Author: Patricia , Last Modified, 2022-09-11

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The Greedy Pigs 12 Week Guide To Shredding Fat And Building Lean Muscle.

Hi there, I am a self confessed Greedy Pig, I am the one giving you this guide, so please understand that I refer to my self as the Greedy Pig, not you.. I am also the man in the photo, yes, the one with the six pack abs. That was me when I had reached my fortieth birthday. I am also the founder of the London Fitness Academy. Don't try to apply as you won't get in, it is a private members club only.

Why Is Weight Loss a Misleading Term and Why Is Fat Loss Or Body Composition More accurate?

Weight loss is a fantastically misleading term. This article will try to use the term Fat Loss or Losing Fat as it is a term that comes from understanding body composition. To get shredded you will need some understanding of your own body composition. So more on that later, but first know that weight loss is a misleading term. Athletes build muscle and muscle is heavier than fat, so getting fit can mean adding weight, but healthy lean weight.

Before you undertake any program of diet and exercise you should do so after gaining some understanding and acceptance of your own body and in particular your body type. There are many body types, and some naturally carry more body fat than others, gender also plays a part as you will discover later on in the article.

What are the Three Basic Body Types and Why Is This Important To My Fitness Regime?

The three broad body types that you will fall into are Endomorphs who generally have high fat percentages than the other two, ectomorphs and mesomorphs. The ectomorphic person is generally of slim build with a naturally light frame, definitely not big boned. Mesomorphs typically might have huge wide frames large strong bone structures and may or may not carry fat. All body types are natural, and all are wonderful, none are to be frowned upon, as all bring unique qualities, particularly in the field of work and sport.

This is common sense as much as it is science, yet we see people struggle with this every day. Take the marathon runner , typically ectomorphic, they will rarely be great rugby players, and vice versa.

The body type which has the most potential for change is the endomorph, as the endomorph can lose fat to become slim, or build muscle to become more powerful.

However we will see that these body types place a natural boundary on our physicality, so we must know and accept our body, be happy and proud of what we have and then seek to make the most of it.

There are exceptions to every rule of course, but never gamble on the exception, you are likely to lose..

I am telling you this because I want you to know that I am not an influencer or marketer or someone who doesn't know their A** from their elbow. I have been a qualified fitness professional and business professional for more years than I care to remember, I have managed some of the most exclusive gyms in London, where the well healed paid lots of money for my advice and I even competed at county level as a sportsman in my early days. So I know a thing or two about being greedy, hungry and over indulging due to my nature, but I also know a thing or two about being honest about why we get fat and how to reverse this through honest hard work.

So I hope you excuse my bluntness, if you are prepared to stop your self defeating BS you might like what I have to say.

How do I get shredded and lean like the guys in the photos on Instabooker...?

There is a simple process to getting lean and it's not that secret belly melting recipe the health and nutrition industry tries to sell us. We all know that it really involves willpower and starving oneself to the point of belly ache. We also know there is a process for building muscle and it involves attending a torture chamber, gym or similar place and putting ourselves through a punishing regime.

12 weeks NOT 12 days.

Well, I'm here to tell you that's only partly true. The problem is your mindset. Nobody wants to hurt themselves, and we as humans are designed to protect not punish ourselves. So you must first change your mind, then, and only then, will you manage to change your body.

Most people want a quick fix. If your honest, you'll know this is you too. 7 day abs, 3 days to lose 12 pounds. the 4 minute workout. The One Minute Manager for goodness sake.. Really?

Look, I'm going to level with you. You'll achieve Jack Little in 4 minutes. Even that takes longer for most of us. You have to accept that permanent change, if there is such a thing, more on that later, is going to take time. Let me repeat that. Change Takes Time.. and you know what, that's OK. Let me explain.

Our Body Cycles And Why Permanent Change Is Illusory.

Hunter Gatherers

As humans our bodies have evolved to cope with different climates and different seasons and different or rather fluctuating food supplies .

We evolved from primitive creatures that were naturally hunter gatherers, yet our intellectual capabilities moved us along further as we realised that farming was more efficient than chasing down deer...

Even as farmers our food supply was subject to drought, and we were subject to famine. pestilence and disease.

Our bodies are remarkable and we survived precisely because our bodies could store food and nutrients to keep us alive. Just as the farmer stores food in the summer to feed animals in the winter, our bodies do the same. We convert nutrients to fat stores when we have abundance and these stores keep us healthy when food is in short supply.

Fortunately or unfortunately however, we live in such advantaged economic times, that even during a pandemic, most if us in the western world, do not know hunger. We can always buy food, its cheap and its everywhere.

Cheap, tempting and oh so comforting. Those Hobnobs, that KFC "Deliveroo'd" to your door. That Full English, Irish, or what about a nice oily Chinese and oh yes, as today is "Friday", let's have greasy "Fish and Chips"....

I needn't go on. It's cheap nasty and full of the artery hardening fat that is going to kill 50% of us.

You can tell yourself you're happy to be fat, but the truth is you're fat and happy. It's not the same thing. You should be happy, you should have a high self esteem and self worth. But stop lying to yourself. If you're anything like me, you are not happy about being fat. It hurts, it's unhealthy and clothes don't quite look as good, even well fitting clothes, as when you lose a few pounds.

A walk in the park is unpleasant when it hurts your ankles, and you're sweating buckets.

So please, be happy, but try not to fool yourself by making lame excuses. Sure, we all do it, there is no point in beating yourself up, but jut recognise the patterns of behaviour that you know are holding you back and try to let them go, gradually if needs be but make the change it's an investment in yourself.

OK I hear you say, I've got a medical reason for my fat condition. And you know what you might have. If you do, seek medical advice. This article is written for healthy people with a weight problem. Medical related weight gain is out of the scope of my expertise so I will mention it briefly, then move on.

I am fat because of a medical condition!

People with medical conditions often have to adhere to programs of medication and sedentary lifestyles. Being unwell is often the cause for not exercising and overeating. Nobody who is unwell or medically ill should take up diet and exercise without the full supervision of their doctor.

That said, healthy eating and moderate exercise is often prescribed by doctors, who are becoming more aware of the need to prescribe alternative holistic and healthy lifestyles, to support medication programs. If you believe your fat condition is as a result of a medical condition there must be a "cause and effect". So get the help you need.

Most overweight or, to term it more accurately, over fat people, are that way due to eating and lifestyle factors, not medical ones. Medical complications do however arise as a result of poor general fitness, more than the other way round. So if you are ill because you are fat, not fat because you are ill, then read on.

Could you define the term "Overfat" and its relationship to "Body Composition"?

The fitness industry uses some misleading terms like weight loss. The reality is that our bodies are primarily composed of water and some minerals. The precise composition is based on a ratio broadly splitting fat, muscle and other tissues. Health and Fitness professionals will use a body fat analysis to measure body fat percentage.

No Holiday No Worries, Just Live The Dream

Body fat percentage is an indicator of general health. For example a healthy man will typically have a body fat percentage of about 17%. Fitter men will often be about 15% and this can become substantially lower in men who are extreme athletes who undertake substantial amounts of Aerobic Exercise, which utilise the heart and lungs to access fat stores as energy as opposed to anaerobic exercise which utilises blood sugars more directly as its primary energy source. Marathon runners have had their body fat percentages measured as low as 5%. Diet and deliberate targeting can help to reduce body fat levels, we see this in body builders and similar athletes who utilise extreme diets to reduce body fat.

Men and women are different. Body Fat Percentage for the average woman will be in the order of 25%, 20% for fit women, and again extreme athletes can reduce this even further.

Can having a low body fat percentage be harmful to my health?

In simple terms, yes. Women will stop menstruating below a level of 12% for example. This means that the body will not permit pregnancy because it sees the mothers body composition as unsafe for childbirth. Fat acts as an insulator and protector and store of fat based nutrients.

We are far more likely to become ill if we have high or low body fat in the extreme. This is why a general exercise and nutrition plan should aim to maintain body fat percentage within the ranges as given about 15% to 18% for a man and 18% to 25% for a woman.

So what are the mathematics behind "Twelve Weeks" To Lose Fat and Gain Muscle? Most TV Ads target 7 Days...

One pound of body fat is 3,500 calories. To lose one pound of fat in a week we must reduce our long term average daily calorie intake by 500 calories.

This means that losing 500 calories per day, either through diet or exercise, will take 7 full days to lose just one pound of fat, not water! Remember body composition. Losing water is temporary and any such weight loss which can be rapid, is simply going to return when we rehydrate.

One stone is 14 pounds so to lose a stone we would generally need to maintain a 500 calorie per day reduction for 14 weeks. Adjusting for increasing fitness levels after six weeks, our bodies will become more efficient at exercise as well as diet, so 12 weeks assumes that we lose slightly more than 500 calories in the later stages of a 12 week program.

The notion that we can permanently alter our daily calorie intake by more than 500 calories i just unrealistic. Most people will never have the self motivation to maintain a 12 week program. Doing a three week program implies that you are not committed to a lifestyle change. Forming new habits takes time and repetition.

Why is Weight Loss a poor measurement for fitness goals?

Fit people gain and retain lean muscle and lean muscle is heavier than fat. So losing excess fat, and adding lean muscle tissue, requires losing weight and gaining weight simultaneously. There is going to be some weight offset. So weight as measured on a scale, is misleading. You should aim to identify the quality of your weight gain or loss, as determined by our body composition, as that is what really matters.

The mirror is a better gauge sometimes than the scales. We are aiming to lose body fat and gain muscle. Unless you have access to body fat callipers or a gym that can do a body fat analysis for you, the nearest gauge you have is the bathroom or Gym mirror. Get completely naked, then look at your body reflection in the mirror each day, at the same time, after you record your weight, which is still of some use. Looking at yourself in the mirror is more about measurement and gauging progress, not vanity, so don't worry that you appear vane, you are measuring progress using the best measurement tool you have, your eyes.

Try to notice the leanness changing, We can sometimes see the difference from day to day, but we tend to notice how we feel before seeing the difference. Take regular photos so that you have not only a before and after gauge, but also to motivate yourself when you slip up. You will slip up, and gain back weight from time to time, but having the photo evidence is motivational proof that you can change you appearance. Remember getting lean is 90% psychological, and the rest is diet and exercise.

Why do some people lose weight rapidly? Is it all just water loss?

Try to carry a bag with a few litres of bottled water. Water is heavy. We are made of mostly water and minerals. So "Rapid Weight Loss" is in fact water loss or more seriously muscle loss.

Water loss can be achieve by simply not drinking and hydrating, this is a serious health hazard, so do not do this. Diuretics have medical purposes, and weight loss is generally not one of them. Unsupervised these are seriously dangerous and should only ever be used under close medical supervision.

Our muscles atrophy in a bout 4 days, so when we go to the gym and build lean muscle, we will need to go regularly to maintain our gains, as after four days, the muscle will get smaller again. Fitness is a lifestyle, not a short term remedy.

A person who regularly trains, may take a few weeks off and will still lose muscle and condition, but they are more likely to be able to regain their condition than a beginner. So when you see former athletes, who have temporarily gotten out of shape, bragging that they have gained muscle in rapid short time, remember they were not beginners, they are fooling you, they were already in good condition and are just shedding surplus soft fat cells, not the type you gain over years of self abuse. Off season athletes will gain some fat over their muscles, this is normal, during the winter months for example our bodies do need fat as an insulator, we need less in hotter climates and in hotter summer seasons, so your body will naturally want you to feed it more in the colder winter times, just like bears who hibernate, they know they need to store nutrients in their fat because in the winter they have less access to fresh food.

Unlike hibernating animals, we can access food in our local supermarket, so we really don't need to store as much energy in our bodies, and we also can add clothing and put the heat up a notch, but the point is we are naturally inclined to gain and lose weight, o this is normal, just beware of making the swings worse with yo yo dieting, which can have extremely negative outcomes for our health and appearance.

As all athletes who are required to weigh in for competitions know, they simply sweat and lose water to make the qualifying weight. This is a temporary thing, I recall skipping for hours wearing a black plastic bag to lose water before weigh ins. This practice is extreme and unhealthy. It still goes on and should be left to the athletes to determine if they wish to do this. But do not be fooled. You will not lose fat from sweating, just water and mineral salts.

If your coach tells you otherwise, they probably don't have any qualifications, and I would question their judgement. Today the science is better and we hopefully have less fly-by-night coaches teaching poor practices like these.

Why am I too fat?

1. You do not know and understand your body type. Get to know your own body type and accept that you are what you are, own it, work with it, and ultimately learn to love it.
2. You are not Psychologically prepared for well. To succeed in transforming yourself, you must psychologically prepare yourself for change or get a coach or friend to help you, but ultimately it is your responsibility. Over the coming 12 weeks you really are going to make some big life affirming changes. transforming your body and if you succeed transforming your life.
3. Your Diet is unsuitable for you. You will need to examine your dietary habits. Some will be getting dropped and other more beneficial dietary habits will be adopted. Notice I did not say diet secrets, they are not secrets, they are choices and habits. What are you doing that made you over fat?
4. You believe Diets are not enjoyable. Do you like food, if so prepare a new diet around your preferred tastes. You are going to have to live with a new nutrition habits, so make it enjoyable. Your shopping list will have to change, the food you buy and the places you purchase it from might all have to change. We live in a society of Convenience. Don't let this hold you back.
5. You do not exercise regularly or effectively. Choose activities that suit your body type. If you do not, you will not enjoy exercise and will fail as a result. Prepare for your new activities. You will be exercising more and differently than before, you will need to plan this around your lifestyle. Could you jog to the school to collect your child then jog back whilst pushing a joggers pram, scooter or kids bike?
6. You might need some new friends. The best friends encourage you. You might decide to go to a new gym, meet new people, this in itself can be life changing.
7. You might have to spend less time with old friends. You might be fat because you associate with others who through no fault of their own inadvertently encourage this behaviour in you. Do you partake in coffee and donuts mornings? Might this be replaced with post aerobics shakes and apples? Who knows. Making change will effect the people you associate with. When I was in the best condition of my life, my main social circle revolved around the people I went to the gym with. It as social and we are social creatures, be with the people you want to be like.
8. You have poor work habits: As a business consultant spent my fair share of time in hotels, and attending business lunches. Too many daily lunches in fancy restaurants can result in an unhealthy bloated body. You will have to make better choices. Accept that before you begin. Even if you are required to entertain as part of your job, you can make better choices.

Hi there, I am a self confessed Greedy Pig, I am the one giving you this guide, so please understand that I refer to my self as the Greedy Pig, not you..

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