My Fat Loss Diary
This is the post where I track my personal weight loss program during the month of February 2009…
THE GOAL: 6-pack abs in 1 month
THE METHOD: High Intensity Cardio 6 days a week. Slow weight training 3 days a week. Fat and Protein diet with lots of water…
Day 28 – The Last Day!
Found a gym and worked out hard. I can’t believe that I 28 days have passed already. Feels like only 2 weeks since I started this mission. Well, I failed to reach my goal of a 6-pack. I’m not dissappointed becasue I learned so much about nutrition and how my body works. I lost about 3% body fat in total, maintained most of my muscle mass and reduced my weight by 2 kg. My love handles are almost gone and I can see the beginnings of my 6-pack, which feels good.
So what next? I’m going to take a break while I’m in South Africa, although I’ll keep doing cardio and some body weight exercises to maintain my current physique. Then, in April, I’ll get back on another program to focus stictly on building muscle with 3 primary ‘multi joint exercises – deadlifts, bench press and squats…
I’ll create another pose to track that then.
Thanks to everyone who encouraged me. Your support spurred me on and updating this post every day kept me focused and committed.
I have answered some of your questions in the comments below.
Till next time, keep fit!
Day 27
Ran on the beach for the first time in ages… It’s hot here, so I hope I burned more calories than usual. Cannot track my body fay % here as I left my scales in London! No space in my my luggage for those…
Day 26
Flew to Cape Town, South Africa, so no gym today
Day 25
Went for a 30 minute jog on the beach in Cape Town. What a difference to the gym! Sun, sea, bikinis. Now this is the way to work out… Am having to plan my meals more now that I am in South Africa visiting my family. I don’t have all the ususal tools and foods I know from the UK. For example, I don’t have body fat scales. I brought my little kitchen scales with me to weight my portions, but the foods here all have different compositions from the UK, so I’m going to have to make some adjustments. Feeling good and my belly has definitely shrunk in the last 3 weeks. No sign of a 6-pack yet and the way I am going, it looks like I will have to wait a little longer for it than I had hoped. I’m fine with that and still enjoying my progress.
Day 24
No gym today. Had a long flight to South Africa and ate the crap on the plane because I did not prepare enough food to the journey due to a late night last night. LESSON: Order an Asian Vegetarian meal when booking your next flight and you’ll get some healthy green veg and a tasty meal. The woman sitting next to me was having one and it looked yummy and healthy.
Day 23
Decided to do weights in the gym today instead of tomorrow as I am flying to South Africa tomorrow. Was a good workout and all my numbers are up, indicating that I am stronger. This is good!
Day 22
I was super strong in the gym this morning. I ate lots of carbs yesterday on my carb-up day and this reflected in my strength increase. Did 40 minutes cardio instead on 60 and feel good about it. Looking forward to weighing myself on my body fat scales at 6pm tonight. I’m on the final sprint now…
Week 3 Stats
In the table below, BF = Body Fat %, MM = Muscle Mass.
Week 3 ended and I have lost 1kg of muscle. My body fat averaged out at 18.8% (0.1% higher than last week) and my muscle mass has dropped 1kg, so week 3 was not nearly as successful as I had hoped. I thought a lot about why this is and I have come to the conclusion that I am doing too much cardio. For week 4 I am cutting my cardio down to 500 Calories a day from 750. I believe that this will make a difference, especially with my measuring my food so accurately now. All in all, I’m pleased with my progress, even though it’s not as much as I had hoped.
Day 21 – No Day Off – Carb up day.
Went to the gym today because I skipped yesterday. Had a great dinner with friends and ate lots of yummy mashed potato. God I miss yummy food! Two people at dinner commented that I had lost weight. The last time they saw me was 2 weeks ago. My love handles have almost disappeared and although it looks like I am still a while away from a 6-pack, I feel satisfied with the progress I am making.
Day 20
Woke up in a hotel without a gym this morning so no cardio for me. I’ll do it tomorrow even though I fell I should have been more committed to doing it today… Only managed to eat protein shakes for most of the day today as I was in a film studio filming for Samantha Backman’s “Bloody Brilliant Life” Satellite TV Show. Noticed the body fat scales are not saying nice things about my body fat today… Jumped up to 19.6% and it says I lost 1 kg of muscle overnight. I don’t believe it. I think it is misreading due to my lack of solid food today. Will measure again tomorrow.
Day 19
Hurt my neck in the gym today. I think I pulled a neck muscle while doing Hammer Curls. I finished my session despite the pain, because I did not want to fall behind. Glad I did. Been sleeping a bit today to relieve the pain. Body Fat was 18.5 last night. It seems to be stabling out. Now that I am measuring my diet to the gram, I think I’ll begin seeing the effects within the next 7 days. Am looking forward to it. My love handles are going fast and my stomach is flattening out. Sometime soon, I’ll feel like its appropriate to post a photograph! 
Day 18
Great cardio today. Had some amazing ideas on the Elliptical machine. IO am really noticing my mental alertness increasing the longer I do this. It’s awesome.Bodyfat was 18.3% last night. Still got a way to go to get to sub 10%. Anyhow, I’m not stopping. This is too much fun and updating this post every day holds me accountable – a very valuable lesson…
Day 17
Had a great upper body weight training morning. Arrived home energized. I am amazed at how much more energy I have, just 2 weeks in. I can feel it tangibly. I am noticing myself being able to sustain more extended focus and and generally feeling very happy. It feels good to be doing something with such discipline for myself, even if the results are not what I had hoped yet. Looking forward to weighting myself on my body fat scales again tonight.
Day 16
Another cardio day today. Had a few great business ideas while on the Elliptical machine… Am being so strict with my diet and loving being able to measure foods. Dropped 1% bodyfat from yesterday. Down to 18.5%. Not a huge change, but things are at least moving downwards! You’d think that all this counting of grams would be boring, but I’m loving being able to adjust. I’m like my own little experiment…
Day 15
Had a great workout. A little stronger than last week. Got home and measured my protein powder to the gram. Spent 2 hours last night using www.fitday.com to measure exactly what to put into every meal I eat this week so that I get the exact nutrition I need. Am very excited. The best £15 I ever spent was on my digital kitchen scales. I feel in control of my nutrition now, rather than just guessing. This way I can accurately adjust and measure the results with my Body Fat scales. This is also turning into a good business lesson for me.
Week 2 Stats
In the table below, BF = Body Fat %, MM = Muscle Mass.
So far, I’m not seeing the improvement I had hoped for 2 weeks into this program. I think it is because I have been eating too much as a result of my old inaccurate food scales and not counting my fish oil as fat content in my meal. This week, I’ll be weighting EVERYTHING I eat and measuring it’s contents to make sure I accurately meet my targets of 53g protein and 23g fat with each meal. Sundays, I have 53g protein and 74g Carbs with each meal.
Day 14 – Day Off
Went to the movies and did my Carbohydrate load up today. Also bought a digital kitchen scale so I can measure my food to the gram. This was a godsend and I realized I have been eating too much, because my old analog scale was so inaccurate. Also, went onto www.fitday.com and discovered that my fish oil contains 9 grams of fat, which I take with every meal! I was not counting this in my fat count, so I have been eating 45 grams too much fat every day. Fitday’s website allows you to track how many grams of everything you eat every day by entering in the foods you eat. It is a godsend.
Day 13
Tired in the gym this morning. Was awake 3 hours before going, so I had not eaten for 3 hours before gymming, so my body was craving energy. Doing cardio on a full stomach is a waste of time as you burn far less calories as doing cardio on an empty stomach. Made a hug omelette for breakfast. Had a dinner party this evening and indulged in 2 glasses of wine. Naughty me…
Day 12
Full of beans this morning and got up early! Cardio was easy – did 40 mins on the elliptical machine and 20 mins on the bicycle. Upper body workout was fun. Going to have aquick nap now and then back to work. I made a new discovery in the gym today: protein farts scare people away very quickly… Next, I have to figure out how to maintain my gym routine while travelling. On 4th March, I leave home at 4am to go to Heathrow and then arrive in South Africa at 10pm, so not going to be able to gym that day.
Day 11
Jeez, it was tough getting out of bed this morning. I felt like someone hot me over the head with a sleeping pill. I slept till 09:30 then then ran to the gym, not after first forgetting my water bottle and then having to turn around half way to get it (and then I remembered I DID have money in my back pocket to buy a new bottle of water -doh !). Anyways, I was tired in the gym today. Burned another 750 calories. My body fat percentage increased by 1% last night. If you know anything about body fat measuring, it is notoriously unreliable and fluctuates, but I couldn’t help wondering if yesterday’s email from my friend planted a seed in my head which then had my body store MORE fat! Whatever. I’m over it and I’m back on track. Feeling energized and running out of hours in the day to work, because I all I seem to do is cook, drink water, go to the bathroom, type these blogs and exercise! Today I’m writing a sales letter for my new website that helps alcoholics quit drinking using an incredible hypnosis product. Wish me luck…
Day 10
Got an email from a friend saying that cardio is the worst way to lose fat. He’s not wrong, because cardio can cause muscle to break down and muscle is what speeds up the metabolism to burn more fat. I’ve done enough research in this area to know that my gym program I am on is going to work, but I let his opinion get to me and I’ve been feeling a little doubtful of my gym program all morning. As a result, my gym workout was only average today. I’m going to see this program through to the end of the time I committed to (1 month) and then measure the results. That’s the trick in body sculpting, business and life – measure, measure, measure… At least at the end of the month I’ll be able to see the figures and know if this program worked for me or not. Then I can adjust if necessary. I feel better just having written this.
Day 9
Cardio day today… Felt my strongest since day one. The Elliptical machine just didn’t seem to stress me out at all! Perhaps it the new JoeSatriani CD I am listening to… I really want to see my body fat from 3% this week. In the past, it seems that most of the progress I have made is always towards the end of my gym programs, so I want to speed it up this time and get my body into turbo fat burning mode. Drinking 2 cups of green tea a day. Taking disgusting cod liver oil 5 times a day and a 1000mg vitamin C tablet with each meal. Burned 800 calories at the gym today.
Day 8
Upper Body workout and cardio today. After a 3 day seminar with not much sleep I gave in to my inner dialogue this morning and slept till 9:30am. Got to the gym by 10am and now its midday and I’m starting some work… I needed the break. I’ve gone 2 weeks without a weekend and I was knackered. Anyhow, this morning I burned 750 calories via somecardio and then did my upper body weight training routine. Feeling strong and back in the swing of things. My belly feels bloated and although it does not seem to me that I am losing any body fat, my scales tell me otherwise, so I’m just going to trust the scales.
Week 1 Stats
In the table below, BF = Body Fat %, MM = Muscle Mass.
Day 7 – Day off
Did not measure body fat today as I was in a seminar all day.
Day 6
Had to be at the seminar at 8am this morning, and then discovered that my gym only opens at 9:30am on the weekends! Daft! So, I hunted down a Virgin Active near the seminar which opened at 8am and missed the first 90 minutes of the seminar. It was crunch time. I committed to the gym program and I also really wanted to attend this seminar. I decided my gym commitment was more important. Glad I kept my integrity together. Workout was only 40 minutes long. Burned 500 calories. Unfortunately, because of the seminar schedule I did not eat my 5 meals today. Only got 4 in and very erratically. Anyways, can’t always be perfect… Feeling happy and energized. As long and tough as this program is, I am really loving the exercise and the endorphin release… Did not measure body fat today as I was in a seminar all day.
Day 5
Doing a seminar this weekend, so was up all night cooking and had to get up extra early this morning after 4 hours sleep, so was tired today. My shins are sore from jogging to the gym. Otherwise feeling great, energized and proud of myself for sticking to it.
Day 4
Overslept an hour because I only got to bed at 3am. Felt a little more tired during today’s cardio session. Decided to cut 20 minutes off my ‘in the gym’ time by jogging to the gym and back (10 minutes each way). Nice to get outside, even if its cold. My knees are playing up from the jogging. I have never been able to jog for more than a week before my knees collapse and force me to walk. If anyone knows how to help me with this, I’d appreciate it. Feeling energized and healthy today. Noticed that my double chin is beginning to look smaller! Have a seminar tomorrow (Fri, Sat, Sun 9am – 11pm), so will need to figure out eating andgymming while all that is going on. It’s going to be interesting…
Day 3
Boy did I struggle to get out of bed this morning. Snoozed my alarm and fought an internal war with myself to make myself go into the cold (my car door frosted shut) and jog 10 minutes to the gym. My workout was good. Could not get onto the Squat Rack, so used the Smith Machine instead and I didn’t push my squats to total muscle failure. Anyhow, good enough for now. I’m pleased as the scale says my body fat is down and my muscle mass is up. Feeling energized and drinking lots of water. Starting to believe that I might actually have a 6-pack in a month. WOW!
Day 2
Overslept by 30 minutes. Adele says I snoozed my alarm, although I don’t remember that. I must learn to calm my mind down before I go to bed. So many great things going on in my life right now, my mind races thinking about possibilities as soon as I lay down…
Did 1 hour of cardio today on the Elliptical machine, treadmill and bicycle. Burned 760 Calories. Listened to a great teleseminar while in the gym and this made time pass faster.
Noticed I was a little less energized than yesterday after the session. So far, so good. Feeling fit and healthy already. My body is thanking me for eating healthy (thanks to my good friend AndreaAlbright). Andrea has lots of free weight loss information on her website which I HIGHY recommend you check out. Her advice is targeted at women wanting to lose weight in a healthy way, but it is TOTALLY applicable to men too. I learned a lot. Visit Andrea’s weight loss site here.
Day 1
Wow, I actually got out of bed at 5:45 this morning and went to the gym for Day 1 of my Fat Loss plan. The reason this was such a spectacular victory for me was that I only had like 3 hours of sleep last night and my internal dialogue this morning was SO LOUD when my alarm went off! My little voice kept telling me how I could go to gym later. Then the other voice of reason would pipe up saying that I needed to start the way I intended to finish.
Anyways, got to the gym and burned 750 calories on the Elliptical machine and the bicycle machine. Then went into a 30 minute upper body workout (chest, shoulders, triceps).
Walked out of the gym feeling SO proud of myself and surprisingly energised considering the amount of exercise I had just done. Day one seemed easy. Lets hope that the rest of the 30 days carries on like this.
I’ll keep posting here every day this month, so check back often or subscribe via RSS at the bottom of this blog (on the left hand side).
Tagged with: fat loss • weight loss
A book you might want to look up is called GUT BUSTERS. I do not have the ISBN at hand but it is something I am also doing as one of my New Year goals to get a 6 pack and I have just turned 50. It lays out a program of abdominal exercises that take 15 minutes a day working on all the varied muscles around the gut area. IT IS GOOD
BE WELL
Sorry for hogging the BLOG but I need some help. I’m at the begining of transforming my life financially. My partner has recently left me, I have debts close to £50,000 because of that, my boiler packed up last night so I have no heating, my cupboards are bare, I have debtors knocking on my door, I have two cats and a hampster and it has just badly snowed. LIFE IS GOOD. I have a goal to raise £25,000 by the end of February to pay off my immediate debts and do not know how that is going to happen. I have 4 jobs to keep all these bills down, which can get a bit tiring, and I have just started rehersals for a new play that I am in.
I have read the book Attractor Factor, watched The Secret and Paul Mckenna’s book I can Make You Rich. My mind is in a whirl as there is so much going on and I’m finding it difficult to find some perspective. I’m having loads of ideas flashing through my mind on how to overcome and deal with my varied circumstances; It’s like I’m on overload.
CAN YOU HELP DOT COM?
Can you notify me by email. Clicked the submit too quickly.
Hiya.
Are you trying to burn fat or build abs?
Usually both don’t happen at the same time…
If you want to build muscle, do the “Super Squats” program – it can reputedly add 30lbs of muscle in 6 weeks.
I suggest you ditch the split routines next time you attempt this and just concentrate on this.
On a side note Sam Backman is an extraordinary woman isn’t she. And she drinks beer, which makes her one of us lol.
Good luck with your program.
Rick Rakauskas
Hey Rick,
I’m on a mission to burn body fat, not build muscle. My abs are there already, just covered in body fat.
My weight routine is to maintain the muscle I already have as cardio kills muscle.
Bruce
I rarely comment on blogs but yours I had to stop and say Great Blog!!
This is a very good blog for us blog addicts, thanks for your blog.
Hi Bruce, i was reading throug your weight – loss diary and i was wondering if you would be interested in a all natural fat loss product that is absolutely wonderful and usefull while training? and it is safe to use, even for children and breast feeding women.I have been trying to get my fat% down for a long time, without the success i hoped for,( i learned that stress and insulin resistance plays a big role in this + many other hormonal factors that i was not aware of) but since i used this all natural product with a ( “peptide tecnology”) i got my fat% to go down 3% in one month!
Forgive me if i seem to be forward in telling you about it, but i am so excited about my results and love to help others achieve their goals.
regards
Anita
I really enjoy the content of your blog, since I am a blog addict I shall return, lol
Thanks for this post, it’s so easy to get side tracked from your weight loss plan and it’s stumblin across posts like this one that help keep me on track, keep up the good work.