I made a post about this whole idea and I even opened an @actifit account under the name of
@afitsoul. On this first post I promised to update every day with an actifit report and also every Sunday, to write down my plans for the week to come
It´s been 13 days since I haven´t smoked or drink alcohol - beers and wine don´t count, of course. I mean strong alcohol. I´m already feeling the difference in my daily activities. I have more energy and more drive and will to do my daily activities.
I´m changing my lifestyle one step at a time. You may advice me to change my habits with one big single punch and turn my life around 180° and I understand the logic behind this. But I think there are different strategies to achieve this and I know myself, if I try to change or improve everything at the same time, I´ll fail all of them. Now, I think I´m off the hook from smoking, drinking alcohol and drinking soda. That was my first challenge and I achieved it.
The hard part is complete, now for the next four weeks, my goal will be to lose as much fat as I can by following an easy to comply eating regime:
- Cutting Back on Sugars and Carbs.
- Eating more Protein, Vegetables and good fats.
- Having a "Carb Refeed" Once Per Week.
I also found a helpful list of do´s and dont´s for losing weight in Healthline.com
- Eat a high-protein breakfast - Are you kidding? I´m mexican, this is part of my life, only thing is I have to cut back on the carbs because Mexican restaurants are high on protein AND carbs.
- Avoid sugary drinks and fruit juice - Now I´m already doing this since January 1st
- Drink water a half hour before meals - Been doing this for years now.
- Eat soluble fiber - This may help, I´ll look into this.
- Drink coffee or tea. If you're a coffee or tea drinker, then drink as much as you want as the caffeine can in them boost your metabolism by 3–11%. - I´m not a coffee drinker but I can get into Tea drinking :D
- Eat mostly whole, unprocessed foods - This one will be hard for me but I´ll definitely try it.
- Eat your food slowly - This one will be extremely painful, but it´s something that must be done.
- Weigh yourself every day - Meh, I don´t think I´ll do this one, not really a fan.
- Get a good night's sleep, every night - This is one I will struggle with but I´ve heard about this one so much I HAVE to give it a try.
Now, for the excercise part, I hope this will be much more fun - and not as hard - as I expect it to be
For the past 2 weeks I´ve only limited myself to go for long walks, playing with my dogs and in general have a more active daily routine. As I said, I have to change my lifestyle step by step and if I started doing an excercise routine since the beginning by now I´m pretty sure I would´ve dropped it.
But now, I feel ready. Completely ready to start a proper Excercise routine, specifically made to lose fat. I´ve been reading Men´s Health magazine for at least 15 years now and on every monthly magazine there´s always an Excercise routine perfect for whatever that month features. For example, if its December they make a special routine adjusted for a high calorie diet because you know, Christmas dinners and all; if it is the summer, they include a routine perfect for getting a leaner stomach etc etc.
But they also have specialized routines for specific purposes. If you haven´t been paying attention, my goal is to lose weight/fat, and I found the perfect routine for achieving that.
The routine is divided in two giant sets and I should alternate them every day, meaning that if I start tomorrow monday, I should do set number 1 and then on tuesday set number 2 and so on.
Every day I´m going to warm-up by running for 2-3 mins. The key for these sets is to do each exercise for 45 secs (no matter the reps), then rest 15 secs, then I´ll move to the next exercise. Rest 1 min between circuits, then repeat the circuit twice more.
| Giant Set 1 | Giant set 2 |
|---|---|
| Squats | Pull-ups |
| Lunges | Press-ups |
| Mountain Climbers | Tricep dips |
| Flutter kicks | Reverse crunch |
| Bicycle crunches | X |