The Confidential Challenge: for him (part 8)

Week 11
I’m on the train to London and as always I buy a newspaper and a few magazines; Men’s Health being one of them.

This is the magazine I really want to be in and the reason I started this challenge. Could I be on the front cover or have an editorial piece showing what I have achieve? I have great respect for Men’s Health but after working hard for 11 weeks I’m starting to think I won’t achieve my goal of getting on the cover in my original four-month time frame.

I’m now thinking it will take more like six to eight months; but I’m determined I do it and have achieved some amazing results so far.

I can’t help but get excited by the front page titles: ‘Lean Muscle Fast (be beach ready in 2 weeks)’; ‘Burn 978 Calories an hour’; Lose Your Gut With Ice Cream’; ‘Flatten Your Belly.’

I’m nearly at the end of my challenge, so do I feel the headlines are achievable for a guy like me? Yes and no.

Facts and fiction
To achieve most of the goals in Men’s Health, such as being “beach ready in two weeks,” you need to have a good base body already and workout on a regular basis. This month, Men’s Health is telling me I can “lose my gut with ice cream”

I’d love to turn round and tell Darren, my personal trainer on this journey, that I’m changing my diet to ice cream, chocolate and raspberry sauce to lose my tummy. But once you turn to page 62, it turns out, not surprisingly, that the ice cream diet is not a one-way ticket to Slimsville.

Although it does points out some interesting facts

According to the article in question, Heart Journal found that people who ate at least 7.5g of chocolate a day had lower blood pressure and a 39 per cent lower risk of a heart attack compared to those who got by on just 1.7g each day.

“A cone filled with ice cream a flake and a squirt of sauce comes with 23.3g of sugar, almost six teaspoons in old money” Hmm. That’s bad, although perhaps not surprising.

“Eating a 99 (164 calories) is much better than eating a Magnum Classic (275) or Cornetto (275)”. Well that’s good. I’ll have one a day. It will, however, take you 15 minutes of having sex or a 10 minute run or swim to burn the calories from a Mr Whippy. My point is, the headlines pushing a simple solution sell magazines to people who want to lose weight but are often too scared of the (necessary) hard work.

Heat magazine sells to ladies who love gossip with stories such as: “Jordan has orgy - read full story inside. “ We all know Jordan probably hasn’t had an orgy this week, or in fact ever – the story turned out to be a lingerie photoshoot with an orgy theme - but the chance that she may have done makes people buy it.

Misleading headlines can be frustrating but on a positive note, now that I’m a lot fitter and leaner I think some of the goals in Men’s Health are actually achievable.

Darren’s comments:
“I’d like to see the following headlines; Change your lifestyle, stop drinking, plan your meals, exercise 4 times per week for six weeks consistently before you try to achieve anything... And that's if you’re in a relatively good shape to start with. “They probably wouldn't sell as many magazines, but maybe people are becoming more aware that these headlines are a joke and don't buy them. Maybe sales would actually increase if it told the hard truth; how getting a good physique is mentally and physically hard but can be achieved if designed at the right level initially and developed over a realistic time frame, and that you stick to 90 per cent.”

Supplements – a minefield
This brings me nicely on to my next frustration – supplements. Protein shakes; milk thistle; super whey protein; omega 6 and 9; super multi-vitamins; createan; fat burners – need I go on?

Luckily, I have Darren to advise me on what to take otherwise I’d be in no man’s land.

Darren says:
“If your diet is good and you don't eat crappy processed or microwave foods, food high in sugar and saturated fat, eat good quality grains, protein and veg, drink minimal amounts of alcohols and plenty of water as well as regularly exercising effectively, supplements can do just that - supplement your diet.

“They can add to or compliment what's already there, make some parts of your diet more convenient and help you to recover and faster, but only if you’re already consuming a pretty good diet. Otherwise supplements offer nothing in terms of benefit compared to sorting out your diet.“I’d love to educate the masses and try to expose terrible examples of so-called fitness advice, kidding the general public into believing they can achieve great results without much thought, effort or consistency in the space of a few weeks. “Come on...let's get real. If you want to look lean and get in great shape, it takes commitment and a good support network including personal trainers, family and friends. Not an ice-cream and two weeks of training.”

My point is that unless you are with a professional or have that level of about what to take, don’t buy it. You could be doing yourself more harm than good. About two years ago, I went on one of my “definitely going to lose weight” drives and bought some fat burners called Inferno. They promised me results over a week or month and extra energy in the gym. They certainly did that.

They sent me into orbit. I was buzzing and did an amazing workout but the feeling hadn;t gone by the time I got home. I couldn’t settle down and started to feel a little ill, not to mention boiling hot. The tablets raise your body temperature which is why you burn extra calories. But I didn’t get a wink of sleep that night and vowed never to go near them again.

In the words of George Michael, if you’re gonna do it, do it right.

Remember I’m doing this for a great charity called Forever Manchester.

Donate here: www.justgiving.com.

Read next week to see if Chris has been keeping up the hard work...

Darren Casey is Master Personal Trainer and Director at Elite Fitness Training. If you’d like to know more about following a plan similar to ours or be kept up to date with other health and fitness advice register on his website elitefitness-online or email him at fit@eft-gb.com

Launching soon, with the man himself, The Confidential Get Lean Diet & Boot Camp, places will be limited so to be first in the queue click here to add your details to this list.

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Confidential Challenge for her(Part 8)

Confidential Challenge for her(Part 7)

Confidential Challenge for him (Part 7)

Confidential Challenge for her (Part 6)

Confidential Challenge for him (Part 6)

Confidential Challenge for her (Part 5)

Confidential Challenge for him (Part 5)

Confidential Challenge for her (Part 4)

Confidential Challenge for him (Part 4)

Confidential Challenge for her (Part 3)

Confidential Challenge for him (Part 3)

Confidential Challenge for her (Part 2)

Confidential Challenge for him (Part 2)

Confidential Challenge for her (Part 1)

Confidential Challenge for him (Part 1)