Chris Powell's Choose More, Lose More for Life (34 page)

I’ve engineered the all-new Shredders around the PE principle so they take your fitness to higher and higher levels.

I’ve designed four new Shredder protocols, or strategies, that didn’t appear in my first book,
Choose to Lose
. These are much more convenient and practical! If this is your first foray into carb cycling, you’re one step ahead,
starting out with the new and improved Shredders. You can do almost any cardio activity—dancing, spinning, jumping on a trampoline—for your Shredders.

My Shredder plans focus on practicality and simplicity, because the easier they are to follow, the more likely you are to do them! Instead of the three-level (low, medium, and high intensity) Shredders I gave you in
Choose to Lose
, the updated Shredders have only two intensity levels: high and low. What’s high intensity and what’s low intensity? Easy! Just measure
your personal intensity levels
using the PE chart!

For each protocol—Dirty Two-Thirties, Nasty Nineties, Mighty Minutes, and Thrilling Thirties—I specify the high and low intensities I want you to aim for and the periods of time I want you to exercise at each intensity. You can pick any cardio activity as your Shredder exercise. The workout pattern for all four protocols is the same: Shred at the low-intensity PE level for the period of time shown in the schedule below, then Shred at the high-intensity PE level for the period of time shown in the schedule below. Repeat that circuit until the total duration that I’ve set for the Shredder has elapsed. That’s it!

I’ve set up a very simple Shredder schedule for you. Each week of the month has its own Shredder, which you’ll do five days that week. Here we go!

Here’s the best part of Shredding. There are so many cardio activities out there that you’ll be able to find some you enjoy. Maybe you already have a few favorites!
Any activity
that keeps you moving for a while can be a fat-burning winner. Each and every one can be done at high and low intensity. Pick from exercises you can do at home, at the gym, outdoors, as a sport, or in a group class, and Shred away!

At Home

Dodgeball

Jump rope

Playing with your children or dog

Rowing machine

Stationary bike

Tag

Trampoline

Treadmill

At the Gym

Arm ergometer (arm cycle)

Elliptical trainer

Rowing machine

Stair stepper

Stationary or recumbent bike

Treadmill

Outdoors

Bicycling

Bleacher running

Boat rowing

Canoeing

Cross-country skiing

Hiking

Ice skating

Jogging/Running

Kayaking

Nordic walking

Paddle boarding

Power walking (brisk walking)

Rollerblading

Shoveling snow

Snowshoeing

Stair running

Swimming

Walking

Water jogging/running

Sports

Playing sports, it can be difficult to change intensities the way the Shredder protocol suggests, but fortunately changes in intensity are already built in. So play away, knowing that you are getting the most out of your body, and the fat loss results you want!

Basketball

Boxing

Flag football

Hockey

Kickball

Kickboxing

Lacrosse

Martial arts

Racquetball

Soccer

Tennis

Group Classes

Like most sports, group classes move at their own pace—but the high and low intensities happen naturally! Just go with it, and let the instructor guide your Shredding!

Aerobics

Cardio kickboxing

Dancing (hip-hop, salsa, Zumba, etc.)

Spinning

Step aerobics

Water aerobics

Food has always been a big part of Vanessa’s life, partly, she laughs, because she grew up in an Italian family. The kitchen table was where her family gathered to talk and enjoy one another—and there was
always
something to eat.

But there was another reason Vanessa ate: When she was six years old she was diagnosed with a learning disorder and a speech impediment. The kids at school teased her and called her names, and she often went home in tears. Vanessa turned to food for comfort. Food made her feel safe inside, it didn’t judge her, and it was always there for her.

By the time she was twelve, Vanessa weighed over two hundred pounds. By the time she started high school she weighed three-hundred–plus. Her parents tried to help her lose weight; they even enrolled her in Weight Watchers. At the same time, her mother would tell her that she was beautiful, and that should never let anyone tell her she wasn’t. But Vanessa sure didn’t
feel
beautiful.

Vanessa tried every diet out there, but her weight kept going up and up. Even though she was popular, she felt like a horrible person trapped in a disgusting body. She couldn’t fit onto amusement park rides, and she once broke an auditorium seat, making all the kids laugh. She felt helpless and insecure. When her family moved to Las Vegas, she hoped to leave all that behind.

In high school, Vanessa started having severe panic attacks, and kept eating her way through her problems. Finally, miserable and traumatized, she dropped out of school. She didn’t go to her prom or earn a cap and gown. Instead, she got her GED and started college—even though she couldn’t fit into a desk! She felt trapped in her own body.

Then something happened. When Vanessa was twenty, she got a job at a tanning salon, and within three months she became its number one salesperson! The other employees were beautiful and fit, but the clients loved
her
. Vanessa began to respect herself and see her own charm. She began to believe what her mother told her about being beautiful, and for six more years she rocked the tanning salon.

But when she was twenty-six, her mother died unexpectedly. Devastated, Vanessa lost her grip on her newfound self-esteem. For the next few years she struggled with her weight, her work, her love life—everything. She hit 376 pounds. Yet she was determined to turn her life around. She earned her nursing assistant degree and started working in an acute care hospital.

Some of her patients were morbidly obese, which shook Vanessa deeply. She knew that if she didn’t change, she’d end up just like them. A light flickered to life in her mind. She’d been watching
Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition
and decided to try out for a spot on the show. She wasn’t selected, but Vanessa realized
she
had to do the hard work of putting her life back together—no one else was going to do it for her. So she started the transformation of a lifetime!

Vanessa threw herself into my program of diet and exercise. Working out hurt at first, and it was tough to be the heaviest person at her gym. Eating right was a challenge, especially since meals had often been a social event for her. Dinner and drinks had to be a no-no for the first few months! Never comfortable in the kitchen, Vanessa had to
learn
how to put her meals
together—in advance. She took her food to the hospital, but when she was working thirteen-hour days, she found it difficult to eat five times a day, every three hours.

But it was a lot harder to tackle her deeper food issues and break her self-destructive emotional habits. Vanessa knew she had to change her mind-set about food and accept that she could feel happy and secure without eating all the time. As she kept at it, she began to transform into a new person. Instead of the off-the-wall, plus-size personality she’d been trying so hard to keep up, she started to become… Vanessa. She felt that her life had just begun!

Before long, Vanessa realized that she felt great when she ate chicken breasts and veggies instead of pasta and cupcakes. Now she drinks protein shakes instead of alcohol. Instead of eating a breakfast of bagels and cream cheese standing at the nurses’ station, she eats yogurt and fresh fruit sitting at her kitchen table, fifteen minutes after she wakes up. Vanessa
craves
healthy food and really enjoys her five meals a day. She knows that if she makes a bad food choice she can still finish the day right. A bad food day doesn’t have to turn into a bad food week!

And Vanessa loves to work out. She’s still the largest person in her spin class, but now she spins in the front row instead of the back! Every day she pushes herself, and she keeps her workouts fun by switching up her routine. In 2013 she plans to run her first half marathon and earn her personal trainer and life coach certifications.

It took Vanessa six months to lose her first 115 pounds and bring her weight down to 261. She’s still working, and nothing’s going to stop her from reaching her goal weight. She feels truly alive and full of energy—body and soul. Happier and stronger than ever, she never looks back, only ahead. Now she’s looking forward to helping people just like her realize they can do
anything
they set their mind to. Her motto is “If I can do it, anyone can!”

Heidi and I love the old phrase, “Give a man a fish, feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.” That’s just what we’re going to do for you in this chapter. Super-easy and super-smart, our recipes are truly
empowering
, both in your kitchen and in your entire life transformation. Even better, after you read this chapter, you’re not only going to have a whole bunch of great new carb-cycling recipes, you’re going to have high-level food intelligence that will help you maintain and enhance your transformation—for a lifetime!

Cooking! Sound like more than you can handle? Nuh-uh. To be honest, Heidi and I aren’t into cooking big, elaborate meals. Like most folks, we just don’t have enough time. We’re always on the go, whether it is running the kids to their daily activities or taking a crowd of people through a workout in the middle of Times Square! But we know that to maintain our healthy lifestyle we need to prepare and eat our own food. We spent the last few years perfecting the fastest and easiest ways to prepare the foods we need, and I’m going to share our secrets with you.