The FAT BURN Blog

Day 34 and going strong.

Today was my cardio day and decided, as it was such a beautiful day, to go for a long walk instead of going to the gym. So walked around the block which takes me about 45 minutes.

On Thursday when it is my next cardio day I am planning on doing some HIIT work. HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training. My plan is go up to the local park and after a 5 minute warm up, sprint across the width of the park (high intensity) and then walk back to the starting point (interval). I will do this 5 to 8 times then do a cool down. So all up the workout will only take about 20 minutes and will get my heart rate right up.

I will keep you posted how I go with this.

I am really focused on getting below the 110kg mark at the moment. I am very close now and should happen in the next few weeks.

Here are todays pictures:

Recently I was reading a post by a blogger about his weight loss journey. He is like me, on a fat loss journey and tracking his progress and holding himself accountable via a blog.

This particular person was saying that they were weighing themselves every day and in the last four weeks had made no progress. You can imagine how frustrating this can be when you are trying hard, daily checking your progress but staying stuck in the same place for four weeks.

This reminded me of a time a few years ago when I was stuck in a similar place. Every morning I would get up a get out the scales to weight myself, and every morning I would see no progress leading me to negative emotions and ultimately the destruction of my resolve to burn the fat.

What I discovered is that a huge part of the problem was in the fact that I was weighing myself everyday.

The reason I discovered is this:

1/ Your body is unlikely to change much in the course of 24 hours a day including your weight.

2/ When you weigh yourself each day you see basically the same numbers keep coming up.

3/ This creates a negative feedback loop that affirms your unconscious minds view of your bodyweight ie your self image.

4/ Your now stronger self-image (of being at whatever weight your are) leads you to act in a way that will keep you consistent with it. Your unconscious mind always wants to keep you consistent with the image it has of itself.

5/ Your lack of progress leads to emotions like frustration, despair and disappointment

6/ You emotional eat the wrong foods to comfort yourself which leads to the whole cycle repeating itself.

In my view weighing yourself daily is one of the worst things you can do.

Here is what I started doing to get different results.

1/ I made a promise to myself that I would only weigh myself once a week. This was a difficult thing to do at first as I had weighed myself daily for many years.

2/ After my weekly weigh in session I took the scales and put them in the garden shed (or somewhere else that requires effort to retrieve them). This makes you stop and think about it before just blindly jumping up on the scales.

3/ For the remaining 6 days of the week I would do a mental weigh in where I would visualize myself stepping on the scales at 1kg (2 pounds) lighter than my most recent weigh in.

4/ This daily visualization would lead to the formation of a new improved self image. Over time you can re-write your negative self-image with something more powerful.

5/ The new self image lead to taking better daily consistent action.

6/ Which leads to improved results at your weekly weigh in.

7/ Which inspires you to go even further creating positive momentum

So if you are weighing yourself daily and not getting the results you desire then try the plan above. It worked for me and I have no doubt it can work for you by setting up a better mindset for you of success.

I am excited to report that today I reached my first major milestone.

I have officially lost 10kg of scale weight since I began my fat loss journey and today weigh 112kg. I started my journey at 122kg.

In total I have lost more than 10kg of actual body fat as I have gained approximately 3 to 4kg of muscle along the way. So I have probably lost around 13kg to 14kg (28 to 30 pounds) of fat.

So I am happy about this …

Now for the next 10kg

The article below was published in the Sydney Morning Herald today.

It references a particular study done in Australia. I think it is reasonable to assume that a similar trend is occuring in countries like the USA & UK.

I found the article quite disturbing … when people begin to accept poor health as being okay because after all … I am not is as bad a shape as others like the contestants on biggest loser, well that is a cause for alarm in my mind.

The health issues, emotional issues, and lifestyle impacts of being overweight, regardless of whether you call it being fat, obese or a little heavy, still remain.

What is required is a sense of urgency to do something positive TODAY about improving your health and dropping excess body fat.

If you are reading this and have found that you have arrived at a place where you are more accepting of your weight then please let this be a wake up call for you … today is the day to refocus your efforts and mind on improving your health, not accepting poor health.

Here is the article … please leave your comments:

Weight loss a dead loss for many women

Reprinted from Sydney Morning Herald

- by Natasha Wallace Health Reporter

A THIRD of overweight women have “surrendered to obesity” and are in denial about the need to lose weight because “fat” has become a politically incorrect word, according to the company that helps many Australians shed the kilos.

A Newspoll survey, conducted for WeightWatchers, showed that more than one in three Australian women have become apathetic about losing weight.

More than 35 per cent of respondents who described themselves as being overweight - either a lot, moderately or a little - said they had not tried to lose weight in the past 12 months.

The general manager of WeightWatchers, Sarah Verne, said Australians were in denial about their need to lose weight.

“For a start, language has changed and it is no longer politically correct to use the word ‘fat’,” Ms Verne said.

“Instead, we use terms like obese, which are easy to disengage from for most people who consider themselves not too heavy,” she said.

“People are starting to think that being overweight is normal and therefore acceptable and not something they need be concerned about.”

She said the delusion was compounded by reality television programs such as The Biggest Loser, which pits obese people against each other in a battle to shed the most kilos.

“[The programs] feature the most extreme examples of obesity and we take solace that we are not that big,” she said.

The survey was conducted last July among a national sample of 600 women aged 18 and over.

The federal Health Minister, Nicola Roxon, has declared the overweight and obesity epidemic a national health priority.

National studies have shown that about one in two adults and one in four children are overweight or obese.

Despite this, only 32 per cent of men and 37 per cent of women thought that they were overweight, according to the 2004-05 Australian Bureau of Statistics National Health Survey.

“Australia has to face up to the truth, we are one of the fattest nations in the world,” Ms Verne said.

Read The Full Article Here

Today is day 32 … did not get a chance to post my results yesterday.

It was a beautiful day in Melbourne yesterday around 25 c and perfect blue skys. So my wife and I went for a walk from Brighton to St Kilda along the beach. Stopped at a little cafe for coffee overlooking the mariner half way. It was very pleasent.

One thing I have noticed is that when you live in a beautiful location such as by the beach there is a higher percentage of health conscious people who are active exercisers. At least that is the wat it seems.

So I got to thinking … is it health conscious people who are seeking out beautiful locations to live in so they can enjoy the exercise more … or is it the beautiful location that encourages people to become more health conscious?

Or is it me just delirious from the sun? hhhmmm not sure …

As we are selling our house we had a full on day of cleaning up in the yard after our beach walk. So I did about four hours of gardening and mowing lawns etc. So all up I had a very active day.

One thing I really need to watch is getting sunburnt. I have been a little slack this year as you will see in todays pictures and let myself get burnt. So I must stop this and make sure I apply more sun tan lotion in the future.

Here are todays pics:

Day 30 has arrived. My bodyweight today was 112.9kg. I had hoped to have been below 112 at this point so a little behind schedule.

One thing I noticed today while in the gym is the trend for more and more ladies to do weight training. It seems that the message is getting out there finally that resistance training with weights is the far superior way to burn fat, and shape and tone muscles.

It seemed like for many years that most females were to scared to do any weight training. Usually the reason given by most was that they didn’t want to get all big and bulky with lots of muscles.

I guess we have all seen the freakshow female bodybuilders who take mega doses of HGH, Steriods and other assorted drugs to enhance their muscle growth. Naturally the vast majority of women do not want to look like this.

So many women I believe have not ventured into weight training in the past for fear of getting to muscular and losing their feminity.

Well it looks like the truth is slowly but surely getting out there.

The average woman will never develop large muslces through weight training. It just simply can not happen.

Why not you ask?

Because significant muscle development requires the presence of testosterone in the body … something which the ladies are lacking.

Secondly … sadly most of us do not have the genetic make up to acquire large amounts of muscles mass easily … male or female.

So ladies you can rest easy … weight training is highly unlikley to turn you into a overly muscled freakshow.

What it will do though is increase slightly the amount of muslce and strenght you have. This will in turn elevate your metabolism.

In addition the metabolic disturbance effect of weight training will ensure your body burns more calories recovering from your training sessions than cardio or aerobic training will. The result? You burn more calories and therefore over time burn more fat.

Lean muscle is more easily shaped, toned and defined to give you the type of physique look that you after.

So ladies … great to see you training with weights! If you are a lady reading this and have not yet added weight training to your fat loss program then I highly recommend it.

Here are todays pics:

Hot … damn hot … 41 degrees in Melbourne today with more expecteed tommorrow. Great time to stay in under the air conditioning.

Well I did venture out in it for awhile today … went for a 45 minute walk this morning before it got above 32c. Decided I really felt like a walk today out in the fresh air rather than in the gym. I know that steady state cardio like walking is not so good for fat burning … but hey I enjoyed it

I think that is one of the keys to making lasting change … being flexible in your program and incorporating the things that you really enjoy. When my wife and I move down to Geelong I am going to get back into Surfing which is quite a good workout so I will build that into my program.

Also I discovered that there is a Beach Bootcamp program 3 nights a week on the Geelong Beach forshore so I think I will join that to vary up my cardio program a bit.

This is eastern beach near where Sue and I will be moving to when we finishing renovating the house there.

More exciting discoveries is that Eastern Beach is now host to an official Ironman qualifying event. It is a 1/2 Ironman … something to which I once aspired to do and who knows … may one day do yet.

The best I had done is a Gatorade Triatholon which was 600 metre Swim, 20 kilometre bike, and 6 kilometre run. I was in the part of the finishers that made most of the field look good haha … but at least I did it.

I also once did the half marathon in Melbourne in a time of about 2 hours and 24 minutes. Again I was a hack that had a crack … hhhmmm that might be largely an aussie expression so I best clarify. Had a crack means I had a go at it!

Well … Day 30 is up tommorrow. As I am tracking and measuring my progress each 10 days during the 100 day challenge I will be taking my measurements, and weight.

Here are todays progress pictures:

Today is Week 14 since the start of my fat loss journey.

I did not get a chance to report on Week 12 as it fell on Boxing Day and I was taking some time out with the family.

When I began my journey I was at 122kg and in a desperate position health wise. I was out of control, lacking in direction, depressed with zero focus on my health.

Today just 14 weeks later I am at 112.9kg on scale weight. I have lost 9.1 kg (appx 20 pounds) of scale weight and probably closer to 13 or 14 kg of actual body fat. I have added appx 4 or 5 kg of muscle in this time.

More importantly though I have more energy, have a new direction in life with new goals, have moved out of the danger zone health wise, feeling a lot better about myself and life, and my health is now a far higher priority.

Here is the video of my progress:

After watching the video please visit You Tube and rate the video and leave your comments there. The direct link for this video at You Tube is:

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=P4SuoptziEY

More updates coming soon!

Today while I was at the gym I heard a radio advertisment. It was for a new diet launched in Australia / New Zealand called the Lemon Detox Diet.

The ad claimed that you can lose 5kgs a week every week!

This I find rather alarming … sure you can lose 5kg a week but it will not be FAT. Yes you may lose a little fat but the vasy majority of the weight lost is going to be water and lean body tissue … ie muscle.

This is a disaster for your long term health and lean body.

When you lose muscle mass on what is essentially a starvation diet you will destroy your metabolism. You will erode your metabolism to such a low level that you will make it possible to get fatter on less calories than ever before.

What happens when you come of the Lemon Detox Diet?

Well naturally your body will be keen to prepare itself for the possibility of any future famines, ahh I mean diets :), and will stack away more fat than ever before. This will be all the easier for your body to do as you will have destroyed your metabolism.

The web site for the Lemon Detox Diet has testimonials from people saying they feel so much better … well of course you do if you stop shoveling crap into your mouth!

Please do not be fooled by the celebrity endoresements in marketing for diets such as the Lemon Detox Diet … these B grade celebrities are paid for these endorsements!

I call on all Shredders to unite and become becons of truth. Share with as many people as you can through your blogs the dangers of fad diets and the true path to burning the fat once and for all.

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As I was coming home last night from Geelong on the train (I left my wife down there with the car) I could literally feel the weight dropping off me.

Well … actually it was my shorts … I noticed they kept falling down and I suspect that within a week or two they will just drop straight off

This is excellent news given that when I started my fat loss journey they were almost to tight to do up.

So happy about that.

My wife is away today so I am taking my pics. This is me on the way to the gym: