Shred - The Revolutionary Diet 6 Weeks 4 Inches 2 Sizes (3 page)

For those who have 25 pounds or less to lose, you can start with week 1 in the cycle, but don’t be surprised if you don’t see large results early on. Prime week really is about getting you organized for the next five weeks, and while others will lose 3 to 5 pounds even while priming, you might only see minimal weight loss. Don’t be discouraged in the least. This is completely normal and has no bearing on your potential success during the rest of the cycle. You should really see progress in week 2, Challenge. Because you begin closer to your target weight than most, your adherence to the guidelines of the program is critical for fast and optimal results. Because you don’t have a significant amount of weight to lose compared to many others—who might have 40 pounds or more—your margin of error is narrower. Don’t be discouraged, but be inspired to really give it your all. While it won’t hurt you to start your cycle with week 1, you can also skip Prime and go right to week 2.

EXERCISING

SHRED is not only about what you eat, but how you move. The exercise requirement for each day is spelled out just the way the daily menus are. There is no doubt that you can lose significant weight just by following the menus and making the dietary choices the plan recommends, but you should be looking for more than that. Exercise is critical for maximizing weight loss. This is what SHREDDING is all about. Better nutritional choices and exercise are a one-two punch when it comes to weight loss. But beyond the number on the scale, exercise is critical for overall wellness. Building lean muscle mass through resistance training will increase your metabolism, which in turn increases how many calories your body burns. Exercise is important to strengthen your bones, improve blood flow, reduce your risk for diabetes, reduce your risk for heart diseases, and increase balance and flexibility.

When the plan calls for a certain amount of exercise for that day, the plan also gives you flexibility in how you complete it. For example, until you get accustomed to exercising on a regular basis, rather than trying to do all of the recommended daily exercise at once, you should consider breaking it up into two sessions. If, let’s say, the exercise requirement is 40 minutes, but you don’t have time to complete it all at once or your endurance is not equal to accomplishing it all in one session, feel free to break the workout up into two 20-minute sessions that day. The key is not just the amount of exercise you do, but the intensity of the exercise. Stop pretending that exercising will not deliver any benefits and is simply a waste of time. You need to get your heart rate up and perform at a moderate level of intensity. If you can complete the exercise for any given day in a more intense manner, then you will achieve your goals faster.

The first cycle of SHRED requires only that you participate in cardio. This is by design. Don’t interpret this as meaning that resistance training (lifting free weights, weight machines, using resistance bands) is a bad thing. Quite the contrary. In fact, after you do the first SHRED cycle, I recommend that you add weight lifting or some other type of resistance training to your regimen. Building lean muscle mass increases your metabolism, which in turn helps you burn more calories throughout the day. Resistance training has other health benefits, too, such as improving blood flow, increasing bone density and strength, improving mobility and balance, and preventing medical conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and arthritis.

Those who do more than one cycle should begin resistance training during the second cycle. If you are inexperienced, take lessons from a certified professional so you can be sure you are doing the exercises safely and effectively. The resistance training should not replace your cardio. Instead, do 20 minutes of resistance work 2 to 3 times per week in addition to the cardio. Simply add it to your cardio workout or choose to do it during your rest days. Whatever you prefer is fine, as long as you’re able to get it in. Resistance training will help increase your muscle tone and sculpt your body.

SUBSTITUTIONS

Great effort and thought has gone into the structure of SHRED. Beyond what scientific research has shown, early feedback from thousands who have tried the program have informed the plan in this book. This, however, doesn’t make the plan perfect, nor does it mean there aren’t things that can be modified on an individual basis to improve its effectiveness. Unlike other plans that don’t allow one letter of a plan to be changed, SHRED actually allows flexibility. You might have allergies, taste preferences, access issues, medical conditions, etc., that prevent you from eating or drinking a particular food or beverage. SHRED allows you to make substitutions for these items. It’s important, however, to make
smart
substitutions. If you don’t eat meat and the meal option is a meat, then obviously you need to make a switch. Fish or a salad are great substitution options; three slices of triple-cheese pizza is not.

It’s impossible for any diet plan to think of every possible scenario or consider every food manufacturer and their products. Just because something’s not mentioned doesn’t mean it isn’t allowed; just use good judgment and try to make smart decisions. Part of becoming a SHREDDER is becoming a good decision maker. You are going to be faced with food choices for the rest of your life, whether at a friend’s barbecue or a restaurant you might visit on family vacation. You will not always have this book to guide you through your selection. Once you learn the SHRED philosophy and get an understanding of smart choices, you will be able to eat anywhere and feel comfortable that you can enjoy yourself while staying lean and healthy.

MAINTENANCE

Reaching your weight-loss goal is not the only important accomplishment when you become a SHREDDER. After initial weight loss, the issue you face is maintaining that weight loss. It’s critical as you go through the cycle(s) that you start adopting as many of the eating and exercising behaviors in SHRED as possible and permanently leave behind some of the poor choices and lifestyle behaviors that contributed to your original weight problems. The true success of SHREDDING comes after a while, when SHREDDING becomes such a way of life for you that you no longer even need to check the plan to make sure you’re on track. You are now making smarter choices—not perfect, but smarter. Once you have reached your goal, you are ready for maintenance. So, once a month you should choose a SHRED week and stick to that week vigilantly, following the menus and exercises as written. This is like giving your car a tune-up. You take your car to a mechanic for a tune-up not because it’s not working properly, but because it’s wiser to get parts serviced and tested periodically so that if something is heading toward dysfunction, you can catch it early when the fix is cheaper and easier. Waiting too long is costly, inconvenient, and a bigger headache. Your SHRED tune-up is strictly following a week of your choice—not the same each time—once a month. After six months of maintaining your weight loss, you can move this tune-up to once every two months.

Now let’s get busy. It’s time to SHRED!

CHAPTER 3

Week 1: Prime

This is the first leg of your journey. For some, Prime will be a radically different way of eating and exercising, while for others it will be only slightly different from what they’ve already been doing. This week will prime you for success as you go through the rest of the plan. It will set up the weeks that follow, so pay close attention to the timing of your meals, making sure that you eat them about every three to four hours. Your snacks—if you chose to have them—will come between the meals, but no sooner than an hour after eating a meal. You can refer to chapter 9 for a selection of more than two hundred snacks, chapter 10 for smoothie recipes, chapter 11 for protein shake recipes, and chapter 12 for sample soup recipes. You are not obligated to use these lists or recipes; they are there for your convenience and can be extremely helpful as you SHRED.

Timing is critical to the success of this plan. It might be difficult at first, but plan in advance and do the best you can. Skipping meals is not advised. Even if you eat just a small portion, try to eat something on schedule. A sample day’s schedule during Prime might look something like the grid below, but for each and every day, the order of the meals and snacks is both intended and critical. And on some days, there’s a bonus fourth snack, so follow each day’s directions carefully.

While you might be anxious to jump right into the program, it’s critical that you read the week’s guidelines first. They will fill in holes you might encounter and answer the questions that you’ll inevitably have. Substitutions can be made on this program, but make them wisely and selectively. Try your best to stick to the plan as it is laid out. Believe! Work hard! Have fun!

SHRED WEEK 1 GUIDELINES

Weigh yourself in the morning before starting the program and record it. Don’t weigh yourself throughout the week. Your next weigh-in will be the same day the following week in the morning. Weigh yourself in the same manner as you did in the beginning. If you weighed in without wearing clothes initially, then do that again. If you weighed in wearing certain clothes, wear the same clothes for the second weigh-in. Use the same scale both times.
Don’t
use a different scale as scales can differ by several pounds.

You must eat something every 3 to 4 hours even if you’re not hungry, but
don’t
stuff yourself. Eat until you’re no longer hungry, but
don’t eat until you’re full.
If you need less than what’s recommended, then great, go ahead and eat less, which is even better. If you want to switch meals, that is permitted, but try to switch as infrequently as possible. For example, if you know that what’s listed for meal 3 is easier to get than what’s listed for meal 2, then go ahead and switch them. Looking at the day’s meals in advance is important as it allows you to best prepare for what’s ahead. Remember, the meals are every 3 to 4 hours and the snacks come between the meals. Snacks are not a meal.

Five out of the seven days you must do cardiovascular exercise, commonly called cardio. Pay attention to the guidelines written for that day. If you need to exercise on different days than those listed, then go ahead and do that as long as you get five days of cardio-related physical activity in a seven-day period.