Join Us! Our 6-Week Mission Slim-Possible...

Well despite being pretty healthy on my recent holiday (we were camping and I still made a tuna and cottage cheese salad for lunch every day and had spinach with my morning eggs and loads of veg on the BBQ every eve!) I still came back a couple of kilos heavier than I left!

I really must have the 'fat gene' as I really was pretty good diet-wise - not even a single cream tea despite being in Cornwall, or a proper 'fish and chips'! (Did have a 'gourmet' version at a posh restaurant but didn't quite hit the spot...). Windsurfed or surfed every day, walked loads and was generally active (no kettlebells though - gave them a vacation too!) but I did have more wine than usual and shunned my usual FitDay logging and just generally enjoyed life so I did expect the creep I guess...

Most of us experience this with every major holiday or even long weekend. Depsite being 'good' most of the time, the cumulative effect of these indulgent periods will really make a huge impact on the waistline if some action is not taken to immediately get back on track. This is one of the big reasons why people gain weight each year - without getting back to where you were each time you can easily keep gaining and gaining weight without even realising it.

As an athlete has 'seasons' it makes sense that losing weight can work that way too. We don't need to be super strict all the time but by alternating maintenance periods with structured dieting phases we can actually get even better results. The key is to ensure the phases are distinct: structured and focussed effort at intervals, interspersed that with 'maintenance' periods where your body can adjust and you can give yourself a break.

So, what's Mission Slim-Possible all about then?

Well, I was training one of my superstar clients on Monday morning (one of the best times of the week to work out!) and she was feeling that her progress had stalled, due to the fact that I had been away as well as the added stress / chaos of extended family having been staying and her focus had wavered a little.

This is a client who is super-determined and had amazing results over a 6 week period (look out for her results in future posts) losing inches and pounds and looking great. However it is often at that point that we hit a bit of a plateau.

This is actually due in part to the 'treat creep' effect - without realising it we are so pleased with our results we think we can ease off a little, or end up rewarding ourselves with a few 'extras' here and there. This is a very common occurance and can go unnoticed, so being able to identify this stage and break through it with a concerted effort is definitely a good plan so you do make it all the way to your final goal! Once we lose a bit of weight and increase out fitness levels we often feel so much better that it does become harder to stick to the 'rules' that were easier to stick to when we feel really fat and unfit.

Anyway, back to the Mission. Caroline really wanted to get that zest and focus of the first 6 weeks back, in order to bust through this plateau and reach her ultimate goals. I was also feeling that I could use a bit of a boost to lose the holiday gain and also that last couple of kilos I've been half-heartedly wanting to shed (again, I'd hit that stage where I was perfectly happy where I was so lost the drive to give it an all-out effort, given that my training and nutrition is good anyway). For me, the holiday gain has been enough to get me motivated again!

So we made a pledge together to get fully on it - a 6 week 'No Excuses' focussed effort to get at least 8lb off! We both train pretty hard already, but we made some tweaks to the programme for maximum effect. I've been a little slack on the interval front since my knee op on the one hand but have also been giving myself too little rest so I've reworked my training to include short interval sessions more often and on alternate days to my main full-body resistance workouts (will post workouts in a future blog if anyone's interested...).

Nutrition is the key, though (you can't out train a bad diet, remember!) and that is what we are both focussing on.

I had been following Brad Pilon's Eat Stop Eat and just as I got close to my goals actually stopped doing it for a while, but now he's launched his Advanced Audio Files - they arrived just as I returned from holiday which was perfect timing - I got back onto the programme before even listening to them and it was great to listen to them as they renewed my focus and understanding of the programme - I was re-motivated as began to truly understand how the programme works and also the many health benefits to his controversial approach which weren't so apparent in the book alone.

So, we are both following Eat Stop Eat, but also combining that with a few extra rules. One of the key parts of Eat Stop Eat is to actually avoid too many rules and losing the Obsessive Compulsive Eating habits that the 'eat 5-6 small meals a day' mantra encourages. However, I personally find that I can easily let the calories creep up unless I have rules (it's just the way I am!) so I have banned peanut butter and cottage cheese (they are great foods but ones that I can easily add a few extra cals to my day with so figured it was an easy way to eliminate the excess) and also limiting myself to 1/2 bottle wine a week. I was thinking we should go completely dry, but then we decided that we can have a little joy and it will make the whole thing much easier to stick to. That can mean a glass on Friday and Saturday evenings which is nice and civilised and we can't possibly feel deprived. We all know that moderate alcohol intake is good for us and I'm going to stick to red wine which is even better... But that is our one treat!

As for the rest, no starchy, junky carbs at all (I don't eat those anyway, my indulgences tend to be larger portions of healthy foods such as cottage cheese, fruit and nuts! Sad but true...) and general portion / calorie control (I log every thing on FitDay so keeping my cals to 1600 - 2000 a day) and just the normal focus on eating loads of lovely salads and veg!

So, are you in? If you want to join us in Mission Slim-Possible then comment here or email me (via my website: http://www.perfectfitforlife.com/) and we can discuss the guidelines in more detail. As detailed above we have actually both set our own parameters as I would never condone a 1-size-fits-all approach. I have guided Caroline to her plan but if she wants to include more carbs than I do then that is fine, so long as the overall diet is sound (essentially any diet will work if you are consistent!). As we are following Eat Stop Eat the rest of it is all about keeping the nutrition factor high by eating good quality stuff!

So you can decide your plan, email it to me and then I can advise on how best to adjust it for maximum results based on your personal preferences and circumstances. I can also advise you on workouts you should be following to maximise chances of success.

You can email me your results and I can update the blog with your progress, or you can create your own blog (posting in public increases your success!) and we can see who gets the best results! I'll even give a really cool Kettlebell Workout Bonus to the winner (hmmm, that means I can't win... so at the moment my client, Caroline, is bound to win as it's just us in the race! But that does mean your chances are pretty good too...).

I've set up a little exclusive 'members only' club so we can share our experiences and success - you can sign up and post your personal mission plan and stats here: http://missionslim-possible.ning.com/.

Really hope some of you feel inspired to join us. Whatever you do, we'll be on our way to losing those stubborn pounds! Take control and take action!