Diabetes, Needles, and Heart Attacks

First off, apologies for the lateness of this blog.  I write this currently with a dislocated Rib, put back in place, and I sit in pain.  But, I WILL OVERCOME!!  Anyways, as many of you have read on the first blog, my “why” has been stated and gives a deep reason for me to refer to if I even THINK of trying to quit.  But on the last blog I left off speaking about my life growing up and going back as far as 30 years.  If you understood this part of my life, maybe it will paint the bigger picture.  Read on fellow Fitness Warrior!

I WAS A FAT KID

I grew up in a household that saw heart attacks, Diabetes, Insulin shots every morning, decaying health, and a lifestyle not conducive to longevity.  It was this Island culture of laid back-ness, island lifestyle and diet, and family environment that created the mindset that my inevitable path was to inherit bad health due to the genes and the cards that I was dealt with.  Because of this, it has pushed me towards seeking a health profession degree in college so that I can make a difference.   But, time catches up on people.  I didn’t make an impact to those I love and because of that I lost both my father’s parents, my father had his first heart attack at age 49, an Angioplasty, and then finally a stroke that left the right side of his body paralyzed.  You would think that studying Physical Therapy in College, seeing the medical financial burden placed on my family, and the deaths and decaying health of family members would be enough to prompt me to get my act together.  After all, I was a fat kid growing up, and Cardiovascular Heart Disease runs in my family.

PISSED OFF, COMMITMENT, EXECUTION, and my BIG “WHY”!

So we are back to Orlando.  During the last presentor mentioned, I decided to walk out and call my wife.  I was mad!  I was pissed off.  I thought of my Baby, my Wife, my family, my business, clients, those that look to me for fitness education, thought of those famous words by Zach Even-Esh “LEAD FROM THE FRONT!!!”.

Talking to my wife, I said “Babe when I come home, we are taking a garbage bag through our refridgerator, cupboards, and making some serious drastic changes.  Now mind you we weren’t “that bad”.  But with my family history, mediocre is deadly.  I was sobbing on the phone as I told Amanda “I’ll be damned if Abrielle has to go through what I went through and see family members suffer.  That is NOT the world she needs to see or be exposed to!”  The thought of Abrielle not having a chance to know her grandfather (my Dad), watch the insulin shots, maybe even possibly experience her OWN Father go through a Heart Attack.  Nope, the time is NOW!  Your turn to get pissed off!

The Solution

An awesome strength coach said this “Everything Works, Nothing Works Forever”.  Keep that in mind because this (my protocol) worked for me and so don’t go berserk and start following a plan without some thought into it and then when your results don’t happen start looking for something or someone to blame.  Because you can always starve yourself, not eat, lose water weight, try another fad diet, blah blah blah.  Hey get some advice, guidance, or at least consult with me.   So let me get to the point.  Here’s my exact plan that I started Oct. 24th and by Nov. 19th I was down 25 lbs.

-  Mag Pulse Fast

THe link above leads directly to the site and some great info.  BUt let me sum it up directly from their site.

The MAG-10 Pulse Fast

“It’s really exciting… we’re seeing potent thermogenic effects combined with enhanced anabolic activity in muscle — all from a single strategy.

Fasting over a 36-hour period, while pulsing with doses of MAG-10, enhances insulin sensitivity in both muscle and fat cells. Due to the fasting state, the loaded MAG-10 formula hits the bloodstream super fast and sends what amounts to an anabolic shockwave right into the muscle. At the same time, fat cells are signaled to release their contents for fuel.

As the body responds to this pulse-fast strategy, muscle cells become increasingly sensitive to the anabolic formula of MAG-10, fat cells shrink, and the systemic urge to eat is reduced.

In essence, we’re reprogramming the body to function as an easy gainer — the physique begins to automatically morph into that muscular-lean look of a bodybuilder.”

So I pulsed two times a week with a three day separation time between the pulse.  I ONLY pulsed for 2 weeks straight then dropped to my last pulse on the third week.

Besides the Day of the Pulse itself I then went to a……….

-  THE VELOCITY DIET

Straight from the link above:

“Those who haven’t read much about the Velocity Diet often assume it’s just a “crazy starvation diet.” It’s a commonly held misconception. The truth is, the V-Diet:

• Provides five feedings per day. You’re eating a few hundred calories every three hours or so. That’s hardly “starving.”
• Provides more calories than most popular and widely accepted clinical diet plans, not to mention the canned-drink plans advertised on TV.
• Provides more than a gram of protein per pound of lean-body weight.
• Provides more healthy fats, especially omega-3s, than the average non-dieter consumes.
• Provides substantially more fiber per day than the average non-dieter consumes.”

This diet followed on the days I DIDN”T PULSE FAST.  So, I had this on the off days.  I exercised, modified some things, but for the most part followed the theory/template.

Lastly, I read the book from Robb Wolf called “The Paleo Solution” and that was my transition diet OFF the Pulse and Velocity.  I also bought Loren Cogdain’s books regarding Paleo Diet Nutrition.  Granted I ate like CRAP on the main holidays (i.e. Thanksgiving and Xmas, New Years, sometimes a day or after).  But, as you will read there is a huge carry over effect from these Pulses.

WHERE AM I NOW?

Today, from my Original weight of 206 I am 176 lbs.  I held off the supposed “weight gain” that occurs from losing weight fast.  Bah!  Some people scoffed when I told them I gained 10lbs in three days during Thanksgiving and lost ALL 10 lbs that I gained that following Monday!  One day later!!  So what’s in the FUTURE?

Well, I am looking at Intermittent Fasting, reading up some more on some other protocols, fine tuning the process, and then focusing on dropping into the 160s and stepping in the ring to fight.  I have also helped some others get started in the the program I have combined.  I did not create this mind you.  I read, researched and combined some great combos.  I modified a little here and there.  I got help from my business partner Rommel Acda.  As for those I have helped?  So far, one of my ladies has lost 10 pounds in less than 3 weeks (She DID NOT DO THE FAST, OR VELOCITY..Paleo Nutrition only yes!).  Another has gotten rid of that stubborn post-baby pooch and is fitting into clothes she hasn’t been in (PALEO only)!  One other JUST started the Mag pulse and velocity and lost 6lbs in ONE WEEK!  Two others are starting in February.  There’s about 3 others I can think of with awesome results.  SO far…hmm…that’s 100% success rate on all that has followed what I have helped laid out for them.  They are also attending Element 5 Fitness Bootcamps and getting their exercises done.

Here’s the deal guys….You can read this, run with it, succeed or fail.  Either way, the key to it all is having a very deep rooted base reason for wanting to do this.  BEcause when you are faced with temptations, and rough times as you go through this journey….you NEED to refer back to that reason.  I had my baby girl and my wife to look at EVERYDAY.  I imagined dying and not being around for them.  It hurt that bad.  If you cannot find that reason, don’t even bother.  The deeper the reason, the greater the results, the better execution, the stronger accountability.  Your lame ass shallow reason will produce lame ass results. Or not.

If you want help, feel free to email me…BUT leave a comment stating your reason FIRST or if it is too private then state that you already have one and then we can chat after you email me.  You must leave a comment!  After you do that, I will have known you read my blog, then email me at belton@element5fitness.com.

Everything works, but Nothing works forever…

Peace

Belton

I recently finished reading The New Rules of Lifting for Women by Lou Schuler and was pleased to find that he addresses many of the preconceived notions about what heavy lifting will do to a woman’s body.

For example, he debunks the idea that lifting heavy weight will make you bulky and lifting 3 pound dumbbells will give you “longer” or “leaner” muscles.  Sure, there is absolute appeal for a woman to want to create longer and leaner muscles, but the fact of the matter according to Schuler, is “muscles…have a genetically predetermined shape.  If you train and feed a muscle so that it grows, you can’t choose whether the muscle becomes ‘bulky’ or ‘long and lean, like a dancer’s’ any more than you can choose your own height.”

Embracing this idea, in my opinion, is the first step toward picking up heavier weights.  If you have no control over “shaping” your body and how your muscles are going to grow, then what is the point in wasting your time lifting light weights for hundreds of reps?  It may give you better muscle endurance, but how does that serve you in real life?  Pushing, pulling, twisting, and squatting encompass the four major daily physical activities, and unless your goal is to do one of these activities over and over, then high reps and minimal weight may be a waste of time.

So what is my point?  The only way to get stronger is by lifting heavier weights.  If you lift 10 pounds 5 times and then increase your reps to 10 times, you haven’t increased your strength at all, only your endurance.  And why would anyone want to be stronger?  Think about functional movement.

Lifting your child out of a car seat, pushing the box of Christmas decorations back onto the shelf, chopping wood (okay, maybe not) but you get my point.  Being stronger will only make these movements easier and prevent injury, and who doesn’t want that?

Long story short, pick up heavier weights already!  It’s the New Year and time for an exciting challenge.

Strong = sexy

- Linden

You may or may not have heard of the term “TEF”, or “Thermic Effect of Food”.  For whatever reason “TEF” isn’t widely discussed.  Maybe it’s because talking about good nutrition can be boring, or because there’s so much advice out there that we almost become immune to it.

However, you might want to listen up for this one simple tip, because it’s going to help you (if you apply it) burn an extra 100-300 calories per day.

Here we go.

Every time you eat, at least 10% of your calories is being used for digestion.  This is your body’s natural furnace, aka “TEF”, and it represents the calories burned in order to process the calories consumed.

[Photo Credit: sheedypj]

Protein has the highest TEF at 25-30%, with carbohydrates and fats not even being close at 7% and 3% respectively.  For every 100 calories (25 grams) of protein you eat, your body burns 25-30 calories to simply digest and use the protein.  This is one of the reasons we recommend that you build your meals and snacks around good sources of lean protein, especially if your goal is fat loss.

In comparison, if you ate a meal or snack that was 100 calories of carbs only, such as toast and jam, your body would only burn 7 calories.  Obviously, not the way to go if you want to burn more calories so throw away those useless “100 Calorie” snack bags pronto.

[Photo credit: 3liz4]

So again, if your goal is fat loss then imagine if you combined lean protein with a good carb source that totaled 400 calories and half of those calories came from protein.  That’s 50-60 calories burned from protein, and 14 calories burned from carbs totaling at least 64 calories of TEF.  If you ate four meals like this that would be an additional 256 calories you burned in a day not including the fat blasting calories from your workout.

The simplest thing to do to burn more fat and increase your energy levels is to increase your protein intake, and not only your meal frequency but the regularity of those meals.  Doing this will boost your metabolism quickly and will keep it elevated for several hours.  Talk about an easy way to fight fat, especially if your combining the right foods.

Now go chow on some fat-burning protein!

- Rommel Acda, MATS, CSCS

Have questions or comments?  Please let me know in the comments section.