 300 cals in that 20 minutes to immediately get back to work and destroy it all in 3 minutes of eating a Snickers bar (and that’s the normal sized one). Whats the point??? If you are hungry, then at least eat something of good nutritious value and that won’t spike my insulin telling my body to store more fat.

Not all food is equivalent in caloric value though so really pay attention to that, however I don’t want you all to start counting calories either. Again see if you can eat pure foods, fish (not in batter in fact nothing deep fried), steak, pork, lettuce, carrots, brown rice, whole wheat pasta, apples, oranges, bananas etc. Celery is a negative calorie food, as you use more energy to eat and allow it to pass through your digestion than absorb from it. Good to know…If you are interested do a wee bit of comparison studies, go on line and compare some of your snacks with healthy alternatives and you’ll be impressed. My biggest, hugest, weakness is crisps, cos I love them, but equally I love Pop Corn (lightly salted or non at all) and that’s the homemade stuff (which is more fun) rather than the sticky stuff from the cinema or in pack from Tescos. The later will let you enjoy the odd snack (in reasonable portion size) without getting fat and having cravings.

Many books tell you, you must, must, must eat 6 meals a day to stabilise your insulin throughout the day … ehm…. No, your body is pretty good at coping with 3 meals a day provided you don’t overload it on SUGAR or STARCHY CARBOS. So if you want my advice, I suggest 3 portions per day of roughly the same size (breakfast, lunch and dinner), and the content is still to be Proteins(for the Greek Proteus meaning first), Carbos and Veggies/Fruit. Be carefull with fruit though as fructose is a sugar!!! Also although a potato is a Veggie its also very starchy – eat something that isn’t white is a simple thing to remember, what about some tasty Broccoli? You can still have a wee snack if you get peckish but try and make it healthy (1 handful of nuts, or seeds or pulses or a bit of fruit). But NO CRISPS, BISCUITS, CHOCOLATES, ETC…..!!! OK!!!

Next is the portion size, a good rule of thumb for me is the a normal dinner plate and the palm of you hand. Your dinner plate should be split in to thirds, each third should contain each of the following : Protiens, Carbos and Veggies. And each one of these should be no bigger than the palm of your hand (and not the palm of someone like John Wayne or Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Now also notice that’s no starter and no desert unless you want to be fat and overweight blaming me and everyone else cos you haven’t seen your toes in a month as you choke down that Chocolate Éclair. If this is you, pick up that phone book and give yourself a good whack on the back of the head…. Pay attention!!! 

A quick note on eating out, do exactly the same as above, split your plate up and eat only what fits the solution above. Heck you may get a doggie bag to take it away for lunch tomorrow.

I guess I should have started with this but its boring so its ok here. I am giving you advice from what I have picked up with my own experiments. If you think it makes sense try it out, if not, that’s ok, just go and ask someone else. To some out there you may have diabetes or other health issue and you may need more than 3 meals a day, if you are you’d be better tracking down a Nutritionalist or Doctor. However, you may also be a Vegan or Vegetarian, well that’s just silly!?!? He.. He no, seriously that’s good too, and total Kudos to you, cos so far you are better than most other eaters reading this being able to stick to your own ‘Diet.’ The only problem is, sometimes Vegans or Vegeterians tend to be a little under nourished as the calorific value is less than the meat eaters and sometimes there are amino acid and vitamin deficiencies. This comes back again to balanced nutrition and either the palm of your hand or your plate in thirds. You can still get your proteins from nuts, seeds, pulses, etc, (and eggs, milk, etc for the non vegans). Try and avoid Tofu and Quorn as under scientific research have been proven to reduce testosterone in men – be careful men!!! I’m sure you can work out a testosterone drop isn’t just muscle mass drop….Work it out!!! If you want more info if you are Vegan or Vegetarian why not check out Mike Mahlers blogs cos he is a Vegan and is very strong and muscular.

If you are looking for supplements, keep them to a minimum. Magnesium Spray was suggested by Mike Mahler and I find it great (giving vivid dreams too). Vitamin C 1000mg when you feel like a cold is coming on (but don’t overdo it as your body can get used to it and it can do you no good when you need it). A fish oil or garlic oil (odourless) is good for your joints and hair too.

Finally, if you are all still with me, here is a secret that will help you all lose fat a bit more. Calories aren’t just in food!!! Calories are also in what you drink!!! Especially if you like milkshakes, frappaccinos, lattes, fizzy juice, soups etc. If you must drink fizzy drinks try and aim for the diet version (although it contains usually aspartame and sometimes formaldehyde so I’ve been told…) I’ll be sticking with my favourite (Mexican Lime cordial from Tesco – ok theres a little sugar but I make it weak). Mind you I also drink untold quantites of coffee, tea, green tea, diet caffeine drinks and good old H2O ( or water).

Well, I’ll wrap this up here, the next blog will be on resistance training. I hope this has been helpful, let me know…

Stay Happy, Healthy and Fit and remember save the planet - buy less, eat less, waste less!!!

Food Intolerance Part 2

Ok, I have just received my email from Food Intolerance Uk inviting me to access my intolerance report on their web server. For this of you who have followed part 1 of this food intolerance project you should be familiar with the results of my Asyra Food Intolerance and Hormone Tests. If you are not please look at my blog I published earlier.

My goal was to compare both methods (blood test and computer probe Asyra) of testing mainly my Food Intolerances and hopefully highlight the fact that both tests reported common foods that I should remove from my diet to assist me in being a healthier individual. Additionally i would blog the results to assist others to decide if they wanted to do a test and indeed which test they would prefer. Now in simplest terms food Intolerances could cause or contribute to a multitude of health conditions such as M.E., Weight Gain, Weight Loss, etc. For more information on them please see www.asyra.co.uk or www.foodintoleranceuk.com.

The Asyra test was carried out at the Health Food Shop in Forfar and the Food Intolerance Uk blood test was done via a DIY kit they send you and can be seen here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1sJB3Gr-Qg&sns=em

Right, enough northers and now time for to contrast and compare the results. Hmmmm, I gotta be honest, I was a bit disappointed. From my previous blog regarding the Asyra tests you can see a considerable list of foods I am sensitive to and should either avoid or limit their intake. The blood test on the other hand, highlighted a total of 5........Now the blood test method concentrated on identifying any antibodies in my blood when subject to 131 foods, so between both test screenings I would probably opt for the blood test method being the truer of the 2.

And now for a listing of the five foods:-

I should limit the intake of Basil, Blueberries, Gluten and Plums. Ok, I think I can do that no problem, however here is the food I should actively remove from my diet:-



Coffee........ Noooooooooo!!!!!!! How am I meant to handle my day job now????

So as you can see there isn't much of a correlation between the 2 tests. When you consider the blood test cost £145 and the Asyra cost £90, I am sorry but I feel that I wasted my £90.

I hope my blogs have been of help to you or help you decide if you want to take a test or which test to take. To assist me in recouping some of my costs and your feeling flush please use the donate button below to donate anything, no gift to big or small....



www.topp1.co.uk

Food Intolerance Testing Part 1

As you may have already read in Facebook or heard from me directly, in the light of Mike Mahlers Hormone Optimisation lecture, I decided to go for a Food Intolerance test. I searched around a bit, surfing the net and asking around and found that there was to be held a Food Intolerance test in the local health food shop. It turned out that this was to be carried out using an “Asyra” Resonance machine. I again took this information back and searched the net for some inform on how the test is carried out and how it works and became more baffled and intruged by the minute.
At its most simplest, the patient is to hold a brass/copper electrode in each hand and after a few minutes the machine that is connected to the PC applies various electrical impulses through your body. It is apparently harmless and you feel nothing more than a slight pulse in your palms of your hands. The device that is connected to the PC has been calibrated to simulate various energies or wavelength signatures that relate to specific foods, vitamins, minerals, etc. I cannot explain this in depth and suggest if you are interested go to the manufacturers website for more information :- http://www.asyra.com

I took an hour for lunch from my day job, as the test should take around an hour. The actual resonance screening takes only a few minutes, but the initial questionnaire, the briefing of the assessment results and the unfortunate grilling I gave the poor lady that was hosting the screening took up the rest of the time. This all depends on how many of the Screenings you opt for of course. I opted for the Food Intolerance Test, with the Hormone and Metabolic Disturbances this came to the total cost of £90. I left with an 8 page report and a certain amount of appreciation for the test. Some of the results I expected while others did spread some enlightenment Here is a summary from my reports.:-

Energetic Baseline

Good (The following were tested and were acceptable)

Adrenal Gland

Appendix

Arteries / Veins

Bladder

Central Nervous System

Colon

Connective Tissue

Eustachian Tube

Front Sinus

Gallbladder

Heart

Joints

Kidneys

Large Intestine

Liver

Lymphatic

Maxillary

Parathyroid

Peripheral Nervous System

Pineal Gland

Reproductive

Skin

Small Intestine

Sphenoid & Ethmoid Sinus

Teeth

Thymus Gland

Thyroid Gland

Urinary Tract

Stressed (The following areas need a bit attention and can benefit from diet, vitamins and / or minerals)

Eyes

Hypothalmus Gland

Lungs

Spleen

Stomach

Weakened (The following is showing definite signs of weakness and will benefit from diet and supplementation)

Pancreas

The following list suggests areas that I need to 'Top Up'

Vitamin, Mineral, Digestive Function
Vitamin Deficiency
Inositol	Weakened
Cyanocobalamin	Stressed
Menatetrenone	Stressed
Supplement Deficiency
Dietry Fibre	Weakened
Enzyme Deficiency
Hydrochloric Acid	Stressed
Methionine	Stressed
Amino Acid
Glutamic Acid	Weakened
Tryptophan	Stressed
Carnitine	Stressed
Fatty Acid Deficiency
Gamma Linolenic Acid	Weakened

 

Hormonal Profile
Vasopressin	Weakened
Leptin	Stressed
Hydrocortisol	Stressed

The following table highlights the food that my body has issues with. The number is out of 100 where the lower the number the less my body wants these foods. The words 'Occasional' and 'Never' are suggestions for the foods inclusion to my daily menu. Occasional is suggested 1or 2 times a week, while 'Never' is NEVER. As you read this, if you know me, there are some foods I am happy to leave out of my shopping lists, but unfortunately and equally there are many foods listed as 'never' eat that I don't know how I will manage to find replacements for.

Food Sensitivity
Grains
Wheat – Germ	58	Occasional
Beverages
Beer	59	Occasional
Herbal Tea	92	Occasional
Dairy
Butter	39	Never
Egg – white	75	Occasional
Meat & Poultry
Chicken	65	Occasional
Pork	65	Occasional
Fish & Crustaceans
Clam	39	Never
Fruit
Grapefruit	27	Never
Fig	34	Never
Watermelon	35	Never
Apple	60	Occasional
Lychee	64	Never
Raisin	76	Occasional
Blueberry	78	Occasional
Additives
MSG	25	Never
Preservative Mix	41	Never
Sodium Sulphate	42	Never
Spices
Black Pepper	37	Never
Marjoram	40	Never
Red Pepper	40	Never
Mint	42	Never
Salt	57	Occasional
Savory	62	Occasional
Vegetables
Celery	37	Never
Lettuce	39	Never
Cabbage	54	Occasional
Beetroot	61	Occasional
Cooking Ingredients
Vinegar	40	Never
Soy Sauce	69	Never
Tofu	75	Occasional
Nuts and Seeds
Almonds	30	Never
Legumes
Kidney Bean	62	Occasional
Sugars and Sweeteners
Brown Sugar	40	Never
High Fructose Corn Syrup	75	Occasional

Any foods or drinks not on the above list are deemed as acceptable for the well being of my body.
Well thats all I have for you readers at the moment. I will also be subjecting myself to the blood type food intolerance test but that is £145 from Food Intolerance UK (google it guys !!!). I will be posting my results from that test too and I am hoping that both sets of results can be collated with some common areas. I am also hoping to contrast and compare my results.
Since this is costing me quite a bit, if this has or is helping you decide which path you would like to take. Please feel free if you would like to donate something to my ever growing bill using koyote@o2.co.uk via paypal. I would appreciate it!
Thank you for your interest and reading this blog. I am hoping this was useful or helpful to you.

If you are interested in getting this test done yourself and stay in Scotland, please contact the Asyra Therapist on 07817 663209 or email tracey.e.brady@ntlworld.com
In Health,
Stefan

The Summer Fat Loss Challenge

Ok, here we are in mid June. How many of you in the passed few days have thought, "you know I'd really love to drop a few pounds for the summer"?

Well, you are not the only one, I too, and no doubt a few of you readers are thinking the same. So my challenge is, that provided you are in good health and have no medical problems, high blood pressure, diabetes etc., is to join me in this diet.

Oops, there I said it, "diet". First let me say don't count calories, do not miss meals, just for at least the next 2 weeks, change your eating habits and humour me by playing this game. Without getting too technical, it's called ketosis, I first was told about this from my Coach as he often prescribed it for competitive fighters. I have just recently found out it is remarkably similar to an Atkins Diet variant. It has worked for me in the past but I am aiming to have a little fun and spread the word. Remember though, consider this next section as a challenge of will, are you willing to stick to this 100%? Your will must be strong. Mind you in the same breath if you witness, feel, or show any side effects, Stop and return to normal. If it works for you, you may want to relax the diet for a week or so and repeat this cycle, but be mindful of your non diet weeks not to put on the fat again!!!

Ok, here we go:-

1. No cakes, no chocolate, no crisps, no chips, no biscuits even if they say low calorie or diet whatever! In fact this should be you new rule for life!
2. No carbohydrates!!! No pasta, no potatoes, no cereal, no rolls, no rice, no matter if it's special low GI, low cal, low fat, space food! NO!
3. Don't skip any meals. Try and take 5 or 6 per day, even if it means eat half now and the remaining half 2 hours from now.
4. Eat vegetables but cut down if not cut out fruit (contain too much sugars).
5. Eat more proteins, meat, fish, chicken, cheese, eggs and nuts. Ok, they do contain more fats but they help your body and provide energy in the absence of carbohydrate.
6. Finally get at least 30-60 minutes of high effort exercise 3 days a week, now that is high effort on your scale, not mine, not your friends, not some film star, your high effort! But come on I don't mean a leisurely stroll around the equipment with your friends down at the local Curves gym or for that matter any other gym. Get your ass in gear and get looking for the burn!!! If you can keep chatting while your training, you are wimping out, take it up a notch.

And, that's it, remember this is an experiment! If you want to give it a go, do it! If you do let me know what your results are! If you don't drop some fat, before you drop me an email look back at the six points above and if you can honestly say you stuck to them then drop me a note.

Finally, if you are as geeky as me you can purchase Ketosticks on amazon. If you stick to the rules above you should manage to reach a state of ketosis ( the Ketostick goes purple when you pee on it ) by day 3. This is where you want to sit for the remaining 11 days. Your body is in body fat meltdown.