How did he do it? Let's hear it directly from Ben:
Ben:
Here's what I've been doing to get ready for my total body transformation - basically, I just followed your initial advice for the baby steps we can take to ease into a new eating regimen. For example, I eliminated the easy stuff like candy, french fries, etc and started eating the better foods from the fast food places you mentioned. For one reason or another it's been difficult for me to prepare a lunch during the work week so I've been relying heavily on the grilled chicken sandwiches from Burger King or Mcdonalds with no mayo. I don't get a value meal with the french fries but I do like to get a large Diet Coke with it.
At first I found I had quite a bit of extra energy but I will tell you, I was certainly struggling with hunger pangs. My body is just so used to eating much larger volumes of food. To try and stave this off a bit I tried another one of your tips and ate a TON of celery and cucumbers. This worked at first by giving me something to eat but I can't really say that it 'satisified' me. Fortunately, I found I really didn't have to do this much as the days wore on. I definitely feel like my body was/is adapting to the smaller volumes of food.
The weight loss I experienced was pretty much immediate. As soon as I started cleaning things up slightly, within 3-5 days I was down 8 pounds. I attribute this largely to excess bulk in my system and water weight, but I sure do feel better and more energetic without that extra weight! I just can't believe how fast that came off.
I did fall off the wagon one day over the weekend however. We had a birthday party at my house and there were all the usual party foods available: pizza, chips, beer, etc. After being strict all week I kind of succumbed to the offerings and definitely ate way too much. I had some beer and a LOT of pizza. I felt terrible afterwards. Interestingly, it took me quite some time to start feeling full because I definitely felt, at least mentally, that I was super hungry from eating like I did all week. Once I began to fill up on the pizza, I felt really full and it became more and more difficult to eat more. After that day, I brought my portions way back again - probably too far back. I think I had a couple days where I didn't get much more than 1,500 calories in total. The good thing is that I now can fill up pretty quickly and what used to be considered a 'normal' portion is too much.
I did little to no exercise (no direct, purposeful exercise anyway) during this period. I did shovel some snow and use a chainsaw once but definitely no cardio, weights or anything along those lines.
I've been able to get a solid 7 to 8 hours sleep each night which is good but did have one night with about 4 to 5 hours but I think I had some sort of 24 hour sickness that may have contributed to that.
I didn't track any calories at all during this period of time and honestly don't know if I was getting the proper macronutrients I need. I did take the GNC Ultra Mega Gold vitamins you recommended though. I think those definitely make a big difference in how I feel. I can tell when I don't take them because I feel sluggish and lethargic. I haven't added any additional protein or anything to my diet either - at least, nothing above and beyond eating more chicken, etc.
A couple of helpful pieces of insight I think I can provide to others is:
1) This hasn't really affected my schedule or lifestyle at all with respect to making these changes. Obviously the positives are that I've lost some decent weight very quickly and have more energy, but when talking about how it's impacted my day - it hasn't. The only difference is I'm eating less and different foods than I was.
2) I hope everybody listens to this advice because this is the hard part! The hunger pangs are tough - no question about it. This is the part that will make or break people who want to make a total body transformation. There really wasn't much I could do about it. I found that because I had more energy, I kept busier during the day and didn't even really have too much time to think about the fact that I was 'hungry'. When I did have time to eat, I focused on the celery, cucumbers and lettuce mostly. These began to taste better and better throughout the week as I ate more of them. Often I just ate them plain but other times I did add a little salt and pepper for taste. Occassionally I ate some olives too but kept that down to only a few.
I'll be providing another update shortly. I look forward to seeing even more drastic results once I really buckle down and start eating according to the custom eating plan you've put toghether. It's exciting because I really haven't done a whole lot yet and I'm already feeling better. I can't wait to start making meaningful changes and see what happens!
Ben has seen quite the return on a little bit of investment so far! There will be ups and downs along the way and those binge days will inevitably find their way into your schedule but consistency is the key factor. Once Ben starts consistently eating a clean, quality diet for a few weeks on end, the results will begin to become more drastic and take hold quickly.
Stay tuned for all the exciting updates!
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