Last month I held a transformation challenge for my clients. It ran four-weeks and the goal was to focus on your diet and workouts so that you could achieve the biggest physical transformation you could in that time. For some people it can serve as a way to spice up their training a little, and for others it’s a great way to get started. Some of the results have been absolutely fantastic. I also decided to do the challenge to stimulate some interest and also just see what I could do in four weeks.
I started at 200 lbs. at approximately 25% bodyfat. That meant I was carrying around about 50 pounds of fat. I finished the month at about 188 pounds at about 22% bodyfat which means I’m down to about 41 pounds of fat. That means that of the 12 pounds I lost, 9-10 or so was bodyfat. The other 3 or so would mostly be a mix of water and glycogen. I would consider that a success and I’d like to talk about how my month went and the two main things I learned from it.
Below are the before and after pictures. The ones to the left were taken July 29th at 200lbs. The ones to the right were taken August 27th and 188 lbs.
1. You can do it if you want to. The month started out with my parents in town, which meant going out to eat and not being able to really prepare my food for the first 4 or so days of the challenge. As a matter of fact, the first day of the challenge we had reservations for one of our favorite restaurants, The Peasant and the Pear in Danville. Needless to say, my challenge was starting at least a day late. I did eat some outstanding food that night. What they can do with pears is something special.
The next three days, however, even though we went out to eat I stuck with salads and lean protein. No desserts and no bread. I just made up my mind that I was going to do this, no excuses.
By the way, my wife and I also went on a weekend trip to San Luis Obispo to celebrate our anniversary during the month. I planned out my diet so that I could have a bit of a cheat dinner one of the nights we were there.
So for the 28 days of the challenge we had visitors for 4 of them and we were on a trip for 2 more of them. Nearly a full quarter of the time.
2. A little hunger won’t kill you. The biggest thing I did was deciding to really pay attention to how I hungry I was. I think one of the biggest problems with our eating is that we panic any time we feel any kind of hunger or discomfort. I’ve frequently told my clients that they don’t have to eat until they feel full all the time. As an result of this alone I cut my caloric intake by probably 25% without even trying. For example, I found that my normal 4 egg mushroom, spinach and cheese omelet with 2 strips of bacon turned into a 2 egg omelet with 1 strip. At times I wouldn’t even finish it. Here are a couple of ways to help with this.
1. Eat slower. It takes about 15 minutes or so for your stomach to let your brain know that you’re full, and just think about all the food you can eat in 15 minutes. I know we’re all in a rush and super-busy but just taking a little extra time with this will pay off with huge results.
2. Be a little hungry. It’s fine, really, and if you want to lose fat it’s also pretty necessary. It may not feel completely comfortable all the time but you’ll get used to it, and face it, feeling comfortable all the time probably had a big hand in getting you to the point where you need to lose some weight to begin with.
3. Don’t take as much. Take less food then you think you want. Eat it slowly and then think about if you really need more.
4. Are you really hungry? So much of what we feel as hunger is really boredom or habit. Take the time to really listen to what your body, not your mind, is telling you.
I think these two things really set me up to have a pretty successful month and I’m not done yet. Once of the great things about fitness is how goals can change and lead to new discoveries and desires. It’s a all great puzzle that’s never truly solved. Kind of like us.
If you’d like any more information about what I did over the month and what I’m doing now just drop me a line at MitchRFitness@gmail.com.
Have a great day!
Mitch Rothbardt, CPT, PN Lean Eating Coach Mitch Rothbardt Fitness at 2861 Grove Way Castro Valley’s Premier Fitness Facility I Help People Discover Their Strength 510-754-7113 www.MitchRFitness.com MitchRFitness@gmail.com http://www.Facebook.com/MitchRothbardtFitness http://fast-metabolism.com Boost Your Metabolism With My Free Report
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