Jun 28 2012

3 Weeks to Awesome – Measurement Commitment

Today is day 4 of my 3 week program to hit your fitness goal. You have worked out hard whether you’re a beginner or more advanced, so today is a rest day.

What I am asking you to do today is very simple. Yesterday you took your measurements and before pictures. Today, I want you to pick a day and time each week that you will take your progress pictures and measurements. I want you to commit to that date and time each week for the next 3 weeks.

Here’s the trick. I also want you to commit to not stepping on the scale or taking measurements on any other day. Tracking your progress is healthy. Being preoccupied with your weight is not healthy. You will see your progress each week. Trust me.

VIDEO: BPM 3 Weeks To a New You – Fitness Program Day 4

VIDEO: BPM 3 Weeks To a New You – Fitness Program Day 4

I also want you to start thinking about nutrition. We will go over nutrition in more detail during the program, but to maximize the results you will need to back it up with smaller portion sizes and more frequent meals. I know you have heard that before. That’s because it works. I want you to really try it. Not just for a day. Not just for a week. I want you to really try it for the entire 3 weeks, then see if you can keep it going long afterwards.

Eating small portions 6-8 times per day will have a dramatic impact on your metabolism. Take a few minutes to go through the food and diet section of the site to read about nutrition.

Also, make sure to develop the super power I give you during this program each day. Todays super power is easy. All you have to do is commit to not being preoccupied with your weight and to taking weekly measurements and progress pics. Don’t ignore it because it’s easy. The little things I ask you to do over the next 3 weeks are the super powers that are going to supercharge your results. Even though today’s super power is easy, it will end up propelling you toward your results even faster.

Every aspect of this program counts. Every little detail matters. Trust the process and try your best to commit 100%.

xoxo ~ Cori

Invoke Your Super Power: Measurements and Pics

Yesterday I taught you how to take your own measurements properly. If you haven’t taken your measurement yet, follow the guide here: Guide to Taking Measurements

Take your measurements. Take your pictures. Front. Back. Right. Left. If you’re feeling brave, post your measurements on the Guide to Taking Measurements blog post right under mine. You can update them as you take them. It’s a great way to hold yourself accountable.

If that is a little too intimidating for you right now, I also made this BPM.Tv Measurement Sheet for you. It’s a google doc that you can download. Just click the picture or the link.

Follow Through

I like to post something about cardio and nutrition at the end of every post because it is important.

Cardio and nutrition are going to be two of the most important parts of achieving your results, no matter what what your goal is. You can not work off your nutritional decisions with exercise. What? You can’t eat a donut, then just do 2 hours of cardio and *poof* it will be like it never happened? That’s what I’m saying. Come on. No. You can’t.

Your body doesn’t work like a simple addition or subtraction problem. It is not calories in vs. calories out. What you eat has a chemical effect on your body. Even if you do cardio to ‘burn it off’ the chemical effect is still present. Different sugars have an affect. Different proteins have an effect. Different fats have an effect. When you take a vitamin, you understand that it has an effect in your body that cardio will not ‘work off,’ right? Food works the same way. Different foods have positive and negative chemical effects within our body. You can’t just work them off.

You have to unlock and unleash the body fat by working with your body in every aspect. Your body works in harmony like a symphony. When one instrument is off, the entire song doesn’t sound right. A good steady drumbeat can’t make up for a guitar that’s out of tune. 2 hours of cardio cannot make up for a donut. Or pizza. Or macaroni and cheese. Or wine and a baguette. Got it?

Cardio

I recently cut my cardio to a minimum of 30 minutes of stairs with intervals as cardio 5 days per week.

When I’m trying to lose fat I usually do two separate 45 minute cardio sessions a day, but one session is really more like light activity and less like cardio.

I love my cardio and I like to stay conditioned. I personally prefer to do a little more cardio than the average figure competitor, then also eat a little more. It takes more time and effort, but I feel the pay off is well worth it.

The pay off is that I feel awesome. It might take me a little longer to build muscle because I do love my cardio, but it’s the cardio that helps me to keep focused and positive for the long haul. It’s important to know what keeps you motivated for the long haul too. I feel energized by cardio. I love it.

Post Workout Nutrition

When I was trying to gain muscle I finished every workout with a protein shake, animal protein, and some complex and simple carbs. These are healthy choices for gaining or for performance. These are not the right choices for me for trying to lose fat, define and sculpt muscle. Trying to define and sculpt muscle is different from gaining muscle. This means I need to eat something different.

When I am trying to lose fat and sculpt muscle, I am much more strict with my diet. Only true food sources. No protein powder.

I finish up every workout with lean protein from true food sources (a little red meat, white chicken, white fish and egg whites are best) and some dark green veggies or Super Greens mixed with water only. Again, no protein powder. If you are a vegetarian you would most likely need to supplement with protein powder. If you are not, let me say again that true food sources work best for losing body fat.

Even when I am trying to lose fat, I still FEED my body.

Want more information about nutrition? Check out BPM.tv Nutrition 101.

You can also look at my current personal fat loss diet in order to get ideas on how to develop your own nutrition plan.

Cori Ann’s Prepping Fat Loss Diet:

You can click on the image above to link to my fat loss diet to get details about what works for me, but here is the basic breakdown.

This is my meal plan while I am trying to lose fat and define muscle. My carbohydrates come from complex sources only and are kept to about 100 grams per day.

My sugar is kept at about 18 grams per day. That’s it. That is less than what is in one banana. That means fruit is not in my fat loss nutrition plan. My sugars come from minimal amounts that naturally occur in veggies and in the complex carbs I eat each day. No matter what your goal, I highly recommend you watch your sugar intake, even ‘healthy’ sugar like fruit, and moderate it to a minimum based on your own personal goals.

My protein is kept at about 250 grams per day and comes from high quality, organic, free range (or wild) lean animal sources. My fats are kept at about 40 grams per day and come from my protein and complex carbohydrate choices (not additional plant sources like olive oil, coconut, nuts, or avocado).

That equals about 1800 calories per day. I don’t drop it much lower than that.

I eat natural, organic, whole foods that I cook myself, or if possible I eat them raw. I drink 1 to 2 gallons of water and a couple cups of either coffee or tea. There is no mysterious, magical diet. If you want to lose bodyfat you need to eat a fair amount of lean protein and A LOT of green veggies at every meal. Period.

Did you like this post? Tell me in the comments!

Please share your thoughts and questions in the comments. Don’t be shy! Your comments may help to inspire another. Your questions may help someone else who has the exact same question, but is too shy to ask. I love hearing from you!

By Cori Ann Lentz • Life & Love • 7 • Tags: Measurements