First of all; welcome to my blog. If you have found your way here then it is safe to say that you are looking for strategies and advice to cut body fat.
My vision is to give simple advice about fat loss and cut through the propaganda surrounding this issue.
I find that Western Society in particular has lost its way when it comes to health and reducing body fat.
Ironically; we have more science than ever available to educate us about the strategies to optimise body function and change body composition, yet obesity rates continues to rise.
We have more choice and variety for choosing foods and exercise than any other time in history, yet obesity rates continue to rise.
There is even a larger FOCUS on weight loss than any other time in history, yet obesity rates continue to rise.
So the problem, as I see it, IS NOT availability of information, or access to resources, or even media focus, the problem is that people are not educated about how to lose weight and don't focus on VITAL principles rarely mentioned such as problem solving, sustainability and enjoyment. Not to mention, the time you put into preparing yourself mentally for fat loss will play a much larger role in your success than someone's else's 'diet' that they create for you with no thought about your lifestyle, commitments or past experiences.
So who am I and why should you listen?
My name is Jack and I currently live just out of Melbourne, in Victoria, Australia. I now have a body fat percentage of around 15% (Will post exact % when I have it measured next) and I couldn't be happier.
BUT....it wasn't always like this; I was OVERWEIGHT FOR YEARS. The heaviest I have ever been is 101kg (223 lbs) with a body fat % well over 30, which put me well into the 'obese' category. Some days I could forget about my how miserable it made me, but most of the time I was so unhappy I would just dwell in my misery yet take no action to improve. I had constant reminders of my weight problem as most of my friends were healthy and I would struggle to fit into my clothes, not to mention I was studying a Bachelor Of Pharmacy at the time which naturally contains content that mainly deals with health issues.
But then one day I decided enough was enough. I spent the next year of my life learning all I could possibly learn about this issue and made it my mission to consult as many experts as possible and read as much material as I could to learn the strategies to cut body fat. All of a sudden I was the go to guy for anyone who wanted tips on how to lose weight. I shared my thoughts with friends and then friends of friends and before I knew it I was getting bombarded with every question under the sun imaginable:
Can I eat white food after 6pm? Can I eat pumpkin? How much exercise should I do? Is losing weight easy? Does it really work? What alcohol should I drink?
I thought I was doing a great job, my students were achieving great results, I was feeling great, enjoying my lifestyle having achieved my goal weight; AND THEN I went on holiday!!!!
I proceeded to put on 9 kg (20lbs) in 9 days and was miserable again......ALL that hard work thrown out the door in such a short period of time. Nevertheless, I picked myself back up and proceeded to achieve my goal weight again and have maintained it easily ever since.
The great lesson in this was that you have to have a plan that takes into account all current and potential lifestyle changes.
ie. If you go on holiday, you must plan (ideally a month beforehand) more on that in another post.
ie. If you are a shift worker you must take this into account when embarking on a new lifestyle plan. (You should work your diet around your lifestyle, not the other way around).
ie. If you have regular cravings for sugary foods, you must put policies in place to either kill these cravings or control them.
ie. If you hate exercise you might need to open your mind to other strategies for fat loss (which essentially is just leveraging energy exchange) outside of the generic 'eat less, run more'. Ever heard of cold exposure or hormone control?
I will be talking about all these issues in upcoming posts and providing strategies to achieve awesome results.
I do invite open discussion and look forward to all your thoughts.
This blog is designed to share the lessons I have learned myself, from others and from students.
This is my story......
Warmly, Jack.
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