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06-28-2008, 09:22 PM
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 30 Day Trial: Exercise&eating for 6pack abs The night before... How does one achieve a BHAG?! Through knowledge, effective motivation and consistent self discipline and action. Over the past few years I've gradually lost weight (I used to be very overweight!) and become healthier. Recently I've hit a plateau, a zone that I haven't been able to break out of. Don't get me wrong, I'm not drastically overweight, I exercise and I eat relatively healthy. It seems that I have hit my own little comfort zone, where it's ok to indulge in excess sugar, avoid sufficient vegetables and eat badly/junk food every other day. I exercise relatively regularly and enjoy playing sports such as tennis, this would probably be the main reason why I haven't picked up a lot weight again. I have a fair amount of stubborn belly fat which includes some hefty love handles and I know somewhere underneath all of that is a solid set of abs! The time is now... Over the next 30days I'll be documenting my journey from flab to abs... I'll document workouts, meal plans, motivation methods and just my general feelings. Not only have I made a commitment to myself but I've also made a public commitment on this forum (hint: probably one of the better motivating methods). By no means is this going to be easy, a lot of people will even tell you that getting a 6pack comes down to genetics...well that's a BS excuse. Fundamentally, if you have a body fat % of less than 10 you should be able to see your abdominal muscles, if that's only 4/6pack for me I can live with that! This is not about cosmetics; don't get me wrong I'm going to enjoy taking off my shirt in 30days but I'm going to focus on a full body weightloss and exercise plan. Belly fat tends to be the hardest to get rid of and visible abdominal muscles seem as good a yardstick as any...the fact is, should I be able to achieve this goal I would have lost large amounts of fat all over my body and due to my balanced mealplan I'll also be extremely healthy! My plan/exercises/meals might not suit everyone here but it might provide insight, entertainment and a bit of motivation for you to decide what your health BHAG is..?! I'm human, some days will be harder than others, I have already decided that I will need rest/cheat days/meals but wow I can't wait to get started tomorrow morning and I'll be documenting everything here every evening! See you tomorrow... CA      |
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06-28-2008, 09:41 PM
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 Good luck! Looking forward to hearing about this. 
__________________ www.jenny-and-erin.com ~ join two friends on a tongue-in-cheek quest for understanding... |
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06-29-2008, 12:42 AM
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06-29-2008, 02:14 AM
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| Take pics... that'll help with your progress (show you how you grow) and also taking pics out of muscle & fitness magazines can help to:: post all over room, office,ect. (give you motivation to keep going) good luck |
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06-29-2008, 01:15 PM
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| Best of Luck!!! I will read and keep up with your progress. |
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06-29-2008, 03:16 PM
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| Good Luck brother! I'm doing something similar at the moment (similar situation, same end goal), though I'll share it with you when you're finished. I'd hate to sidetrack you. It was hard for me in the beginning, but once I started seeing results it hardened my determination. Whenever I feel like cheating and start reasoning that "oh one little cookie/bite/dessert/snack won't hurt" I remember that what I'm doing is working and that I don't want to be taking steps backwards. Poof -Craving gone. 30 days will seem like nothing once it's over, remember that and stay true. |
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06-29-2008, 10:29 PM
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| 30 Day Trial: exercise&eating for 6 pack abs DAY 1: Firstly, thanks for all the support and advice! Today was Sunday here in South Africa, which generally means having friends over for a BBQ or dinner. I woke up at my assigned time (5am - trying to solidify this as a habit) and did some reading. I wouldn't normally go to the gym on a Sunday because I try to play sports with friends on the weekends but I needed to get some work done today and attend a dinner party so time management was of the essence. 6:30 am - drank a glass of skim milk, hate training on an empty stomach and it is detrimental to muscle growth (I love dairy, drink a lot of milk and due to that only use skim milk) 7am - gym: I didn't want to work too hard, I've seen it too often and done it too, be inspired by a new goal, work like crazy the first few days and then fizzle out, not this time. The goal today was to complete 60mins of moderate exercise; light weights and cardio. The first 30mins were spent on the circuit, perhaps you have another name for it but it involves (all co-ordinated by a light system or bell, which means you perform each alternate exercise for 30seconds) one set of exercise on a machine and then one set of steps. The machines change as you move around the circuit but you keep alternating with 30' of stepping inbetween. i.e. lat pulldowns,30' stepping,shoulder press,30' stepping, leg raises, 30' stepping etc...all in all 14 different machines and 14 sets of stepping. I pushed myself a bit on the second half and by the end had built up a good sweat on a whole body session. I then jogged slowly for 15mins and cycled slowly (stationary bike) for 15mins. 8:30am breakfast - oats, almonds and skim milk mixed with a scoop of protein powder (I don't eat too much protein powder but I do try and get at least 3 scoops a day = 66 grams of protein. Sometimes I'll make meal replacement shake, sometimes I mix it with cereal. It works phenomenally for muscle repair and growth, I'm not that concerned with growth, which is why I don't overdo it, I'd rather be built like a 400m athlete/swimmer than a NFL player 11:30 some carrots and a glass of milk 1:30pm chicken, cheese and lettuce on wholegrain bread 4:30pm Ok so things got a bit tough here, I headed off to a friends place for a dinner party, avoided the high carb high fat crisps and had some redwine instead (I don't drink a lot or much other than red wine, for me the health advantages of red wine are phenomenal and I enjoy the taste) Dinner was fillet steak but prepared healthily, there were veggies in the form of peas, carrots, pumpkin and spinach, also had half a potato and another glass of wine. I ate until I was full as opposed to uncomfortable. Dessert was a small serving of chocolate brownies...yes I had them! Does that mean I'm going to kill myself? NO! Too often people get too frantic about cheating once and then fall into depression/give up. I had my cheat meal for the week, a bit earlier than I would have liked but there it was and as I anticipated, on a weekend. So all in all a good daym, execise commitment kept, meal plan followed except for chocolate brownies (cheat meal) and I would rate the day at about 7/10. Tomorrow/Monday means a hard weights session and a swim to cool down as well as a more structured/controlled mealplan for the day! I'll also post up some photos as a 'before' pic! |
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07-01-2008, 05:20 AM
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| 30 Day Trial: exercise&eating for 6 pack abs - Day 2 Woke up at 5am and headed off to gym, really cold in Johannesburg this winter...everyone at gym had to leave a warm bed to get there so there's an air of mutual repect! As I've said before I'm starting this journey slowly so that I avoid burn out or injuries. I use supersets in order to get my heart rate up, I see way too many people sitting around or talking when they could be doing another exercise and quite frankly I want to in and out of the gym in under 60mins! It's important to pick the right weight to start off with, I believe you have to pick a weight which challenges you but one you can use with perfect form. If you're not sweating or your muscles aren't burning, you're not really working. For the first week I'm going to concentrate on a full body workout just to get my fitness levels up and burn as many kilojoules/calories as possible. I will review and change my workout in the second week if I get bored... 1st superset - (chest flyes & lat pull downs) 12 reps x 3 sets 2nd superset - (shoulder press & bicep curls) 12 reps x 3 sets 3d superset - (leg extension & hamstring curl) 12 reps x 3 sets 4th superset - (tricep pushdown & weighted ab curls) 12 reps x 3 sets Followed by 15min light swim to avoid stiffness 5:00 - protein shake 6:30 - cereal with almonds and protein powder 10:00 - almonds 13:00 - tuna salad 16:00 - meal replacement shake 19:00 - chicken and veggies 21:00 - glass of milk My camera battery charger isn't working for some reason so you'll have to wait another day for the 'before' pic... Day rating 9/10 Last edited by chrisafrica : 07-01-2008 at 05:23 AM. |
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07-02-2008, 02:03 PM
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| 30 Day Trial: exercise&eating for 6 pack abs - Day 3 Day 3 'before' photos [IMG] http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/CF/46/D...1A4B7BA94C.jpg [/IMG] http://www.dotphoto.com/SAN1/A6/0B/E...AA56693B6D.jpg Up at 5am and off to gym where I cycled and jogged on the treadmill... Meals were planned and followed (basically the same as yesterday) until dinner!!! I'm not going to rewrite my whole post but look at what I wrote about relationships/the ability to stick to your goals on the other forum page, I've copy&pasted the exact address here... 30 Day Trial: Waking up at 5am everyday and following through on 8 major goals daily We went out for dinner instead of cooking healthy home meal, at dinner I ate too much, the wrong foods and had chocolates for dessert! WTF?! that was stupid, but anyway, it happened but I don't want it to happen again. How does one avoid sacrificing your goals in the process of seeing someone/having a relationship?... especially if they might not be as supportive of your goal or realise the importance obviously! |
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07-02-2008, 02:24 PM
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| Mind if I join you? Quote:
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07-02-2008, 02:56 PM
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| awesome... good stuff, I'm sure your wife will be very appreciative of the results  |
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07-02-2008, 06:54 PM
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| Hey, I just want to make a quick recommendation. Why don't you consider adding Pilates to your exercise regime? My "disaster area" is my belly and believe me when I say that it does wonders for your abs. I've been doing it religiously for 2 yrs and that area is no longer an issue. Only thing though is that I'm afraid it won't get you a bulging 6 pack in 30 days...but its not a bad option to add to your ongoing exercise program :0) |
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07-02-2008, 07:50 PM
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| having a bulging six pack is not the main goal, fat loss, overall body conditioning and core strength is...that will automatically produce a 6pack! so I'm sure pilates/yoga will be incorporated into my workout somewhere in week2. how often do you train sarahme? Last edited by chrisafrica : 07-02-2008 at 07:54 PM. |
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07-03-2008, 05:37 AM
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| Great! Call me biased, but I would say, focus more on the Pilates than Yoga if you want to define and tone your body. Pilates primarily focuses on building your core (back and stomach--areas for which there aren't that many ), once that is strong and stable, you'll find that the other exercises are a lot easier to do. It is low impact (most exercises you'll be lying on your back), requires a good deal of focus, but really builds up your strength. One thing I tell my friends is that I would definitely recommend that you take a couple private classes first. This is where you'll be taught a little bit about your anatomy,the many layers of muscles in your ab area (most of which are "dormant") and how to activate them. Its essential that you get down the basics. For the first couple of classes, you won't be feeling much and you may even feel confused with all of the Pilates jargon thrown at you. Stay persistent with it though and I promise you that by the 3rd or 4th class, those funky sounding muscles embedded deep in your stomach will actually come to life and you'll start believing :0) I do Pilates 2-3 times a week for an hour each session. I actually got into it 2 years ago because I broke my back while riding one of those four wheel motorbikes (NEVER RIDE THEM PLEASE! They are incredibly dangerous). Luckily, I came out ok (aka not paralyzed) and what helped me more than the physiotherapy was Pilates. I can say that I am pretty much 99% back to normal now. Not only did it take away all back pain, but it left me with a slender figure. Nice added bonus! :0) |
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07-03-2008, 04:42 PM
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| Day 4 a write off, had a breakfast meeting, got food poisoning, been in bed all day...this better be a 24hr thing  |
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07-05-2008, 09:13 AM
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| Day 5 not a 24hr thing... |
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07-07-2008, 03:57 PM
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| DAY 7 - I survived! wow... When you think you're going down one road, you're so focused, driven, inspired and dedicated...and then life happens! hahaha so I finally had enough strength to go to gym today after getting food poisoning at the end of last week. started slowly, super circuit and a bit of cycling... Foodwise, I'm eating well again, I was just trying to survive over the past few days, I wasn't eating too well, the only food that didn't make me sick was toast, wafer biscuits and flat coca cola... today I had a proper breakfast, lunch and dinner so here I go again, new week, new stomach lining and same if not more determination!!!See you tomorrow! |
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07-15-2008, 06:45 AM
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| Day 13 - Back from holiday (had no internet) I've been away in the bush for a holiday and initially was a little worried about what might happen to my health/eating/pd goals... the answer is, it went great! I did cheat on more meals than I should have but then I also made up for it by going on long hikes and running on most days. As of tomorrow I'm heading off to gym again and I start using weights again (I used simple body weight exercises over the last week, push ups, pull ups, squats, lunges, crunches etc) It's good to be back! |
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07-21-2008, 07:31 AM
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| DAY 18 - The problem with Sugar Haven't posted in a few days... My diet/exercise goals are being fulfilled every day and I'm starting to see some serious transformations as far as love handles, stomach and chest fat is concerned but there is one more problem... SUGAR!!! I have always had a sweet tooth but it seems that by eating less fat I've been craving more sugar. What might start out as a handful of sweets very quickly evolves into cinnamon buns, chocolate, more sweets etc etc! That's probably what has kept me away from making some massive breakthroughs because I am exercising a lot! So to make this challenge a little tougher I'm going to cut out sugar completely for the next 2 weeks, ouch. It's the only way... |
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07-21-2008, 12:17 PM
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| Do you eat apples and/or other sweet fruits? That may make it easier to stay away from the candy.
__________________ "We're here for a good time, we're not here for a long time." - Colin Mcrae “It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” - Jiddu Krishnamurti |
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07-23-2008, 06:25 AM
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| Not a big fruit eater, thought about maybe substituting raisins/dried fruit but a lot of people say that it's just as good as eating sugar and very high in calories? What do you guys think? |
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07-24-2008, 02:50 AM
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| Your cravings are an addiction that you need to "rehab" and quit cold turkey. Not to sound rude, but if you are serious about seeing those abs you need to tell yourself to suck it up and put that sticky bun down! You know darn well those things have no place in your diet, so mentally spank yourself the next time you even think of having one. If you can last 3-4 days without added sugar you will notice the cravings disappear. It may also help for you to have one free day a week. Then you can stick it out for the week knowing that Saturday you can have that pizza and a bowl of ice cream (still in moderation though). Stop coming up with excuses as to why you should put that next bite in your mouth, and repeat to yourself why you don't deserve it yet. You're more than half way done with this 30 day trial, finish strong man!! |