Former Fat Guy Blog

Real People Real Results - Understanding how food, fitness and mental attitude affect weight loss

I Just Lost 11 lbs of Bodyfat… On Vacation!

[ Note: This article was written by fitness and nutrition author Jon Benson. I have his permission to share it with you. Jon is the author of the Seven Minute Muscle Workout]

It was the weirdest thing …

I mean, I’ve been around you know? I’ve had just about every body and fatloss experience you can think of… the good, the bad, the ugly…

… and now the really bizarre.

Here’s the story:

I took off on an 8-day cruise to the Caribbean. This was a “business” cruise (yeah, right)… and I knew there was no way to eat the way I prefer to eat. At least not ideally. After that I had to speak in Tampa Florida at a fitness summit, then off to Las Vegas for yet another summit meeting.

All-in-all I was gone for almost three weeks.

First thing that I knew had to go was my “ideal” dietplan.

That’s my “Extreme” Plan on the Every Other Day Dietplan…

Every Other Day Dietplan

There are three plans in EODD:  The Primer Plan, which is literally “every other day”. You get to eat your favorite foods within reason every other day or so on this Plan. It’s perfect for folks who ‘hate’ dieting because, let’s face it, anyone can diet-for a day, right? Right.

Then there’s the Lifestyle Plans. These are two days of “burn eating” followed by a day of eating favorite foods. Most people use this because it too is so simple to use.

Then for we athletes and fitness pros there’s the Extreme Plan. This is for ultimate bodyfat loss and muscle-shaping. I love this plan.

But hey… it’s a vacation. And so I decided to eat on the Primer Plan… remember, that’s every other day. So every other day on the cruise I had a small dessert (sometimes two), pizza, or pasta… whatever I wanted within reason. The days before I did perfectly, substituting my morning shake for egg white omelets with a bit of cheese and a lot of veggies. Yum! 

Within three days I had LOST more than 4 lbs… or about 2 kg. Pure fat… well, a bit of water I suppose, but mostly that stubborn bodyfat around my middle that’s the last to go.

What the heck was going on?

Wait… the story gets better…

I move on to Tampa, and then Vegas, and now I’m 11 lbs (about 5 kg) down. My jeans ALL require a belt, only this time it’s not a fashion statement.

Frankly, I’m as surprised as you may be.

But I figured out why this happened. And I want to share it with you so you can use EODD (or another plan if you want… but mine is the best… : ) when you go on vacation or take a break.

Here’s why I dropped the last bit of my bodyfat:

First, I was on a VERY large cruise ship. I knew my weight training would not be as intense (the weights were not that heavy) but I also knew I could just make it work… train a bit more and go for the “pump”… just a good, quick workout. I ended up training 5 days on the cruise without a problem (and only ONE day of cardio for 20 minutes… you see, you do NOT need cardio to dump bodyfat!)

But the difference was in the WALKING. The ship was the largest ever built… the size of 2.5 football fields. And I walked everywhere… on the islands, on the boat, even to every meal. Just walking burned off FAR more calories than my normal lifestyle, which like most of you has a lot of sitting down to it. ; )

Walking… my favorite “Cardio” to this very day.

———————————————————————-|

My Supplement Tricks

———————————————————————-|

Second, I took extra potassium, along with all of my Radical Fatloss Blueprint Supplements. I carried them all on board.

You can read more about the supplements I take for “radical” fatloss here:

www.radicalfatlossblueprint.com

The two that really did the trick for me was the Aqualize (also known as Acquacil), only 1-2 a day, along with the amino acids.

Finally, I realized that I need MORE food than I’m eating now in order to increase my metabolic rate. Just a bit… about 400 calories a day more than I have been eating. Doing just that rebooted my metabolic rate and presto… 11 lbs of bodyfat and useless water is history. My abs have never looked better.

I hope this gives you some encouragement when it comes to being on the road or on vacation. With the right plan (like EODD and Radical Fatloss) you can actually improve your body…

… and best of all, I enjoyed every minute of my vacation! 

P.S.  An important note was that I made a decision not to drink on the cruise or elsewhere. I had one small glass of wine last night to celebrate with my largest affiliate and business comrade. He flew in from Israel just for this meeting, and it was the least i could do. Roei and I had a blast all day.

The reason drinking is a problem is that alcohol shuts down fat-burning for several hours… sometimes longer. But a glass of wine or two a week is not going to hurt you. I just made that one small “sacrifice” so I could enjoy ice cream, pizza (I ate four slices one night at 3:00am and woke up leaner!) and all the yummy food the boat had to offer.

So, my final tip:  Make a decision to cut out just ONE thing when you’re on the road. Alcohol was easy for me as I do not drink that much as it is.

Read more about my personal dietplan and my supplement plan here….

Every Other Day Dietplan

New Years Eve Weight Loss Tips

Weight loss tips for New Years eve are the theme of this edition of 3 tips Friday. New Years Eve is a time to celebrate the ending of one year and to start the next year fresh. Many use the time to set new years resolutions, whether they be physical, financial, spiritual or career related, and would welcome any they could get. With the new year celebration comes parties, dinners, snacks and of course alcohol.

Now, I’m certainly one to have a couple of good glasses of wine, because life is just too short for bad wine you know, but I’m also goal driven and understand the effect of alcohol on weight loss.

With that in mind, here are my New Years Eve Weight Loss Tips

New Years Eve Weight Loss Tips

1. Eat Before You Go Out

You should always eat before your party to cut down on low blood sugar affecting your ability to make good food choices when you’re out. Having your meal at the last minute before heading out gives you a good 3 to 4 hours of even blood sugar and a full stomach. You should be staying away from starchy carbohydrates this late in the evening anyway, but I’ll say it again. Don’t eat starchy carbohydrates after 6 PM. This will reduce the risk of having a drop in blood sugar just as the beverages begin being poured. To further increase your level of fullness, make sure you eat a larger portion of vegetables to increase your fiber content and your level of fullness.

[Read more…]

10 Recommendations For Preventing Cancer

A comprehensive new report warns that medical evidence is stronger than ever that excess body fat increases a person’s risk for numerous cancers and provides this list of 10 recommendations for preventing cancer.

The report by the American Institute for Cancer Research and the World Cancer Research Fund says there is also convincing evidence linking consumption of alcohol, red meat and processed meat to elevated cancer risk.

I have very little trust in any cancer research and especially any groups asking for donations for cancer research. In my opinion, it’s all just a big game of fund raising without any expectation of results. There’s more money in fund raising than cures.

However, the cancer prevention recommendations provided by the Diet and Cancer Report are sound and I’m happy to provide them for comments

10 Recommendations For Preventing Cancer

  1. Be as lean as possible within the normal range of body weight
  2. Be physically active as part of everyday life (see the )
  3. Limit consumption of energy-dense foods high in fat and sugar but low in fibre. Avoid sugary drinks
  4. Eat mostly foods of plant origin
  5. Limit intake of red meat and avoid processed meat
  6. Limit alcoholic drinks
  7. Limit consumption of salt
  8. Aim to meet nutritional needs through diet alone
  9. Breastfeed your children; it’s healthy for both mom and kids.
  10. If you’re a cancer survivor, follow the recommendations for cancer prevention

Kitchen Essentials : Stocking a New Kitchen – What to Get

This is the third part of the Kitchen Essentials series (part I, part II). Whether you’re stocking a new kitchen or just updating a few things, this is a great place to start.

When you’re moving out of home for the first time, performing a major kitchen overhaul or rebuilding following less-than-ideal circumstances; stocking a kitchen can be a daunting task. Fortunately, with a bit of careful purchasing, it can also be a very rewarding one.

If you’re starting from scratch, the following will get you well underway. I’ve separated the lists so that they can be used even if you’re only looking at one or two aspects. On to the good part :
[Read more…]

3 Weight Loss Tips For The Fitness Lifestyle

Does alcohol make you fat? The age old question among lifters and anyone on a weight loss program for sure. You know that drinking makes you fat right? The beer belly is evidence of this fact… or is it? Tom Venuto, author of Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle gives us 3 weight loss tips this week in regards to alcohol and weight loss. This is the first of two sets of tips regarding alcohol and they’re not only based in science, they’re based on common sense, just like any of Tom’s work.

Alcohol and Weight Loss Tips

(1) Don’t drink on a fat loss program. Although you could certainly drink and “get away with it” if you diligently maintained your calorie deficit as noted above, it certainly does not help your fat loss cause or your nutritional status.

(2) Drink in moderation during maintenance. For lifelong weight maintenance and a healthy lifestyle, if you drink, do so in moderation and only occasionally, such as on weekends or when you go out to dine in restaurants. Binge drinking and getting drunk has no place in a fitness lifestyle (not to mention hangovers aren’t very conducive to good workouts).

(3) Don’t drink daily. Moderate drinking, including daily drinking, has been associated with cardiovascular health benefits. However, I don’t recommend daily drinking because behaviors repeated daily become habits. Behaviors repeated multiple times daily become strong habits. Habitual drinking may lead to heavier drinking or full-blown addictions and can be hard to stop if you ever need to cut back.

Tom continues with some thoughts on the subject of the role alcohol plays in a fitness lifestyle

Alcohol has been implicated as a factor that may hurt your efforts to lose body fat. Whether alcohol is “fattening” has been a very controversial subject because technically speaking, alcohol is NOT stored as fat; it is oxidized ahead of other fuels.

Whether moderate drinking is healthy has also been a subject of controversy. Many studies show that cardiovascular health benefits are associated with moderate beer or wine drinking (which has been of particular interest lately with reservatrol in the news so much), while other studies show improved insulin sensitivity. Some experts however, say that alcohol has no place in a fitness lifestyle.

I invite you to read more on this subject by reading the full article by Tom Venuto. Tom gives 4 more weight loss tips as well in regards to alcohol and weight loss.

Inspiration


formerfatguy1

Determination


formerfatguy2

Satisfaction


formerfatguy3