WARNING – LONG – REAL AND RAW

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WARNING – LONG  REAL AND RAW

 

[Warts n’ all post]

 

JUST WANT TO PUT THIS OUT THERE TEAM…
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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I was still “eating well” but there was lots of little treats creeping in and alcohol was a regular.
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.

 

Before I knew it. I’d pretty-much lost my way. 

 

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 couldn’t believe how quickly I gained weight and how heavy I now was.

 

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.

 

Quite frankly I was in a fair bit of a mess.

 

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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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1. Ditched the ridiculous amount of exercise

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.

2. I got my shit together in the kitchen

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.

 

A 100%  non-negotiable.

 

[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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And what’s more – it’s been easier than ever before.
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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*But most of all – what I have done has been – being accountable and true to myself.
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