Monday 31st January 6.00 EST
Current
Stats:
Height: 5ft 7.5",
Weight
Now: 167 pounds,
Waist:
33"
Body fat: 13%
Hi Everybody, well here it is, the very first photo of me taken after my 2
week detox, the detox was harder then I had imagined, there were a number of
times when I so much craved for something sweet, the sugar cravings were on
and off as I had expected all the way through, but I pushed through it and
here we are, ready for a start to my 12 week program.
I managed to cure most of my sugar cravings by eating plenty of fruit which
really helped. I did stick to my 6 meals a day and had the fruit intake as
one of those meals, not once did I have fruit or anything else in between
one of my actual meals.
I started drinking plenty of water, 7 or 8 glasses a day, I hope this will
start to clean my system out and prevent dehydration.
I am
so glad that the first two weeks is over, I can now get down to the real
hard work. The exercise that I will now be doing should also put my mind off
of eating, have to admit it, but always liked eating, anything and at
anytime, but achieving a six pack will not only be better for me mentally,
but physically I will end up being fitter, healthier and I am sure I will be
happier, I also hope to look few years younger, we shall see!
My weight seems to off dropped by
4 pounds over the two weeks during the
detox and that’s without any exercise.
Most of the weight I have lost was due to water retention that I had under
the skin, this was no doubt due to all the high calorie drinks and food I
had been drinking and eating over the past 12 months, my Body fat percentage
has maintained the same over the past two weeks along with no change in
waist size as of yet.
Well week 1 is about to start, I am expecting a substantial change over the
next week in body appearance.
My cardio workouts will start slowly and not too fast paced, I will not push
myself too hard over the first week, my calves, knee's and back really need
to get used to the jogging to start off with. The last thing I want is pains
in my legs or lower back due to my body not being used to jogging for such a
long time.
My cardio for the first week will consist of jogging in the morning before
breakfast as this is when the glycogen levels are the lowest and then
another 30 min jog in the afternoon/evening about two hours before my last
meal.
6.30am-7.00am
, 30 min jog
5.00pm – 6.30pm
, 30 min jog
As of the third week I will move onto a 45 minute Jog for each session and
eventually onto 1 hour cardio work out twice a day in the last 6 weeks.
My ab exercises will consist of:
Abs trained 5 times a week, alternating the ab exercise's and at 35 minutes
per session.
Day
1: Upper abs, Day 2: Obliques, Day 3: Lower Abs, Day 4: Upper Abs, Day 5:
Lower Abs
I will also do my Lats, biceps, triceps, shoulders and chest once a week to
keep toned and defined.
A Nutritious diet is most important if you want to achieve a six pack:
Never think of the term diet as in loosing weight, we don’t want to diet
whilst aiming for abs, increase your protein intake by eating more fish,
chicken, turkey, eat more veg, eggs and grain.
By eating un regularly the body will conserve energy/calories and store it
as fat when it has no food for long lengths of time, avoid this by eating
those 6 meals a day, spread them either every 2 hours or 2 ½ hours apart.
I
will be avoiding starchy carbohydrates such as rice, potatoes, bread, pasta
and any processed foods, I will at no point be eating cereals, however bran
flakes and oats are absolutely fine due to the high fibre content and low in
glycemic load.
I
will be having an off day also once a week, most probably on a Sunday where
I will do no exercise and allow my body to rest and also give myself a tiny
little treat, this will allow my body to rest for the start to the new week
ahead and also give me something to look forward to, now when you treat
yourself do not go over the top and eat lots of cake, have a small slice of
something sweet and around mid day, never in the afternoon.
My
daily meals for the 1st week will consist of:
7.00am:
4 boiled egg white's and two slices of grilled lean bacon
9.30am:
1 can of tuna chunks in brine with some salad with no dressing
12.00pm:
2 skinless chicken breasts and steamed or boiled veg
2.30pm
: Bowl of fruit
5.00pm
: grilled or
steamed fish without the skin and mixed salad
7.30pm
: light mixed salad with no dressing.
Alternate
the food slightly, swap the chicken for turkey or pork, my food intake also
seems like its very low in fat, I will be eating various friendly fats
contained in foods such as tuna, these have the fatty acids, Omega-3 which
are essential to us for a healthy diet.
I
will also be drinking whey powder 3 times a day for that extra protein
intake, I will spread this evenly through out the day.
Drink
at least 8 glasses of water throughout the day, never allow yourself to
dehydrate, I will be jogging plenty and will ensure that my body does not
dehydrate.
The
last meal of the day will consist of no starchy carbohydrates at all, you
could possibly have some simple carbs such as fruit or veg, but at no point
go to bed after eating complex carbs even if you have a two or 3 hour rest
after the last meal.
Now
you may hear that many people load up on complex carbohydrates and a good
55% of there daily calorie intake consists of calories coming from complex
carbs, these people may be athletes or body builders and would most
definitely require complex carbs as part of there daily diet to get there
energy, I am no athlete and neither am I a bodybuilder, therefore I have
chosen to cut down on complex/starchy carbs and stick to simple carbs to
gain my six pack, we all have different opinions and different methods, I am
no expert but what I will try to do is my method I have mentioned of eating
to gain my six pack, only time will tell after the 12 weeks is up, I am sure
I will no doubt find faults and flaws as I go along but I have plenty of
time ahead of me in my life to make changes and trial and error is expected,
I don’t expect to get this spot on first time round.
Also,
if you have not heard of the Glycemic Index (GI) and Glycemic Load (GL)
charts, I strongly recommend you print a copy of the table off for reference
to the foods, I very often check up a food I am about to eat on the chart to
asses the impact of the carb consumption and also to measure how much of a
rise may occur in circulating blood sugar a carbohydrate triggers, the
higher the numbers are the higher the blood sugar response, its very
interesting if you have not heard or read about it before and it plays a
major part in my eating regime.
Remember,
cutting your body fat requires you to reduce your calorie intake, always
have a calorie deficit at the end of the day, an average body may burn
from around 1500 to 2000 calories by doing nothing, when I say
nothing I mean these calories are burnt off by eating, talking, walking,
chewing food and even whilst sleeping, everything you do burns calories and
this is where these calories go.
I
always jot down my daily calorie food intake, I then deduct the calories
that I worked off through cardio, and then finally deduct approx 1200
calories being what I think may be a minimum through my normal burning of
calories through 24 hours, I have chosen the figure 1200 as it makes me work
harder to have a larger calorie deficit at the end of the day, I aim for my
final calorie's to be in the region of –500
to –1000 a day, for every 3500 calories you burn or being in the negative
region, you loose approximately 1Lb in body fat, I will be aiming to use up
around 7,000 calories a week, so I should expect a 2Lb drop in weight a week
over the first few weeks. I hope this to be fat only and not muscle.
Hope
you join me next week to see my progression, in next weeks photo you will
see a noticeable difference I should expect in my face and stomach. I cannot
estimate when the abs will show but soon as my body fat percentage hits the
9 to 10% mark we should have results.
