If you want to see results, then you need to have a plan and stick to that plan. That plan will not include chocolate.

You need to make up your mind what you want to do. You are kidding yourself if you think you will achieve much in the way of results in 11weeks.

For at least one week minimum, keep a food journal. Write down every single little tiny amount of something that you eat or drink. Be truthful and honest. When you look back on the journal, you will be able to see where you need to make changes.

Without proper diet, exercise results will be minimal. You need a package deal of exercise AND diet.

OK, I had my last celebratory binge (celebrating giving it up har har) last night.

I will eliminate chocolate nOW !!

Those who are diligent will see results right! SO - Do you say won't see much results in 11 weeks with OR without evil choccie?

I'm doing weights x3 and resistance x2 and stretching x2 times in a week.. for an hour each time. This is for 10 weeks then going hard on the cardio and diet for 2 weeks to strip the fat and reveal the muscle..

I'll get journalling too, thanks :)

You can do it. It takes discipline and willpower but it is in reach.

Best of luck!!!

JW

You might check out Bill Phillips' book Body For Life. His supplement company (EAS) sponsors a 12-week change your body challenge with goals that are like those you state. Of course, he's selling supplements, so some of his advice is to buy loads of his company's product.

The good news: save your money. You can do it without the supplements. However - the book contains good solid advice regarding diet, weight training and cardio that will help you more effectively and efficiently reach your goals.

and yes, JustBlue is right. Your body will use the sugar in the bloodstream BEFORE it metabolizes fat for energy. If you've just eaten chocolate your body saves the fat for later. Putting less sugar (or high glycemic carbs) in your system means your body will HAVE to use its stored energy.

wow very helpful thankyou! So far I've been sticking to the plan. My understanding for this traning is not to do too much cardio as yet and concentrate on the weights until I reach the last two weeks.. So my question is.. are the barbell weight classes the way to go (using much repetition and a little less weight) or the heavier individual weight regime circuit (concentrating on heavier weights and less repetition)- or is it a mix of both for the idea?

I mean for the ideal- and is two weeks for stripping to reveal this muscle (lose fat) through upping cardio a generally good amount of time to allow?

When I was dieting down for the body building competition it took me 16 weeks to get to contest weight. The first 8 weeks were pretty much all about how many mistakes could I make on my diet! Once I understood just HOW strict I had to be the next 8 weeks were when I made my most visible progress. During that time I continued to train heavy until...

...about the last week before the show. At that time my already low-carb intake was cut in half. That was not enough to sustain heavy training, so we went to a milder intensity while I dropped the last few pounds of body fat.

My cardio did not increase, rather it also went to moderate intensity. What I didn't realize was that if you go too intense on cardio your body will hold onto fat, just in case it happens to be a famine. Want proof? Look at my photos page 65 (or page 8 if you look through the index) at "biker man." That picture was taken on the third or fourth day of a 500-mile bike ride, 5 centuries in 5 days. I have a little pot belly. All that riding and no abs to show for it.

So yes, higher reps and lower weight when you are really focused on the fat loss. Is two weeks enough? Depends on how much fat you are planning to drop. I know that in general losing 1 - 1.5 pounds a week is a safe rate, means that you are probably not losing the muscle you worked so hard to create. More than two pounds a week means you are likely losing muscle (at least this is what Barry Sears says in the Zone books). This is why the "no chocolate" rule during your 11 weeks is so important - you're better off being closer to your target on those final two weeks than trying to drop 10 pounds all at once.

By way of illustration: if you can stand to wade through all the flower pictures on my page...

... the jeans/no shirt self-photos taken in the reflection of our dining room window were taken about 4 weeks before the contest. I was at about 8% bodyfat. The photos taken in the blue trunks in the yellow hallway of the gym were taken 4 days before the contest, 6.5% bodyfat. Three weeks to get from 8 to 6.5.

The final four days were the most extreme diet and mostly rest days to get to the 5.75% on the day of the show.

Contrast those with the bike photo where I was probably at 15% or so (you can even see that there's more roundness, less definition in my arms). And why you would not want to overdo cardio if defintion is your goal.

Some amazing piccies there! What a radical transformation, looks and sounds like you've learnt a lot in the process!. I never realized that about cardio before SO I'm changing up my program a lot.. and the only choc i'm having is in a hot cocoa at the end of the day or a sustagen earlier in the day (which both I don't think contains too much bad stuff).


I'm glad I got your advice because I think I was doing too much cardio, not enough diet work (the hardest part!) and not enough weights!. I'm looking into that body for life as you suggested, It's just i'm practically a vegan so most diet stuff that's out there I really have to modify a bit to suit..

Thanks again for all your advice people. I'm glad to hear that it can be a reality and

if there are any girls out there who can show me a pic of their before and after 12 week programs, especially if you've achieved a 6 pack i'd love to talk to ya and find out how your progress and experience was :). Im sick of hearing; girls can't develop 6 packs so...

Hey Spirit!

Vegan - that makes it tricky. How are you getting your protein? I'm an ominivore, so I can't advise you there, but if you do an internet search on vegetarian bodybuilding you can find diet advice that may work better for you. I know it can be done, it's just more difficult because it is so easy to overeat carbs while trying to get enough protein to support muscle building when your protein sources are mostly from plants.