The results you will see on this programme will be more striking if you undertake all aspects of it, so only start when you're really ready and thoroughly committed. You will need to put in a bit of effort at first until you are familiar with the right foods to buy, the supplements to take and the exercise and lifestyle regimes, but it will swiftly become familiar. It's like learning to drive a car. There's a lot to think about at first (speed, changing gears, indicating, looking in the mirror) but before long it all becomes completely automatic and you perform all those separate functions without even thinking. Once you are in the routine it will be effortless. And it's only for three months of your life - which is not such a long time when you consider the enormous long-term benefits not only in terms of looking good, but also your future health. After this period of time you can then ease up and reintroduce some of the foods and drink that you left out and then progress yourself onto the maintenance plan.
So, to make this 'lose-your-belly' (and 'find-your-waist') plan really effective you should tackle all four elements at once:
- Nutrition
- Supplements
- Exercise
- Lifestyle
Getting Started
My advice is to ditch the scales. Muscle weighs three times as much as fat so you can be losing fat but not see it on the scales. Because fat takes up five times as much space as muscle, your body will be changing shape as you lose fat and gain muscle and the best way to see and record that fat loss is by measuring yourself.
So, before you do anything else, get a tape measure and take the following measurements now:
Place A: just under your bust where your bra goes
Place B: around your waist above your navel
Place C: over the largest bit of your fat around the middle
Write the measurements in the table below and repeat this every four weeks over the next three months.
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1st month |
2nd month |
3rd month |
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Date: |
Date: |
Date: |
Place A - Bust |
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Place B - Waist |
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Place C - Middle |
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If you have fat percentage scales (or if you have access to some at your local gym) you can add a column for your fat percentage reading every four weeks.
Nutrition
This is the 'How to eat' section. It's not a diet, merely your new healthy eating programme for the next three months. Aim to stick to the eating plan at least 80 per cent of the time and allow yourself 20 per cent off for good behaviour (and human fallibility]). Nobody's perfect and you simply will not be able to eat right 100 per cent of the time, so don't beat yourself up about it or feel guilty. Worse still, do not resort to the classic dieter's reaction, namely, 'I've blown it now so I might as well have a whole packet of biscuits and start again another day.' One biscuit once in a while will not ruin everything. Just follow the recommendations most of the time and do your best when you go out, or on holiday or to parties (see my tips on page 156).
There are a number of key strategies that make the nutrition part of this plan work. I call them my 'Oh-so-simple nine-step eating plan' and this is described in detail in the book. There we will focus more on how to implement the plan, starting with when to eat.
When to eat
Eat every three hours. This stops your body from thinking it is starving (a stress), reduces cortisol (so it won't store more fat), boosts your metabolism (food is plentiful so the body does not need to store it) and stops cravings and binges (blood sugar has not dropped because you are keeping it topped up). Because you are eating regularly you will not feel hungry and so your appetite is under control. The end result is that you burn up fat and the best news of all is that the fat around your middle will be the first to go.
To help shift the weight around your middle as efficiently as possible avoid eating starchy carbohydrates after six o'clock in the evening (no rice, potatoes or pasta - not even brown rice and wholemeal pasta).
Key Eating Strategies.
- Eat three main meals, but make them smaller than you would normally.
- Eat a mid-morning snack and a mid-afternoon snack.
- No starchy carbohydrates after six in the evening.
Tip: if you wake up with low blood sugar in the morning, or during the night (your heart may be pounding and you may be unable to get back to sleep) it is very likely that your blood sugar level has dropped overnight and adrenaline has kicked in. Eating a small, starchy snack (an oatcake, for example) an hour before going to bed will help to alleviate these symptoms until you have totally mastered the art of getting your blood sugar under control during the day.
(Reproduced with permission of Dr. Marilyn Glenville).
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