the
toning program
greg O’gallagher & Dell Farrell
CONTENTS
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8
13
17
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25
27
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42
51
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Why You Want To Have A Toned, Fit Body & Why Most
Programs For Women Suck
What Building a Downright Sexy Body Comes Down To,
Everyone Gets This Wrong
Why You Must Strength Train To Look Awesome In a
Bikini & Your Favorite Outfit
The Best Exercises for Building a Slim, Fit & Toned Body
The Workout Program
Hollywood Secrets To Add Tone Without Adding Size
How to use Cardio to Accelerate Fat Loss
Mastering A Calorie Deficit
Toning Program Cutting Plan
Flexible Dieting
Getting Started
THE
GODDESS
TONING
PROGRAM
Chapter 1
Why You Want To Have A Toned,
Fit Body & Why Most Programs
For Women Suck
One of the most beautiful moments of
my life was the simple realization that
we have the power to improve the way
we look, feel and function.
Let that sink in! You can look how you
want to look, move how you want to
move and feel how you want to feel.
This is all under your complete and
direct control.
You are completely and undeniably
responsible for your own body. Do you
wish to let it slide and let your body
and your health become a by-product
of a society that pursues instant
gratification at the expense of all else?
Or are you going to take responsibility
for your life?
To me the answer was glaringly
obvious. I wanted the body of a Greek
god! How cool would that be?
When I learned that working out and
proper eating actually enriches your
life by making you feel better, think
clearer and become full of energy,
positive emotions and confidence - I
was hooked!
So the answer to the question, why
would you want to have a fit and toned
body is because you can!
There are so many things you can
accomplish in this world. You can
build a successful business, climb a
mountain, learn a skill, conquer your
fears... the list goes on.
But building an incredible body is by
far the most powerful one. Why? Well
because you take it with you every
second of the day. As long as you’re
here on this earth, your body never
leaves you.
Moreover, it was Aristotle that said,
“No man has the right to be an amateur in
the matter of physical training. It is a shame
for a man to grow old without seeing the
beauty and strength of which his body
is capable”
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I probably don’t have to say that the
same is true for women! When you get
up in the morning and feel proud of the
body you created, your confidence will
be sky high!
open arms.
I’m not talking about the type of
confidence that comes from just looking
sexy. I’m talking about the type of
confidence that is rooted far deeper.
The confidence that stems from the
fact that you conquered one of the most
commonly fleeting goals.
When you feel that you don’t deserve
good opportunities, experiences and
people, then you will unconsciously
push away and sabotage anything good
Conquering Your Physique
to Conquer Your Self
You could be in a room with 100 people
and almost every single one of them
would want to look better and be fitter.
By taking your health and your body
to peak physical condition, you have
accomplished what so many people
desire, yet so few have.
You now believe you can have what you
want. There is no greater gift than that.
When you believe that you deserve
good things, good things will come.
that comes to you.
Why most fitness
approaches suck
Plain and simple, most fitness
approaches suck. These so-called
‘fitness experts’ have lost sight of what
it actually takes to get into great shape.
Instead they focus on a misguided
outlook promoting that more time
in the gym must be better. While
demonizing foods and macronutrients
in the process.
Fitness has turned into an art of
extremism. The more you workout the
No amount of money, fame or
connections can give you a fit body. You better. The less you eat the better.
must work for it. When you start eating
We’ve all heard it before. Fat makes you
healthier and pushing yourself in the
gym - you become much more centred fat, no carbs make you fat, no sugar
makes you fat... Obsession has been in
in yourself. You develop a strong
realization of what you are truly capable and sensibility has been out.
of. You get used to pushing yourself,
Well I’m here to bring sensibility back
excelling and nourishing your body.
into the game. I’ll be the first to say
Other goals that you seemed to push
with a straight face that getting in
away before are now welcomed with
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great shape is downright enjoyable.
In fact, I’ve been imbuing hundreds of
thousands of people with this skill on
my Road to Ripped podcast. Every single
week new, fresh emails come in from
people thanking me for allowing them
to get in amazing shape while enjoying
the process.
Why Build an Amazing
Body
Let’s be honest, we don’t just want to be
strong, fit and healthy. We want to look
like a million bucks too! I mean there’s
just no getting around this fact.
We can tell ourselves that we are just
What is the key to looking great? For
doing this for ‘higher’ reasons, but
most people all it comes down to is
ultimately, our most powerful motivator
this - they look good but they feel
is the desire to be attractive. This is
miserable, are hungry, deprived
how we’re wired and unless you want
and overtrained. To me, fitness is about to change your DNA, there’s really no
enriching your life; looking amazing but getting around it.
feeling far better! I have my cake and I
revel in it too.
So embrace the fact that you want to
look sexy as hell! I mean why wouldn’t
In this course, I will be showing you
you want to look great? If working
how getting into mind blowing shape
out and eating healthy made you
is just a simple process. Working out
less attractive would you still do it?
intelligently and nourishing your body Probably not! Lucky for us, exercise and
is what it comes down to. Depriving
healthy eating will make you radiate
yourself of fats or carbs, eating bland
vibrant health and youthfulness.
foods and exercising excessively is not
only unnecessary, it will kill
I can craft together workouts for
your efforts.
different goals and aesthetics. I have
been doing this for the last four years
The balanced approach is the key to
- helping men and women build the
getting into your best shape ever and
‘Hollywood body’.
absolutely loving the process. You’re
not going to transform your body
Unfortunately, the fitness industry
overnight. But every week you will look hasn’t caught up. Weight training
better, feel better and become more fit. programs are designed to add the
maximum amount of mass without any
This is the secret of the fittest people on thought on how it will change your
the planet - consistent weekly progress body shape.
that’s sustainable.
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Even those so called ‘high rep tone
routines’ are no better either. They
make you feel like you’re doing a lot of
work, but in reality, nothing is actually
happening.
You can’t tone a muscle, you can
simply make it bigger and stronger.
Reducing the fat around a muscle
with proper nutrition will make your
muscles more toned (this comes mostly
from nutrition, something we will be
covering later).
jeans and an absolutely perky butt. As
well, your upperbody will be very fit,
toned and compact. This comes down
to adding the perfect amount of muscle
while holding a good looking level of
body fat.
What Building a Beautiful
Body Comes Down To
Building a beautiful body comes down
to understanding proper training and
ideal proportions. Women want to keep
their legs relatively slim and fit, while
bringing up their butt. In addition, they
want to strengthen and add tone to their
upper-bodies without overdoing it.
This requires a carefully calibrated
and fine-tuned approach. You need to
provide the perfect amount of volume
to specific muscle groups and favor
particular exercises to allow for an
ideal ratio of muscle gain.
When you follow our nutrition tactics
and exercise protocols to promote fat
loss combined with strength training
workouts - you will look stunning. Slim,
flat and lightly defined stomach, great
looking legs that fit into those slim
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Chapter 2
What Building a Downright Sexy Body
Comes Down To, Everyone Gets This Wrong
A great looking body comes down to
down your nutrition. When you blend
two things; the right amount of muscle these two variables together,
development and a low level of body fat.
beautiful things happen.
Contrary to what you may have heard
in Shape Magazine, you can’t train a
muscle to look bulky or toned.
You will begin to see positive changes
each and every week. You will become
slimmer, tighter and more taut. Your
muscles will become more
firm and compact.
You can train a muscle to become
bigger and stronger, that’s it. If you
want to have great tone and very good
looking muscle shape, you need to build
a good level of strength while staying
You’ll even start to get a little
pretty lean.
separation so your shoulders and arms
The most efficient way to achieve the
are no longer one entity. This is the sign
perfect amount of muscle development of a girl who is in awesome shape. Slim,
is with proper strength training.
fit and strong, but not overdone. Toned
The most efficient way to achieve
body status baby!
a low level of body fat is by nailing
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Reving Up Your Results
You can rev up your results with some
strategic cardio to accelerate fat loss.
But unless your nutrition is dialled in, it
will be of little use. If you’re not fuelling
and nourishing your body properly,
intense exercise will just make you
hungrier and promote excessive eating.
So the idea is that your nutrition
and strength training will allow for a
consistent increase in leanness each
and every week. Adding in some
cardio/brisk walking on rest days
will just speed up the process.
The Key to a Fit, Slim &
Toned Body
Building a slim and fit body is not just a
matter of gaining muscle while getting
lean. What is equally important is
where that muscle goes.
The idea is to gain muscle in a way that
maximizes sex appeal while promoting
a fit, athletic and strong body. You
want to look feminine, look stunning in
clothes and even hotter out of them.
Unfortunately, very few programs
geared towards women address this
or even know how to address this.
This is the most sensible way to go
about utilizing fat burning exercise.
Nutrition and strength training is your
greatest leverage point to build the
body you want. Don’t lose sight of this.
The key is keeping the legs slim and
fit and really building up the butt. This
requires an emphasis on exercises that
really hits the butt hard. Box squats,
sumo deadlifts, forward lunges and
step-ups are incredible at working
The good news is that even if life gets
super busy and you only have time to do the glutes.
the strength training and proper eating,
When you build up your strength on
you will still make great results.
these four movements there will be
a noticeable and direct improvement
So there’s really never any excuse to
in the shape, firmness and perk
regress. No matter what’s going on, or
in your butt.
what your situation is, you can always
push the ball forward.
6
I don’t care how flat or non-existent
strong, there’s no getting around it.
your butt may be, these four exercises
Push the ball forward.
will reliably and dramatically bring your
Creating a Slim and Toned
butt up.
Upperbody
You will have to work hard on these
exercises and push yourself and work
up to some challenging weights. That
said, you will be blown away at how
effective these movements are.
Building strength and tone on the
upperbody is very important. If you
slim down to a low body fat without
training your upperbody, you will end
up losing muscle and becoming soft.
Don’t worry about building up your
Not exactly what you’re after now is it?
thighs too much. If you do these
exercises properly, your legs will remain By strengthening your upperbody you
will be firmer and better proportioned.
slim and fit.
You may add a little bit of muscle to
your legs, but it will be the perfect
amount. This is what I call lowerbody
proportion training. Because these
exercises will hit your glutes the
hardest, you can get that perfect
butt without overdoing your
leg development.
Most fitness experts and trainers
don’t understand this crucial concept.
Those that ‘get it’ focus on the wrong
exercises. Fire hydrant circles, butt
raises and leg kicks for very high reps.
The butt does not respond to banging
out 50 reps for the burn. You must get
Don’t worry about getting huge, it just
won’t happen. Women, due to their
genetic differences, have a very limited
capacity to gain upperbody muscle size.
By getting your upperbody strong, you
will add the perfect amount of muscle
while still being compact. If you get
to the point where you simply want to
maintain your shape, we’ll show you
exactly how to do this.
But the point is, women need to
strength train to look their best! The
only way you’ll end up looking big is
if you use drugs (aka steroids) or if
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you don’t lean down. At a lower body
fat level, it’s very hard to hold a lot of
muscle, especially for women.
Why is this? Well because we are wired
for survival. If you were to have a lot
of metabolically costly muscle tissue
with very little fat, you wouldn’t last
very long in the event of a famine. So
your body wants to remain as efficient
as possible. Staying at a good looking
body fat level and doing proper
strength training will ensure you look
good and stay fit and firm.
Tying it Together
The last piece of the puzzle is the core.
Having a flat stomach with just a hint of
abs definition is a great sign that you’re
in top shape and you take care
of yourself.
Although, you need to be fairly lean for
this to happen, otherwise any excess fat
you have will blur and obscure muscle
definition.
Most women go about training their
core the completely wrong way. They
favor long drawn out ab workouts
that include countless repetitions of
elementary movements.
For abs training to have any impact you
need to challenge yourself. This doesn’t
mean doing an exercise 50 times until
it starts to hurt. It means working on
exercises that are challenging within
the first 10-15 reps.
If 15 reps is easy, then you just about
milked as much out of that exercise
that you’re ever going to get. The
next step is to move to more
challenging exercises.
It’s what every women is after. Now you
can slim down and have a flat stomach, Why is this? Well because after 20
but that doesn’t mean it’s going to look reps or so, you’ll just be increasing
good or be exceptionally firm.
endurance, this will have little to no
impact on your muscle development.
To have a great core you need to work
it. By doing so, you can develop some
We need to get the muscle stronger for
definition and make your stomach
it to become better developed.
harder and more compact.
So say goodbye to the marathon crunch
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workouts. And get ready for some
movements that are going to challenge
the heck out of you.
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Chapter 3
Why You Must Strength Train To Look
Awesome In a Bikini & Your Favorite Outfit
Strength training is the single most
important component of a solid fitness
program. Not just for improving health,
strength and overall fitness - but for
creating an awe inspiring,
fit and sexy body.
Unfortunately, most women steer clear
of strength training. Little do they know
that they are passing up on the most
powerful tool in their proverbial tool
box for drastically improving
their appearance.
Go to any fitness club and what do you
see? 80% of the cardio area is women
and 90%+ of the free weight training
area is men. Thankfully this is starting
to change, albeit very, very slowly.
Strength Training Makes
You Bulky?
For a long time, I was convinced that
training with weights would make a
women bulky and ruin her feminine
shape. And instead, girls should hit the
treadmills and ellipticals to stay petite
and sexy. With the help of common
sense and science, this painful myth
is starting to be uncovered for what it
really is - utter nonsense.
To get that sleek and sexy body, a
woman must strength train to add
a little muscle in the right areas to
enhance her shape.
You can’t properly build this essential
muscle with cardio and ultra high rep
exercises and circuits. Your muscles
need a reason to grow. Pushing them
to become stronger and handle more
resistance works. Teaching them to
do elementary activities for extended
periods of time does not.
A properly designed strength training
program for women will support the
sexy and feminine shape that she is
after. It will add just enough muscle
to her body to make her look fit,
toned and athletic.
She will look strong and capable, yet
feminine and beautiful. A combination
that projects independence and
commands attention.
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Why Strength Training
Will Improve Fat Loss
There is a common misconception that
for each pound of muscle gained, you
will burn an additional 50 calories per
day at rest.
Many personal trainers use this ‘myth’
to convince their female clients that if
they strength train, they will be able to
eat a lot more.
retain lean body mass.
Someone who has lost 20 lbs in 4
months may have very well lost only
15 lbs of fat and 5 lbs of muscle.
Conversely, someone who was
performing proper strength training
during those 5 months more likely
would have dropped 20 lbs in scale
weight but lost 25 lbs of fat and gained
5 lbs of muscle.
On the scale, these two women would
appear identical. However, they would
The reality is that the true number is a
lot less than 50 calories and more along look completely different. The one that
did strength training would appear
the lines of 6-10 calories. So gaining
some muscle hardly has any impact on much more defined, taut and fit. The
one that didn’t perform strength
fat loss from that angle.
training would look skinny fat.
That said, there is an incredible
Maintaining Leanness with
mechanism that makes strength
Strength Training
training very effective for achieving
leanness.
Now let’s imagine you’re on the
You see, if you begin to adjust your diet holidays and for a couple weeks you’re
going to be eating a lot more food than
for fat loss, you will naturally lose a
usual. In this instance, strength training
good chunk of muscle. Our bodies are
wired towards efficiency and this means can be a valuable tool to limit any
losing a combination of fat and muscle. fat gain.
The only way to ensure you retain
or even increase muscle mass is by
performing strength training. This
signals to your body that you need to
When you perform proper strength
training, you improve something known
as nutrient partitioning. This signals
your body to divert and store calories
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into your muscle tissues over fat stores. supports. This, my friend, is the
waist-to-hip ratio.
So if two people overfed for two weeks,
one did cardio and one did strength
In fact, this simple ratio is so powerful,
training, the one that did strength
if you look back at all the Playboy
training would come out on top.
centerfolds, you will find a waist-to-hip
ratio of approximately 1:1.4.
Even if they gained the same amount
of weight, the lifter would end up with
When you just slim down with diet and
more muscle and less fat.
cardio you lose weight everywhere.
Your body doesn’t discriminate.
If they both wanted to dial in their
nutrition and get back to their previous So as your waist slims down so does
body fat percentage the lifter would
your hips and bust. You get slimmer but
have less fat to lose and a much easier
you don’t necessarily get sexier.
time doing so.
To build a very attractive body that
Looking Great in and out
looks ravishing in and out of your
of a sexy outfit
favorite outfits, you must exercise
to support these key ratios. This way,
There are many women that simply
when you lean down, you end up with
focus on doing lots of cardio and
a butt that turns yourself on! You have
dieting to achieve a slim shape. This
a round perky butt and you strengthen
unfortunately is a very rough process
the upperbody - improving posture
that requires a lot of sheer willpower
while keeping your chest perked up and
and sacrifice.
a little more prominent.
These women might look great in
their cute little outfits, but more often
than not, when it gets time to throw
off the couture or step to the beach,
they wonder what happened to all the
attention. They might have flat abs
and skinny legs but they lack the true
feminine shape that strength training
This is accomplished by strengthening
the body in a balanced format that
supports proper posture and shoulder
position. When you create balance
and postural integrity, you will radiate
confidence and create the illusion of
having perkier boobs.
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Moreover, when you add a little muscle
to the chest, you will give your breasts a
little push up that will make them stick
up a little more. Furthermore, when the
upper chest is strong, you will help get
your boobs to sit a little higher.
This is just scratching the surface at
how the Goddess Toning Program will
completely transform your body.
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Chapter 4
The Best Exercises for Building a
Slim, Fit & Toned Body
Building a fit and great looking body
Lowerbody
requires an emphasis on key exercises
• Goblet Squat on Box
to support your shape. These include
• Sumo Deadlifts
the core movements of pushing, pulling, • Forward Lunges
squatting, deadlifting and lunging.
Let’s break these movements down one
With the legs, we want to focus on
by one:
exercises that strengthen the legs while
hitting the butt the hardest. This is how Lat Pull Down
you develop slim and fit legs with a
Lat pull down is a great exercise to
great butt.
build your upper back and biceps.
Eventually you may want to work up to
With the upperbody, we want to focus
full chin ups, but the first step is to get
on balance and proportion. This will
strong on the lat pull down.
help maintain proper posture and
muscle tone.
You can do this with hands facing away
or hands facing you. Both variations are
Although these aren’t the only exercises great!
we’ll be performing, the key exercises
in our arsenal include:
Building up your strength on lat pull
downs will help support a nice V shape
Upperbody
from your waist to your shoulders.
• Lat Pull Down
Having a slight V shape will make you
• Incline dumbell (DB) Press
look slim, athletic and attractive.
• Seated DB Shoulder Press
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Jessica Biel is an example of a girl with
a great V shape, it looks feminine and
sexy, not overdone.
Chin-ups or lat pull downs will help
build this beautifully.
breasts more support.
You may notice they hold a little higher
and they are slightly more prominent.
Seated DB Shoulder Press
The shoulder press is a great movement
to strengthen your shoulders and
triceps (back of the arms). The shoulder
press will also help support your v
shape from your shoulders to your
waist.
As well, you will develop more tone in
your shoulders and arms. You will also
create a little separation between your
shoulders and arms.
This will make you look more fit and
toned, instead of just skinny.
Goblet Squat onto a Box
The goblet squat is performed by
holding a single dumbbell in front of
Incline Bench & Flat Bench
your chest. This forces you to keep your
Incline bench and flat bench are the
chest up. Sitting onto a box forces you
primary movements to build your entire to use your butt and hamstring muscles
chest. Strengthening your pectorals is a to sit back onto the box. A goblet squat
key strategy to give your boobs a little
onto a box is a way to ensure optimal
lift.
squatting technique and great butt
development without as much work
By increasing the strength of your
onto the quads. Many girls want to keep
chest, you will increase the muscle and their legs fit and toned without adding
shape under your breasts, giving your
much size to their legs.
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This workout program will focus on
a variety of lower body movements
that hit the butt the hardest. This will
accomplish the goal of having slim fit
and athletic legs combined with a great
booty.
Sumo Deadlifts
The sumo deadlift is performed by
assuming a sumo stance (feet wide
apart), and lifting a barbell off the
ground with straight arms.
This movement hits your legs, butt
and lowerback. It will really build the
posterior chain the most - hamstrings,
butt and lower back. Sumo deads
are one of the best movements to
strengthen the posterior chain.
This is a tough lift, but if you
work hard at it, you will build
an incredible butt.
Furthermore, the sumo deadlift is a
highly functional movement that will
assist you in life. The ability to lift
an object off the ground is about as
functional as it gets.
When people get injured from lifting
objects off the ground, it’s because they
lift with a rounded back.
Forward Lunges or Step-Ups
Forward lunges or step-ups are great
exercises to do because they build
single leg strength and stability.
It forces you to keep both legs of equal
strength. Moreover, these two exercises
hit the butt very hard, if you do them
correctly.
The key is to keep the weight on the
heel of the foot. This will activate the
glutes the hardest.
Goblet box squats, sumo deadlifts and
lunges/step-ups will build an incredible
fit and sexy looking lowerbody.
Combine that with a focus on incline
presses, lat pull downs and shoulder
press and you will have an amazing
physique.
What’s more, learning the sumo deadlift
will teach you how to safely pick up
objects. This is because the sumo
deadlift teaches you how to keep your
back flat and engaged.
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What about the core?
I can already hear you saying, “But,
but, but, what about the abs?” Haha, it’s
okay. We’ll be working those too, quite
hard I might add.
But first, let’s not forget, looking great
is mostly a matter of a low body fat
and a strong body.
Planks and side planks will develop
your TVA (transversus abdominis
muscle). This is your deep core muscle
that acts as your inner corset.
A weak TVA leads to a sloppy droopy
gut. When you become strong at planks
your core will be more firm and taut.
As well, a strong TVA will injury-proof
your body and improve your posture.
Lying leg raises and hanging knee
raises will strengthen your entire core,
from top to bottom.
This creates a slim and defined waist.
That being said, we can improve the
definition and firmness of our abs by
strengthening them with core exercises. As well, you’ll build flexibility along the
back of your legs. Leg raise variations
also promote a strong low back.
Keep in mind, most of your results
will come from nailing your nutrition,
Finally, I recommend including a hip
proper cardio and strength training.
bridge to promote great posture, teach
Training your abs is like the extra 5-10%. your butt how to fire and to develop
solid flexibility through your quads,
Unfortunately, most people go about
hip flexors and abs. If you get really
abs training completely wrong.
good at this and build strength, you can
even work up to a full bridge. A great
They kill their posture from tons of
exercise and advanced yoga movement.
crunches and sit ups, and if there’s
anything I can attest to, it’s that there is
nothing more attractive than a girl with A great abs workout is as simple as
performing a few sets of lying leg raises
great posture.
or hanging knee raises and 2 sets of a
plank hold and finishing off with a one
The best exercises to perform for the
minute hip bridge.
abs are planks and side planks and
lying leg raises and hanging
knee raises.
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Core
Workouts
Core Workout A
Lying Leg Raises
Plank Hold
Hip Bridge Hold
Core Workout B
Hanging Knee Raises
Side Plank Hold
Hip Bridge Hold
Notes
Rest 60-90 seconds between sets.
You can perform hanging knee raises hanging
from a pull up bar or in a captain chair.
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Chapter 5
The Workout Program
Without further ado, here is the
Goddess Toning Program Workout.
Performing tons of sets and exercises
will increase the fluid and glycogen in
your muscles, making them bigger and
puffier. Not what we want is it?
No way! We’re going to focus on getting
stronger on key exercises with a lower
volume approach.
This is hands down the most effective
workout program to build the fit, toned
and strong body that women want. As
you can see, you’ll be strength training
three days per week. Monday you’ll
focus on strengthening your legs with a This will add the perfect amount
butt emphasis, plus your shoulders.
of muscle and firm up your body.
The reason we don’t want to do too
Wednesday, you’ll be hitting your chest many exercises and sets is because
and back. This is your push and pull
performing lots of volume triggers
workout. This workout will improve
something known as sarcoplasmic
your posture and strengthen your major hypertrophy. Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy
upperbody muscles.
is muscle growth from increased fluid
and sarcoplasm in your muscle cells.
Friday, you’ll be hitting your legs again
with a butt emphasis, plus your arms
This swells up your muscles and makes
- making them firmer and more toned.
them look fuller and puffier, but not
Hitting your legs short, sweet and hard necessarily harder or stronger.
twice per week is the best way to firm
up your lower body fast. The volume is This is one of the reasons why high rep
kept relatively low. You’re only going
workouts are not the best way to build
to do about two lower body exercises
tone. Building tone is about building
on Monday and Friday. This will build
strength while staying lean or
strength and increase tone in your legs getting lean.
without adding excess size.
19
When you focus on getting stronger
on key exercises you will build more
muscle density. You will increase the
size of the contractual filaments of the
muscle - this is known as myofibrillar
hypertrophy. Myofibrillar hypertrophy
from lower volume strength training
(as we will be doing in this program)
will make your muscles stronger,
harder and more compact.
This is quality muscle. You’re not going
to gain a ton of muscle this way, but
the muscle you do gain will be of great
quality. It will improve your strength,
power and firmness far more than
training for the pump.
To wrap up, focusing on getting
stronger to build the perfect amount of
muscle, while using proper nutrition
and cardio to promote fat loss is the
best way to build a slim, sexy, hard
body.
20
MONDAY
Legs, Shoulders, Abs.
Sumo Deadlifts
3 sets x 4-6 reps
DB Forward Lunges
3 sets x 6-10 reps
Seated DB Shoulder Press
3 sets x 6-10 reps
Lateral Raises
2-3m
Rest
2m
Rest
2m
Rest
30-60s
Rest
12, 10, 8, 6 + 12-15
Core Workout A
Lying Leg Raises
3 sets x 10-20 reps
Plank Hold
2 sets x 30-90 seconds
1m
Rest
1m
Rest
Hip Bridge Hold
1 set x 60 seconds
21
WEDNESDAY
Chest & Back
Incline DB Bench Press
3 sets x 6-10 reps
Lat Pull Down
3 sets x 6-10 reps
Pushup Variation
3 sets x quality set
Cable Rows
3 sets x 8-12 reps
Bent Over Flyes
12, 10, 8, 6 + 12-15
2m
Rest
2m
Rest
2m
Rest
2m
Rest
30-60s
Rest
22
FRIDAY
Legs & Arms
Goblet Box Squats
3 sets x 6-8 reps
Step Ups
2-3m
Rest
2m
Rest
3 sets x 6-10 reps
Alternating DB Curl
3 sets x 6-10 reps
2m
Rest
Cable Rope Triceps Push Downs
3 sets x 8-12 reps
Core Workout B
Hanging Knee Raises
3 sets x 6-12 reps
Side Plank Hold
2 sets x 20-40 seconds per side
1m
Rest
1m
Rest
Hip Bridge Hold
1 set x 60 seconds
23
Notes
Perform two warm up sets for the first
upperbody and lower body exercise of
each workout.
The first warm up set should be about
60% of your working set weight for 5
reps. The second warm up set should
be about 80% of your working set
weight for 5 reps.
Afterwards you can simply go straight
into your first work set for all of the
other exercises. For example, if your
goal is to do sumo deadlifts with 150 lbs
for 5 reps. Then you would do 90 lbs for
5 reps and 120 lbs for 5 reps.
If you’re doing 30 lbs dumbbells for
incline bench press. You might do
12.5 lbs dumbbells and 20 lbs dumbbells
for your warm up.
On lateral raises and bent over flyes
you are picking a weight you can do for
12 reps. After you do your first set of 12
reps, you rest 30-60 seconds and bang
out 10 reps with the same weight. Rest
30-60 seconds again and bang out 8
reps. You do this once more for 6 reps.
Then you drop the weight by 5 lbs and
pump out 12-15 reps. Each workout you
want to try and finish this with less rest
between sets. When you get down to
less than 30 seconds rest between sets,
increase the weight.
For push-ups you will be doing a quality
set. This simply means stop about 1-2
reps before complete failure. Do a pushup variation that you can do for 8-15
reps. This might be kneeling push-ups,
standard push-ups or feet elevated on a
bench push-ups (the hardest variation).
Progression
Once you can build up to the top end of
the rep range for all three sets, the next
workout you will add 5 lbs. So when you
can do 3 sets of 6 reps on sumo squats,
you will add 5 lbs to the bar the next
workout.
24
Chapter 6
Hollywood Secrets To Add Tone
Without Adding Size
When a girl has been training for
several months, or a few years, there
comes a point in time when she starts to
be happy with her muscle development
in certain areas. We can use certain
principles to continue increasing
strength and muscle firmness without
triggering muscle hypertrophy (muscle
growth).
Now I will preface by saying that when
you maintain a relatively low body fat
it’s hard to hold onto a lot of muscle,
let alone build it.This is true for men,
but especially
true for women. When women focus
on strength training while maintaining
a low body fat, they will invariably
end up with a great and proportionate
looking body.
However, sometimes you can end up
adding more muscle than you like.
If you were to keep training hard, that
muscle would likely get a little bigger.
We can maintain your muscle size
on a particular muscle group, while
improving it’s strength and tone with a
key strategy.
The strategy involves using a weight
you can lift 8-10 times until muscle
failure, and just do sets of 5-6 reps.
By stopping a few reps shy of failure,
you can firm up your muscles, without
triggering muscle growth.
In fact, this is a strategy I have been
using with overwhelming success
myself. My legs and back tend to grow
very easily.
To avoid spilling out of my jackets and
pants, I will focus on stopping several
reps shy of failure on my back and leg
exercises.
That said, to keep improving my
strength and athleticism, I will generate
maximum force during each rep.
So if I’m doing 5 reps of goblet squats
with a weight that I can do 10x, I will
explode up as fast as possible.
25
your nervous system and muscular
coordination - the ability to generate
maximum force out of the muscle size
you do have.
A strong nervous system can send
more powerful nerve impulses into
the muscles. As well, there will be
greater ionic flow across the muscle cell
membranes.
maximum force out of the muscle size
you do have.
This type of training will improve
your nervous system and muscular
coordination - the ability to generate
I recommend performing only 2 sets
instead of 3 sets for muscle groups that
you want to maintain.
A strong nervous system can send
more powerful nerve impulses into
the muscles. As well, there will be
greater ionic flow across the muscle cell
membranes. More ionic flow, leads to
your muscles maintaining more tension
in a relaxed state. This extra tension
More ionic flow, leads to your muscles
during rest leads to a firmer body
maintaining more tension in a relaxed
(assuming body fat levels are kept low).
state.
If you’ve ever seen two people around
This extra tension during rest leads to
the same body fat level, but one has
a firmer body (assuming body fat levels a harder body, it’s because they have
are kept low). If you’ve ever seen two
greater ionic flow and muscle strength.
people around the same body fat level,
but one has a harder body, it’s because Hands down, the athlete will have a fit
they have greater ionic flow and muscle and firmer body. It’s not enough to be
strength.
skinny, you need to be strong and slim
to have a hard body with firm muscles.
Hands down, the athlete will have a fit
Example of how it looks!
and firmer body. It’s not enough to be
skinny, you need to be strong and slim
to have a hard body with firm muscles. Let’s say your chest and legs are getting
too big. Here’s how you would do
exercises for these muscle groups to
So if I’m doing 5 reps of goblet squats
improve strength and firmness without
with a weight that I can do 10x, I will
adding muscle size.
explode up as fast as possible.
26
Incline DB Bench Press: 2 sets of 6 reps
(use a weight you can do between 8-10x.
Rest 2 mins between sets)
DB Forward Lunges: 2 sets of 6 reps per
leg (use a weight you can do between
8-10x. Rest 2 mins between sets)
Take away points!
Don’t rush into using this training style
until you’re ready. Frankly, unless
you’ve been training for a while and
have built up solid strength, you don’t
have to worry about building too much
muscle.
If you’re nailing your nutrition while
getting stronger, you’ll be burning
fat and adding the perfect amount of
muscle for your frame.
That said, this is a technique that is
great to have in your repertoire for
when the times comes.
27
Chapter 7
How to use Cardio to
Accelerate Fat Loss
Cardio is the most misunderstood
exercise in the world. This is
increasingly true when we are
talking about fat loss.
Very rarely do people give cardio the
credit it deserves. On one hand you
have people that completely overvalue
cardio training. On the other hand you
have people that consider cardio to
be a complete waste of time. In this
chapter I wish to clear up any confusion
regarding cardio and its role in fat loss
and body composition.
two types of people:
1) People that are just looking to
maintain their weight and don’t need to
tap into a calorie deficit.
2) People who are moderately active
during the day and have larger energy
expenditures.
However, for those of us who are mostly
sedentary, this no cardio approach can
mean one of two things when it comes
to losing weight:
Say No to Cardio?
1) We lose weight at a slow rate
2) We have to consume very low
calories
The recent trend in the fitness industry
is to lift weights to promote muscle
growth and use diet exclusively to lose
fat or stay lean. I feel that this can be an
effective approach and a great starting
point for most people.
The reality of the situation is that most
of us are sedentary. We drive to work,
sit on our butts all day and spend
a negligible amount of time on our feet.
You definitely don’t want to get in the
habit of relying on excessive amounts
of exercise to lose weight and stay lean.
That being said, the lift and diet
strategy only works well for
Many of us are lucky to get a combined
30 minutes of walking per day. This
results in very low energy expenditures.
To even tap into a calorie deficit,
we have to eat a very modest
amount of food.
28
The Fat Loss Advantage of
Cardio
levels, motivation….
Lastly, this amount of cardio shouldn’t
have too much of an impact on your
appetite and hunger.
By increasing our movement and giving
Too much of a good thing
our bodies 35-45 minutes of low to
moderate intensity exercise, we can
There’s always the risk that someone
burn 250-300 calories.
will think a moderate amount of cardio
This gives us much more room to work is beneficial, therefore an extreme
within our diet. As well, getting exercise amount of cardio will be even more
effective. This train of thinking is
on a daily basis helps with dietary
flawed and leads to doing more harm
adherence. People are more likely to
follow through with their diet if they are than good. With too much cardio you
can cause what is known as cardio
exercising that day. I have found that
for sedentary individuals, getting 30-45 compensation. This is where you reach
minutes of exercise on non-lifting days a point where any additional calories
burned will result in a proportional
can help tremendously.
increase in hunger.
You’ll be much more satisfied as you’ll
be able to consume considerably more This is much more apparent during
food and lose weight. If you were to skip longer 1-2 hour cardio workouts. These
marathon long cardio sessions tend to
this exercise on your rest days, you’d
have to drop your calories down by 250- create an insatiable appetite. What’s
more, very long cardio sessions can cut
300 to be at the same calorie deficit.
into recovery and negatively impact
strength gains and muscle mass.
In addition, 30-45 minutes of cardio is
relatively short. That’s like one episode
Putting Cardio into
of television. How many of us watch
Perspective
a few hours of TV each day? Not to
mention, getting exercise on a daily
One of the reasons why cardio gets
basis helps with mood, energy
29
such a bad rep is because it’s so easy
to undo an entire cardio session if
you’re not careful.
Let’s say that you’re an average
female who isn’t very active aside
from 3 strength workouts per week.
On your lift days your maintenance
Let’s say that you did cardio for one
calorie requirements are around
hour and burned 400 calories. A serving 2100. However, on your rest days
of dessert after dinner could completely your maintenance requirements are
off set that one hour of cardio.
considerably less at only 1800.
In this scenario your 60 minutes in the
gym was traded for the few minutes of
pleasure from a dessert. This scenario
is common with people who solely use
cardio to stay lean and let the chips fall
where they may on their diet. Obviously
this is not an ideal strategy for body
composition.
However, this is not the approach I
am suggesting. My preference is to
pay close attention to your diet and to
use cardio synergistically. This is the
ultimate fat loss plan. It’s a two vs one
fight: [Cardio + Diet] v. Body fat
Why Cardio Should Be
Used
On your lifting days you can consume
1600-1700 calories and lose close to a
pound of fat per week. Unfortunately
on your rest days you would need to cut
calories down to 1300-1400 to be at that
same 400-500 calorie deficit. Wouldn’t
it be far more enjoyable to exercise at a
comfortable intensity for 30-40 minutes
and consume 1600-1700 calories than
have to eat very low calories? If you feel
this way then cardio is probably for you!
So ultimately, with cardio, you should
already be eating under your calorie
requirements. Cardio will help increase
that calorie deficit so that you can lose
fat at an appreciable rate.
Toned Body Cardio
Recommendations
Let me give you a perspective on cardio
that will help you understand why I
If you’re doing cardio to get lean
value cardio training and how I like to
then it’s a matter of burning calories
use it.
while side-stepping overtraining and
increased hunger. Don’t let the allure of
30
a turbo charged metabolic rate fool you.
That’s a myth, a marketing ploy. The
after burn effect of intense exercise
is at best, a mere 15% of calories burned.
Now that we have that out in the open,
let’s proceed with the workout...
Now for the sake of simplicity and
convenience I will outline a fun cardio
protocol that you can do at your gym.
The goal of the session is to burn
calories, increase fat loss and avoid
boredom.
Ultimately, the type of cardio you
should do is what you enjoy the most
provided that you stick to a couple key
principles:
Toned Body Cardio
Workout
1. Aim to burn a certain number of
calories per session: 2-2.5 calories per
pound of bodyweight.
2. Avoid activity that impairs recovery
for strength and muscle building
workouts.
Abide by those two principles and
you’re in the clear.
1.) Treadmill Interval Pyramid
2 min walk/1 min jog x 6-8 intervals
Or
1:15 walk/45 second run x 10-12
For gym cardio, I always like to start
with some form of interval. This
is not because I feel that intervals
magically boost my metabolism to the
stratosphere but rather, it goes by much
faster as my mind always has something
The options are endless, really! You can to focus on. This is also not to be
mistaken with high intensity interval
go for a long walk, alternate walking
and jogging, mountain bike, jump rope, training, in which you’re exerting
a maximal effort. With that type of
hit up the cardio machines, play a
multitude of sports, swim, hike, shadow training, you are at a risk of cutting into
recovery capabilities while on a diet.
box, dance...
The aim of course is for movement and For these, I like to use a 2 degree incline
and walk at 3.8mph (4.0 mph seems
increased energy expenditure while
unnaturally fast for a walk). For my
realizing all of the amazing health
first interval I will run at a comfortable
benefits of daily exercise.
6mph. With each interval that passes I
31
will build up the speed.
Depending on how I’m feeling I might
go up by 0.5 or 1 mph each interval. So
I might do 6-7-8-9-9.5-10. If the diet is
getting to me or I don’t have the energy
I might just jog at 6 or 6.5 during the
running portion of the interval.
like to go at a low to moderate intensity
for active recovery and fat burning,
somewhere around 60-70% of your
maximal heart rate.
Again the options are endless for
this: I like to hit up an elliptical style
machine, the one with the handles that
you can push. I opt to avoid the bike
and the rower for a couple of reasons:
Much of my day is spent in the seated,
spine compressing position, why add
to that while exercising? As well, I can
burn significantly more calories on the
elliptical machine.
Nothing is 100% set in stone with
cardio workouts so you can take the
ball and run with it or walk with it.
This is completely different than
how I approach my strength training
workouts, which are very structured,
goal oriented and maximal effort.
Note: We’ll be tracking calories during
cardio. Make sure to manually enter
My favorite modalities for this part of
your weight into the machine for a more the cardio workout include: jumping
accurate calorie burn reading.
rope, elliptical (pushing handles) and
incline walking. For incline walking
2.) Steady State Cardio
I will pyramid the incline for fun.
10-20 minutes
So I will walk at 3.8mph and increase
the incline by 1 each minute until the
During the first portion of the workout, half way point. Then I’ll decrease
the intervals, you should have been able the incline by 1 each minute until
to burn around 150-200+ calories. This
I’m finished.
is largely dependent on your weight,
cardiovascular shape and level of
Calorie Targets
exertion.
During the second portion of the
workout you will aim to burn the
remainder of your calorie target off. I
I’d recommend aiming to burn about
2 calories per pound of bodyweight.
So if you’re 150 lbs, you’d aim to burn
300 calories per session. This is a
32
reasonable amount, shouldn’t take
too long to complete and will result
in a proportionally smaller increase
in appetite than calories burned. So
you might find that it’s just as easy
to consume 1600 calories per day on
complete rest days as cardio days.
Now I should mention that walking is
great when the weather is nice.
During the cold and rainy season,
going for a walk isn’t exactly alluring.
Therefore it may be preferable to hit
the cardio machines at your gym or
play some indoor sports.
Walking for Cardio
Lastly, if you’re travelling or
vacationing, exploring the city on your
feet or going for hikes can be a great
way to stay lean during a trip.
Another option, instead of going to the
gym for cardio is to simply get 40-50
minutes of brisk walking. Aim to walk
about 3 miles (5 kms).
Walking has actually become my
preferred exercise activity on my
non-lifting days. I will usually plug
in an audio book and go for a 40-60
minute walk. Sometimes I’ll break this
in half and go for two 20-30 minute
walks, one block in the afternoon and
another in the evening.
I kill two birds with one stone; I get
some reading done and I can also
burn a fair amount of calories. A 3
mile walk will burn 5 calories per kg of
bodyweight. So if you’re 65kg (143 lbs)
that’s 325 calories. Not too shabby.
Furthermore, walking will in no way
shape or form cut into your recovery
capabilities. On the contrary, pounding
the pavement definitely takes its toll.
Plus, usually you are so enthralled with
the new environment that one hour
goes by like a blink of an eye.
So instead of waking up early and
hitting the treadmill or bike, I’d
recommend sleeping in and spending
all that extra energy walking around
and enjoying the ambience.
Combine that with breakfast skipping
and you can eat triumphant meals and
enjoy a moderate amount of alcohol
without gaining an ounce of fat.
33
Chapter 8
Mastering A Calorie Deficit
Having a low body fat is the key to
looking awesome! In order to reach a
low body fat it is essential that you eat
at a caloric deficit. By consuming fewer
calories than your body burns, it will
be forced to use stored energy (body
fat) for fuel. However, this is much
easier said than done. Current nutrition
wisdom makes it very difficult to eat at
a caloric deficit.
In this chapter I am going to discuss
the most effective tactics to master
eating at a deficit. In addition, many of
these tactics will also serve to maximize
lean body mass retention and boost
mental performance. Let’s get started!
Track Calories
You wouldn’t try to save money
without tracking your expenses. So
why would you try to lose body fat
without tracking your calorie intake?
When you have no idea how many
calories you are taking in, losing body
fat becomes much more difficult.
Therefore it is critical that you track
your calorie intake. In addition,
by tracking your calories, dietary
adherence becomes much greater.
You are much less likely to overeat
because you know exactly how much
to eat and when to stop. With smart
phones, it is absolutely effortless to
track your calories and macronutrients.
I use the iPhone app MyNetDiary to
track my calorie and macronutrient
intake.
All you require is a digital food scale
to get the proper weight of a particular
food. Then you can find the food in the
app, enter the serving size and it will
add the calories and macros to your
daily total.
When you track your calorie intake, you
learn vital metrics, such as what foods
fill you up and satisfy you the best.
As well as which foods are problematic.
By problematic, I mean which foods are
simply not worth the calorie intake
they hit you with.
Now, don’t fear that you’re going to
have to track calories for the rest of
your life. It only takes about two weeks
to get the feel for it, then you can eye
ball it and only track the calories for
new foods that you’re not accustomed
34
to tracking.
It may feel uncomfortable at first, to
Eliminate Snacks and
only eat a few meals per day, but after a
Caloric Beverages
few days your body will adapt and you’ll
experience a hunger blunting effect by
When eating at a deficit it is imperative giving your body longer periods of time
that you cut all unnecessary snacks
between meals.
and caloric beverages out of your diet.
Skip Breakfast or Light
Snacks between meals add to your
Breakfast to Maximize Fat
caloric intake without raising your
Burning
satiety to any meaningful degree.
Any caloric drinks should be cut out
Upon waking, your body is in the
of the diet because they don’t increase
perfect fat burning state as there is no
fullness. The only drinks you should
more food energy left in your system
have are water, coffee and tea.
and insulin levels are very low. This is
the ideal scenario for fat burning.
The only exception here is if you are
going to be having a couple of alcoholic
If you push your first meal later into the
drinks on the weekend. After all, you
day – 4-5 hours after rising – you will be
have to live a little!
burning body fat the whole time.
Don’t worry, this isn’t as hard as it
There is one exception to the no
seems. Throw a cup or two of black
snacking rule and that is fruit. A piece
coffee in there during your fast and give
of fruit is a great option that will
it a few days to adapt and you’ll start to
actually fill you up nicely.
feel awesome.
Fruit is high in fructose, the ideal
What’s more, when you are in the fasted
sugar for replenishing liver glycogen.
state, your body’s sympathetic nervous
Replenishing low liver glycogen can
system dominates.
help stave off hunger.
That said, the worst thing you can
This gives you an adrenalin boost,
do is to mindlessly snack on food
enhances mental performance and
between meals.
increases energy.
35
Moreover, fasting boosts growth
hormone which spares muscle protein
and enhances fat burning. The myth
that skipping breakfast makes you
store more fat is exactly that, a myth.
The only way to store more fat is to
eat more calories. If skipping breakfast
helps you control your calorie intake
then skipping breakfast is an invaluable
tool for getting and staying lean.
After a few weeks your body will
adapt to skipping breakfast and
you will no longer get hungry during
the fast. With that said, some women
do not like skipping breakfast and
perform best on a light breakfast.
In this case I’d recommend a protein
based breakfast of egg/egg white
scramble or some greek yogurt and
nuts.
As long as you limit your breakfast
to about 300 calories you’ll still have
plenty of room to work with later in the
day.
This approach of skipping breakfast
and pushing your first meal later in
the day (or eating a light breakfast)
allows you to eat big meals and feel
considerably full and satisfied while
staying in a calorie deficit.
Food Choice
When eating at a caloric deficit, food
choice is very important. You must
choose the foods with the greatest
‘fullness factor’.
Lean protein and veggies are very
satiating. As well, carbohydrate sources
like potatoes and sweet potatoes are
notoriously high on the satiety index.
Meaning they are able to keep you
full for a very long time compared to
other foods of equal calories. Crunchy
fruits like apples also do a beautiful job
satisfying hunger and cravings.
Very fatty meats, nuts, rice, juices,
protein shakes, crackers, cookies and
many packaged foods tend to do a poor
job at raising satiety.
I recommend paying close attention
to the fullness effect of the foods you
include in your diet on a regular basis.
During the first few weeks of this
program, ask yourself if this food is
worth the calories and something you
want to eat on a regular basis.
36
If not, find a better food that you
enjoy more without the heavy
calorie hit. Make no mistake, I
indulge regularly on delicious foods
and sweets. I just gravitate to the
foods that give me more bang for
the buck (calories).
Frozen yogurt ice cream with chocolate
chips is my favorite. I also love to make
cheese quesadillas with low fat cheese
to get my ‘pizza fix’.
Low fat cheese is also another great
option at raising satiety. Moreover,
dairy protein sources like low fat
cheese have been shown to improve
fat loss on a diet.
instead focus on how well a food fills
you up and satisfies you.
Glycemic index has no bearing on fat
loss. Moreover, when you are eating
carbs with protein, veggies and fat,
the absorption of the carb food is
automatically reduced, rendering the
glycemic index useless.
Another interesting note is that some
women find that just a few small
squares of dark chocolate kicks their
sugar cravings. In this case, chocolate
can definitely be included into your
daily meal plan in moderation.
I mean after all, if just 100-200 calories
of chocolate is all it takes to keep you
satisfied and happy on your diet, then
by all means, include it.
As well, I’ll say that adding a ‘small
amount’ of fat to foods like veggies,
chicken breast and potatoes can greatly
increase the satisfaction and fullness
However, other people can’t possibly
factor of said food.
eat enough sweet or chocolate to
satisfy them and have an easier time
This is as simple as cooking chicken
completely avoiding it. In this case, I’d
or veggies in a pan with a teaspoon of
recommend leaving it out.
coconut oil, delicious.
Or using a little butter on your baked
There is a lesson here, be conscious and
potatoes or making potato wedges with learn what works best for you. What
a few teaspoons of oil.
foods best help you control your calorie
intake and what foods to include on a
Finally I urge you to let go of the
regular basis and omit most of the time.
obsession of the glycemic index and
37
Make no mistake, any food you enjoy
can be worked into your diet on a daily
basis, so long that you can hit the right
amount of calories.
As we discussed earlier, it’s not foods
that make you fat, it’s over eating in
general that leads to weight gain.
You could eat nothing but Oreo cookies,
but if you’re eating less calories than
you’re burning, you will drop fat.
Obviously I’m not suggesting the Oreo
diet, but it’s just something
to remember.
Importance of Protein
When dieting, protein plays the most
important role in your diet because
it is the most filling nutrient.
If you’re eating a low calorie diet, with
low protein, it will be an absolutely
miserable experience. However, when
you keep protein intake in check, it is
much easier to stay full.
Protein will also help build and repair
muscle tissue. This will lead to greater
fat loss and more muscle retention on a
cut compared to lower protein diets.
For these reasons, higher protein diets
always outperform lower protein diets
of equal calories. I recommend setting
protein intake at around 35% of total
calories when eating at a moderate
deficit. This is will make dieting
much more enjoyable.
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates have largely been
demonized in the last two decades.
But what these diet guru’s fail to realize
is that people have been getting lean on
high carbs and they have been getting
lean on low carbs. It’s the calorie
deficit that dictates fat loss, not your
carbohydrate intake. Going extremely
low in carbohydrates is not necessary
to get lean. In fact, when you restrict
carbohydrates too heavily to try to
lose fat, you compromise training
performance, sleep quality, mood and
hormonal functioning.
The theme is to maintain balanced
macros while eating at a moderate
calorie deficit.
I recommend keeping carbs around
35-40% of total calories. Once per week,
ideally on a lifting day, carbs can and
should be increased. This will help with
38
growth and repair of your depleted
muscles.
Furthermore, an elevation in carbs will
increase the hormone leptin, which in
turn will prevent your metabolism from
declining and on top of that, it will also
keep your hunger levels under control.
This will make the subsequent low
calorie days much more manageable.
Fats
Lastly we have our fats! Fats are very
calorie dense nutrients with 9 calories
per gram (protein and carbs only have
4). Therefore our fat intake needs to
be kept in check when eating a lower
calorie diet. If you don’t pay attention to
your fat intake then your calorie intake
will accumulate very quickly. A handful
of nuts, a few tablespoons of fat or a few
ounces of fatty meat and you’re looking
at a few hundred calories.
With that said, we can’t reduce fat
too significantly. Doing so, your body
will be in a constant state of hunger
and adequate fat intake is necessary
for proper hormonal functioning. As
a result, I always include a moderate
amount of fat with all my meals. An
overall fat intake of 25-30% of total
calories seems to be the most effective.
Below 25% and it can be difficult to feel
full and satisfied. Over 30% and carbs
have to be decreased and food volume
is lowered significantly.
The Power of Coffee
Coffee (or rather caffeine) is a highly
useful stimulant when on a diet.
Caffeine elevates your metabolic rate,
blunts your appetite and increases your
energy. This makes dieting much more
effective.
I have had the best results having 2
cups of coffee or 200mg of caffeine
during the fasting portion of the day
(or with a light breakfast). This makes
complete sense given that the first 4-6
hours of the day you will be without
food or running on a relatively light
breakfast.
Therefore, having coffee during
this period will make the fast more
enjoyable and effective. After the fast
you will be eating your first substantial
meal. You won’t need to use caffeine/
coffee as an appetite suppressant.
Not to mention, limiting your
coffee/caffeine intake will improve
your sleep, which is of vital importance.
39
If you were to drink several cups
of coffee per day then your ability
to sleep would likely suffer.
If you enjoy coffee then have 2 cups
per day! Make sure not to add any milk,
sugar or crème. Learn to drink your
coffee black. If you do not like coffee
then you can take a 200mg tablet of
caffeine. These are usually sold at most
supplement stores.
So if you start to get hungry before
your first meal, you can have an apple
or some berries. If you’re hungry before
dinner you can snack on a piece of fruit.
Including 2-3 servings of fruit into
your diet will only add about 160-240
calories. That said, it will make eating
only two meals per day, infinitely easier.
For this reason, the couple hundred
additional calories from having 2-3
Putting it together
pieces of fruit per day, will actually help
you control calorie intake. Quite well I
To make dieting for fat loss as effortless might add.
as possible, the approach we will be
using is to wake up and have black
For the women that don’t want to skip
coffee or tea in the morning. Plenty
breakfast, have no fear. You can have
of water should be consumed
a ‘light breakfast’ of an egg/egg white
throughout the entire day, never
scramble or some greek yogurt
let yourself go thirsty.
with nuts.
We will then be having two big meals
per day: lunch and dinner. Meals should
consist of filling protein, veggies,
potatoes and added oils/fats to hit your
fat numbers.
This will only be about 250-300 calories
and should fill you up quite nicely.
If you do decide to eat a morning
breakfast, avoid eating plenty of carbs
in the morning.
On a two meal plan, I recommend
having a couple pieces of fruit to
shorten the length of time between
meals. I call this the strategic fruit
snacking strategy.
Most of your carbs should be placed
later in the day - lunch and dinner. This
will maximize fat burning and focus
during the day and greatly improve
your sleep quality at night. As well,
40
you’ll feel incredibly relaxed and
chilled out in the evening.
from being depleted, you can stave off
hunger quite well. A serving of fruit
should equate to about 80 calories.
Don’t worry about eating carbs at night. Adapt this plan to your own schedule.
The only way to store fat is to eat more You can eat lunch later or earlier and
calories than your body burns. Since
same with dinner.
you’ll be in a deficit, it won’t matter
one bit that you’ll be eating carbs
The main idea is to push your first meal
with dinner.
4-6 hours after rising in the morning.
Then eat your dinner at your personal
Your body will use these carbs for
preference and fill in two servings of
energy and to replenish glycogen while fruit into your day to make dieting as
you continue to burn off body fat.
effortless as possible.
Here’s how it looks
NoteS
Fasting Protocol
Morning: Black Coffee
Lunch: Lean Protein, Veggies, Potatoes
or Sweet Potatoes
Dinner: Lean Protein, Veggies, Potatoes
or Sweet Potatoes
Fruit Snacks: 2-3 servings of fruit when
desired
Don’t worry about having your last meal
at the same time every day. Some-days
I’ll finish my fast early and other days I
won’t have a chance to eat my last meal
until very late. Also, there’s nothing
wrong with eating right before going
to bed. For many people, eating closer
to bedtime is more enjoyable and will
improve sleep. This is definitely the
If you wake up at 9am you might have
case with myself. Eating right before
lunch at 1pm, an apple around 4 or 5pm, going to bed won’t impede fat loss.
dinner at 7pm and some berries later
A calorie deficit is a calorie deficit.
in the evening. A few servings of fruit
If you eat later then you’ll be oxidizing
in your diet will help blunt appetite as
more fat during the day. Conversely,
fruit does a great job replenishing your if you eat all your calories earlier, you’ll
liver glycogen.
be oxidizing more fat later in the day.
But at the end of the day, it all balances
By avoiding your liver glycogen levels
out. And don’t be paranoid about late
41
night eating and growth hormone (GH). large meals. After all, breakfast will be
kept small and you’ll have two decent
GH is secreted in a pulse like fashion
sized meals to fit the rest
and late night eating does not mess
of your calories into.
with nocturnal GH pulses in normal
circumstances.
If you’re used to the traditional dieting
approach, this will be a breath of fresh
Breakfast Option
air. In the breakfast example, you’d
Morning: Protein breakfast and coffee
eat breakfast upon rising or slightly
Lunch: Lean Protein, Veggies, Potatoes thereafter. A coffee with breakfast or
or Sweet Potatoes
sometime before lunch is desired to
Dinner: Lean Protein, Veggies, Potatoes blunt appetite and boost energy.
or Sweet Potatoes
Fruit Snacks: 2 servings of fruit when
Drinking coffee is one more reason to
desired
keep carbs low for breakfast. Coffee
helps stimulate your sympathetic
In the next chapter we will be
nervous system and get fat burning.
discussing how to set your calories and Eating carbs with breakfast will shut
macros. If you want to do the breakfast down the fat burning process to some
option, you will get just as good results, degree. It’s better to get your carbs in
as long as you stick to the same calorie later in the day and at night. Stay sharp
intake. You should pick whichever
and focused early in the day and feel
option is more enjoyable to stick with.
relaxed and loose in the evening.
For me and many other people, skipping
breakfast is liberating because we can
For your protein breakfast, best options
eat two huge meals today and it doesn’t include egg white scramble with 1-2
feel like we’re dieting.
whole eggs or 2% plain Greek yogurt
with a small handful of almonds.
Plus, fasting with some black coffee
becomes effortless and enjoyable once
you adapt to it.
That said, some women would rather
eat first thing in the morning. Make no
mistake, you’ll still be able to eat fairly
42
Chapter 9
Toning Program Cutting Plan
Every successful diet plan has to be
simple and easy to follow. If a diet is
overly complicated, requires too much
time cooking/preparing/cleaning and
is expensive then you probably won’t
stick with it.
lose about 1 lb of fat per week. It is at
this rate of fat loss that you will be able
to stay satisfied, gain strength, maintain
all of your muscle and possibly even
gain some muscle in key areas to
look fit and sexy.
Conversely, if a diet is simple,
straightforward and convenient then it
is much more likely you will see the diet
all the way through. Dieting needs to be
something that blends in with your life
and doesn’t consume it. This is why I
like my approach to intermittent fasting
(or a light protein breakfast) with a big
lunch and dinner and a couple pieces of
fruit. It’s damn easy to follow and highly
rewarding.
Those that try to lose 2 lbs or more per
week on crash diets are the ones that
lose strength and muscle and break
their diets gaining all of the weight
back.
In this chapter I am going to help you
determine how many calories and
protein you should be consuming and
how to adjust the diet plan to fit you.
How much fat can I lose
per week?
Keep in mind: it is likely that you will
lose 2-3 pounds or more the first week
of dieting. Some of this is going to be
water weight that your body will have
dropped due to eating lower calories.
After the first 1-2 weeks the rate of
weight loss should stabilize around 1
pound per week
Losing 1 lb of fat per week requires
an average daily caloric deficit of 500
calories. This is a moderate deficit but
definitely manageable, especially when
employing my diet approach.
This diet plan is tailored so that you
43
Calculating Your Macros
Step 1: Determine Your Maintenance
Level Calories
Your maintenance level of calories is
the number of calories (on average),
that you require to maintain your
weight.
If you eat below this number you will
lose weight and if you consistently eat
above this number, you will end up
gaining weight.
Now, there are all sorts of complicated
calculators and formulas to determine
your maintenance level calories.
However, most of these calculators
seem to overestimate your daily
energy expenditure quite severely.
For some people this number
may underestimate their energy
expenditure, and they may lose fat
a little faster than expected. This is
completely fine, and you can simply add
200-300 calories to this number to keep
fat loss in the 1-1.5 lbs per week range.
Bodyweight in pounds x 15
Example: 140 lbs x 15 = 2100 calories
burned per day.
Step 2: Set Your Calorie Intake
Now that you know your maintenance
level calories you can now set your
calorie intake for fat loss. I recommend
using a 20-25% calorie deficit. This is
a moderate deficit and will allow you
to stay relatively full and satisfied on a
cutting program.
The most accurate method I have found Going into a bigger deficit than this
for determining your maintenance level will increase hunger, negatively impact
mood and impair workout performance.
calories is to take your bodyweight in
pounds and multiply it by 15.
The simplest thing would be to take
your current bodyweight in pounds and
This is assuming you get an hour of
multiply it by 12.
exercise per day (one hour of walking
or one hour of strength training). This
Bodyweight in pounds x 12
is just a starting point; it may require
Example: 140 lbs x 12 = 1680
adjusting in the future depending on
(420+ calorie deficit)
your rate of fat loss.
44
Step 3: Set Your Protein Intake
Protein should make up about 35% of
your total calories when eating at a
deficit. This will keep you the most full
and will optimize the retention of lean
mass, while also leaving ample room for
fats and carbs in your diet. So if you’re
eating 1680 calories per day then you’d
multiply this number by 0.35.
Example: 1680 calories x 0.27 = 453 fat
calories
453 / 9 = 50.33 grams of fat per day
Round this number to the nearest
multiple of 5. So in this case you will
consume 50g of fat per day.
Example: 1680 x 0.35 = 588 protein calories
Step 5: Set Your Carb Intake
Carbs will be making up the rest of your
calorie intake. So in this case they’ll be
set at about 38% of total calories.
There are 4 calories per gram of protein.
Therefore you will need to divide
protein calories by 4 to determine the
number of grams of protein you should
be eating per day.
To calculate your carbohydrate
calories, take your total calorie intake
and multiply by 0.38. Next divide this
number by 4 to get number of carbs in
grams
Example: 588 / 4 = 147g of protein per day
Example: 1680 calories x 0.38 = 638.4 carb
calories
648.4 / 4 = 162.1 grams of carbs per day
Round this number to the nearest
multiple of 5. So in this case you will
consume 145g of protein per day.
Step 4: Set Your Fat Intake
Fat should be set at 25-30% of total
calories. To find this number you
will need to take your daily calories
and multiply it by 0.27 (27% of total
calories). This will give you the number
of calories from fat. Divide this number
by 9 to get the amount of fat in grams
(fat has 9 calories per gram).
Round this number to the nearest
multiple of 5. So in this case you will
consume 160g of carbs per day.
Put it together:
Calories = 1680
Protein = 145 grams
Fats = 50 grams
Carbs = 160 grams
Adjust as you go along.
45
This is just an estimate and likely won’t
be 100% accurate. On the third week of
dieting if you are losing 2 lbs or more
per week, you can bump up calories by
200 per day. Or, if you’re experiencing
a lot of hunger after 3 days of the diet
(the time it takes to adapt to the new
calorie intake), then bump up calories
by 200. A lot of hunger on a well
constructed diet is a sign that
you’re not eating enough.
The first step is to give yourself room
for two servings of fruit per day.
All you have to do is cut your
carb intake by 40g.
On the other hand if you are losing less
than 1 lb per week, you may need to cut
calories by 200.
Fruits (160 caloreis)
40g of carbs
Two meals (1520 calories)
120g carbs
145g protein
50g of fat
I’d recommend leaving protein
untouched and adjusting fats or carbs
depending on your preference. Some
people naturally prefer more fat;
on the other hand, other people
prefer more carbs.
Creating the Meal Plan
Once you have determined your daily
calorie and macronutrient intake then
you can begin to set up your meal plan.
This is as simple as distributing your
total calorie and macro intake across
your 2-3 meals.
So if you’re consuming 160g of carbs
per day and you’re eating two servings
of fruit, you would have 120g of carbs to
work with in your two meals.
The rest of your macro intake you will
divide into two meals as so:
The next step is to divide this into two
to get your macros for each meal:
Macros for lunch and dinner (680 cals)
60g carbs
70-75g protein
25g of fat
This meal can consist of one big potato
or sweet potato around 300g. 350g of
lean meat (uncooked weight). And 1-4
teaspoons of oil/butter for cooking or
taste to hit your fat numbers.
46
Alternatively, you could go to Chipotle
and get double chicken, a half scoop of
rice, a half scoop of beans with either
cheese or guacamole.
Another option would be to go to
a restaurant and order a lean protein
like a chicken breast or sirloin steak
with a baked potato or a small serving
of fries and side of veggies or greens
salad with vinaigrette dressing.
The beauty of this meal plan is that it’s
really hard to screw up badly. You’ll
have a good amount of room to work
with in both of your meals, that if you
overdo your calories, you’ll probably
just end up eating maintenance.
What this means is that, there’s really
no two steps forward one step back
approach. Or worse, running around in
circles.
As you can see, by eating two large
meals per day, you have plenty of
room to eat filling, wholesome
meals at restaurants.
Even if you’re not perfect, you’ll still
make steady progress.
The key is really to stick to your guns
most of the time. Your guns are lean
protein sources, potatoes and veggies.
With a little bit of fat for taste. These
types of meals do the best job at
triggering feelings of fullness.
If you’re going to be eating breakfast,
you’ll want to reduce your lunch and
dinner meals to give you some room for
breakfast.
How about breakfast?
I suggest eating around 240-300
calories for breakfast. This can be as
Don’t obsess about
simple as making an egg scramble
being perfect
with two whole eggs (140 calories),
half a cup of egg whites (60 calories),
Don’t worry about hitting your macros and one teaspoon of butter or coconut
spot on. As long as you get close to the oil for cooking (40 calories).
calorie numbers you will get the fat loss Total = 240 calories.
benefits. Getting in the ballpark of your
macros will help keep you full and feel
Alternatively, you could have 1 cup
your absolute best.
or 250g of plain 0% greek yogurt 130
(calories) with 20g of almonds
47
(116 calories). 246 calories total.
Binge eating is a result of a few things.
Not accepting yourself, feeling guilty
Depending on your daily calorie intake, about eating and trying to stick to an
this should give you room for two
extreme crash diet or exercise program.
servings of fruit during the day (160
calories) and two 500-600 calorie meals. All of these work together and
compound on each other to drive you
Once Per Week Refeed Day into a self-hating binge eating session.
Once per week ladies, I encourage that
you enjoy a refeed day. Now make no
mistake, this is not a cheat day. Throw
the word cheat out of your vernacular.
There is no cheating. You can eat foods
that you love, whether they be treats,
desserts or fatty goodness. This isn’t
cheating, it’s being human.
The idea is to teach you how to enjoy
food, without going into the deep end.
So you’ll be adhering to a few rules
to replenish your body without
overdoing it.
When you are no longer obsessed with
getting to some arbitrary goal. When
you can fully love and accept yourself
no matter what size jeans you wear or
the number on the scale. When you can
allow yourself to be human, not to be
perfect all the time. And when you can
enjoy the process, without trying to kill
yourself to get to your goal. Well then
as if by some form of magic, the desire
for binge eating disappears.
You enjoy food more without the guilt,
while eating in moderation rather
effortlessly I might add.
A word on binge eating
Why bother with refeed
days
I’ll be the first to say, I dealt with binge
eating for a few years. It was a painful
part of my life, but it’s no longer a part
of my life.
The goal isn’t to get you lean as fast as
possible. Let’s be honest, we’ve all tried
that before. And maybe it works once,
but it’s temporary.
48
We end up reverting to our old ways
and gaining the weight back. Instead,
the goal is to teach you how to get slim
and lean and make it far more enjoyable
than ever before.
Once you crack this code, or rather let
me crack it for you :), then getting lean
is just a matter of time.
And guess what, that’s okay! Because
there is no rush. When you accept
yourself fully, all that stress, urgency
and burden washes away.
But it’s not just about the psycholgical
release. It will help kick up leptin
into high gear.
You see, after several days of eating
at a deficit, leptin (the hormone that
controls your appetite), metabolism and
energy levels starts to drop.
Boosting calories and carbs, specifically,
once per week can send leptin into
high gear.
And you can fully enjoy the process
to your goal. So refeed days will
help psychologically.
This will make the subsequent days
of dieting more enjoyable. Now, after
a day of higher calorie eating, it’s
possible you might gain a couple
pounds on the scale.
You’ll experience a nice psychological
release. Even though you’ll be staying
pretty well satisfied on your day-to-day
nutrition plan, this will be like a whole
other level.
This is nothing to freak out about.
Anytime you eat more calories than
you’re accustomed to, you’ll generally
hold onto more water weight and
glycogen.
You can go out with your girls and enjoy This alone is enough to add a couple
extra food or drinks. After all, it’s just
of pounds to the scale. But it’s a good
once per week.
couple of pounds. It’s the couple of
pounds that will go away in a few days
You can take a trip to a frozen yogurt
and give you the momentum to hit
shop and enjoy a big helping! There’s
an all time low in weight.
simply quite a lot of room to work with
on these days.
In fact, many times when girls get stuck
and can’t lose anymore weight, one of
49
these refeed days will help them break
through a plateau.
Make no mistake, there’s no need to
obsess with your bodyweight. If you
want to weigh yourself that’s fine.
If you don’t that’s fine too.
But don’t let the scale make you feel
better or worse. It’s just a reading,
that’s it. Weight fluctuates.
When to do your refeed
and how to eat on
a refeed
I recommend placing your refeed day
on Friday, your last strength training
workout for the week.
pizza and drinks. Or maybe you eat a
healthy meal and enjoy a big portion of
dessert.
The only thing I ask is that you enjoy
your meals without feeling guilty.
So when you feel full and satisfied,
then stop eating.
It’s the feeling that you blew your diet
and screwed up and are worthless that
makes you want to keep going back into
the cupboard or freezer.
But this is no longer part of the
equation. So it’s no longer an issue.
As a general rule, I recommend eating
about 600 calories over your normal
calorie intake.
In the past I would give set rules for
exactly how many calories and carbs
to eat on refeed days, but I find this
unnecessary and unproductive.
This is quite a bit, but if you treat it
as a cheat day and go out of your way
to keep eating, there’s no question you
will go way over. And have to spend the
next few days getting back to
Instead I say, enjoy yourself. Absolutely square one.
guilt-free. Stick to your normal meal
plan as scheduled for the first part
This is one of the problems with the
of the day.
conventional, ‘anything goes’ cheat day.
It doesn’t teach you how to enjoy food
Then at dinnertime enjoy something
while supporting your goals.
off the menu. Maybe you go out for
50
It only teaches you how to deprive
yourself and stuff yourself.
Eventually, when you get to your fat loss
goals, I want to make staying lean
so enjoyable that life becomes
better than ever.
Because after all, every girls dream isn’t
to find the perfect guy but to eat what
they want without getting fat ;)
51
Chapter 10
Flexible Dieting
I believe in the idea of flexible dieting.
and treats relatively effortlessly.
That is to focus on what matters; hitting
your calories and macronutrients target If you were to eat 5-7 small meals
for that day.
per day on a diet, it would be next to
impossible to fit in a decent portion of
Obviously you should be eating
dessert.
predominantly healthy, wholesome,
natural foods. This will provide you with As a general rule, don’t get more
plenty of nutrients and will keep you
than 20% of your calories on a given
full and satisfied on a diet.
day from junk foods. So 80% of your
calories should be made up of lean
That being said, you can definitely
meats, veggies, fruits, healthy fats and
include dessert or treats several times
potatoes, sweet potatoes or pasta/rice.
per week. The main thing is that you
don’t go over your calories or macros
The other 20% can come from dessert
for that day.
like ice cream, cookies or chocolate.
Then again, if you don’t desire treats
Using myself as an example,
then you definitely don’t have to include
I frequently eat frozen yogurt ice cream them.
in my diet. I just make sure to reduce
my portion of carbs and added fats
Just know that the option is always
for dinner to make room for a dessert.
there and you definitely don’t have to
This way I can have dessert guilt-free
choose between having ice cream and
and I’m still in the same deficit so my
having abs.
progress is unchanged.
Funnily enough, just knowing that you
This strategy works extraordinarily
can have dessert any day if you desire
well, especially with the diet approach
often makes you crave it less.
of eating a big lunch and dinner. Eating
big meals allows you to include dessert
52
Fitting Dessert into your
meal plan
If you want to have a dessert after
dinner you can cut out the serving of
potatoes and any additional added fats.
This should give you 250-300 calories
to enjoy a small serving of dessert.
You see, the more you obsess about
your workout and diet, the more likely
you are to screw up. But when you
blend your fitness and dieting efforts
into your life, the journey is much more
rewarding and smooth.
So by all means go out and have drinks
a couple of times per week. Letting
Maybe it’s some frozen yogurt icecream, loose, having fun and enjoying the
progress you made that week will
chocolate, treats or skinnypop (low
only bring you more happiness,
calorie popcorn).
fulfillment and further motivation.
It doesn’t have to be a trade off!
What about alcohol?
You don’t have to choose between going
out and getting in shape or eating
What’s the point of looking fantastic
if you can’t enjoy it? That’s crazy! Your dessert and having abs.
fitness and nutrition program should
By implementing the tactic below, you
be a part of your lifestyle, not the focal
will be able to enjoy yourself while
point of it.
waking up even leaner the next day!
Getting in fantastic shape is totally
awesome, but it’s not everything. Going Get out of the “binge
out and socializing does not have to be drinking” mentality
put on hold until you reach your goal.
That logic is absurd and it will only end For this to work and for you to have the
best possible success, I want to get you
up biting you in the ass.
out of the ‘binge drinking’ mentality.
For many of us, we drink to excess for
You’ll invariably put much more
one of two reasons. The first reason
attention and mental energy into your
is that we have deprived ourselves of
fitness and nutrition than needed.
alcohol for many weeks or months so
when we finally drink we have very
This will lead to a lack of motivation
little self-control. When you realize that
and inevitable burnout.
53
alcohol does not have to negatively
impact your fitness goals, this will no
longer be an issue.
The second reason why we binge drink
is to get into state. This was actually
a huge one for me. Going out to bars,
clubs and parties can be intimidating
if you’re dead sober. This is especially
true if you’re meeting new people.
By getting hammered, we throw
our inhibitions to the wind and
we effectively become un-stifled.
Conversely, when we’re sober, we tend
to be stuck in our head and physically
paralyzed, unable to take action. So
what’s going on here?
The only thing that alcohol is doing
is helping us get outside of our head
and helping us become more ‘present.’
When you’re drunk, you just don’t give
a fuck! You no longer care what people
think of you and you no longer judge
yourself. You just want to have fun. As
you become more and more inebriated
this self-judgment and insecurity
disappears and you can finally begin
to honestly express yourself, albeit in a
very sloppy manner.
Is it any wonder why alcohol is such
an integral part of our culture? We
walk through life stuck in our head,
suppressing our true selves. It’s not
that we lack the confidence. It’s that
we are way too tied to our ego mind
and we care way too much about how
we perceive ourselves and how other
people perceive us.
When you can forget about your ‘self’
and simply ‘be’ then you will have
entered into this incredible state. You
have all the positive effects of being
hammered, without the negative ones.
You’re sharp, poised and focused while
being able to live in the moment.
When you’re no longer drinking alcohol
for liquid confidence then you can start
to incorporate alcohol into a fitness
lifestyle. Having 2-4 drinks, 2-3 times
per week is perfectly fine. You’ll just
need to drop your carbs/fats to leave
a bit of room for the alcohol calories. I
recommend drinking primarily liquor
on the rocks or liquor with club soda
for the least amount of calories. My
personal favorite is vodka clubs. Wine
is also another decent choice.
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What’s interesting is that a low to
moderate intake of alcohol is not
detrimental to your progress.
There is a debate as to whether or
not alcohol calories count. This is
because consumption of alcohol is not
associated with the expected rate of
weight gain.
On top of that, studies have shown that
replacing carb calories with alcohol
calories results in weight loss.
This is likely due to the very high
thermogenic effect of alcohol and the
fact that ethanol (alcohol) is unable to
be stored as body fat. Therefore your
body has no choice but to burn it off.
The caveat here is that you must fit
alcohol into your calorie totals for the
day without sacrificing protein intake.
1. Do Alcohol Calories Count
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
2. Alcohol and Immune System
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
Developing this “sober
presence”
Having the ability to be sober or just
have a few drinks and be completely
un-stifled is insanely awesome! You’ll
save tons of money on alcohol and
cabs. You’ll get in way better shape and
develop natural confidence, not a false
sense of confidence that’s dependent
on alcohol. In addition, by being totally
composed and witty, you’ll have way
better social skills.
Now developing this presence is
unfortunately not as simple as reading
this passage and then deciding that
you’re going to go out and not care
what people think and not be stuck in
your head.
If drinking leads you into binge eating
then it will be very difficult to fit alcohol
Think of it as a skill have to develop.
into a successful cutting program.
It will be awkward at first, you’ll have
to push through that and eventually
Finally, a moderate intake of alcohol
your ego will let go. You’ll reach this
has been shown to improve immune
function. While clearly heavy drinking incredible state where you’re totally at
ease, nothing is holding you back and
hampers immune function, moderate
you feel incredibly confident and totally
drinking outperforms abstinence.
present.
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At first, you might have to go through
this process each night you go out.
Generally speaking, the first few
interactions of any night will feel
awkward and you’ll be stuck in your
head. As you plow through, your brain
will realize that this is happening and
instead of trying to hold you back it will
be on your team.
One thing that really helped me was
the audiotape, Practicing the Power of Now
by Eckhart Tolle. Listening to that audio
on a daily basis is insanely powerful
at developing the ability to be
present and alive in the now.
If possible, I’d recommend listening to
it every morning for 20 minutes for two
weeks straight. You will be blown away
by how much more present, relaxed and
comfortable you become.
You may wish to eliminate carbs from
your lunch meal or you may prefer to
cut back on carbs with dinner. Either
strategy will work.
Your personal preference should dictate
what strategy you follow. If I’m only
having 2-3 drinks and I am going to
be going out, there’s a good chance I’ll
burn through the alcohol calories from
walking, dancing and being generally
more active.
If this is the case for you, consider
keeping the meal plan the same as
normal to see if you can get away with
2-3 drinks without hindering fat loss.
This of course is the ideal scenario. The
most important thing is to avoid high
calorie alcoholic beverages and to avoid
high calorie eating after drinking. This
is a recipe for a disaster.
Fitting Alcohol into your
meal plan
If you’re going to be having a few
drinks of alcohol, then you can cut back
on the carbs and added fats in one of
your meals to make room for 160-240
calories from alcohol.
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Chapter 11
Getting Started
This is not an all-or-nothing approach. An example of small
If you choose all you are most definitely steps.
choosing nothing. That is, saying yes to
everything spreads your focus so thin
• Go to the gym
that you set yourself up for failure. Get • Push your first meal gradually
off the stop, start, stop again cycle by
later and later than usual to build
implementing small changes gradually. up to intermittent fasting
• Walk on rest days, even if it’s
Avoid the overwhelm. Identify 2 small
just for 5 minutes
things from the program that you can
improve on. Then make these things
If you want to take the all-or-nothing
your priority. After a week or more of
approach, be prepared to have average
adopting new changes, choose 1-2
or worse results. By choosing an
more that you are confident you
unrealistic and unsustainable approach
can implement.
that doesn’t account for when life
doesn’t go to plan, you are most
This is about building a staircase of
definitely setting yourself up for failure.
success. If you try to climb the wall all
at once you will face much difficulty.
Utilise the Mindset & Motivation Guide
But if you build up one step at a time,
if you want to amplify results.
the process is smoother. This is how you
enjoy the process rather than obsessing
on the end result.
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