6 Week Experiment
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And the cat vomits to tighten the waist. Too many ab exercises promote crunching which pops your abs out, but "vacuum" style exercises are better IMHO. There are YouTube videos for this (search for Elliot Hulse abs), but my method is:<br />
<br />- Hands and knees on the floor, let your gut hang out in a completely relaxed fashion, with your vision focused on the floor just in front of your hands, back straight.<br />
<br /> - Exhale out your mouth as much as you can in a short, hard breath (like 1 second), and at the same time try to make your belly button touch your spine. Hold that for 8-12 seconds.<br />
<br /> - Relax the gut, breathe in through your nose, then out through your mouth, and in through your nose. All breaths are deep, full, and you should feel them in your gut, not in your chest.<br />
<br /> - Repeat 2 & 3until you reach ten reps.<br />
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I aim to do 12s for step 2, then 8s for step three (breath cycle being 4s), giving each rep a 20s execution time. <br />
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As I still have too much body fat to see my abs, I have to go by feel and it definitely works, particularly in combination with push ups and pull ups. Really helped pull in the "girdle" muscles too, and only takes 3-4 minutes out of your day.<br />
- Hands and knees on the floor, let your gut hang out in a completely relaxed fashion, with your vision focused on the floor just in front of your hands, back straight.<br />
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Thanks for the tips guys, I don't have access to heavy weights. Hence the body weight stuff but I have read that lifting heavy is vital to cutting. So will see what I can muster up around the house. The baby weighs about 10Kgs, but the next heaviest thing is probably the wife. Its a bit of a step up though. For dead lifts I thought about getting them both to sit on the bed and lifting that. Its not perfect but the action is similar.<br />
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I don't see the eating being a big problem, and am cutting out some carbs already in preparation. So it should not be too much of a shock. -
Good stuff mate.<br />
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Like Bart will say Calories in vs calories out is key but I noticed a huge difference when I cut back on the carbs in conjunction with being on a calorie deficit. Never got calories as low as 1500 though as I was training heavy most the time and dont know if I would have lasted too well on only 1500. -
[quote name='JK' timestamp='1368693932' post='366051']<br />
Good stuff mate.<br />
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Like Bart will say Calories in vs calories out is key but I noticed a huge difference when I cut back on the carbs in conjunction with being on a calorie deficit. Never got calories as low as 1500 though as I was training heavy most the time and dont know if I would have lasted too well on only 1500.<br />
[/quote]<br />
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I used Calories in vs Calories out to lose the 28Kg for that I ate 1300 every day for about 7 months. Was fine so 1500 is luxury compared to that. Like I said weight is no issue now at 78.5Kg and 1.78M I have the weight under control. Its the Fat percentage I want to sort. Thats the idea of dodging the carbs. and doing the heavy strength work, seems popular opinion is this is how they 'cut' in the body building world. If it does not work I will just find something else to try. -
Well my body fat pincers did not arrive in time so not a good start, then cut the sole of my foot on a loose board in the apartment, so no running this week till it heals. I spent most of Sunday preparing food, and sorting out the exercise plan. The eating has started okay, easily under 100 grams of carbs and 1500 calories. Will be difficult to increase the calories once I hit 78.5Kg. If you don't eat many carbs its hard as hell to pad out your calories. So would be interested in any higher calorie low carb foods. Otherwise I will just have to start eating butter.<br />
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The stats<br />
Height 1.78<br />
Weight 79.5kg<br />
Body Fat TBC (Will update when the pincers arrive)<br />
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Strength training starts tomorrow. -
High calories and low carb means lots of fats and protein mate. Plenty of good fats out there - almonds (natural) and other nuts - peanut butter, avocado, salmon and other fish<br />
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Might get a bit boring though but hey just load up on green vege etc. Must say that I enjoy this diet much more in summer!<br />
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Good luck with the training! -
[quote name='JK' timestamp='1369124443' post='367136']<br />
High calories and low carb means lots of fats and protein mate. Plenty of good fats out there - almonds (natural) and other nuts - peanut butter, avocado, salmon and other fish<br />
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Might get a bit boring though but hey just load up on green vege etc. Must say that I enjoy this diet much more in summer!<br />
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Good luck with the training!<br />
[/quote]<br />
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Cheers for the tips what is your policy on cheese? Its only milk, bacteria and time and low in carbs so I am thinking of allowing it but want the groups consensus before making a decision.<br />
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Oh it is summer here or so they tell me. Hard to recognise through the sheets of rain. -
[quote name='NTA' timestamp='1369137080' post='367176']<br />
Go find a high protein cheese. Parmesan in block form is actually quite nice and the strong smell is due to the protein.<br />
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Naturally the more processed it is, the worse it is for additives etc<br />
[/quote]<br />
[quote name='JK' timestamp='1369134448' post='367170']<br />
I'm all for cheese mate but I'm no body builder that's for sure.<br />
[/quote]<br />
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Thanks for that guys, quick bit of research has shown the harder cheeses seem to be higher in protein but all seem low in carbs. Comté seems as high as Parmesan so I have a few I can have regularly and a few I can have for a treat. -
First strength session went okay need to adjust the program a little some exercises are too easy.<br />
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Weight is falling quickly at this stage will be at goal weight in a week or so, so need to start thinking about how to up calories adding cheese and fruit will help.<br />
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Body pincers still not arrived damn you ebay!!! -
Second strength session done program a bit more balanced now so everything is tough at the last few reps. Only issue is a weird pain in my forearm during pull ups. A bit of googling says that its normal when you start activating these muscles. The other issue is the baby trying to climb on my back when I am doing planks. He thinks he's helping but seriously they are hard enough as it is.<br />
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Eating is about to become an issue, the graphs say I am under eating at 1200 calories per day. Yet I am stuffing my face with meat and veggies at every meal. Not actually hungry at all. So when I hit the goal weight I am going to need to add Cheese, more fruits and nuts to get it up to parity. Either that or pad it out with protein shakes, not sure about doing this though any recommendations of high calorie low carb foods I have not through of would be appreciated.<br />
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Mooshld -
The stats after 1 Week<br />
Height 1.78<br />
Weight 78.7kg<br />
Body Fat 17.7%<br />
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Strength stuff going well will probably make a few more tweaks to the program adding weight to some of the leg exercises this week.<br />
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Running due to restart tomorrow, foot looking better, but will start slow as I don't need another week off from it. <br />
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Eating going well added cheese over the weekend to try and decrease the rate of weight loss. If this does not do the trick will top up with protein powder.<br />
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Mooshld -
[quote name='mooshld' timestamp='1369383448' post='367603']<br />
Second strength session done program a bit more balanced now so everything is tough at the last few reps. Only issue is a weird pain in my forearm during pull ups. A bit of googling says that its normal when you start activating these muscles. [b]The other issue is the baby trying to climb on my back when I am doing planks. He thinks he's helping but seriously they are hard enough as it is.[/b]<br />
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Eating is about to become an issue, the graphs say I am under eating at 1200 calories per day. Yet I am stuffing my face with meat and veggies at every meal. Not actually hungry at all. So when I hit the goal weight I am going to need to add Cheese, more fruits and nuts to get it up to parity. Either that or pad it out with protein shakes, not sure about doing this though any recommendations of high calorie low carb foods I have not through of would be appreciated.<br />
<br />
Mooshld<br />
[/quote]Harden up, I sometimes have to do push ups with a 3 and almost five year old on my back !! <img src='http://www.daimenhutchison.com/rugby/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/knuppel2.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':knuppel:' /> -
[quote name='VV' timestamp='1369732513' post='368509']<br />
Mooshld,<br />
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Can you post what a 1500 calorie diet might look like (types and quantities of food) over a day, I'd be pretty interested but have no idea where to start,<br />
[/quote]<br />
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Sure have not been bang on 1500 though so here is what I ate yesterday I was not hungry after any of this but that could just be because I am getting used to it.<br />
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Breakfast<br />
2 mini egg bacon and mushroom frittatas 140 Cals<br />
1 Banana 100 Cals<br />
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Lunch<br />
Big salad of lettuce, tomato, picked onion, gherkins 150 Cals<br />
Smoked Sausage 200 Cals<br />
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Dinner<br />
Massive bowl Curried Mince and Veggies. 600 Cals<br />
1 Peach 40<br />
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So 1230 yesterday, no surprises I am losing weight quickly. Some days its more some its less. As you can see I eat 3 good meals so adding calories but not carbs is no simple task. -
Eating getting better weight still dropping but I think its slowing now. Exercise going well.<br />
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The stats after 2nd Week<br />
Height 1.78<br />
Weight 78.1kg<br />
Body Fat 14.5%<br />
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*Body fat has dropped massively, not sure if the measuring was less accurate then I thought it would be. The future weeks will determine that. From the visual test the wife says chest and stomach are the big losers abs getting more prominent especially lower ones, the love handles are being determined, we will see how much longer they can hang on for.<br />
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Mooshld -
Eating still on track. Not really missing the carbs, and quite enjoying the scrambled eggs for breakfast every morning.<br />
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Exercise on track as well foot healed and getting back into the 4 runs per week has been great. The strength stuff is plodding along nicely.<br />
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The good news is weight has started to stabilise.<br />
<br />
Mooshld
