WARNING – LONG – REAL AND RAW

[Warts n’ all post]

In the hope that it might help

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Over Covid-19 Lockdown – I put on weight.

Not just a little bit either.

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Here I was exercising on-line “ZOOMING” every day with you all…

6 days a week.

In fact sometimes twice a day.

4000 myzone-MEPS I was clocking up per month! –

Burning thousands and thousands of calories.

So I figured…

“I’ve been exercising hard – I’ll be able to eat [insert item] no problem as I’m burning a lot.”

Same went with alcohol too. A glass or two of red wine or a beer – on quite a few days.

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Partly – this was due to being at home and having spare time to burn… and wander to the fridge.

And the other part was because I was craving food from being quite exhausted from the amount of exercise I was doing.

My eating and drinking was going pear shaped… and starting to spiral out of control.

We were out of lockdown – and I was 6.5kgs heavier!

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I was feeling very fit – but I was certainly far from in good shape.

“Bloody hell… all that exercise and now I’m heavier than before!”

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Once we got back to the gym – I kept training hard and kept my monthly MEPS and calorie burn high.

Still no weight came off – and now I was even more exhausted as I was back to early mornings every day.

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So after a bit of soul searching about the fact that as a coach at BT I was far from being an example –

I got on my way and got back to being smart about my approach – and got on with being better.

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*So what did I do?

I took my own advice.

The advice – I always give to everyone at the gym.

X I stopped trying to use exercise as a means to burn off calories and make up for bad food choices.

X It literally is a waste of time and a very bad relationship with food and the role exercise should play in a healthy life.

[FACT]Once you are past the age of 30-35

X You cannot make up for bad food choices with more exercise…

TRUST ME ON THIS AND THANK ME LATER 😉

Then I set about devising a sensible long term plan….

NOT A CRASH DIET!!!

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I went back to what I know works for me. 3-4 sessions of FIRE per week + 30-60mins of walking on (most) other days

This helped me stop eating and drinking too much and also stopped me from feeling soo tired.

I know how to measure my calorie intake, I know how to cook and prepare the right types of food in the right amounts that work for my body…..

and I know – that if I fail to prep food – I will not make the right choices consistently enough to change.

So every Sunday – with the help of my lovely wife, we would have a big cook up – and my week was sorted.

Then – 6 days a week – I would have:

Breakfast – 2 daytime meals – an Afternoon Snack – Dinner + a red wine plus a bit of dark chocolate to finish my day.

Saturday night – I would let be what ever it would be… (and in all honesty – sometimes Friday night was like this too – but if it was I would eat 1 less meal on Friday during the day to allow for this)

Sometimes it was a night out (a few parties in there), sometimes it was take away or fast food – I didn’t stress about it.

I just wanted it to allow me to still have some freedom each week.

Sunday’s – I would eat just 2 meals but make them what ever I felt like and I always kept them healthy

(kind of like a low-calorie / mini-fast day)

I MADE MYSELF do this food prep – EVERY WEEK.

[NOTE] You can’t just want the result – you’ve got to be prepared to do the work…. EVERY WEEK and not make excuses.. (which I easily could have on some sundays) as I was tired or busy or just didn’t feel like doing it.

But as time went on and the results started coming – it got easier and faster and more motivating to do this Sunday food prep ritual.

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Fast forward now to today and not only am I lighter than I was pre-lockdown, but I am back to where I was at the end of last years BodyTorque summer-xmas challenge 🙂

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I haven’t gone without social events

I haven’t starved (in fact – far from it)

I have eaten food I love every day

I am doing a sustainable amount of exercise that I love doing – to make myself stronger and healthier – not to burn off calories

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I want to enjoy life

I want to be healthy

I want to feel good about myself

I want to be an example and a leader

AND

I want to be there for my kids and wife and family for a very long time

So I put the plan in place and paid attention every day that I was following through…

And then I stayed patient…very patient.

I used all the tools that we teach at BT – in a smart and sustainable way.

And I feel bloody good for it.

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Life is here to be enjoyed team.

Find the right balance and you CAN have your CAKE and eat it too

Alex