INTRODUCTION
As some of you may know over the next month I will be taking part in a diet plan designed to “shred” fat and add muscle.
It is a high protein diet with the focus being on clean eating and working hard.
I’m going to share my progress on the dynamic blog in the hope that it will help anyone struggling to keep the pounds off and maybe even inspire a few people to take part. If not you can all laugh at me struggling to cope without treats for the next 30 days.
I’ll be posting food and fitness ideas and I encourage anyone who’s interested in staying fit to take a look.
Wish me luck!
Dale
DAY 1
So here we go day 1! Right from the off I can tell you this is going to be difficult. I’ve always trained hard so I can enjoy the finer things in life. (beer and ice cream). The one piece of advice I have from day 1 is prepare, prepare, prepare! I must have cleared out norwich’s tupperware stores getting ready for this and as a result my fridge is stacked with tiny boxes full of prepared breakfasts, lunches and dinners! I’ve often found the worst time for snacking on something unhealthy is when you have no time, coming in late from work for example. From now on I don’t have that excuse….now where did I put that spinach pot!
DAY 2
Dale’s lunch on Day 2.
DAY 5
Monday morning and Dale is up at 6am and eating Salmon, Eggs and Avocado before his first training session at 7am.
Bring on week 2!
This picture sums it up nicely!
The first week
Hi guys
Its been a week since I started the shred so I thought I’d share a couple of the meal ideas that I’ve been using (see the bottom of this blog) and answer some questions people have been asking me.
As a general update food wise I’ve found there’s no substitute for planning ahead! However the first fail happened at the weekend :( but I challenge anyone to go for a carvery and not have a yorkshire pud and roasties!!
With any plan the hardest part is when your food preparation is taken out of your control, the important thing is to get straight back into your routine, everybody needs a treat every now and again (and I did stay away from the chessecake!!)
A lot of people are asking me what exactly is this shred, is it a mini Atkins plan? The answer to that is no whilst I am generally cutting down on my carb intake this plan is a healthy clean eating plan. Trying as much as I can to eat naturally with nothing processed. Many clients always say they have no time to stick to a healthy plan my goal is to show it can be done with a little planning and a bit of will power.
One of the biggest problems I thought I’d have is energy, I’ve cut my carb intake considerably but by having regular snacks (mostly protein pots or sugar snap peas) it hasn’t been an issue even though it does feel like I’m eating most of the day! Another challenge this weekend, uni for two days the regular pub lunch on sat is going to be hard……..there’s no calories in Guinness right?
A typical day on the shred,
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Breakfast
Protein pancakes, greek yoghurt and a handful of blueberries
Mid morning snack
A handfull of almonds or fruit
Lunch
Salad, salad, salad! usually with chicken, tuna or turkey
Afternoon snack
Fruit or a protein pot
Dinner
This one varies the most but it usually contains some white meat salad or green veg
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I will put up some more specific ideas as we go through.
Speak to you soon.
Dale.
Breakfast
So it’s Monday, back to work for most of us! so what do you have for breakfast? cereal or toast is the nations quick and easy option. But if you’re trying to shred some pounds put that Hovis back on the shelf!!
Carbs are the most easily used fuel for your body. If you give your body some carbs, it will always prefer to use them for energy! That means, that if you eat a lot of carbs with your breakfast, your body will use them as a source of fuel, and not your fat stores.
So piling on the cereal first thing means you’ll have to spend more time on that treadmill to burn it off!
So what do you have if you’re fighting the fat? Protein and good fat is the answer. Good fat is generally fats taken from plants, seafood, peanuts and canola oils.
The plan I’m on has me eating some interesting and tasty alternatives to the usual breakfast ideas. If anyone is interested please ask.
See you soon :)
Hi everyone
Apologise for the delay in this post, uni work has got in the way over the past couple of weeks, who would’ve thought a degree would require you to study so much….stupid idea.
So the shred is entering its final week and I thought I’d share how its going. Last Tuesday I weighed in and found that I lost 2.5 pounds in a week which was great news as I don’t feel that I’m cutting down on my food just replacing the ready made for healthy alternatives.
That being said this has been the hardest part of the shred due to the fact that I’ve spent so much time studying, usually this is time for a cup of tea and biscuit (I am partial to a ginger nut!) but with that being out of the question I thought I’d share some of the healthier snacks that I have been having,
Fruit and nuts – sounds obvious but this has been the staple snack throughout the shred. Just be careful with the amount you have, nuts do have natural fat in them and many fruits are high in carbohydrates, so if you are the kind of person who can go through a bag of nuts in a lunch break, decant them into a small container.
Sugar snap peas – An unlikely snack but these little green giants are becoming my favourites and if you’re looking to shred a few pounds they could become yours, 1 cup equals 35 calories, 2 grams of protein, no fat and 2 grams of fibre. So you can crunch all you want.
Nakd bars – Ok you wont find these growing in your garden but these whole food bars are about as close as you’re going to get to a natural processed snack, with minimal processing and no added sugar these little snack bars are great if you don’t have the time to make your own healthy alternative.
These are just a few of the snack ideas that we’ve used if anyone would like to know more just ask.
See you soon.
Day 28
So its the final day of the 28 day plan and I thought I’d share my thoughts with you and offer some advice to anyone who is thinking of taking on a diet plan of their own.
Firstly plan ahead. I’ve mentioned this already but if there is one piece of advice I would give to anyone doing this is plan your meals! Sunday afternoon was our time to prepare for the following week, even if you only have an hour free you can make your lunches and put them in the fridge then all you have to do Monday morning is pick one up and go. (the photo attached is me and Anna making our salads for the week.)
I realise that a lot of people eat out at lunch and this does make it a lot harder to stay on track but try to go for the clean healthy option, sounds boring but if you’re trying to shed the pounds a heavy lunch out or a pre packed sandwich from Tesco (how anyone can eat these is a mystery to me) will not be the answer.
Stick with it and realise you will slip up some days.
Sunday night I was at a friends who made me lasagne and wedges for dinner. I was not going to pass it up but I knew that I had to make sure I worked hard for the rest of the week. Never beat yourself up about slipping just draw a line under it and get back on the wagon. And yes I ate all of the lasagne it was bloody lovely!
Train hard.
Obviously as a personal trainer I’m going to try and get all of you to exercise! not only will it help with your weight goals but you’ll gain confidence, you really want to be aiming for some form of exercise 5 days a week, this doesn’t have to be going for a 10 mile run everyday you can fit in a class, take the dog for a long walk or book an extra training session with your friendly, handsome personal trainer ;)
Lastly experiment with your food.
Try different ideas. Trust me you’ll soon get bored of omelettes for breakfast and stir frys for dinner, I must admit I had a lot of help with this from Anna, it still amazes me how she can look at (to me) an empty cupboard and make something that is delicious and healthy! so if you have someone that can help you, you’re more likely to succeed if not then fear not I’m in the process of writing down all the meal ideas we’ve used in our shred in a handy dynamic meal guide so even if you struggle to boil and egg you can stay fit and healthy.
So there you have it 28 days later, 3kg lighter and a whole lot wiser on healthy alternatives. But I know what you’re all thinking “that’s great but I bet he’ll just go back to what he had before” well I’m not, the idea of this little experiment was to see if I could permanently change my diet for the better, to eat cleaner, healthier and to prove that even with a hectic lifestyle it can be done. So I’m sticking with my salmon, salads and exercise to see how far I can take it. this plan might have finished but the next stage is just beginning.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this blog and I hope its made a few of you think about what you’re eating, thanks for reading and look out for my revised 28 day plan coming your way soon.
Dale :)