Wanna get in shape? Options

[Existentialist]

Dear Fellow Fans,
I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. It's been an interesting one for sure and I'm thankful that this board is still alive and well. Cheers!

This year, starting Thursday, January 6, 2011, I am going to embark on the most challenging physical fitness quest of my life. This is a 4 month program designed to end on May 7, 2011, one week prior to my graduating with an MD. The motivation for this program is partially for my own health benefit and partially as a test for a potential future application in athletic training.

I hope that at least one other person on this site will join me in this 4 month program. In order to participate, you must be willing to do the following. 1: You MUST adhere to a very strict diet that is somewhat restrictive and in all likelihood completely unlike any diet you've tried before. There will be times you find the diet hard to adhere to, it will absolutely limit your ability to eat at restaurants, it may be a bit expensive at times, and it will require you to eat 5-6 times per day. The diet is really the test here, so I really want participants who are willing to follow the diet as closely as possible. 2: You MUST adhere to a strict exercise regimen that requires a time commitment of 2 hours each day for 5 days per week. I will custom design an exercise program for every participant based on what exercise equipment, if any, you have available to you. Preferably, participants will have regular access to free weights, a bench press and a power rack. These are not essential, though, especially for women. Whatever you have will work, but you have to stick to the program I design for you. 3: You MUST be willing to document your progress and share them with me, either privately via the PM service, or preferably, publicly in this thread. If at least one other user agrees to share their progress publicly in this thread, I will do the same. Documentation includes the following: a simple "yes or no" to whether you stuck to the diet and exercise program, if the answer was "no," what exactly you did that was not a part of the program, a weekly weigh-in at the same scale (and I WILL accept substitutions for absolute numbers - such as initial weight is X, at week 2 the weight is X minus 4 pounds), and a weekly photograph in modest clothing (and you obviously may black out your face).

Other than those requirements, anyone and everyone can participate. Although this is a strict program, it is something that everyone can do regardless of prior fitness experience, body shape, weight, etc. Anyone can do this, but you have to be committed.

What is the goal of this program? Remember, this is a test of something I have concocted based on tons of reading scientific literature, so I can't make any promises about results. However, I have a very good, evidence-based idea that this program will, for men, cause you to get dramatically stronger in all your lifts and drastically reduce your body fat, and for women, drastically reduce your body fat and get much better muscle tone and definition. Case in point: I am currently 6'4" and weigh 210 pounds and while I am in good physical shape, I am far from being "shredded" or looking like a really strong guy. By the end of this program, I fully anticipate I will fit both those descriptions.

On January 5th, the day before the program begins, I will post the exact guidelines of the program. Any time between now and then, please reply if you are interested, or if you have any questions before we begin. Trust me, this is gonna be fun and I have a sneaking suspicion this is going to work big time and you will look and feel the best you've ever felt in your life. New Years resolution anyone? Join me!

This post has been edited by Existentialist: Dec 25 2010, 1:49 am

[Existentialist]

That sample diet looks great but only for a low carb day. If your goal is purely to lose weight, eating like that every day will accomplish that goal the best. However, you'll lose significant muscle mass, too, if you don't cycle in days that include higher carb counts (up to 150g/day) like I show in my schedule. You want all of those carbs to be complex, so oats, sweet potatoes, and brown rice are some of the preferred sources. The "fake" sugars are a mystery to me. By the numbers, yes that is fine, but I don't know. Sometimes numbers don't tell the whole story! I won't be eating any.

That's it for now! I'm starting tomorrow on the 5th because I have had a harder time getting back into the daily grind than I expected. I'll answer any questions in the meantime, but on Sunday, February 6 I will post my first picture update. Here we go!