Sunday, January 8, 2012

1% Weight Loss Program

1% PER WEEK WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAM

People often ask, ‘How much weight can I expect to lose each week?’ I reckon 1% of your body weight sounds about right.

I’ve seen people on the Biggest Looser lose huge amounts of weight in the initial weeks, so I guess the heavier you are, say 140Kg , even though you need to lose a bit more weight each week than someone who weighs, say 70Kg, it’s an achievable target.

You know how to do it.

For starters, exercise more. Do something before each meal. Say to yourself, ‘Don’t exercise, don’t eat.’ It could be something with real vigor or something as useful as a 20 minute walk.

At the same time start eating from the top of the Hourglass. If you eat protein (meat, fish, chicken) with vegetables for every meal, and every day have several glasses of vegetables and fruit that you juiced yourself, after a couple of weeks you’ll have retrained yourself how to eat wisely and given your weight loss program a real kick-start.

Sure it will take a bit of discipline but I know you’ve got the discipline to lose 1% of your weight each week for 12 weeks. It gets easier with every week.

The things to lay off are the garbohydrates - bread, pasta, cake, biscuits, chocolate, ice cream … You won’t die by eliminating these foods from your diet. What will happen is you’ll lose weight, you’ll have less headaches, your blood pressure may come down, you’ll have more energy, it won’t feel like your trousers are ring-barking you.

If you would like to view the weight loss targets click through too:

http://www.hourglassdiet.com/diet-plan/1-percent-per-week-weight-loss-program

You could computerize your own records by creating a spreadsheet, the formula for the cell below the starting weight cell = starting weight cell minus (1% of starting weight cell)


Initially run the program for 12 weeks and see how you go. If by that time you haven't reached your target weight just keep going. The longer you're involved the easier it becomes.

Keeping yourself honest
A lady brought her son to Gandhi and asked him to tell her son to stop eating sugar.

Gandhi said to bring the boy back the next week.

The next week the lady brought the child back and Gandhi told him to stop eating sugar. A month later the lady came back and said 'My child has done what you asked, but why you not tell him to stop eating sugar the first time I came.' 'Lady', said Gandhi, “a week earlier I didn’t know if I could stop eating it myself'.

In keeping with the spirit of Gandhi I've resolved to keep myself honest by recording my weight each week for the next 12 weeks.

On the starting date, the 1st of January 2012 I weighed 86.6Kg.

At the end of the first week, the 8th of January I weighted 85.0Kg. The target was 85.7, so I've created a buffer against excess in the second week.

Each week I'll keep you posted on how I'm going.

You are invited to record your score each week by submitting a comment to this blog. If you want to protect your good name you can use a nick name , or you could really put pressure on yourself by using your real name.

I'll leave it up to you.

In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and set yourself a weight loss target; 1% per week until you’ve reached what you reckon is your ideal weight.

If you’d like a more detailed plan go to http://www.hourglassdiet.com/ and http://www.completefitnessworkout.com/

John Miller
www.hourglassdiet.com

Monday, January 2, 2012

New Year Resolutions

Fat loss and fitness are always high on the list of New Year resolutions.

It’s almost intuitive. You get past the Christmas season and come to the sudden realization of what poor shape you’re in and resolve to do something about it.

Maybe you’ve been thinking about getting back into better shape before Christmas and haven’t had the brain space to deal with it. Maybe you’ve been too busy, too absorbed in other things or distracted.

Christmas is the divide between the years, in fact it’s become the great yearly watershed between what’s happened in the past and what you’d like to happen in the future. That’s why it’s such a significant occasion.

A huge slice of the world stops on the 25th of December each year. ‘Sorry can’t do it until the beginning of February, it’s Christmas.’ End of story. No ifs, no buts. Christmas trumps all excuses.

If we didn’t have Christmas we’d be running around like headless chooks, we’d never have the urgency to finish things off, tidy our desks, take a few days off, sleep in and take naps, slow down, read a book, spend time with family ...

Christmas gives us the freedom to do those things without feeling guilty.

But what happens as soon as you slow down? The relaxation response kicks in and stimulates the process of reconnection with your Self, particularly that part of your Self that’s closest to you, your body. You take stock. You weigh up your position.

The Self thrives on time, attention, affection and thought.

If you’ve let yourself go, if the symptoms of metabolic, musculo-skeletal and psychological dysfunction are staring you in the face you begin to ‘wake up to your Self’.

Tension starts to build up to the point where you either resolve to do something to improve your health status, or you don’t.

A lot of people are stimulated sufficiently to make a few resolutions.

The starting point to losing weight it to make the distinction between good food and junk food. Get that sorted out and you’ll start eating more of the food that’s good for you and less of the food that’s not. You’ll be on the way to getting back closer to your ideal weight.

If you’re going to tackle the metabolic dysfunctions - of which being over weight is the most obvious symptom - you’ll need to eat less junk food and up your energy expenditure level, including aerobic activity and strength activity.

Of course the secret to improving your aerobic activity is to do it in the morning before work - with other people.

I run three mornings a week with three other blokes from our street and Frank who lives around the corner. I can tell you one thing, if it wasn’t for the commitment to the group there are many mornings when I’d still be lolling around in bed at 6.30am instead of getting ready to go for a run.

Do yourself and your neighbours a favour, organise a group from your street or your neighbourhood.

If that’s too hard, organise a group at work. The chances of it happening will be enhanced if you do it in the next couple of weeks.

Don’t forget your strength training program. Whilst there are a few exercises like situps and pushups you can do at home, going to the gym makes eminent sense. That way you’ll improve your all round muscular development, and because lean muscle burns more energy it will help you lose weight.

For some people New Year resolutions are a bit like castles in the air. Just having the picture in your mind might not be enough.

Emerson said ‘If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.’

Underpinning your resolve by writing down your resolutions is the foundation to achieving them. Post them in a place where they stare you in the face, somewhere like the side of your bathroom mirror.

Then gather the support of people around you by inviting them to be part of your fat loss and fitness program. You’ll do them a big favour as well.

Now take advantage of the special offer to obtain your copy of the Complete Fitness Workout and the Hourglass Diet.

Here's the link to the New Year Resolutions Special Offer

http://www.fitandhealthyonline.com/new-year-resolutions-2012/default.html

In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and resolve to turn those New Year resolutions into reality.

John Miller