So when I was like 18 I used a strict Slim-Fast diet to lose over 35 pounds in about 4 months before I could enlist in the military. Now a few years on and I'm back up to my original weight from then, though with considerably more muscle mass so a lower BF% then I started with at the time.
So I'm going back to my ol' buddy Slim-Fast and their new "3-2-1" scheme. I've stocked up on shakes and snacks, and enrolled on their website to track my progress.
As for workouts I also signed up at a Crunch Fitness gym today that along with the normal array of workout equipment has a pretty impressive boxing facility. I boxed a little while I was in the military, but was never serious. However I enjoy the hell out of it and see it as a good motivator to drop the pounds. Also, I love jumping rope. It's by far my favorite kind of cardio. There is nothing in the world I hate more than long slow runs. Just kill me instead.
another comment I thought of with regards to the slimfast diet. One that that makes it appealing to me, especially now, is that it is just essentially a reduced calorie diet. There's no "tricking" your body or anything like that. I'm also not that great of a cook, so trying to make several healthy meals throughout the day is doomed to failure.
With the use of meal replacements for breakfast and lunch though and a little self control at dinner you can still stick to a very reduced calorie diet. If I have my 2 shakes during the day, and maybe skip one of the snacks, I can have a burger for dinner, so long as it doesn't have cheese or mayo really.
It also leaves room for drinking at night and on weekends without compromising my diet too much.
So far this is working really well. I feel great, and I'm rarely hungry.
I'm down 4 pounds since starting on Tuesday, though by my rough completely uneducated estimate at least 2 of that simply from letting a large volume of food pass out of my system without replacing it.
I have two practical notes, for anybody who reads this and is thinking of trying to Slim-Fast diet.
First, they make three different kinds of shakes. Regular, lower carb, and high protein. This gives you a little bit of flexibility in picking the nutrients and types of calories you want. This could be either because of the type of activity you're involved in, or the type of food you're eating as your daily 500 calorie meal. For example, if you wanted to have pasta for dinner, you might consider having a lower carb shake for lunch, if you're having a low protein veg meal you might want the high protein shake. I drink the high protein shakes after working out, since my workouts contain a lot of weight training.
Second, the shake powders are WAY better than the canned shakes. They're also a hell of a lot cheaper. On average $10 gets you 6 canned shakes, or a tub of powder that makes 36 shakes. I make my powder shakes with Organic Valley skim milk that is no fat and low cal, but still has the consistency of cream. It makes for veeeeery good shakes.
So I'm going back to my ol' buddy Slim-Fast and their new "3-2-1" scheme. I've stocked up on shakes and snacks, and enrolled on their website to track my progress.
As for workouts I also signed up at a Crunch Fitness gym today that along with the normal array of workout equipment has a pretty impressive boxing facility. I boxed a little while I was in the military, but was never serious. However I enjoy the hell out of it and see it as a good motivator to drop the pounds. Also, I love jumping rope. It's by far my favorite kind of cardio. There is nothing in the world I hate more than long slow runs. Just kill me instead.
another comment I thought of with regards to the slimfast diet. One that that makes it appealing to me, especially now, is that it is just essentially a reduced calorie diet. There's no "tricking" your body or anything like that. I'm also not that great of a cook, so trying to make several healthy meals throughout the day is doomed to failure.
With the use of meal replacements for breakfast and lunch though and a little self control at dinner you can still stick to a very reduced calorie diet. If I have my 2 shakes during the day, and maybe skip one of the snacks, I can have a burger for dinner, so long as it doesn't have cheese or mayo really.
It also leaves room for drinking at night and on weekends without compromising my diet too much.
So far this is working really well. I feel great, and I'm rarely hungry.
I'm down 4 pounds since starting on Tuesday, though by my rough completely uneducated estimate at least 2 of that simply from letting a large volume of food pass out of my system without replacing it.
I have two practical notes, for anybody who reads this and is thinking of trying to Slim-Fast diet.
First, they make three different kinds of shakes. Regular, lower carb, and high protein. This gives you a little bit of flexibility in picking the nutrients and types of calories you want. This could be either because of the type of activity you're involved in, or the type of food you're eating as your daily 500 calorie meal. For example, if you wanted to have pasta for dinner, you might consider having a lower carb shake for lunch, if you're having a low protein veg meal you might want the high protein shake. I drink the high protein shakes after working out, since my workouts contain a lot of weight training.
Second, the shake powders are WAY better than the canned shakes. They're also a hell of a lot cheaper. On average $10 gets you 6 canned shakes, or a tub of powder that makes 36 shakes. I make my powder shakes with Organic Valley skim milk that is no fat and low cal, but still has the consistency of cream. It makes for veeeeery good shakes.
Unhealthy, I know, but now I can try to build on it and get fit. Just have to stop my new smoking habit.
Good luck with it.