Reducing my body-fat with diet alone

In March, some of you may have seen that we were offering free body fat tests. This was an ideal time for me to review the damage i had caused during the winter months and give myself a few months to see if I could get this down. I got my body fat re-tested today and it had dropped 4% which I was very pleased with. I have managed to drop this purely through my eating habits. I have only done weight training (which I did previously anyway) and no additional cardiovascular work. Since giving up football, I don't do dedicated cardio sessions, although some of my weight training workouts are similar to circuit training which will get the heart rate up. So to drop a significant amount of bodyfat through diet alone, is encouraging for people who find exercise sessions difficult to fit in.

Here is what I did:

• Reduced my carbs to pre and post workouts only. This gave me some energy for the session. This allowed me to stay reasonably strong in the gym. Having carbs post workout is great because your body will use them to repair and recooperate. So the only carbs I had were used immediately for, or just after the workout.
• Only ate brown rice and sweet potatos as my carb sources. Both are less starchy and more fibrous.
• Increased lean protein. I switched from fattier cuts of meat i.e. beef, to chicken and fish. Another way of eating lean protein was removing the egg yolks for scrambled eggs. I would have have 1-2 whole eggs and 3 extra whites.
• I cut out bread and pasta. This includes gluten which can bloat you.
• I cut out nearly all dairy. I had milk with porridge, but tried to switch this to goats milk as my body doesn't agree with cows milk. I had natural yoghurt with some meals. This helped me digest certain meals slightly better.
• I upped my green veg intake. I ate raw spinach, mangetout, broccoli and green beans on a daily basis.
• I cut down on sugary fruits i.e. bananas and dried fruits. I ate fruits with a lower Glycaemic Index (Apples, pears, berries).
• Drank plenty of Water
• No alcohol
• No processed foods i.e. sweets, chocolate, cakes
• Had either one 'off day' or 'off meal' a week. This would mean I could eat what I want. Generally something carby. Something that would mean I could refuel for my workouts. This would be at the weekend, so it means you can live a little and it means you don't go completely insane from being strict during the week! Psychologically, this allowed me to adhere to the programme much better. In a book I have just read called '4-hour body', the author wrote down any cravings he had during the week and promised himself he would eat them all during his off day! When that day came he didn't get round to eating them all but kept him on course in the week!
• I ate every 2-3 hours. These were small mini-meals to boost my metebolism and to stop me from feeling too hungry.

Here is a typical day:

7am = 2 whole egg and 3 egg white omellete with salad
10am = chicken breast and apple
12pm = Fish and vegetables
2.30pm = Fish and Berries
5pm = lean meat, veggies, small carbs (sweet potato)
Workout
7.30pm = Lean protein, small carbs (sweet potato)
9pm = protein shake and fruit

I tried to follow this as well as I could but sometimes things didn't go to plan. The key is consistency. There is a lot of protein in the above. This agrees with me. For some of you this may not work. For many others I have worked with, this has helped them drop fat dramatically.

For more tips on fatloss, email me on orm@tonbridge -school.org