Well guys.. ive stumbled upon johns site early this year,.. but only started taking action sometime in march..

Here in malaysia,.. it is close to IMPOSSIBLE to get a diet started..the food here is all too good and delicious(checkout our local delicacies and ull understand what i mean).. well anyway what i did from feb till march was get everything prepared,.. equipments, supplements workout schedule,.. reading up etc..

I attempted the the transformation on the beginning of the 2nd week of march (beginning march 8th).. and from monday to wednesday it went smooth.. but.. on wednesday evening, all hell broke loose,.. i ate and ate and ate.. So feeling regretted to have done so,. i thought properly.. and my solution, Eat up everything that i wanted to, savor the taste cuz you're not gonna taste it for a VERY long time SO for that one week,. i ate up,.. for rememberance.. for memory...

Then on 22nd march I began this transformation.. 3 weeks has passed and now i think im done with the "Beginners Boost" stage.. dont get me wrong,.. im still very well on track but i just dont see the losses as significant to my 1st and 2nd week.. well anyhow. my diet and workout are as follows:

(6 Glasses of distilled water everyday)
morning (after cardio) = 2 egg whites + pinch of egg yellow - scrambled, and whey protein shake (30gms)
Mid afternoon - Snack (half a bannana)
Evening - Grilled steak, and a fist(or an ice cream scoop) of mash potatoes ( i read somewhere a serving is equivalent to ure fist)

my workout: (30 mins cardio HIIT 6 days a week, morning, and no meal b4 workout)
Mondays: Biceps, Shoulders, Abs
Tuesdays: Abs
Wednesdays: Chest, Triceps, Back
Thursdays: (rest day, actually due to schedule)
Fridays: Legs
Saturdays: Abs
Sundays: Abs

And now for the pictures.These are comparisons of:
Left Side Pictures Taken on March 22nd
Right Side Pictures Taken on April 12th



I thought i was gonna post after completion of the 4th week but i feel im doing somehting wrong somewhere, anybody wanna estimate my BF% ? Any other inputs are appreciated as well. Thanks John for a wonderful site. It got me thinking and Im on track now,.. just need guidance.

I have some advice for you. Feel free to disregard it, but if I were you, I would listen to me (since I sometimes have a hard time doing that as it is now, I won't blame you if you don't).

About your exercise: I would cut the ab-day on sunday. Excersing the same musclegroup two days in a row is not good, and more than twice a week is a little bit over the top, too. I do not believe you need to do cardio 6 days a week either. You could take it down to three without feeling bad in any way.

About your diet: I notice in your pictures that your skin tone is turning yellow. Did you know that this is a sign of malnutrition? Looking at your everyday food intake, it looks like far too little. You could easily get another meal in there, without ruining your weightloss (perhaps even making it better, losing more fat and less lean mass).

Anyway, besides from this, you have lost quite a bit of weight, judging from the pictures. But be careful so that you don't ruin your health in the process...

Good progress but damn you are starving your self. You should definetly start eating more even if you're trying to cut.

You are looking better, but with your calories that low, you're burning up a lot of muscle too. From the foods you indicate, I'd say you're taking in around 1000 calories a day. You need to eat more food, more often. Somewhere around 1500-2000 calories works for most people. You don't want to lose more than 1-2 pounds per week, or your muscle mass will suffer.

If you take in about 1800 cal., spread out throughout the day, you won't be as hungry. You'll be less likely to have those devastating cheat days where you eat everything in sight. Good luck.

Thanks for the awesome advice guys...

In this case, i thought about adding a protein shake at night, and a sandwhich somewhere before dinner.. ?

Any sugggestions on where i should add another meal.. ? if so when do i take it,. and what do i eat.. didnt know i was starving myself..

FitDay.com (http://www.fitday.com/) was a big help for me. I enter my food and I can see if I should be eating more or less and how my macronutrients are balanced out.

I work full time and I own a small business that keeps me busy afterhours. To make it all work I plan when I should eat right into my daily schedule.

0730 breakfast
1100 mid-morning snack
1400 lunch
1730 mid-afternoon snack
1900 dinner

This week for breakfast I'm having 1/4 cup of museli and 1/2 cup of plain non-fat yogurt.

Mid-morning and afternoon snacks are usually a protien shake or an orange or a bananna.

Lunch is a 1/2 a grilled chicken wrap. (only half but they are pretty big.)

Dinner this week is a can of tuna with a teaspoon of pickle relish and a teaspoon of low-fat mayo... mixed and spread on two slices of sugar free whole wheat bread.

I have one cup of coffee in the morning and then water or unsweetened iced tea the rest of the day.

One more thing that was a big help for me. My mother suggested trying to avoid eating all pre-prepared foods for one month. No resturant or fast-food... no frozen meals, etc. Eat only meals made from ingredients and cooked by me.

Mom knows best because this was a geat help. Getting in the kitchen and starting to cook my own food again was a reminder that I enjoy cooking and that healthy food can taste good if it is prepared right.

Ok... I'm rambling on now. You get the idea.

Best of luck with your transformation! You can do it!

Nice progress, but like everybody else has said, you're starving yourself.

You should aim for 5-6 meals a day, 2-4 hours in between each meal to have a nice an even bloodsugar level (glycogen level). You'll get a much better metabolism, and you won't feel hunger much if at all.

You should also drink 2-3 liters of water each day. When you're dehydrated, your body doesn't work as efficient, doesn't burn calories as efficient as when you're hydrated, and will reduce both your performance at work/school and at the gym.

I use to mix a big portion of tuna/pasta or chicken pasta with some herbs, olive oil and red pepper to eat at work. It's enough for 3 servings, and is exactly the right ammount of carbs/fat/protein you need, and it taste pretty good too.

This is an example of what I eat:
07:00: light breakfast: slice of bread with ham and proteinshake
09:30-15:00 The tuna/pasta mix, 3 servings
17:00 After workout:Proteinshake and 2-3 slices of bread or a serving of oatmeal
19:00 fish or meat with veggies

Notice that I've distributed carbs/fat/protein evenly thoughout the day, but also notice that I don't eat carbs after 17:00 except what I get from the veggies.

I don't know if it works for fatloss, but one thing I know for sure is that I sleep much better without the carbs I'd usually eat in the evening.

I also drink 1.5 liters of water at work, 1 liter during and right after my workout, and then some after too, so about 2.5-3 liters a day.

Now, for your workout:

(30 mins cardio HIIT 6 days a week, morning, and no meal b4 workout)
Mondays: Biceps, Shoulders, Abs
Tuesdays: Abs
Wednesdays: Chest, Triceps, Back
Thursdays: (rest day, actually due to schedule)
Fridays: Legs
Saturdays: Abs
Sundays: Abs

A few things to note here: I don't think you should do abs more than 2-3 days a week. I'd also change your routine slightly on mon- and wednesdays to this:

Mon: Back/biceps (cause when you do back, you warm up for biceps)
Wed: Chest/triceps/Shoulders (you do chest, then warm up your shoulders and triceps at the same time)

Your workouts should never last more than 40-50 mins. Personally, I keep mine at 30-40 mins for maximum focus on each excercise.

Hope this helps :tu:

So what is much better for fatloss.. ? John any inputs ?..

bump

You're doing a great job! definitely don't stop but you have to modify your diet as the others have indicated above. Try to figure out how to eat 5 or 6 meals a day. You just need to get yourself into this rythym. It really is the best way to keep yourself out of starvation mode, keep your metabolism high and lose only fat and not muscle. Think about it as if your trying to keep a fire lit all day. You should use slow burning wood every 2-3 hours to keep it at the same level all day. The slow burning wood is protein and good low GI carbs and healthy fats. If you don't eat enough meals, it's like not putting wood on the fire and it goes out and you stop burning fat. If you eat the wrong kind of food, its like putting the wrong kind of wood on the fire that burns too fast and the fire goes out.

That analogy was kind of random, but it is important to know that eating enough is key to fat loss as well. In regards to the question you posted, try asking it again with all the details, that way people can answer it without goin back through all the advice given before to see what you are referring to. Good luck!!

THanks a lot homer ! You have no idea how positive i am now !!!