Those of you who have been keeping an eye on the Lovefit Facebook page will have heard mention of my "Cleanse" product, currently being trialled with a few willing subjects. So far the results have been IMMENSE and I am hugely proud of my 3 "guinea pigs". The first two finish their program this coming Friday and I cannot wait for the results. All extremely exciting!
But before unleashing this product on the public, I needed a bit of accountability myself - I needed to be able to categorically say to clients that following this plan for 4 weeks is completely do-able, and no excuses will be accepted. It just so happened that another fitness professional was running a 26 day "Fat Loss for Fitpro's" program. This comprised of a rigid training regime (heavy lifting and metabolic conditioning daily),as well as a set nutritional plan (liver detox) and various lifestyle advice to follow (daily stretching, cold showers before bed, supplements, bed by 10.30pm... to mention a few bits)! Nedless to say, the main goal behind all of these elements is to optimise hormones - very much in keeping with the "Cleanse" product I am developing.
NB: The program I followed, and the food diary entries below are NOT from "Cleanse". This is a different program I was following, specifically for Fitness Professionals.
So, despite having weekends away planned for every weekend on the program dates, I opted in and chose to follow the plan. Of the 26 days on the plan, 10 of them were away which involved eating out in restaurants and staying overnight in B&Bs / hotels / friends houses. Yet with careful planning, I was able to stick to the plan.... and the results were amazing!
Those of you who know me will know that I don't need to "lose weight" as such. I train regularly, eat well and look after myself. But I am no saint and I certainly enjoy treats. I'm a Taurus and I LOVE my food. So my goal over the 4 weeks wasn't to lose weight (in fact I never weigh myself - this program was an exception), rather it was to see if I could get some real definition in my abs, and see if my bodyfat % would reduce. But mostly is was about proving it's posible to forego all those "treats" even with a very hectic social life going on. So I was massively surprised and pleasantly so, when I got my final results.
From start to finish I lost 9lb of pure fat, my bodyfat dropped 2.3% and I shed a total of 8" (including just under 2" round my natural waist). The best bit is, I didn't finish this looking skinny or thin. Far from it - my muscles are much more defined, my backside is as rounded as it ever was(!), so I still have shape, I'm just much leaner than I was. I have also had loads of comments about how good my skin looks, and I feel really good! Positive and energetic and raring to go! Sorry, I'm not bigging myself up (you can look at the before / after pics below and judge for yourself), but I am pretty pleased with how this all panned out.
I have included a few excerpts from my food diary so you can see what a great variety or tasty things I was eating during this protocol. Restrictive my a**e! I just enjoyed good, clean food for 26 days with no sneaky treats thrown in.
Day 1:
scrambled egg & asparagus
chicken and tons of veg stir fry
flash steak with rocket salad and courgettes in chilli (@ Jamie's Italian)
3L water
Tulsi tea
Day 3:
Fast til 1pm
Break with greens drink (homemade)
Veggie omelette with rocket salad
Quinoa with tons of veg and griddled pork.
Berries.
3.5L water.
2 x ppt tea.
Day 9:
scrambled egg & leeks
turkey stir fry (pepper, green beans, onion, cabbage, carrot) + brown rice
venison burger and salad
3L water.
tulsi tea.
Day 13:
bacon, mushroom, tomato + fresh smoothie
Pizza Express Bosco salad, minus the dough sticks and dressing + chicken
Fillet steak + sweet pots + spinach
Ppt tea.
2.5L water
Day 15:
LIQUID day =
2 x greens drink (spinach, avocado, celery, cucumber, coconut, mint)
2 x protein drink (2 egg yolks, raw cacao, agave, cinammon, ice, coconut milk)
1 x juice drink (apple, blueberries, ginger and carrot)
2L water
Day 23:
Greens drink,
Scrambled egg & leek.
Liquorice and cinammon tea.
chicken and greens with chilli and ginger.
tom kha guy (homemade thai soup)
tulsi tea
3L water
Before and after pics (Mon 29 Aug / Fri 23 Sep):
I've had a lot of people already express an interest in "Cleanse", so watch this space!
Good night all.
