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 :-)