By Jamie “Chikito” Craven

This article’s aim is to guide you through the necessary steps of losing weight. No bullshit gimmicks, no over complicated methods. Just some hard work and self discipline. There is a lot of time wasted arguing over which method of fat loss is best or works better in the long run. I used to gladly join this debate until I got sick of it. You can spend a life time trying to do the perfect method of fat loss and arguing it on the net, but in the end the majority of methods are going to be disproved or you’re going to “find out” that it isn’t the ‘healthy’ way of losing weight over time. The method you use doesn’t really matter as long as you actually do it and it works for you. So rather than spending hours listening to ‘experts’ try to sell you their better method, I would just follow the basics. I present the way I went from slob to model bod. After researching for a couple of days, I finally just picked one and stuck to it and it really has paid off. I went from becoming a normal slightly overweight groggy, grumpy young man to a male model featured in Cosmopolitan magazine, full of energy, vigor and confidence.

A lot of people try to rationalize their weight insecurities by saying things like the fashion industry gives a false image of what real humans look like. I couldn’t agree more, but that is no excuse to not stay healthy. If you are reading this on the Internet that means you live in a society and country that provides you with every possible thing you need to live at an optimum – the Internet itself. Your body is the only physical thing in the world that is guaranteed to be with you your whole life, so treat it right, you only get one. You have all the resources you could possibly want to turn your body into the best it could be, so why feed it rubbish or let it sit idle? Thousands of years ago, you would not have had anywhere near the resources we do today. You might not have lived in a place where your diet would be completely well rounded. Maybe you would have lived somewhere where there was a shortage of protein or a shortage of carbohydrates, either way I bet the average person back then had a far superior body (I’m not just talking about aesthetics) to the average person today. It worked quicker, stronger, healthier. Eating correctly brings a lot of benefits you can not synthetically replicate in this age. Regular exercise keeps your body strong and capable of dealing with the trauma’s life throws at you, including sickness and injury not to mention increases your circulation, clarity, mental strength and keeps you relaxed and happy.

I admit I would not have ever made this transformation unless I had some external motivation to do so. I had a chance to become a model and had a month and a half to drop my waist line from 37 inches to 31. I did it. But I would have never changed my beliefs on what I could do without the motivation of potentially being a male underwear model. So I aim to be your inspiration, I know this is a little egotistical but I have come to believe that there is no shame in being proud of your achievements. If you want to judge me as a big headed, go ahead, but check to see if you’re not just telling yourself that to deal with your own insecurities. I have insecurities but I do my best not to hide them. We all judge ourselves critically, its what keeps us growing and improving. The problem comes when you continue to judge without acting on it and improving it. It leads to self-loathing. And that’s not very cricket. So here is a video I made of my transformation followed by an explanation of what I did to achieve it.

Jamie’s Journey To Modeling (please rate it!)

WARNING: This is what I did and if you choose to follow this you take the risks upon yourself. I cannot be blamed for anything that might happen from the programmed I followed as it is your decision to partake or not. I warn you now I am not an expert or professional, partake at your own risk.

Step One: Keep records.

First thing I did was measure myself and take a picture of my body front on. I did this so that I would have a record. At the time I didn’t know if it would be a good idea. Although I did have the idea that I was going to share this achievement when I finished. As it turned out looking over the picture week after week especially at the beginning of my transformation kept me very motivated. Since it was my body and I know it inside out I could see very subtle changes each week or even day sometimes. This reassured me that the work I was putting in was worth it, and eventually when I started seeing significant improvement, the process excited me to do even more!

So step one is to take note of where you are now. That includes your weight, various body measurements and pictures of your body front, side, legs and back. I used http://bodyspace.bodybuilding.com which has instructional videos and is an excellent way to keep track as it graphs your progress the more you put into it. You can visit mine at http://bodyspace.bodybuilding.com/Chikito/.

Step Two: Preparing Mentally.

I have to warn you this was not easy. It was very difficult initially to keep my food cravings under control and there are certain attitudes you need to be prepared to face. Firstly your mind is going to make up any excuse it can think up to not go to the gym or to eat that pack of crisps. You need to be super strict and control it all if you are going to eat those crisps designate a time of the week when you can indulge. For me I ate what ever I craved on Sunday dinner and no other time of the week. I decided to start really strict that way I could train my body to deal with it and keep under control. I highly recommend starting this way as it yields the best results and therefore gives you the most motivation to keep it. The best way I found to stop myself from indulging or growing lazy was to remind myself why I am doing it. To make my life better in all aspects. I also told myself I would never turn into one of those ‘failed’ dieters who just gave up half way through. I always asked myself if I was choosing to do something because I really needed to do it (like watch tv) or was I just avoiding the hard work. And one more important thing:

The first step is the hardest. Be it finally getting out of your warm snug bed in the morning or finally committing to go to the gym. Keep reminding yourself that when your dreading that first step. It always gets easier once you get the ball rolling.

Next thing you have to prepare for is what other people are going to say to you. Some people called me crazy (even my own family) for doing what I was doing. Some people told me I was doing it wrong (I only considered this advice if they were doing better than me). Some people teased me and laughed at me. Others did the worst and tempted me. Sometimes with good intentions too. Be aware of these things and block them out. They think your crazy? I say they are crazy for letting their life go to waste and not capatalizing every minute they have on this brilliant Earth. If you don’t have that attitude where you hunger life, read this.

1. Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR): This is the amount of energy you use everyday to stay alive. Its the amount you use to pump your heart, think, digest, simply to exist. Your body is always burning calories for energy even if you just lay in bed all day. Your BMR also includes growth (natural or bodybuilding) and lots of other basic human functions! To find out your BMR (and write it down for later) click here

2. Feeding Your Activity: You need energy to move, to run, to think, to go on your daily tasks. Part of the energy you consume is spent through movement (obvious) from lifting your arm to typing on the computer.

3. Dietary Thermogenesis: This is the ‘thermogenic effect’ – basically the heat you produce from eating, processing using and absorbing food. You want to make this high but without over eating. Hence why we keep the engine running all day by eating 6-7 small meals a day!

4. Fat. If your body can’t find a way to expend the calories it consumes it will turn it into fat! To be used later! This is why you can live off very basic diet when your dieting. You have tons of energy waiting to be released. You see? The more you exercise the more energy you release and as a nice side note the better you look.

Our aim here is to raise your metabolic rate to the point where you spend more than you consume. That way your body is then forced to metabolize your fat storage to provide for the energy you produced.

So lets use my case as an example. My BMR is roughly 1312 calories a day. That is how much I would need to just live. If it dropped below that many calories a day I would lose weight. If I ate more than 1312.22 calories I would gain weight. If I had NO fat in my body and I ate below that amount, my body will use whatever it can, mainly your muscles (so be careful). Thankfully only people like Bruce Lee have to give it a second thought. The after photo in my video was only about 11% body fat so you have nothing to worry about.

You could go with calorie counting where you count every calorie you eat and expend but that will drive you crazy. Trust me. I tried. Trying to find out how much one boiled egg provides makes me cry, what size is it? Big? small? No way. I don’t know about you, but that is not my way!

Step Three: Losing Fat

1. Raise our Metabolic rate (number 1-3 in the list above) This can be done by doing the following:
- Bodybuilding: getting your body to constantly grow and repair muscle mass.
- Eating 6-7 small meals a day to keep our thermogenic effect as high as possible.
- Fidget and move a lot more, do more thinking, do more walking and be awake for longer periods. Waking up at noon is no longer allowed. Write for your intelligence and thinking-process to grow. Read to keep your mind hungry. And speak/talk to develop ideas in the moment.

2. Consume less calories than our BMR in order to burn the stored fat instead but without cutting out the following:
- Enough protein to provide for muscle growth and general energy.
- Enough vitamins and minerals to keep us healthy. (Multivitamins and fruit take care of this)
- Enough essential fatty acids for a healthy working body (which are healthy fats and get used up quick, I love Avacado’s)
- Enough Carbohydrates (you still need Carbs for your general energy source. Too little and your body eats its on muscle mass, hence why some people lose weight after a diet but still look flabby)

So We Need To Eat Less Than Our BMR, But How Much Protein/Carb/Fatty Acids Do We Need?

It depends on what sort of diet you want to follow. I went on something similar to the velocity diet which basically cuts out all carbs except the bare minimum you need for a day (about one piece of toast in the morning or one serving of whole wheat cornflakes) paired with a whole load of protein to make up for the energy you lack from lack of carbs. With this diet I was advised not to do any Cardio (running, cycling, swimming etc) because you need carbs to fuel that activity, without it your body takes it from your muscles which results in a loss of muscle mass. Not cool.

If you do enjoy your running, feel free to add more carbs to this eating schedule I followed. If you didn’t realize it yet. The diet mentioned above is only recommended for about a month or so when you want to cut out a lot. This is no means the way I want to live the rest of my life.

Morning: Eat one piece of whole wheat bread, with a normal serving size of 100% Whey protein shake (easy to find, bottles will tell you how much is a serving) and one fruit and multi-vitamins.
Mid morning: Small salad with veggies, Avocado or olive oil (or any other source of fatty acids, Google them)
Late morning (Prior to workout): Protein shake and a handful of nuts (more fatty acids) and a serving of *Thermogenic” pills (I used GNC Burn 60)
Early afternoon (Post workout): Protein shake and some fruit.
Early evening (usually with family): Meat of any kind with veggies. (meat should be roughly equivalent to one chicken breast)
Late evening: Usually a can of tuna and some fruit or any kind of protein.

Take note this is what worked for me. My BMR used to be around 1500 when I designed this so take yours into account. You might need to eat less or more depending on your BMR. Make sure you listen to your body, notice how you feel when adjusting your nutrition plan and make appropriate adjustments

Oh and make sure you at least have one cheat meal a week. That is, a meal where you can eat whatever you want, your physical health is not worth your mental health. Keep yourself sane with a nice steak dinner once a week. It’s recommended that you spend that dinner on a date or on a nice evening out with friends or family.

*Thermogenic pills are used to boost your thermogenic effect (the heat you make when your digesting) a lot of stick is out there for Thermogenics but I proved paired with a decent nutrition and regular weight training. It works! If its effects were not noticeable I recommended looking up the effects and finding if there are any health risks for you. It is similar to caffeine’s effects on the body, hence why I took it pre-work out OR on non-workout days in the morning. Never at night.

Step 4: Hitting The Gym.

Now if you are a girl and you are worried about becoming beefcake. Don’t worry! Your body does not produce enough testosterone to build like men do. You will simply lose fat and slowly gain muscles making you firm and sexy . It’s only if you start pumping like crazy and work super hard that you will end up looking like a female body builder. Remember this sort of training is only for a short period of time.

I highly recommend going to the gym, however if that is not possible you can always use your own body weight to train. If you can’t get to a gym check out these:

Scooby’s Home work outs are just awesome:
Find more on his site http://scoobysworkshop.com or his Youtube channel.

If you get to a gym then go ahead and find yourself a personal trainer if it is your first time. The equipment is dangerous if you are not properly trained on how to use them, not to mention if you are not sure how to use something and you try you might end up working out the wrong muscles. I did the bench press wrong for several weeks and found out I was working out my triceps as well as my pecks, hence why my arms seemed so much bigger than my chest. I fixed it and my chest quickly caught up.

A lot of people are afraid of over training, but I threw caution aside and went to the gym about 2 to 3 hours a day when I was on this plan. I worked out different muscle groups each day, usually 3 a day. And I didn’t feel terribly bad for 2 months and I don’t feel any side effects. In fact I have never felt so good.

My routine started with a hour work on my abs, doing everything from weighted sit ups, crunches, leg raises, hanging leg raises. I didn’t leave any stone unturned when it came to abs – even worked out my obliques just as much as my abdominals. All sorts and as well as I could. I didn’t just want a six pack, I wanted the best possible (remember taking advantage of what is possible all the way at the beginning?) which included working out muscles that most people leave like the obliques (hence why I still look like I have love handles)

For a picture of the muscle groups look here.

After that I worked out two other major muscle groups. Make sure you pick two that you can live without using. For example, don’t work out your arms and legs on the same day because you will end up being a paraplegic for that day. If I did my legs then I usually worked out my back. If I worked out my chest then I did arms as well. Hopefully you will get into such a routine that you can start experimenting when to do what.

Remember to document your progress! And share them with us at pualifestyle.com That’s a must .

Step 5: What To Expect.

As I followed this schedule I came across a few things I would have never known could occur without hindsight. For one because I did this in a hot tropical country I sweated a lot when working out and as a result when sweating your skin’s immune system gets a little weaker and I got a fungal infection on my foot because I wasn’t wearing 100% cotton socks apparently. Either way do your best to keep your body dry but don’t be afraid to sweat. Its nothing some anti-fungal cream can’t fix.

Make sure you eat fiber in your diet. Eat veggies with husks and eat things that provide fiber like Weetabix. If you fail to do that, your next session with the toilet will have more water than usual.

The first week could be tough. Actually, it will be tough. Just stick to it and stop your cravings from taking over with proximity safety (Stay away from food, if you don’t see it then it doesn’t tempt you). You will rarely be hungry depending on how much you are eating now, after all your six meals. Until your stomach actually shrinks you wont feel full but you will notice very quickly your appetite will shrink, and your taste buds will change. I tasted a Big Mac 3-4 weeks into it and It tasted like crap. I just wanted to eat some nice steamed broccoli’s! Watch out for empty calories (calories that provide nothing for your body to run on, things with chemical tastes like junk food or sweeties). Eat them under control and don’t binge eat.

After your last meal of the day stay away from snacks and the food closet. Night time is when you tend to binge eat. If your going to eat late at night stay away from carbs because at night you have very little chance that those carbs will be used and they will just turn into fat which will negate your whole days work.

After about two weeks you will start feeling great. Especially if you are keeping up with your food plan (No more waking up at noon). You are going to feel happier, well rested, more flexible, faster, stronger, less stiff, clearer-headed, and so n.

Well that is all and I hope all the best for you!

I have given you all this for free and I only ask that you share with us your results and share this with your friend/the web/social bookmarking. Don’t forget to rate my video either!

Good luck and keep us informed of your progress!

You can contact Jamie Craven with any questions to:
jkcraven@hotmail.com

http://friendfeed.com/chikito

http://www.youtube.com/user/Chikitotube