So I haven’t blogged in about 4 months. I’ve been concentrating on getting my weight down to a manageable weight before Hari Raya this year. So sue me for being so vain

The work has paid off in dividends I think. My friends, colleagues and family have noticed the significant change in image and style.

The chart really says it all I think –> on my Dailyburn profile. In total I’ve gone from 105 kilos in April 2009 to 95 kilos at weigh in today. (approx 10 kilos in around 4 months = approx 2.5 kilos per month)

My philosophy is simply: Eat Smart, Run Hard, Lift Heavy.

On my previous weight loss phase (2005 when I returned to Brunei) my philosophy was: Eat Less, Run More. Unfortunately I plateaued too soon in my previous phase, so this time around I am kicking it up another level.

Eat Smart

I’m not restricting the kinds of foods I eat – I only restrict my portion sizes. So I still eat stuff like brownies (Thanx @sasbrownies), ice cream, cake, etc except I only dig in 1 or 2 spoonfulls.

I’ve cut down on my rice intake, and I now actively look out for starchy carbohydrates and try to eliminate them from my diet. Lunch and dinner is around 3-4 spoonfulls of rice, and I make sure I eat plenty of vegetables, nuts and grains. Essentially, these are “whole foods”.

A good multi-vitamin and protein supplement are also key to “Eating Smart”.

Run Hard

It’s not enough to hit the treadmill or go on the bike for hours and hours at a time. Big results come from the effort you put in. What’s the difference between walking 100 meters vs. sprinting 100 meters? You try it – you’re winded after the sprint. Logically then, you burn more calories by pushing your body harder.

So I figure, it’s not just about running in the so-called “fat burning” cardio zone. You’ve got to mix it up – running hard to push your heart rate up and getting the ticker going, vs. running moderately to recover and letting it slow down, vs. running gently to cruise through while your heart rate is elevated.

I’m a big fan of “HIIT” – High Intensity Interval Training. Pre-fasting month I was aiming to run 15 minutes non-stop, for 15 cycles as follows: 30 seconds slow, 30 seconds all-out-running-away-from-hellhounds fast. After this I would top it off with a gentle 30 minute session on the elliptical trainer.

Lift Heavy

The final part is all about testosterone. Keeping my hormones up improves the effect of the heavy duty cardiovascular exercise and seems to help me reduce appetite. I lift on a 3-day schedule, targeting different body parts on different days, allowing that body part a full week to recover before being stressed to the max again.

And the key is stressing to the max – lift until you can’t lift no more (with comfortable tempo and most importantly, perfect form)! Don’t bother with crunches and exercising Abs, target the main large body parts for the maximum effect in the given time you have.

“Compound” exercises  use large muscle groups together, therefore putting stress on more areas of your body at one time. Crunches for the Abs, unfortunately, is an “isolation” exercise that won’t give as great a benefit for the time spent doing it. Unless you already are fit and lean, in which case you’ll probably need more of those to make the 6-pack pop.

Chest, Backs and Legs are a good choice – Bench press (Chest), Pull ups (Back), Dead lift (Legs) and Squats (Legs) are the common compound exercises that people do.

The Bottom Line

So there you have it – a quick discussion of what I’ve done for my weight loss. Your mileage may vary!