Plan-K - 1 workout (or walk) 2 changes, 3 weeks - stop trying not to be fat and get fit instead!

On the back of understanding (see my previous post) that you can be fat and still be fit, I have decided to make a few minor changes to my nutrition counselling.

I already promote the desire to be fit and healthy for life, by making sustainable changes that you can live with forever rather than a 6 week, quick fix, doomed-to-failure diet.

I already promote good nutrition and healthy, real foods rather than calorie counting, with the idea that eating nutritious, healthy, non-processed foods will make you feel physically better, increase your energy levels and as a side effect, will drop you down or bring you up to your natural healthy weight without feeling hungry, miserable or stressed about it.

However, I still have clients whose main goal is to lose weight rather than become fit and healthy, so they still meet me each week to discuss everything and weigh in.

I think my clients and I need to have a rethink about what our goals are.  So...

I am going to throw away my scales.  

If your goals are to be fit and healthy, if you hate the tabloid media portrayal of women and despise magazines' blatant and pervasive digital remastering of perfectly normal, dimply, rounded, curvy, non-airbrushed women, if you want to truly value yourself and your achievements and want to get off the treadmill of trying forever, pointlessly and demoralisingly to be thin, then you have come to the right place!

Let's stop buying into the billion dollar diet industry's disgusting, prescriptive, perverted idea of what women should look like and stop caring about our size and start caring about our health!
Let's make that pact to change our desires to be not fat into a desire to be fit!

If you eat well, nourishing your body with genuine nutrients, avoiding processed, fake foods and you exercise so that you increase your lung capacity, lower your resting heart rate, develop your flexibility, strength and power it will: CHANGE.  YOUR.  LIFE! 

We all know that what we look like has absolutely no bearing whatsoever on the sort of mother, daughter, friend, brother, uncle, granny, wife or work colleague we are!

Being thin doesn't make us happy.

Here's what does make us happy:

• feeling proud of ourselves - for being able to do something today that we couldn't do yesterday, for learning something that we didn't know last week or for overcoming obstacles be they mountain or pebble sized.
• Helping others - being a positive and supportive force and a good person who doesn't ever make anyone feel ashamed, embarrassed or miserable for being too tall, too short, too thin, too fat, too dark, too light, bald, goofy, one legged, male, female, French, German, black, green, tory...you get the picture. 
• Appreciating what we have rather than focusing on what we don't have.

These things make us happy.  Being thin doesn't.

So here's my plan to help you achieve that happiness.  

Try this:

Plan-K

do 1 workout (or walk)

make 2 changes 

for 3 weeks 

and notice the changes!

1. Do 1 workout every day from the ones listed at the end of this post or just walk fast for at least half an hour every day.
2. Make 2 changes: cut all sugar and cut all wheat.
3. Do it for 3 weeks.  Keep it up, very strictly, for 3 weeks.

As the weeks progress, note the changes that you experience.

Here's why:

Doing 1 workout each day will teach you new things and you will develop a fitness you didn't know you could have so quickly and will feel genuine strength, power and pride.  Each workout will leave you tired but weirdly energised.  Going for a walk where you end up hot, sweaty and out of breath is just as good. This really will make you happy.

Making the 1st of the 2 changes by cutting all sugar is the best thing you can do for your metabolism and health.  Be careful though, it's not as simple as just cutting out the white stuff you add to things; it means no conventional sweets, cakes, puddings and chocolate, of course, but also check the ingredients lists in savoury foods for added sugar.  Cooked chicken breasts have added sugar, tomato sauces have added sugar, microwave meals have added sugar.  (Have a look at my paleo recipes section for sugar-free, wheat-free treats.)

These are the words you are looking to avoid:

Anything ending in -ose, any sort of syrup, anything with corn or cane in the name, concentrated fruit juice, dextrin and maltodextrin.

Cutting sugar will regulate your blood glucose levels and even out your moods.  It will help find the joy in tasting real foods properly.  This really will make you happy.

Making the 2nd of the 2 changes by cutting all wheat stops you eating all the really unhealthy fats without having to actually cut fat in your diet at all.  Natural fat is genuinely good.  It fills you up. Bacon fat, chicken skin, lard, coconut oil and butter (NOT margarine) are all good, the fats that are mixed with flour are bad!  On top of that, a lot of people have an inflammatory response to wheat and so get bloating after bread and pasta and cakes etc.  Wheat can also contribute to aching joints.  Getting rid of bloating, indigestion and aching joints will improve how you feel in yourself.  This really will make you happy.

Doing this for 3 weeks is enough time to see real changes, if you are honest and strict.  It's also long enough to lose your sweet tooth.  It is long enough to kick start a new healthier way of living, to begin building healthier habits that might just stick - new healthy habits that make you feel well, fit and proud. This really will make you happy.

So what are you waiting for?  Give it a go.  
Think about it, prepare yourself and then do it!  
Change your life with 3 really simple steps!

A few tips and helpful hints:

• You are going to have to adjust what you see as normal breakfasts and lunches.  We have been programmed in he UK and US and increasingly European countries and around the world to believe that breakfast comes in a bowl with milk and lunch comes between two slices of bread. But this needn't bee the case.  If you are going to cut sugar and wheat, you are going to have to seriously adjust this view.

• Try to think of protein as the basis of each meal rather than starchy carbs.  Think meat, fish, eggs, greek yoghurt, cottage cheese and milk.  Have a look at my paleo recipe section for some ideas and google paleo breakfasts for some ideas that will help.  This doesn't mean you have to become paleo, just that you might find these resources useful.

• Up your intake of vegetables to counteract your reduction in sugar and wheat.

• If you feel a desperate desire for something sweet try having a small spoonful of honey or a couple of squares of very dark chocolate (not milk or white).  

The Workouts:

For examples of how to do each exercise, look at the exercise videos section or find examples on YouTube

Workout 1

• Beginners:

10 wall or knee press ups
10 lunges - each leg
10 squats
10 supermans
10 scissor kicks - feet almost upright

• Intermediates:

10 press ups
20 lunges - each leg
30 squats
40 supermans
50 scissor kicks - feet 12 inches off the floor

• Advanced:

10 decline press
20 split squats - each leg
30 arse to grass squats
40 supermans
50 scissor kicks - feet 2 inches off the floor

Workout 2

• Beginners:

1 minute skipping
30 seconds wall or knee press ups
1 minute squats
30 seconds plank
1 minute squats
30 seconds ankle touches
1 minute skipping

• Intermediates:

2 minutes skipping
1 minute press ups
30 second squat 10 second rest x 3
1 minute plank
30 second squat 10 second rest x 3
1 minute ankle touches
2 minutes skipping

• Advanced:

4 minutes skipping
2 minute press ups
30 second arse to grass squat 10 second rest x 5
90 second plank
30 second squat 10 second rest x 5
90 second ankle touches
4 minutes skipping

Workout 3

• Beginners:

1 minute jump squats
30 second mountain climbers
30 second wall or knee press ups
30 second supermans with arms to the side
30 second v-sit
1 minute walking lunges

• Intermediates:

1 minute jump squats
1 minute mountain climbers
1 minute press ups
1 minute supermans with arms to the side
1 minute v-sit
1 minute walking lunges

• Advanced:

90 second jump squats
90 second mountain climbers
2 minute press ups
2 minute supermans with arms to the side
2 minute v-sit
90 second walking lunges

Workout 5

• Beginners:

5 wall or knee press ups
5 squats
5 lunges each leg
5 supermans hands by your sides
5 ab curls
x3

• Intermediates:

10 press ups
10 squats
10 lunges each leg
10 supermans hands by your sides
10 ab curls
x4

• Advanced:

15 decline press ups
15 sarse to grass quats
15 lunges each leg
15 supermans hands by your sides
15 ab curls
x5

Workout 6

• Beginners:

1 minute jump squats
10 wall or knee press ups
1 minute jog on the spot
10 squats
1 minute jog on the spot
10 supermans
1 minute jog on the spot
10 Russian twists
1 minute jump squats

• Intermediates:

90 second jump squats
20 pressups
1 minute jog on the spot
20 squats
1 minute jog on the spot
20 supermans
1 minute jog on the spot
20 Russian twists
90 seconds minute jump squats

• Advanced:

2 minutes jump squats
30 press ups
1 minute jog on the spot
30 arse to grass squats
1 minute jog on the spot
30 supermans
1 minute jog on the spot
30 Russian twists
2 minutes jump squats

Workout 7

• Beginners:

5 wall or knee press ups

5 walking lunges
5 squats
5 supermans
25 scissor kicks feet almost upright
x 2 - time yourself and try to do it quicker next time

• Intermediates:

10 press ups

10 walking lunges
10 squats
10 supermans
50 scissor kicks feet 12 inches off the floor
x 3 - time yourself and try to do it quicker next time

• Advanced:

10 decline press

20 split squats
20 arse to grass squats
20 supermans
75 scissor kicks feet 2 inches off the floor
x 3 - time yourself and try to do it quicker next time

Pick one of these workouts each day.  As soon as they become easy, either increase the time or reps or move onto the next level.  If the advanced is too easy, try doing the sets through several times or add some weights when you squat and lunge and or slow the exercises down.  If you need to rest at any point, of course you must but try to push yourself as much as you can.  If at any point something hurts more than a muscle burn from hard work, stop.  If the pain doesn't go away, don't continue.

If after 3 weeks you find you've got the bug, which is highly likely, then there are lots of workouts on this blog to keep you going until you get really serious, after which you may have to get a Personal Trainer, join a gym or class, get your own equipment or scour the internet for more!

If you suffer from high blood pressure, have pains in your chest ever, joint problems, are on medication, are pregnant, have a baby under 6 months old or have been told by your doctor not to partake in exercise, you should check with your doctor before suddenly beginning a new exercise regime.

I will try to get the remaining videos for these exercises up on the blog this week; there are some already.