The following is the update of my second week going primal.
 

Nutrition

* 97% Compliant to Primal Blueprint nutrition (I took 3% percentage points off for having cream in my coffee daily). I ate nothing processed at all and stuck to vegetables and low glycemic fruit such as strawberries.
* Average caloric intake per day: 1712
* Macrobiotic percentage breakdown: 66% fat, 22% protein, 12% carbohydrate
* Average carbohydrate per day: 66g

Exercise

Once again, due to work constraints combined with low energy levels and in conjunction with “woman monthly issues”, my workout for the week was pretty light

* Monday: Bodyweight drills (25 mins total)
* Tuesday: Muay Thai (90 mins total)
* Wednesday: Rest
* Thursday: Muay Thai (90 mins total)
* Friday: Rest
* Saturday: Run for 25 mins + Muay Thai for 120 mins (145 mins total)—Not a good idea!
* Sunday: Walk 35mins/Run 10 mins (45 mins total)

Results

Once again, without trying that hard I went from 232lbs (July 8th) to 229lbs (July 14th) for a total of 3lbs lost in week 2. That is 12.5lbs lost in two weeks of primal living. Now that’s crazy…..
 
Random Thoughts

I don’t know what the hell is going on here, but I like it! What’s crazier is that I’m not even trying all that hard. My cravings for sweets and carbohydrates are almost non-existent but for some strange reason has been replaced by a craving for almonds.

I have had low energy levels in the evenings these last two weeks. It took every ounce of willpower and determination to make it to my Muay Thai sessions on Tues and Thurs. The good news is that by the end of the week and for no apparent reason, my energy seemed to start picking back up. I didn’t increase my carb intake either, it just happened and I welcome it. I am hoping that I’ll be fully adjusted to primal living by the end of primal week 3.

Stay tuned for week 3

I’ve always been an athlete. I’m sure some of you are laughing right now, but really, I’ve always been an athlete. Before my parents got divorced, remarried and had other children, there was my four brothers and me. Ever since I can remember, I’ve been playing sports with them in some capacity. Soccer, basketball, cricket, badminton, squash, table tennis, heck even football. All my brothers were natural born athletes to the point where the one who I considered the least athletic growing up is now elite NFL athlete and a pro-bowler 3 times over.

Even when I was a little girl going to school at a preppy boarding school in Birmingham UK, I was always more athletic at a much higher weight than any of the other girls in my school. It was my natural athleticism that propelled me to be the captain of the netball team, the tennis team and the lacrosse team. I remember going to play against other teams where I would promptly get a laugh because of my size (also race…being one of the only black kids in a high society preppy boarding school for girls had it’s negatives) before the games. Then my team would commence to beating the daylights out of them with me leading the thrashing.

I’m relaying all this information because even when I was 350lbs I still believed I was an athlete. It was that belief that led me to participate inMuay Thai training. Had I not believed I was an athlete, I wouldn’t even have attempted it in the first place. It’s all really a testament to the power of the mind. In my case, I refused to believe that I wasn’t an athlete no matter that the external appearance suggested otherwise. At some point my inner athlete went from being dormant to being more active and it’s on its way to being a full blown epidemic.

I encourage everyone to find that inner athlete that either was once visible to everyone and now is dormant and let it come to light. If there was never an inner athlete in the first place, you can always pretend as if it existed. It all leads to the same place…….

(photo courtesy of http://combatfitness.us)
 
So I’ve started training with my new toy. Let’s just say that for a piece of low tech equipment, it delivers high returns. In other words, it continues to kick my behind, big time! I summoned my inner athlete and decided to try all the basic kettlebell movements. In a relatively short period of time, I was able to master the basics which are:

1. The Swing
2. The Clean
3. The Snatch (haven’t managed to master this one yet, my kettlebell is too heavy….but someday in the near future!)
4. The Clean and Jerk

All the above movements are really Olympic style lifts using a kettlebell. What I will say is they are very explosive movements will send your heart rate skyrocketing to high levels very quickly. I really enjoy the ballistic aspect of using kettlebells and I should see my speed and agility improve rather quickly if I keep this up. This is especially important for Muay Thai training which is a very explosive combat sport. All in all I think I’m headed in the right direction with this. It will be very interesting to see what progress can be made over the next few months. In addition, the progressions and routines for using kettlebells are endless. Boredom will not an option using these things. Here is the routine I did today (keep in mind that after kettlebells, I go for a walk/run around my neighborhood):

1. Double Clean and Jerk: 10reps x 2
2. Swing, catch, squat: 10 reps
3. 1 swing, 1 clean, 1 press: 5 reps each hand.

If you think this is easy. I say put your money where you mouth is, get some 18lbs or 26lbs kettlebells and get to work. Oh and good luck…..cause you’ll need it. For a beginner all I have to say is that my ass is officially kicked. What say you?

A week ago, I went primal. And no I didn’t become a Neanderthal, I just pretty much ate like one. Here are the results of my first week going primal.

Nutrition

I didn’t eat anything processed all week. I eliminated all grains, 95% of dairy (I had cream in my coffee almost daily), all processed sugar, white flour etc. I ate a lot of vegetables and low glycemic fruit such as strawberries, cherries and apples. Below is a a.) sample of a regular day’s macrobiotic breakdown and b.) The macrobiotic percentage breakdown for the entire week.

a.) Snapshot of a day’s nutrition
 

 
b.) Macrobiotic Percentage Breakdown over a 7 day period
 

As you can see from the averages, my diet has been quite high in fat, moderate in protein and low in carbohydrates. I held my daily carbohydrate intake to just under 100grams a day. You will also notice that my daily caloric intake varied from day to day, however the average caloric intake per day was around 1750 calories. Be assured that I am not starving myself one bit. I eat so many varieties of vegetables that I cannot possibly eat any more without having serious stomach problems. I am routinely forcing myself to eat just to meet a reasonable caloric minimum for my size and it’s usually a daunting task. I’m just full….all the time.

Exercise

Due to work constraints I wasn’t able to do my regular workouts. In addition, my body was readjusting to a lower carbohydrate intake and so I did experience low levels of energy in the evenings. Below are the days I worked out and the exercises performed.

Results

Surprisingly, with much less exercise than I usually perform every week I was able to drop from 241.5lbs (July 1st) to 232lbs (July 8th) for a total of 9.5lbs of fat lost. Truly amazing!. Now granted, I would say that maybe 5lbs out of the 9.5lbs was water retention and bloating from a weekend of eating massive quantities of processed carbs (the usual suspects: cookies, chocolate, cakes, chips, fries, burgers, ice cream etc). However, I feel compelled to give everyone the raw numbers.

Thoughts

I’ve realized that it is impossible to outexercise a bad eating plan. I truly believe that I am Insulin Resistant, and so I have to eat differently to get the results that I want. This way of eating is not optimal for every body type, and I highly suggest that everyone take the time to experiment and find out what works for them. As an example, for me to get to this point of breakthrough, I’ve had to sacrifice 12 weeks of any positive gains from a fatloss perspective. I’ve had to experiment with different eating patterns and rearranged my workouts. I’ve had weeks of 2-4lbs fat loss just to see it come back after a weekend of heavy carb binging all while working out like a crazy person.

Now all these things as painful as they are to bear, have been a worthwhile price to pay for getting the kind of results I got this week. I now have my own personal formula for fatloss at this very moment in time (as fat loss progresses, I may have to change things around). What I’ve discovered is it’s really not the high number of workout hours that I accrue in the from of HIIT, nor is it the heavy lifting, nor even Muay Thai. All those things are extremely important and surely help ffacilitate fatloss . However, what is now abundantly clear is that I can participate in all the aforementioned activities (which I’ve been religiously doing for the last 12 weeks), but if I do not aggressively control my carbohydrate intake it doesn’t mean a damn thing.

In a nutshell, nutrition is king! It really is not a cliche to say so, but a bonafide fact. Don’t say I didn’t tell you!

I’ve always aspired to be able to do 100 consecutive pushups one day. Well it’s easy to find inspiration when you are looking for it. There is a pushup website solely dedicated to teaching anyone how to do 100 consecutive pushups in about 6 weeks. If you are serious about increasing functional strength (which I am very very serious about), then doing pushups is a necessity.

Why Pushups

Push ups are one of the basic and most common exercises for the human body. Push ups are not only great for your chest, but do a tremendous job of defining your abs, triceps, shoulders and torso.

Push ups can be performed no matter where you are, and best of all, they are completely free - no expensive equipment or annual gym fees required! If you’re looking to develop a great chest and shoulders, you could do much worse than follow along with the hundred push ups plan. Your core strength will also go through the roof too!

I’m going to give it a go over the next couple of weeks and fill you in as I progress. Come on people, give it a go!

Mark at Mark’s Daily Apple has challenged his readers to go primal for the next 30 days. Since I’m one for challenges, I decided to take him up on his offer and so I’m going primal for the next 30 days.

What does going primal mean?

Well first of all go over to Mark’s site and read his Primal Blueprint. He discusses all things primal and how to apply it to modern living.

Yes we can!

I’m not talking about the Barack Obama campaign slogan here. I’m talking about things you can have from a nutritional standpoint. You can have plenty of meat, fish, meat and poultry and it doesn’t all have to be lean either. You can also have plenty of vegetables (non starchy) and fruit in moderation. Try to keep your overall carbohydrate intake to less than 100g. You have to eat real food for 30 days. Nothing processed and nothing that our ancestors who were hunters and gathers didn’t eat back in the day. In a nutshell, stick to the outside periphery of the grocery store for your food choices. No shopping within the aisles.

No you can’t

You cannot have anything processed. Which means white flour, sugar, alcohol, protein bars, protein shakes. All grains such as rice, corn, oats, potatoes etc should be avoided. All dairy such as cheese, milk, yogurt can be had in moderation. Fruit should also be in moderation and fit within the 100g per day window.

Exercise

The Primal Blueprint discusses exercise which is a combination of slow moderate cardio, fast sprints, heavy functional lifts.

So I’m going primal for the next 30 days as a challenge. I won’t be posting about every little detail, but I’ll be incorporating Mark’s principals into my nutrition and training over the next month.

I recently purchase a new toy. It’s a 26lb kettlebell and and instructional DVD from Dragon Door. It’s my new workout buddy for the summer months. I recently suspended my gym membership because I just want to be more imaginative this summer with my workouts.

What is a Kettlebell?

A ‘kettlebell’ or girya (Russian) is a traditional Russian cast iron weight that looks like a cannonball with a handle. The ultimate tool for extreme all-round fitness.

The kettlebell goes way back, it first appeared in a Russian dictionary in 1704 (Cherkikh, 1994). So popular were kettlebells in Tsarist Russia that any strongman or weightlifter was referred to as a girevik, or ‘a kettlebell man’.

Why train with a kettlebell?

a. Because they deliver extreme all-round fitness. And no single other tool does it better. Here is a short list of hardware the Russian kettlebell replaces: barbells, dumbbells, belts for weighted pullups and dips, thick bars, lever bars, medicine balls, grip devices, and cardio equipment.

b. The dynamic loading sets up the hip muscles for a powerful contraction. The kettlebell is the definitive tool for developing the hip thrust, the power generator in all athletics. Be it a jump, a kick, or a punch, when expertly performed, it comes from the hip.

c. The kettlebell will make your back resilient. Unique Russian exercises condition your back from every conceivable angle, statically and dynamically. One would have to take up powerlifting, yoga, strongman, gymnastics, and a couple of other things to half way imitate the benefits of kettlebell training.

d. Kettlebell’s offset center of gravity maximizes shoulder strength, flexibility, and health. Most Russians have never heard of ‘rotator cuffs.’ Save for combat wounds, shoulder injuries are virtually unheard in the Russian armed forces. They train and test their personnel with repetition one-arm snatches with a 53 lb. kettlebell rather than pushups.

e. The kettlebell is an outstanding grip, wrist, and forearm developer. A thick and smooth handle combined with the ballistic nature of many exercises loads the grip like rock climbing. Bottom up cleans and similar leverage drills unique to kettlebells take care of the wrists.

f. The position of the handle allows dynamic passing of the kettlebell from hand to hand for a great variety of powerful juggling type exercises strongly endorsed by the Russian Federation State Committee on Physical Culture. These drills develop dynamic strength and injury-proof the body in many planes unlike conventional linear exercise.

g. The kettlebell will give you infinite freedom of lifting. It has been said that kettlebells to traditional free weights are what barbells and dumbells are to machines. Taming a kettlebell is akin to medieval sword, spear, and battleaxe play, liberating and aggressive.

You can read more about Kettlebell training at Dragon Door. They have more articles than you can imagine and it’s a good place to start.

I haven’t really decided what routines to do with this new toy of mine. However I think it will be a combination of full body routines with some endurance cardio thrown in there somewhere. I’m actually excited to start playing with my new toy. Since the Kettlebell originated in Russia, I shall call my new kettlebell Igor the Great!

 
People have asked me the kind of look I’m going for as my end result in this whole fat loss saga. I’ve always said that I’m going for the 15% bodyfat look…whatever that is. I’m singlehandedly obsessed with that number for some reason. But realistically, I have to have an image in my head of what my end result should look like. Well the picture above is a pretty accurate vision of what I want my end result to be.

When Janet Jackson is in shape, I don’t think there is a better body out there period. I particularly love the look off of her “Janet” album. I’m really not sure what bodyfat percentage Janet has in that photograph, but it has to be below 18%. So there you have it folks. That’s where I want to be in about a year or so.

Enjoy

In life, you get to the point where you just have to commit fully to doing things for your own benefit. I’ve been a slave to my gym over the years and for good reason too. I’m in my gym lifting weights or doing some exercise machine about 3 days a week. The other time has been spent in my Muay Thai gym. It’s been really good for me.

However, I have come to realize that working out should not be confined to four walls and 5000sq ft of the latest exercise gadgetry. What’s even worse is that I live in a very scenic neighborhood with numerous hills, hiking trails, and a park a block from my house. In addition there is a river with running paths that start right around the corner from where I live. It would be a travesty not to exploit all that beauty by spending time grinding it out on a treadmill in my gym. My imagination is literally dying in that gym. There is just no way to substitute kettlebell training at the park overlooking the river with bench presses at the gym. The latter while good for me just lacks imagination at this point in my life.

In addition to all of the above, the truth is, I have recently decided to give up lifting conventional weights and focus on bodyweight and kettlebell exercises instead. I am psychologically unable to move in that direction with the thoughts of my gym membership haunting me. Let’s not even mention the $100/month fee that could be saved.

Today, I suspended my gym membership till the end of October. I refuse to let the summer season go by unnoticed and unappreciated this year. I’ll revisit this issue in the winter.

I just function better after morning workouts. That’s just something I just have to accept. There is nothing wrong with doing evening workouts, it’s just that morning workouts suit me better. I’ve moved a lot of my workouts to the evening over the last few weeks because:

a. I was doing too many intense training sessions twice a day and I had to cut out one.
b. I was experimenting with IF (Intermittent Fasting) and evening workouts seemed to fit better into that regimen.
c. Muay Thai training is in the evening only and it was getting increasingly hard to do a tough workout in the am after a grueling pm workout.

The downside to all this was that I was relying on excessive quantities of caffeine to get me through the day and everything just seemed harder. So today I took a different approach. I got up early and I walked around my neighborhood for about 45 minutes which included a 10 minute run down a hill. It wasn’t strenuous at all. It was rather refreshing actually. The benefits were:

a. It allowed me to enjoy the great weather here in NYC/NJ during the summer time.
b. It allowed me to get a low impact exercise in that wouldn’t affect my training in the evening if I were to choose to do so.
c. It allowed me to get my rush of endorphines in the morning which is a positive catalyst for me for the rest of the day. I’m in need of these endorphines in the morning more than in the evening.

I just felt an overall goodness to the day as I was done with the walking and it showed. I was smiling all day. Nothing really phased me at all. And I just felt good about myself. So much so that I’m considering doing this low impact but high return activity daily.

Good morning everyone!

When I was in Thailand, I blogged about hills and how I was able to conquer them step by step. I was reminded of that on Sunday. When a close college friend of mine called me up and told me to meet her in Manhattan for some coffee before her train ride to Boston, I obliged. Instead of taking my car into the city or taking the ferry (both of which would involve finding and/or paying for parking), I decided to take the bus right into the city.

Taking the bus involved actually walking to the bus stop. Walking to the bus stop involved going down a somewhat steep hill and obviously going back up it to come back home. To my horror, I was actually partially out of breath when I walked up the hill on my way back home. Keep in mind that I’ve been doing HIIT on a treadmill and on the track at high speeds combined with intense Muay Thai training. Yet, I was unable to comfortably walk up a hill without some physical exertion and strain. For me, it was a real eye opener on how the body actually works and adapts to training routines.

It is no wonder then that I’ve gotten better at running because I run. I’ve gotten better at Muay Thai because I train. However, I’m still challenged by vertical landscapes because I don’t incorporate them into my exercise routine in any capacity. Simply walking up and down that hill will do wonders for my overall health and well being and probably balance all the other intense activities that I do.

It’s just something to think about.

Summer is finally upon us and so with the change of seasons comes a change in workouts for me. I’m all about learning new things and applying them to see what works. After 10 weeks of eating 6 meals a day and working out like a crazy person, I’ve learned that more is not necessarily better and that eating constantly all the time doesn’t actually work for me. So after researching my eyeballs out, I’ve decided to switch up a few things to see how they go.

 
Nutrition:

I’ve decided to incorporate Intermittent fasting into my nutrition routine. I’ll strive to incorporate 16-17 hr daily fasts on weekdays and make some adjustments on the weekends.

Weight Training

I’m going to give up heavy weight lifting for the summer and instead concentrate on functional strength using a combination of bodyweight exercises and kettlebell training. Kettlebells look pretty interesting and fun and I think it will be a nice change from the regular routine. Here’s a website and blog on someone who incorporates kettlebell training into their routine.

Muay Thai

Muay Thai is my passion and it will always be the single most important thing that I do with respect to exercise. My commitment is to attend 4 training sessions a week.

Yoga

With the weight loss, I’m finding imbalances in the body that need to be fixed. I think Yoga is the way to fix those imbalances while providing me with flexibility and range of motion at the same time. I’ll have to find a way to incorporate this into my schedule in some manner. I’m finding that it’s getting critical to do this.

So my current goal is to get to 197lbs by September 30th 2008. As of this morning I’m at 236lbs. I haven’t been under 200lbs since 1993 when I first got to this country. I have achieved both the American dream with respect to life in general in addition to the American nightmare with respect to diet all at the same time. So I would say that I still have a half full glass to work with. Every cloud has a silver lining they tell me…

The goal of fat loss is constant and my sole pursuit with respect to fitness. What has changed though is the method:

I’m throwing away all conventional wisdom (CW) nutrition, training techniques and practices and doing the complete opposite instead..

Following the CW has yielded me absolutely no results whatsoever in the last 10 weeks. To be honest, the only time I’ve ever gotten any worthwhile results is when I do the complete opposite of what the CW of the moment would have me do. For example:

1. At 350lbs I was training Muay Thai at my gym for 2hrs a day instead of taking slow walks around the block. It wasn’t easy, but I did it with the help of very supportive gym members….(Hey Vick, Joe, Ray, John W, Frankie, George, Liam, OT and all my NJMT friends!)

2. At 300lbs I was training in Thailand for 3 months with Muay Thai fighters at least 3 hrs a day in the scorching heat instead of taking slow walks around the block.

3. I’ve completed a 40 day Master Cleanse because I wanted deep tissue healing and cleansing when the CW thinking is that I’ld starve myself to death and lose all my muscle. However, not a single pound of muscle was lost.

Now I’m not saying all these things to brag because at 350lbs, taking slow walks around the block is a good starting point. I’m just saying that the only time I’ve ever gotten significant results is doing almost the complete opposite of what I’m expected to do. When I decide to go against my inner rebel and conform to societal norms, I get no significant results.

Here are some of the CW things I’ve been doing for last 10 weeks that have yielded me very marginal results:

1. Eating 6 small balanced meals a day: Doing this has made me not only hungrier during the day, but feeling deprived which has made me crave all the wrong sorts of processed sugar that is really bad for me. This eating style lead me to have weekends of binge carb eating. Not good for fat loss! It has also made my life revolve around food. I’m either preparing it, thinking about it, eating it or worrying about it in some form during a period of a single day. It’s too much work for no results.

2. Weight training 3 times a week + HIIT: This is great, but the frequency of training is not optimal for me. I’m substituting an extra day of Muay Thai for a weight training session that isn’t needed. I’m not trying to be a professional body builder. Moreover, I don’t need to build extra muscle when I already have so much of it. What I need is the muscle maintenance and functional strength that comes all inclusive with Muay Thai training.

3. Muay Thai training 3 times a week: This is the great, but I need more. You can never do enough Muay Thai in my opinion.

Changes:

1. No more eating 6 meals a day: It’s not working for me. I don’t care what the current CW is. It just doesn’t work for me. I truly believe that I’m insulin resistant (I’ll post a topic on insulin resistance soon). My best option is underfeeding during the day and overfeeding at night. It’s the exact opposite of the CW which tells us to eat more during the day and eat less at night. Please check out Ori Hofmekler’s blog on the warrior diet. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page for more information. Also check out Mike OD’s website on Intermittent Fasting. I’ll be using a combination of those above methods. Please read those sites carefully before you give me the ignorant starvation mode CW bulls**t. Results speak for themselves. It might actually do some folks a lot of good to go hungry from time to time.

2. Reduction in weight training days: Weight training 3 times a week is great. However, it takes me away from what I love most which is Muay Thai training. These summer months are the best times for training because the body really responds to the heat. I prefer the functional strength of Muay Thai calisthenics to the non functional typical weight training routine even though I’m doing full body compound movements in the gym. I’m going to take full advantage of the summer heat while it’s here. I’m cutting this down to 2 days a week.

3. Muay Thai: I’m upping my Muay Thai training from 3 days a week to 4 days a week. There is just nothing that works the entire body for strength, endurance, agility and definition than 2 hours of Muay Thai training. Check out my Things I learned in Thailand post for more about this.

There you have it. My countdown to 200. Wish me luck!

I should really call this post, “the things I learned in Thailand that I didn’t apply when I got back”. I spent October 31st through January 30th in Thailand training Muay Thai at a training camp. By virtue of the time spent there, I not only trained with Thai fighters, but also got to really experience Thai culture at it’s root. It was one of the most enlightening and intense 3 months of my life. The Thais approach to training and nutrition is very simple, yet very effective. They are the leanest and meanest fighting machines that I have ever seen. In my opinion, their speed, quickness and agility is unmatched in combat sports. It’s truly amazing.

For those who do not know what Muay Thai is, Muay Thai or literally Thai Boxing is also known as The Art of the Eight Limbs. Muay Thai is referred to as “The Science of Eight Limbs”, as the hands, shins, elbows, and knees are all used extensively in this art. A master practitioner of Muay Thai thus has the ability to execute strikes using eight “points of contact,” as opposed to “two points” (fists) in Western boxing and “four points” (fists, feet) used in the primarily sport-oriented forms of martial arts. It is truly beautiful sport to participate in and watch.
 
Muay Thai Training:

In Thailand, fighters train twice a day for durations of 2 - 3 hours. A typical training schedule will include:

1. Running: 7k in the morning and 5K in the afternoon.
2. Jump rope
3. Shadow boxing
4. Heavy bag work (kicks, punches, elbows and knees)
5. 5 - 7 (5 minute) rounds on thai pads
6. 5 - 7 (5 minute) rounds of sparring.
7. Clinching
7. Abdominal work
 
Muay Thai Nutrition:

Thai fighters eat twice a day after each training session. They eat a starchy carbohydrate such as rice, meat protein and vegetables with each meal. The food is also very spicy and does have a reasonable amount of fat due to the cooking oil used in all Thai meals. After each training session, they eat and then they sleep.
 
5 Lessons
 
1.Thai fighters do not eat 6 meals a day : They eat only 2 meals a day, yet still maintain very visible muscle mass, are lean, strong and quick. I’ve never seen any of the Thai people I trained along side with counting their carbohydrate, protein and fat macronutrient ratios.

2.Thai fighters do not lift dead weight : There were free weights at the training camp that I went to, but they were just there for decoration. I never saw any Thai touch them. Even without lifting weights, the Thais still have pronounced muscle definition and mass. They do calisthenics i.e chinups, pushups as their only method of building both functional and physical strength.

3.Thai fighters do not take supplements : They eat real food everyday.

4. Thai fighters train with intensity : There is no slow motion cardio going on at the Thai gym. It’s high octane all day everyday.

5.Thai fighters do daily intermittent fasts and train in a fasted state : I just realized this particular point this week. The last training session is usually done by 6pm. They then eat around 6.30pm or 7.00pm. They won’t eat again till after their training session the next day ending around 9am. That is 14hrs between their night and morning meals. Even in that fasted state, their training performance is amazing.
 
Moral of the Story

Thai fighters shirk every known modern day conventional wisdom (CW) model out there. We have been told to eat 6 meals a day. We have been told to go to the gym and lift dead weight. We have been inundated with nutritional supplements, we have been told to train in our “fat burning” zone. We have been told to eat before a workouts to fuel them. Yet look at the picture above. That should give everyone some pause. Maybe what we should all be doing is going against conventional wisdom.

I’m just sayin’!

So I’ve been been MIA lately. It’s not for lack of focus my friends. In fact I’ve been highly focused on doing a lot of research on what the most effective and efficient methods of fat loss are. I’ve been really putting a lot of work in at the gym and I haven’t been seeing the results that I should have been seeing. I’ve stayed true to the 6 small meals a day routine and it’s yielded me at net fat loss of zero pounds in the last 10 weeks. Not good! When things go wrong I tend to lean heavily towards complication instead of simplicity. This time though, I decided to go a simpler route. So I went in scourging through the internet to find anything that could help me. I hit the motherload with IF Life Blog. I learnt all about intermittent fasting and how to do it, and I decided to give it a try. This link by Mike OD at his blog explains all the details quite nicely. I decided to try the two methods of fasting:

Experiment #1: Alternate day 24 hr fasts

Last week I did two 24hr fasts and one 18 hr fast. On Monday, I ate 6 small meals and stopped eating 6pm. Then I didn’t eat again till 6pm on Tuesday where I ate quite a bit of healthy food at night. Ate all day on Wednesday and stopped eating at 6pm. Didn’t eat till 6pm on Thursday where I ate a hearty healthy dinner. Then I ate regularly on Friday and stopped at 6pm. I didn’t eat till 4pm on Saturday. Then I ate regularly on Sunday with one of my meals a good bit of chinese food. I didn’t count calories in this experiment. I just made sure to eat healthy food and I upped my fat intake significantly. I used a lot of real butter and olive oil in my cooking. I also did my 3 days of Muay Thai training and 3 days of weight lifting + HIIT.

Results

I lost 4lbs. I felt very clear headed and focused on my fasting days. Interestingly, on the days for regular eating, I wasn’t hungry and had to force myself to eat food all day. My craving for processed sugar diminished significantly. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be. Not too shabby. The next experiment will be daily 16 - 18 hr fasts which I am currently in the middle of. I’ll keep you posted.