Happy Thursday!
I have an interesting, unique and comprehensive story to share today for Fat Loss Tip #24- Think Outside The Box.
Mike Salemi is one of my BFF’s and an amazing athlete. He is committed to being a champion in all that he does.
Mike needed to lose weight for a competition and put a comprehensive weight loss model in place to make it happen. He consulted with many people (including me) for this plan and the results were amazing.
At first glance, you may not see how this story can relate to your fat loss goals given Mike is a competitive Kettlebell Lifter, but Think Outside The Box and examine the details of Mike’s weight loss plan.
Mike also had to Think Outside The Box because this is a unique approach even is his circles.
After you read the story below, please comment and share it with your friends.
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My good friend Brien Shamp has asked me to write this blog post detailing my nutrition-lifestyle journey leading up to the 2011 IKFF Kettlebell Sport National Championships. I hope you’ll enjoy!
Background
For those of you unfamiliar with the sport of Kettlebell lifting, it is a strength endurance sport that uses kettlebells mixed with Olympic movements performed for a specific time. The event I compete in is called Long Cycle. This consists of a two-kettlebells clean and jerk, repeated consecutively as many times as possible in 10 minutes. While I do have a strength background in Powerlifting, these two sports couldn’t be further apart from one another. Powerlifting consists of an all-out one repetition maximum lift in the following: squat, bench press and dead lift.
In recent years, the Kettlebell Sport has really been gaining ground here in the U.S. This past May, I was fortunate enough to travel to St. Petersburg, Russia and train under the Russian National Team. I joke you not, it was like a scene straight out of Rocky IV! Soon after I returned, invigorated and inspired, I had six months to prepare myself for the National Championships and attempt to reach the rank “Master of Sport” – for men in the U.S., only three have been able to achieve it.
The Task
My normal “walking around” bodyweight is typically around 170 lbs and 10% body fat. Roughly three months ago I got the crazy idea that I’d attempt to drop down to the 152 lb weight class, which would hopefully give me more of a competitive edge. The weight I use in competition is (2) 32-kilogram kettlebells.
Below is a short list of the specific lifestyle factors I implemented as well as the results I’ve experienced in recent months.
Nutrition-Lifestyle Factors Implemented:
1) Food Rotation Diet
2) Eliminating specific food sensitivities
3) Eliminating all grains, dairy and legumes and of course sugar!
4) Limiting nuts and seeds (only allowing some raw macadamia and walnuts)
5) Slowing down and chewing food during meal times
6) Regular colonics about every 4 weeks
7) Sleeping 9 hrs/night (in bed before 10:00pm)
8) Brief intermittent fasting 1x per week (lasting approx. 18hrs)
Results
- Dropped from 171 lbs to 150 lbs in approx. 2.5 -3 months
- Improved energy (without use of any caffeine or stimulants)
- Improved daily bowel movements
- Clearer skin complexion (also long-time itchiness on my feet disappeared)
- Decreased body-fat
- Improvement of mood
- Improved general athletic and sport’s specific performance
The Process
Since I can remember I’ve had less than ideal digestion. About 12 months ago I met with CHEK Practitioner and FDN (Functional Diagnostic Nutritionist) Jonny Suarez to do some lab testing with hope of getting to the root cause of my symptoms. The test showed that I had a parasite (which is not uncommon), some fungal overgrowth and a little pathogenic bacteria. My treatment plan included an herbal protocol and anti-parasite/fungal diet. Since then, I’ve had noticeable digestive improvements from when I started.
It’s interesting to me that most people are sick, but they just don’t know it. I feel many people have no idea what true health feels like because they’ve never experienced it. To me, true health is when you look, feel and perform optimally – when you wake up in the morning with a level of vitality fit to live your dream to the fullest!
Food Rotation
Close to 3 months prior to the competition, I first started with the Food Rotation Plan as seen in the book How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy by Paul Chek. This Food Rotation is a four-day plan where each day you rotate foods based on taxonomy. The rationale for this is to: reduce/eliminate food intolerances, improve immune function, detoxify the body and especially improve digestion. Having a Crockpot made my life SO much easier to stick to this. I would typically choose 1 organic meat, 1-2 organic veggies a day and do this sometimes 5 days a week. Within a few weeks I noticed a 7 lb. drop in bodyweight solely from this change.
Slowing Down and Chewing
Never fully realizing exactly how fast I was eating and its effect on my digestion, I made an all out-effort to slowly chew my food. Chewing foods until they become “liquid” definitely lengthened my meal times, however, I followed Brien’s advice and started treating them like a meditation of sorts. Using chopsticks, and more recently my hands, as utensils has been a enjoyable experience. It simply feels good to connect with the quality food I have been spending my money on and time preparing.
Colonics
Since the parasite testing with Jonny, I have maintained getting regular colonics about once a month. These are gentler than one would think and produce great results. I am amazed at how all those years of crappy protein shakes backed me up and impacted my colon! Every time I leave the hydrotherapy clinic, I feel lighter and have increased overall sense of well-being.
Food Sensitivity Testing
Two weeks later I met with Jonny to discuss getting an MRT Food Sensitivity Test – this provides a “snap-shot” as to what foods we are likely to be sensitive to in that specific point in time (linked at the bottom is an awesome video on gluten sensitivity). For me, chicken, cocoa, coffee, tea, and yogurt were some of my favorite foods that showed up.
Removing Inflammatory Foods
After eliminating these foods, I had a little more than 2 months left and just about
15 lbs. to go. My next step was to remove all inflammatory foods. This is primarily all grains, dairy (yes dairy), soy, and legumes. I also limited nuts and seeds. In terms of sugar, I would have low glycemic vegetables and sparse amounts of berries and grapefruit, which have low sugar content. Post-training I would rotate sweet potatoes, squash and green plantains as my main carbohydrate source. We know that inflammation plays a key role in just about every disease process known to man. When we eliminate these foods the results can be astounding. It is not uncommon to significantly reduce or even reverse autoimmune diseases such as Rheumatoid Arthritis and Hashimotos, not to mention it does wonders for Type II Diabetes.
Sleep
Sleep is probably the most underrated element in this entire process. Getting 8 – 9+ hours of sleep a night is critical to balancing hormonal levels and allowing for proper physical and neurological repair. Being in bed before 10 pm each night helped me to re-establish normal circadian rhythms. I feel consistent sleep is responsible for significantly improving my recovery from workouts, energy levels, fat loss and overall mood enhancement. Check out T.S Wiley’s book on sleep listed at the end of this blog post, it will blow you away!
Intermittent Fasting
I would set aside one day a week to experiment with various levels of short intermittent fasting, ranging from 15-24 hours. Intermittent fasting can help with things like insulin sensitivity, immune regulation, body weight reduction and long-term health. With that said, I wouldn’t think about messing with it unless I had all my other lifestyle factors in check. Intermittent fasting can vary greatly, however it should be a beneficial stressor rather than a negative one. For me, 18 hours seemed to be the sweet spot where I wouldn’t dip into burning muscle for energy. This meant skipping dinner and/or breakfast, after which I would be sure to reconstitute and make up for the lost calories. I will say it was nice to not have to cook every dinner/breakfast for a change.
The Final Days
The lifestyle factors discussed above got me to within 5 lbs. of my required bodyweight. The remaining pounds would be lost in the day or two prior to weigh-in by utilizing moderate dehydration methods such as sweating, spitting and limiting the amount of liquids ingested. The human body is about 80% water, and if done correctly with proper reconstitution, we can lose significant amounts of water pre- weigh-in without any adverse side effects to performance.
Results
At weigh-in time I was thrilled to see 150lbs on the scale, making my weight class by 2 lbs. The next day I felt strong and alive! I was able to break a personal record both in terms of time and repetitions, however, I fell just 7 reps short of reaching the rank I was hoping for.
I’m not positive what my body-fat percentage was, however, since I used to regularly do hydrostatic testing (underwater tank), I believe it’s safe to say I was about 6% or lower.
Where I go from here…
I am looking forward to maintaining the lifestyle factors I enacted for this contest. I will continue the food rotation schedule and stay primarily grain, dairy and legume free. In terms of body-weight, I do feel the 165 lb class is more sustainable for me and I’ll most likely work my way back up. For now, I will take a much needed break from hard training and rest my mind and body.
Even though I did not reach Master of Sport, this has been a priceless learning experience and I’m motivated to come back even better next time around!
My Competition Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83_wMnvTQCk
Recommended Video on Gluten Sensitivity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMq2u7pg478
Recommend Readings
1) How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy by Paul Chek
2) Lights Out: Sugar, Sleep and Survival by T.S. Wiley
3) The Paleolithic Solution by Robb Wolf
Please comment and share Mike’s story above with your friends.
Your friend & coach,
Brien
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