Loose 5kg's!

How I did it: First, the expense:

1. I got a personal trainer. ($35 AUD per session)
2. I have a gym membership ($50 AUD per month)

I went on a strict diet:

• Breakfast: 3 Weetbix
• Morning Tea: 1 Banana
• Lunch: 1 Chicken Salad Sandwich (lots of salad filling) - 1 can (not bottle) coke zero (I'm a coke addict)
• Afternoon Tea: 1 Apple
• Dinner: Meat and Salad.  A chicken stir fry, no noodles, rice ok.  Not big portions!)

I follow this at least 5 days a week.  On the weekends I relaxed, and did eat the occasional junk food, and still enjoyed a six pack of beer over the weekend.

If I got peckish during the day, I could have 10 Almonds as a snack per day, or a low calorie jelly cup - I filled plastic picnic cups about 1/3 full of jelly.  That's one cup.

I also drank a lot more water, cut down on the amount of coffee I drank, used equal instead of sugar, and drank more green tea.

The exercise:

• Half hour personal training session once a week
• 2 other visits to the gym, spent 1/2 hour on a bike, and 1/2 hour on another cardio machine (eliptical cross trainer usually)

Lessons & tips: The personal trainer keeps you accountable.  I pay in advance, and keep appointments with him.

Everyone has advice on what you can do to loose weight.  It's easy for people who are over weight to say "One won't hurt" or "You don't need to do that".  Listen to the advice from people who have lost weight and kept it off.

Food is the important part.  I was eating at Macdonalds at least once a day.  I also realised I was having lots of incidental snacks throughout the day that were contributing to my weight.

Exercise is hard, and it hurts.  I almost puked on the trainers shoes at the end of my first session.  There's no easy answers, but stick with it - your body gets fitter quicker than you expect and then exercise gets easier and more enjoyable.

Want to loose weight and people will say easy - "Diet and Exercise".  I'd say "Diet, Exercise, and Mental attitude".  Many times I try to do a pushup, and my head is saying I can't.  I just start saying "I can", and push - and I do.

STRETCHING is really important - particularly if you are susceptable to things like shin splints, or have bad knees.  Avoid exercise that aggravates injuries and stop if something is causing pain (the injury type of pain, not exercise type of pain)

I work better if I have my gym sessions and diet scheduled and pre planned.  Then I can just follow the plan, and not have to think - what will I eat tonight - will I go to the gym tonight.

Oh - and have a motivation.  I don't want to die young, or get a zipper in my chest if I can help it.  If I kept going the way I was, that's exactly what was going to happen.

So 5kgs down.  15kgs to go.  I can do it.  So can you.

Resources: The three most important things that are helping me reach my goal:

• Personal Trainer
• Gym Membership
• Motivation to achieve my goal (you need something to get you through it when you don't want to do it)

What you DON'T need:

• Fancy TV special Ab curler
• Special weight loss shakes
• Any fancy gym equipment in your own home.

My trainer whips me into shape with little more than a set of boxing gloves, a medicine ball, and a mat.

---

Feb 18, 2009, 08:09PM PST | 0 comments