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A reader of this site sent me a detailed email requesting help with loosing fat. Amazingly he has already come down from 300lbs to 189lbs. This alone shows me he is serious and that being the case I just had to reply to his email.
Congratulations and keep up the good work, you can achieve your goals just getting a little more knowledge will make it easier for you...
Sir,
I am a Cadet at a Military Institute and will soon be commissioning in the United States Marine Corps as a Second Lieutenant. I know you are a popular guy and probably get lots of requests for advice, but I was hoping that I could get some help about continuing weight loss.
When I arrived at the MI, I was coming up close to 300 pounds, by the end of my first year as a rat and the military training that entails, I lost about 50 pounds. After my first summer, which I ate like crap and never exercised, I put alot of it back on.
My second year at the MI I made a commitment to be healthy and such and began running as much as the schedule allowed and eating as well as eating in a military mess hall allows. By the end of my second year I was down to about 210.
This summer I ran damn near every day, and unfortunately haven't been eating as well due to financial restrictions but I have been able to get down to 189 and stay there consistently through the summer.
My problem is this, I think I've hit a wall. My goal is to hit around 170, seeing as how I still have a fair amount of excess especially in the chest and a little in the gut. I have been doing weight training but I'm not trying to get physically big, except maybe the arms. I've read your blog on weight loss and cardio and it fits my school schedule, I wake up at 6, am forced to go to the mess hall and I have God knows how many cups of black coffee and I run as much as my body will allow. I don't ever really ask people on the internet for advice, I figured the running thing out on my own, but your blog on the 300 workout or lack thereof sort of leads me to think that not only do you know what your talking about, but that you might be able to offer some advice on breaking the wall and getting the excess fat off. Thank you very much for your time and I hope that you respond, although I understand if you don't.
Very Respectfully, J.
MY RESPONSE FOLLOWS:
Hi J.,
Diet.
Not as in starve yourself but change what you eat. Having no money is
the perfect reason to eat clean natural foods. When I am budgeting (I
call it dieting to make myself feel better) I will eat boiled rice and
boiled chicken legs - there is hardly a meal that is cheaper.
You need to remove all processed foods from your diet, especially
anything that includes "Trans fats" these have been shown to increase
internal abdominal fat levels even on a calorie balanced diet
You have done amazingly well coming down from 300lbs but if you are
relying on running every morning to keep the weight off what happens
when you stop running? Or want to lessen up the commitment?
I don't recommend counting calories as most people will not do it, I
recommend eating non-processed natural foods. Fruit, vegies, lean meats,
eggs and fish. Drink water only, no sodas, no fruit juice, no sweetened
caffeine beverages.
Coffee and Tea are ok as they will help raise your metabolism and help
with the fat burning but try to use these only before exercise and not
all day.
Eat 5 or 6 times a day too, this helps with cravings and keeps your
insulin levels stable which means you will be less likely to store fats.
I will be writing an eBook on the best possible way to loose fat shortly
but keep up with what you are doing and add in my advice for now and
that will get you where you want to go.
Hope you find this of help,
Conan.
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