Week 5: Better nutrition key to fat loss

Ever wondered how to get flat abs? I certainly have because mine is not. What to do? A thousand crunches, a miracle pill, long hours of cardio maybe?

NO.

I am shocked to find out while searching for that ultimate solution that flat  abs are made in the kitchen, not in the gym and that it needs a lot of work (hint: it’s not crunches) to achieve it.

With that said, I am trying to clean my diet first, by eliminating these:

• Soda- I am not a big fan of softdrinks so this move is not so tough for me. Even Diet coke is counted – to be eliminated that is.
• Wheat – breads, pasta, pancakes and cookies. I’ll be struggling with the pasta thing since I love pasta and make my own sauces.
• Sugar - I gave up drinking milk tea served in the office because it’s too sweet and our tea boy adds a lot of milk in it.
• Milk chocolate – eliminated but retained dark chocolate. If I have to eat chocolate, I chose the dark one, with less sugar in it. But even my chocolate consumption has lessened.
• Juices – I will stand by my decision to drink water and tea (sugarless) only

I am working to reduce consumption of:

• Rice – this has been my staple food for more than thirty years so it is so hard for me to eliminate this completely and I’ll probably won’t. I still eat rice once a day.

Calorie creepers, those little amounts of calories in food/drink pile up as you go along. It is important to monitor everything I put into my mouth and eliminate these to make my fat loss journey easier.

Since starting Turbulence Training, I resolve to eat, natural, whole foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables. I remember something I read in Craig Ballantyne’s blog, which is fascinating, nutrition-wise:

The only thing I’ll eat are those that come naturally from the earth, swim in the seas and grow on trees.

I’m not a picky eater so I am perfectly ok with all vegetables and fruits. High-satiety is the key. Instead of eating a lot of rice, eating a salad or vegetable soup before can send signal of fullness thus limiting my intake of rice. It works for me!

There are no magic pills for fat loss, just time, hard work, patience and acceptance. I finally found the most important word, at least, for me. Acceptance to point out the bad habits/nutrition and change them for the better.  There is always a better way to live, if only we are open to it.

*****

On the workout:

I did not miss any workout this week. I switched from doing intervals in the elliptical to running in the treadmill. I did 3 mins of warmup, 30s-90s x 6 then another 3 mins of cool down. So amazed that I was able to run at 12 kmh at 7 incline for 30s without dying – in fact I felt so good afterwards. Turbulence Training has made me stronger and increased my endurance. All is good.

Still saying you have no time to workout? Here’s a quick, 7-minute bodyweight circuit created by Craig that can help lose weight, burn calories and blast your metabolism:

1. Bodyweight squats – 10-20 reps
2. Pushups – 10-20 reps (on your knees if you can’t do a regular pushup)
3. Reverse lunge – 10 reps per leg (this is great for the tush!)
4. Plank – 20-30s hold (great belly blaster and core strengthener!)
5. Close-grip pushup – 10-20 reps
6. Side plank – 20s hold per side (this is a killer ab workout)
7. Mountain Climber – 10 reps per side (probably my favorite bodyweigh cardio exercise)

Do this with no rest between exercises. Rest for 1 minutes at the end of the circuit and repeat up to 3 times. This should make you sweat and make your heart want to come out of your chest like you’re running – minus of course, the pressure on your knees! Great stuff you can do ANYWHERE. No equipment!

Friday weigh-in: -1 lb.

How was your week?

Tagged as: turbulence training

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