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Now, what does Lincoln have to do with fat loss? Actually, not much, however, did you know that Lincoln also had a 10% plan? I will mention more about that plan shortly, but now we have a new player which is Trader Joe's. Mainly, I am trying to see if it is possible for me to achieve these goals by using Trader Joe's as my shopping source. There is one on 14th Street in Union Square, and the whole round trip is probably about an hour including taking the subway, shopping and waiting in line, and they can sure have a long line, but the savings are worth it. So up above, once I get the image in, is a photo of Trader Joe's in Union Square. They rock!
So, I have started to keep a log of the simplest measurements as you see below. I will be creating a new table to track meals and their calories as well as one for exercise within the next couple of days. But in the meantime, let me just say that for my first day yesterday, I made a conscious effort to not go beyond 2,000 calories, so I had four sandwiches of about 500 calories each and once I hit 2,000 at 8pm yesterday, that was it. But 2,000 calories is a lot better than the usual way of trying to starve the fat off, cause it never works! Apparently, when the body thinks it is in starvation mode, it holds on to fat and does not release it. So, shocking as it may be, after a whole day of having a decent sized sandwich four times during the day, about 2,000 calories total, I actually lost some fat pounds and reduced my bmi. I will get around soon to writing more about this being a fat loss goal as opposed to a weight loss goal, and that is why my target is 10% bodyfat. As you can see, there is a way to go.So this is the plan in a nutshell.
The goal is 10% bodyfat. How to get there?
Number one is food. Do not starve, stay away from junk and have the healthiest food that you can.
Whatever your weight is right now, multiply that by 10, and that is the number of calories you can shoot for. You will see that if you are eating healthier foods, it is not so easy to actually eat that many calories. So, for example if you are 220lbs, shoot for 2,200 calories a day. You actually need about 15 calories per pound to maintain your weight, so with 10 calories a pound, you will be creating a deficit, and your body will have to consume your fat to compensate.
Most sandwiches you find on the outside are between 350 and 550 calories, it is easy to find a sandwich at pret a manger, energy kitchen or trader joe's for 400 calories. Can you believe that you could have 5 sandwiches a day and still lose fat?
So for the first plan of action, eat 4 to 5oo calories every few hours. Another way to do it is to have 500, 300, 500, 300, 500, that is still only 2100 cal, so you can have a few good size meals with snacks in between of either a protein shake or yogurt and berries.
The other thing I have been sticking to so far the last few days is to not eat after 8 at night. It definitely takes getting used to for me, but so far the results have been good. I have been averaging about 1800 to 2100 cal a day, mostly sandwiches and fruit, yogurt, I will spell out the meals more in detail as we go along, but you can see the results in the measurement table above.
Interesting to note that today I had the exact same measurements as yesterday, even though yesterday I actually had less food, I did not have time to get in another meal and probably ended the day with less than 1800 calories, so this is a perfect example of eating less, yet your body thinks that it is in starvation mode and will hold onto it's fat reserves.
So, be that as it may, I will try to get in at least 2000 calories today, plus 3 to 4 miles on the elliptical and take it from there.
Ben Isaac is the author of 