Read Chris Powell's Choose More, Lose More for Life Online
Authors: Chris Powell
Tags: #Health & Fitness / Diet & Nutrition / Weight Loss, #Self-Help / Motivational & Inspirational, #Health & Fitness / Exercise
Chris Powell's Choose More, Lose More for Life (17 page)
For as long as you’re carb cycling, Slingshot for one week after every three weeks of high-carb/low-carb cycling. This technique keeps most people from plateauing at all, but if your body does adapt to the three weeks on, one week off pattern, do a Slingshot then and there to rocket off your plateau. When you do return to your normal carb cycle, you’ll keep dropping pounds. You might even start losing weight faster! So don’t fudge the rules. Stay on course!
And remember that everybody responds to the cycle/Slingshot model a bit differently. Your weight might stay the same for those seven days, or it might drop significantly. If you gain any weight, it’s typically because you’re retaining water that’ll flush out of your system when you return to carb cycling. If your weight loss has been stalling, the Slingshot is usually just what your body needs to get those pounds dropping off again. However, there’s a small possibility that the Slingshot will not break your plateau. If that happens, you’ll need to make some other changes in your program to get the results you want:
Check your portion sizes and fine-tune them if you need to (use the 100-calorie info in
Chapter 6
, “Feed Your Fire: The Recipes” as a reference).
Try switching to a faster carb cycle: Easy to Classic, Classic to Turbo.
Weigh-ins are a great way to monitor the progress you’re making. Weigh in just
once
per week, in the morning, after a low-carb day. This is when you will get the most accurate weight for your body. See next page for what a sample schedule might look like:
Let me explain. Your body loses fat in slow motion. When we break it all down, you may be losing one-quarter to upward of a half a pound of fat daily. This might not seem like much, but it adds up to nearly two to four pounds per week! However, the scale might not always read this way daily. While we may lose a fraction of a pound in fat each day, our bodies can also fluctuate between two and ten pounds of water! Mentally, this can be extremely frustrating when we are fixated on the number on the scale to keep us motivated.
Now let’s get real. Many of you are going to weigh yourself daily, regardless of my warnings. If you do, let me explain what to expect so you don’t freak out. Carbs are like magnets for water in the body, so when you eat them you will naturally find during your weigh-in that you’ve retained more water. Your scale should read higher the morning
after high-carb days and lower the morning after low-carb days. As you go through the week following the Classic Cycle, for example, your weight may look something like this:
Monday morning—gain 3 pounds
Tuesday morning—lose 4 pounds
Wednesday morning—gain 2 pounds
Thursday morning—lose 2 pounds
Friday morning—gain 3 pounds
Saturday morning—lose 4 pounds
Sunday morning – no change.
Your weight has seesawed through the week, but overall you have lost two pounds. That’s how it works!
Now, there is one popular ingredient in our foods that can throw off a weigh-in in the worst way—sodium. Sodium is like a super-magnet for water in our bodies and can hold pounds on our bodies during the weigh-in. Keep in mind that a gallon of water weighs eight pounds, and it is not uncommon for sodium to be able to hold that much in us! So if you are putting in the work and eating right, but have a weigh-in that baffles you, think back a day or two and notice how much sodium you may have eaten in canned foods, cured meats, or other processed foods. Not to worry though, just wait until next week and you should see the scale drop nicely!
As you can see, carb cycling can be as unique as you are! Choosing the cycle that is right for you isn’t tough; it’s fast, easy, and fun. The best part? You’re in complete control and can switch to another cycle at any time, if needed. And remember, whether you’re a busy mom, competitive athlete, couch potato, or businessman,
there is a cycle for you!
SHAPE YOUR BODY, SHRED YOUR FAT: THE EXERCISES
At her heaviest, Annette weighed 217 pounds. She hadn’t always been overweight: In fact, once upon a time she’d been in great shape. Then she had four kids, dropped into depression, and developed allergies and breathing problems. Month after month, year after year, Annette’s weight crept up and up and her health sank down and down. Too heavy and too sick, she felt lousy every minute of every day.
Bottom line, Annette didn’t like herself, and she hated the way she looked. For years, she avoided the camera and wouldn’t pose for pictures with her children or grandchildren. When her daughter-in-law posted pictures of a family birthday party on Facebook, Annette wanted to crawl into a hole. She tried all sorts of weight-loss strategies, from starving herself to bodybuilding, but nothing worked. If she did manage to drop some weight, she always gained it back.
Annette knew that her weight was affecting her kids. Her daughter told her that she wished she could reach all the way around her mom when they hugged. Her son carved the number of a weight-loss hotline into her nightstand. Those were flashing red lights. Struggling with exhaustion, despair, and disgust, Annette finally had her moment of clarity. She decided that she would never let her kids down again. She knew she needed to
change her lifestyle—not just her body. She wanted to really
live
her life. She made a commitment to transformation.
That’s when Annette found out about carb cycling and sighed to herself, “Why not?” When she started following my nutrition and exercise program, she began to feel better in only a week or two. That was strong motivation to stick with carb cycling, and she did. She ate healthy meals and began to exercise every day. She set a target weight of 135 pounds, which meant she was shooting to lose 82 pounds. Once she started carb cycling, Annette dropped 24 pounds in eleven weeks. By week fourteen she had ditched a total of 34 pounds. Now Annette maintains her weight at 134 pounds.
Exercise was the key to Annette’s success. She faithfully cycled her carbs, but she really poured her heart into her workouts. At first, she focused on becoming more mobile and active in little ways—walking everywhere she could, taking the stairs instead of the elevator. When she first went back to the gym, she was upset to discover just how out of shape she was. It took incredible commitment, work, and sweat for Annette to build up her strength and endurance almost from square one.
Annette didn’t give up this time. She taped a “before” picture of herself to her bathroom door to remind herself every day why she was pursuing transformation. Riding bikes and taking hikes with her kids was another reminder. In fact, Annette made fitness a family affair—and her family became her rock, encouraging her in tough times and cheering her successes.
Carb cycling has truly transformed Annette. In every way, she’s a healthier, happier person. She loves herself again, she feels alive all the time, and her energy is always in high gear. Annette knows exactly how she got her life back, so she’s embraced the carb-cycling lifestyle… for life. She still loves doing her 9-Minute Missions first thing five mornings a week; they’re
such a great start to her day. She still loves her Shredders six days a week; they give her amazing get-up-and-go. What’s next? Annette wants to lose five more pounds, tone up to the max, and enter a figure competition! Rock on, Annette!
Annette’s determination is humbling. She isn’t much different from the next person, but no matter what weight-loss or fitness plateaus she hits, she keeps powering through to her transformation goals. She wants it so much that even when she feels like she can’t push her workout any farther, she’ll do one more rep or walk one more mile—and maybe another, and another—and it makes her feel fantastic.
A lot of my other clients have discovered the same thing. For them, carb cycling is about so much more than losing weight. And, like Annette, many of my clients choose to concentrate on the exercise component of the carb-cycling program. You’ll be amazed to see how effective these exercises are, and to see where your mind and body can take you if you go with their flow. Trust the program. It works!
Your body is made to move! It’s made to push, pull, squat, crunch, run, jump, and climb. And that’s just what I’m going to show you how to do, so you can blaze through fat at an insane rate
and
get fit.
Your body is the most faithful companion you’ll ever have. Wherever you go, no matter what you do, it’ll be there with you. Its love is unconditional, but you’ve still got to treat it right if you want it to stick around. You’re
the only one
who can do that: It’s 100 percent dependent on you for all its needs. Think of your body almost like a pet—you’ve got to feed it good, natural food (not too much!); make sure it’s got plenty of fresh
water; and let it play and run and jump. Your body
wants
to move and be healthy, and when you take good care of it, it’ll help you achieve your goals: to lose weight, increase your energy and mental clarity, and enrich your quality of life. Get moving, and you’ll feel pretty darn great!
