Sometimes we put health professional on pedistoles and think that they have everything worked out and dialled in. This isn't always the case and we are just as vulnerable when it comes to the pitfalls that life throws you way.
Today I wanted to share a snippet of my own personal journey back into shape after 18 months of injury and the stress of covid lock down had me in the worst shape as a coach I head been in for some years.
I had a horrid 18 months up to November last year with some injuries from my days in the Army flaring up pretty bad and also the stress of covid, a business shut down and 2 young kids at home taking its toll!
This had me turning to wine most nights to numb the pain, I also had my activity level (apart from walking) really diminish and really started to struggle mentally without that release that exercise provides. Covid on top of this obviously didn't help at all.
By November last year as we came out of another lock down in Victoria I had well and truly had enough and knew it was time to stop using my injuries and circumstances as an excuse to not priorities my health and knew with the right mindset I could make change quickly!
I gave myself 28 days, planned to follow our challenge nutrition plan we use at our Group Training and Bootcamp in Essendon and this allowed me to put on muscle and lose body fat in my forties quiet easily following a lower carb, healthy fat approach.
I have outlined what I did below:
- Strength trained 2 x week for 30min only (this is all I could do due to injuries)
- Did fasted walking every day for at least 20min (usually in the morning)
- Did 16/8 intermittent fast every day.
- Had a 2 min cold shower every day (not for everyone I know!)
- Tracked my calories via My Fitness Pal (I did this more for a record of what I ate than to track actual calories)
The result I got were as follows:
- BF % from 13.4% to 9.3%
- Muscle from 40.8kg to 42.7kg
- Metabolism from 1913cal to 1975cal per day
- Fat mass in KG 11.1kg to 7.6kg.
I share this not to brag or show off, I think this is the first time I have shared before and afters in my 12 year career, but to hopefully inspire others that may be in a similar rut due to covid that their is hope and that it doesn't take long to get out of it and turn your health around once you take action!
Here are my top 3 takeaways from my recent challenge:
1. Firstly you are never to old to quickly put on muscle and lose weight and you can do it in any decade of your life, I see it all the time in my business. I did it in 28 days with minimal training and I am 43 years old.
2. Secondly, you don't need to slave away for hours with exercise, 2-3 sessions for 30-45min are all it takes to build lean muscle as long as its the right kind of exercise and you add in plenty of incidental exercise and movement daily. TRAIN SMART NOT HARD!
3. Lastly that you don't need to starve yourself to lose weight quickly, starving yourself with low calorie diets actually wrecks your metabolism and forces your body to hold onto fat. I was eating around 2200-2400 calories per day with a healthy fat, lower carb approach and was never hungry!
I hope this insight motivates or inspires you and if you feel like you are in a rut or struggling with your health and fitness post covid please feel free to reach out with any questions about my transformation!
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