DISCIPLINE – a set series of activities that lead to an expected end result.
-Alan Walter
While the title to this email might sound like a infomercial for a magical “get skinny quick pill”, I promise the information below is the real deal on an accelerated way to become healthier and more fit.
This is a plan with no starvation, no sweatboxes, and one that will not require hours at the gym or magical “get skinny” pills.
However, what it will require is discipline, planning and a dedication to become more fit
How do I know? I just did it. This is the true story of my last 150 hours.
LAST SUNDAY
To begin, I thought I was in, or at least close to, the best shape of my life. I had just finished running a quarter marathon (6.55) miles at an 8:22 pace.I finished 109th overall out of 658 racers even though I had not run at all in two months, and only had run 3 times in the last half year.
So I was feeling good about myself.
Then . . . reality check.
After the race, I met the team from Body Spec in California. They offer a full body DEXA scan to determine your exact body composition.
DEXA scanning is a form of very low dose x-ray most often used to measure bone density in women. However, a new application of the technology is using DEXA to more accurately determine body composition namely by measuring body weight, bone density, total body fat, as well as your total lean body mass (namely muscle and water).
In short, it is a more accurate way to find out exactly what the body is made of and measuring how fit you are.
For a few months I wanted to try this myself, and after hearing about this new technology, I was in.
Frankly, the results were sobering. While I hoped to measure between 16-18% body fat, I instead found I was just over 23%. Ouch.
This was a real eye opener for me and I didn’t like what I saw.
While I learned the healthy range for men’s body fat ranges from the mid teens to the low twenties, I was not happy being on the high end of that range and was certainly higher than I wanted to be.
I knew I could do better and wanted to lose fat and gain muscle. I made the decision right then and there to make a change.
What did I do?
Two things:
- I pledged to work out more often and more intensely. Most days this was an intense 6-12 minute workout.
- Secondly, I tightened up my diet with more salads, more greens and limiting my cheat meals.
While my diet is normally pretty good before, or so I thought, I had spent the previous 4 weeks experimenting with a high protein, high fat, lower vegetable diet.
Based on these results, and the 7-10 pounds I had gained in the interim, this was not working for me and I was going back to what I know works best lots of veggies, healthy fats and a bit of supplemental protein.
Here was my plan:
- Do a 6-12 minute interval style high intensity work out every day.
- Previously I was only doing this 2-4 days a week so this was an increase in frequency.
- Also, I had fallen into a bit of a rut working out and my intensity had dropped off as well. I took this as an opportunity to increase my intensity and focus during the workout.
- I also mixed in a 60 minute yoga class, two hour hike and a few hours of flag football with friends.
- Diet – I would greatly limit my carbohydrates (30-50 g / day) as well as make greens the base of every meal.
- I would only eat when I was hungry. Some days, I ate four meals, other days I ate only one. See Intermittent Fasting.
However, I never starved myself but I also never ate if I was not hungry. Most days I ate two meals with one of them being a SP Complete Shake.
- During the 6 days, 6 of my meals were SP Complete Nutrient and Protein Shakes. I made this quite simply, 3 nutrient dense scoops of SP Complete (veggies and protein mix) added to 32 oz of water with a few drops of stevia (my #1 natural sweetener) added for taste
You will notice no almond, soy or rice milk, no sweet fruits like orange, apple, pineapple or strawberries added to this smoothie. Just the basics water, SP Complete and stevia.
These were avoided to limit any additional fruit sugar and carbs. - Every meal I ate was a salad. Every salad had a 1/4 to 1 whole avocado depending on how hungry I was (healthy fats help you feel full). Occasionally I would add a little goat cheese for taste.
Other than this, the meal would consist of some combination of broccoli, onion and cucumber added to the salad.
The salad dressing I used was always mix of fresh lime and olive oil as I find this combination quick, healthy and tasty. - During the 6 days, I had five meals that were not a homemade salad or SP Complete smoothie (including a dreaded airport meal). These included:
– A pre-packaged salad from a gas station ( at midnight the healthy options are limited),
– A Greek Salad at an airport resturant,
– spinach with grilled chicken at an Italian resturant (even though their special that night was my favorite Italian dish of eggplant parmesan, o the temptation was strong),
– Indian soup made with eggplant, onion, tomato and paner (cheese) &
– One homemade I made sautéed broccoli in tomato sauce with dairy free cheese. - I cut the carbs as low as I could easily. Probably 30-50 grams most days, with one or two days between 50-80 (I did cheat and have one piece of naan . . .but other than that no bread, potato, pasta, starchy vegetables or high fructose fruits during the week).
- I drank mostly water. Primarily filtered and ionized water from my house and the occasional sparkling spring water. I did once have a bottle of healthy kombucha but no soda, beer, wine or fruit juice.
While this was not an exciting diet or exercise program, it was incredibly efficient and effective. I felt great eating more greens again and experienced more energy and an overall lightness in my body.
While it did take discipline and a bit of pre-planning. The results were more than worth it to me.
While the speed of the weight loss certainly surprised me, the results speak for themselves.
Looking to naturally lose weight?
I encourage you to apply these same principles for one week and let me know what positive results come your way.
IN SUMMARY
Not a day goes by I don’t have someone in my office asking for the secret to losing weight. Based on this week, I would have to say with newfound emphasis:
- Disciplined eating and drinking – lots of greens, lean protein, very low carbs and only eating when you are hungry
- Working out – High intensity interval training is my favorite, short, sweet and very effective.
- Strength Training – The old saying that muscle burns more calories than fat is true and to jump start your fat burning potential, strength training is a must!