How to lose weight in 8 weeks

12 Apr, 2014 - 14:04 0 Views

The Sunday Mail

Tatenda Musonza Body Makeover
Over the next 8 weeks I am going to share with you simple weekly techniques that will burn at least 1,2 kilogrammes of fat from your body every week. You won’t have to starve yourself. You won’t have to sweat yourself in gruelling exercises. All it takes are small everyday changes.

Over the years I have met men and women who just cannot lose weight. They try a diet for a few weeks and then give up.
They try a crazy exercise regime and in a few days they quit. Anytime you give your body an unnatural regime it will be extremely difficult to sustain such a lifestyle.

The only way you can lose weight in a sustainable way is by adopting small but effective lifestyle changes. I have used this formula with countless people I have trained and the results are consistent.

You will lose weight, you won’t try to but it will just peel off. Most importantly, you will be able to sustain this. Not only so, you will enjoy it.
The first step is to get weighed and establish your target weight. I have found that BMI is pretty useless for black people.
We tend to have a heavier frame so don’t try too hard to fit into that standard. Knowing your blood type is important, in the coming weeks we will look at foods recommended for certain blood groups to shed unwanted fat. By following the nutritional guidelines I provide below you will certainly lose weight.

Healthy eating is not about strict nutrition philosophies, staying unrealistically thin, or depriving yourself, but it’s about having a general lifestyle that you occasionally violate but soon come back. Now and again I spoil myself and cheat but my lifestyle remains the same.
Your diet is more important than exercise. You could exercise for an hour, but the wrong foods will reverse all that hard work in 10 minutes.

Food Choices
(This is just a guide you can replace with other food sources available)
Fruits
Bananas, Apples, Grapefruit, Grapes, Pineapple, Mango
Meal Plan Guideline
7:00 a.m. Protein, Carbohydrate, Fruit
9:30 a.m. Protein, Carbohydrate, Fruit
12:30 a.m. Protein, Carbohydrate, Fruit
2:30 p.m. Protein, Vegetables
5:30 p.m. Protein, Vegetables
7:00 p.m. Protein, Vegetables
1. A meal = one serving of Proteins + one serving of Fruits, Carbohydrates or Vegetables
(a “serving” is the size of your balled up fist or your flat hand)
2. Eliminate ALL refined sugars and sweets
3. Increase water intake. Drink enough water so your urine is always clear
4. All heavy carbs and fruits should be consumed before 3 pm. After that, eat only proteins and vegetables.
5. If you’re trying to get muscle definition, eliminate all dairy products!
6. We all love sadza and white rice, but they are pure evil to those who want to lose weight. I recommend drastically cutting down the amount of refined sadza you eat.

If you are serious don’t eat it at all. If you can’t help yourself do not eat any sadza after 3pm. When you do it make sure you add more meat and vegetables. Two-thirds of your plate should be made up of protein and vegetables if you are to have sadza.
A typical meal for me includes a sliced large sweet potato, a steak or chicken, sliced cucumbers, diced tomatoes, red peppers and some shredded lettuces. I often use wine vinegar as my dressing.

You will find that when you eat in this way you stop feeling hungry. Energy is released slowly into your body.
Many people complain that they are always feeling hungry. It is because of what they are eating. Change your diet and you will find that you are not the glutton you think you are.
Exercise
The general rule for exercise is to keep it simple and easy. Walking is a great exercise. I do not recommend people to go to gyms. Your body weight is more than enough to get that heart pumping.
You will walk casually, at a moderate pace and at times briskly.
You won’t feel a thing. You won’t feel like quitting but you will be making progress. In three weeks you will be surprised that you will be feeling like you are ready to jog. The key is to adjust your body gradually.
This coming week I want you to take up the following routine.

Monday
Walk for just 30 minutes in the morning. Use a moderate to brisk pace. That’s it, go home.

Tuesday
Walk briskly for 30 minutes. Carry a satchel and add some weight to it. You can either use water bottle or pack some sand in plastic bags and then put them in the bag.

Wednesday
Walk briskly for 45 minutes.

Thursday
Bring back the satchel, if you can find a hill that will be great. Just walk up and down a moderate incline for 30 minutes. If you can’t find a hill do a brisk walk for 40 minutes with the satchel.

Friday
Walk 45 minutes in the morning, every five minutes switch your pace.
Easy pace, moderate, brisk, fast (almost jogging) then repeat from easy to fast again.

Saturday
Cheat and eat sadza. Don’t exercise.
Next week we will confuse your body.
It’ll be getting used to the new routine. We’ll mix things up a little and keep you burning off that excess fat.

Tatenda Musonza is a personal trainer and runs a body makeover course, you can contact him on [email protected]

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