Review of Week 8 - Belly Off

So here it is... my final review of the Belly Off programme. I completed the final Bodyweight challenge on Saturday... the 350/200 challenge, which now brings me to the end of the 8 week programme.

It’s been a truly fantastic and dare I say it... ‘life changing’ 8 weeks and although I am delighted to have successfully completed the programme I also feel a bit sad that it’s finally come to an end! However, I’m also really excited about starting my new programme but more on that later.

To wrap up I thought I would provide a review of all the core elements of the belly off programme and to summarise the key things I have learnt along the way. Apologies in advance as this could be the longest thread ever posted! However, hopefully this will provide a useful insight to anyone just starting or looking to start the programme.

The Eating Plan

The eating plan is definitely one of the easiest to follow and provides a pretty good balance of key nutrients and especially carbs, fibre and proteins. It’s what I would call ‘an everyday diet’, in other words everything is easy to get hold of and it’s the type of food that most people would buy and eat anyway. I hate those diets where you literally need your own chef working for you full time or that require ingredients that can only be purchased from specialist stores etc. The Belly Off Eating plan is very basic and easy to follow. Let’s face it, if you can’t cook chicken, Turkey or Beef and some basic veg then you are in a bit of trouble!

The key principle behind the diet is to increase protein intake from lean meats such as turkey, chicken, beef and Tuna. This is to obviously aid muscle development whilst you are also loosing body fat. The other key aspect is the reduction in carbohydrates and particularly refined carbohydrates such as Pasta, White Bread, Rice etc. Instead, more wholegrains and carbs with a low GI such as wholemeal pasta, brown rice etc. Very rarely did I find myself feeling peckish and for the most part the food was pretty filling and satisfying!

I did start mixing things up quite early on to prevent myself from getting bored and fed up. So I added Salmon, Prawns, Pork, Wholemeal pasta, chicken dishes, protein shakes, cottage cheese, wholegrain snacks etc. So now my diet is pretty varied and I must admit that the last 8 weeks has probably been the most healthiest and balanced that I have ever had!

I have been keeping a fairly strict diet plan throughout the last 8 weeks and have been recording all the nutritional values of the food I have been eating whilst sticking to the plan pretty closely. On average, if you were to follow the plan closely you should be getting around 2000 calories a day and around 100g of protein. For the average person this should be fine, but for people who are bigger then they will probably need to top this up a bit to ensure they are getting sufficient calories and protein. One thing I would suggest is to calculate your resting metabolic rate, i.e. how many calories your body will expend if you were just laying in bed all day. Then you can calculate how many calories your body will need based upon your activity levels, i.e. Light, moderate or high. Then, to loose fat you simply create a calorie deficit of around 500 calories. If you were to take me as an example, it would work out as follows:

Resting Metabolic Rate = 1800
Low Activity = 2300
Moderate Activity = 2800
High Activity = 3100

So assuming I have a moderate activity lifestyle and would like to loose fat then I would basically need to consume around 2300 calories per day (2800 – 500 = 2300). If you work this out for yourself then you can closely monitor your intake to ensure that you are getting the right amount your body needs. This is important because if you do not get sufficient calories then your body will run out of energy to burn and when that happens your body will then turn to your muscles for energy instead.

There are plenty of website resources out there which will help you to calculate your daily calorie intake and such as http://walking.about.com/cs/calories/l/blcalcalc.htm. This will give you a quick calculation based upon your age, height and weight.

The other thing to work out is how much protein your body needs. There are different calculations but the most commonly used one is 1.5g per kilo of bodyweight. So for me this works out at around 130g per day. So in order to ensure I was getting sufficient protein I have been supplementing the Eating plan with a Whey based protein drink. Again, it’s important to calculate how much protein you are getting so you top up as and when required.

One other thing I have learned over the last 8 weeks. You will actually loose more weight by eating more! Most people eat 3 square meals a day. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. Anybody who works out and has an active lifestyle will have on average 6 meals a day as follows:

Breakfast
Mid-Morning Snack
Lunch
Afternoon Snack
Dinner
Post Workout (PWO)

The theory being you eat smaller amounts more frequently throughout the day which will help stop the hunger pangs and will make you less likely to binge out! What you eat at each of these points is also crucial. So for instance your post workout should include a high protein content to help build and repair muscle following your workout and also some carbs to replenish your energy stores. So what you eat when can have a big impact on the performance of your body. Again there are plenty of resources on the web that will provide you will more detail on this.

So to summarise the key points on the Eating Plan:

· Work out how many calories and protein etc you should be getting on a daily basis
· Try to monitor your intake to work out how much you are actually getting
· Supplement your diet where necessary to ensure you get the right balance
· Plan ahead and be prepared, i.e. Try to plan your meals in advance
· Eat less more frequently throughout the day
· Pick foods with a low GI as they keep you feeling fuller longer
· Timing is key – Eat the right foods at the right times of the day
· Mix it up or else you will get bored! i.e. add Salmon, cottage cheese, pork, etc
· Be true to yourself, commit to it and it will work!
· Treat yourself now and again... You deserve it!

The Workouts

Well what can I say about the workouts. At the end of the day the proof is in the pudding and if you take a look at my before and after pics in my profile you will see a huge change in my body from week 1 to week 8. So it does exactly what it says on the tin! The workouts are very challenging to begin with, especially the first few weeks and as the bodyweight challenges increase on a weekly basis it becomes even more challenging! I have gained a significant amount of muscle and strength over the last 8 weeks, which has given me a great platform to build upon.

Most of the exercises in Workout A and B are pretty easy to get the hang of. However, there are a couple which are pretty challenging. In particular, I struggled with the 1 Leg RDL’s and the rotating stability ball jacknifes. But, as you get stronger and you build the muscles around your core these do become easier. Overall, the thing I love about the programme is that you can pretty much do the workouts anywhere. So you don’t really need to be a member of gym. Even if you don’t have access to a chin/pull up bar or stability ball you can tailor the programme and substitute some of the exercises. If you find yourself in this position just upload a post to the forum and I’m sure Craig, David or some of the other members will leave you a response with some recommended alternatives.

The workouts do get easier as you go along so from week 4 onwards add more weight and repetitions to the exercises such as the lunges, step ups, squats etc. Increasing the intensity of your workouts will also help you when it comes to the weekly bodyweight challenges. So one of the things I introduced in the last few weeks was to try and complete the Workouts as quickly as possible. This helped when it came to the bodyweight challenges and had a big impact on the times I achieved for the last few challenges.

By far, the toughest challenge for me was the Bodyweight 500. This was tough and I was very pleased to get it done in 36mins. By comparison, the final Bodyweight challenge the 350/200 I found easier and actually finished this in 31mins. The main thing I struggled with in any of the challenges was the pull ups and chin ups. Looking through the forums I think most people are in the same boat. So a lot of people have added some additional pull ups and chin up sets as part of their workout. I think this is a good idea and will help you increase the strength in your arms and back to help you complete more reps.

I also added some additional exercises to the Workouts in the final few weeks. So I added some prisoner squat jumps and abdominal crunches to each of the workouts. I also added more cardio sessions on off days. So generally I played football on Tuesday and went for a run on Thursday or used the spin bike.

The interval training sessions were great and I think this really helps to blast the fat! Interval training is far more effective for you than standard cardio and has been proven to increase fat loss by more than 30% on standard cardio. I mixed up the IT sessions regularly between the bike, cross trainer, rowing machine and the running machine. So that helps to keep it fresh and challenging.

The workout plans and videos are great and are really easy to follow and the online community (forums) are really helpful and beneficial. If you have any questions or need help and advice I will virtually guarantee that you will find the information you need in the forums. If not, just add a post and you will get a reply.

So overall, key things I learned on the workouts were as follows:

· Start off slow and build up
· Concentrate on form and don’t worry if you have to break up the reps into sets
· Chin Ups and Pull ups are challenging for anybody, don’t be hard on yourself if you can only manage a couple to begin with
· Add more weight and repetitions from week 4/5 onwards to increase intensity
· Don’t overdo it!

Summary

When I started the programme I was 190lbs and had around 26% body fat. I set myself a target of loosing 15lbs over the 8 weeks. Up until last week I had lost 14lbs, so I had 1lb more to loose in the final week! The great news is I did loose that 1lb so in total over the 8 weeks I lost bang on 15lbs. I also had a body fat test done and I lost over 8% body fat in 8 weeks and am now hovering at the 18% mark. In fact, this is something I would recommend everyone do. Some people on the programme have been surprised that in some cases they have actually put on weight as opposed to loose weight. But don’t forget that muscle weighs more than fat so the best indicator if this programme is working for you would be body fat percentage. So get you body fat tested when you start and monitor this throughout the programme as well as your weight.

Overall, the last 8 weeks have really helped change my entire outlook on life. I have gained a new found self confidence, which comes across in everyday life at work and at home! I now have pure belief in myself and I know that if I put my mind to something and apply myself I can achieve anything. I feel healthier than I ever have in my entire life and I have not weighed 175lbs since I was 21. I have gone from a waist 36 to 33... the bad news is I have had to buy a new wardrobe of clothes!

I could not finish without saying a few words about the many hundreds and thousands of other members who form part of this community. I have really appreciated all the help, advice and support that other members have provided along the way. We are all in this together and we share a common goal... we all want to be fitter and healthier individuals and we’ve all taken a huge step to try and achieve those goals. I have been truly inspired by a lot of the other members in this community and I thank you all for your support along the way.

Also, a big thank you to Craig Ballantyne who pulled this programme together and has helped people like myself to make a truly positive and significant change in life. Thanks for all your support along the way Craig, it’s greatly appreciated so thank you!

Finally, I have uploaded my final Week 8 pics so now you can compare my week 1, week 3, week 6 and week 8 pics and you will see a remarkable difference and progression throughout the programme. When I started this programme I was a bit dubious and did not really believe a lot of the stories I had read. However, now I am living proof of exactly what you can achieve in 8 weeks if you apply yourself to this programme... Believe me it works!

So what’s next! Well, I am starting a new training programme in a couple of weeks. First, I have a 2 week vacation in sunny Spain to look forward to with my wife and little boy Dominic. But when I get back I will be starting a new programme which will take me to the next level! In fact, I have decided that I am going to take this as far as I can possibly go. One of the goals I have set myself is to complete a Triathlon next year which will involve a 1.5km swim, 45km bike ride and 10km run. So a huge challenge as triathletes tend to be some of the fittest individuals on the planet. However, I have full confidence in myself!

So as they say... this isn’t the end... it’s just the beginning!