The Fat Burn Revolution (9 page)

drink water and green tea
Being in a dehydrated condition saps your energy, makes you think you’re hungry when you
aren’t and generally makes you feel like crap. So drink lots of water. Have at least one glass with every meal. This will help you to feel fuller sooner and aid the digestion of your food.
I’m a big fan of green tea, it’s great for weight loss because it curbs cravings, suppresses appetite and there is some compelling scientific evidence that it boosts fat burning.

get your timing right
You should refuel with a good meal as soon as you can after the workouts in this programme to get the maximum
benefits and ensure you recover well so that you’re ready for your next session. Opinions vary on whether to eat before exercise, so you may want to experiment to discover what works best for
you. However, you should try to avoid timing a big meal immediately before a workout because there is a chance you will get stomach aches/cramps or sickness. There’s a lot of evidence to
suggest that eating late at night is detrimental to fat loss, and it can disturb sleep, so avoid this. Brush your teeth, go to bed and look forward to a good breakfast in the morning.

always think before you eat
Before you put any food inside your mouth consider how you’ll feel after you eat it, not just
while you’re eating it. And ask yourself if you are really hungry. If you are truly hungry you’ll happily chomp through a plate of, say, fish, green beans, carrots and peas. If all you
want to eat is a doughnut or bag of crisps, then what you are experiencing is not real hunger. It’s most likely that it’s your sugar/carb addiction rearing its ugly head. Ignore it and
it’ll pass. The more times you ignore it, the easier it will get and the less often it will happen.

if you are truly hungry, eat
There’s no need to go hungry, just don’t reach for processed carbohydrates or sugary foods.
Always keep nutritious foods on hand to chomp on when you need them. If you let yourself get too hungry your insulin levels will drop and your cravings for sugars and carbs will get worse, so do
yourself a favour and fill up on good nourishing foods before hunger levels get too high.

Think carefully before deciding what foods to eat, you’ll be wearing the consequences later.

mostly healthy, most of the time

I want to stress that these are not ‘rules’ that you have to stick rigidly to 100% of the time. A daily slice of wholemeal bread, small portion of brown rice, the
odd dessert or even an occasional ‘cheat meal’ won’t thwart your Fat Burn Revolution.

My personal mantra is, ‘Mostly healthy, most of the time’. What I mean by this is that it is what you habitually eat that determines how much fat is on your body, rather than what
you eat very occasionally. So just make sure that the majority of the food you put into your body is healthy and nutritious and you should be able to get away with the odd less wholesome bite!

Most people who are overweight in the Western world got that way by filling up on stodgy cereal and grain-based foods, supplemented by sugary snacks and drinks. Those are the types of foods you
should aim to reduce. The main thing you’re aiming to do here is to get out of the habit of relying on processed carbohydrates and sugars as a major source of ‘nutrition’. After a
while it will become second nature, and you’ll look back and wonder why on earth you were ever so attached to tasteless, empty foods like pasta and rice.

If all you do is cut out sugar and processed carbohydrates you’ll probably find that’s enough to make sure your body starts using up your fat reserves while you feel healthier and
more energised. But the more closely you follow these guidelines, the better results you will get and the better you will feel.

P
eople make all sorts of excuses and try to blame their excess body fat on things that are beyond their control, but usually it’s their
actions that have caused the fat to be there and it is well within their power to get rid of it. It’s not fun to accept responsibility for the excess fat on our bodies, but doing so is an
important step on the road to leanness.

In general, people who make mostly healthy food choices look like they make mostly healthy food choices and people who make mostly bad food choices look like they make bad food choices.
That’s life. So, another question you might want to ask yourself before you eat something is this: ‘Do I want to look like someone who eats this type of food?’

If processed carbohydrates and cereals are currently a major part of your diet then I can understand that the idea of cutting them out, even just for 12 weeks, may be causing some concern. But
when you take a step back and think about it calmly, it’s really only a matter of not adding empty ‘filler’ to your meals and replacing it with nutritious veggies. You’ll be
fine.

For example, if you normally have sandwiches for lunch, keep the sandwich filling, but instead of bread have a big bowl of salad. If you buy ready-made mixed salad this will be even quicker to
prepare than making a sandwich.

At dinner, you can keep things really interesting by eating a different type of meat or other lean protein source and a different combination of vegetables every night of the week. Cooking meat
and steaming or roasting veggies is quick and easy to prepare and you’ll really learn to appreciate the delicious tastes of wholesome vegetables when you stop drenching them in
sugar/flour/chemical-filled sauces or gravy.

Dreaming about having a great body won’t make it a reality. The Fat Burn Revolution programme will.

Eggs make a wonderful breakfast – boiled, poached, scrambled omelette, etc., are all excellent, especially when served with green vegetables

Like the people who have followed the programme before you, you will to learn to make healthier food choices based on the foods you like eating and preparing. If you need more help and advice
with this aspect of the programme, visit my website (
juliabuckley.co.uk
) where you’ll find links to places you can get meal ideas and support.

I
’m not a big fan of taking lots of supplements. It’s far better to get your nutrients from food, but they can be handy for helping to
fit good nutrition into a busy lifestyle. Personally, I take a daily multivitamin and mineral supplement (which I think of as a sort of insurance policy in case something is missing in my diet that
day) an omega-3 (fish oil) supplement (we don’t have conclusive proof of all the benefits some people associate with this yet, but the evidence looks pretty good that it is effective in
reducing inflammation and aids brain function) and I also use whey protein shakes.

‘Hang on there, Julia,’ you’re probably thinking, ‘isn’t whey a dairy product?’

Yes, it is... I guess even when you don’t have rules you can have exceptions! I’ll explain...

Most of the lactose and hormones are removed in the manufacturing process of good whey protein powders, so it’s much better than drinking milk. It is still better to get your protein from
food if you can, but a whey shake does provide a really useful way to give the body the nutrients it needs in a portable form when food is not a convenient option. Like a lot of people, I use whey
shakes to help support my workouts and I’ll often throw a shaker cup containing a serving of protein powder into my gym bag. I simply add water to it post-training, down the shake and dash
off to my next appointment knowing I’ve given my body what it needs to recover from the exercise.

Your food choices will be reflected in the way your body looks, feels and performs.

A big mistake a lot of people make when exercising for the goal of fat loss is the use of energy drinks, gels or bars. Following the dietary guidelines will ensure your body is equipped to
tackle the training and tap into its fat stores. Most energy supplements consist mainly of some type of sugar. They can be helpful to long-distance endurance athletes, but you don’t need them
on this programme and consuming them would be likely to inhibit your fat loss. I do not recommend them for most people taking part in the Fat Burn Revolution.