Wow - my last blog post generated some *serious* feedback!

It seems there are a lot of motivated people keen to lose weight and it was great to hear from so many of you!

The good news of course, as promised, is that applications are now open. The purpose of the last video was just to see if anyone had any questions incase I hadn’t made anything clear but it seems all the feedback I got was 100% positive What a nice experience!

Unless something big comes up we are opening the doors for Peak Physique on 20th of May - and it will be running for 4 weeks in total. I hope in that time you’ll be able to lose around 4 kgs, maybe a little more if you’re lucky.

Please watch the new video I’ve put together which will recap the details and then show you exactly how to get involved!

Here’s the new video showing you how to apply

Incase this is all double-dutch to you, here’s the last post explaining what’s going on

And here’s the first video from Costa Rica

Go on, click that link and watch the new video now. Applications are open

Disclaimer: I will do everything I can to help, advise and motivate you over the next 4 weeks but I’m *not* a professional dietician, personal trainer or anything else. I’m just a regular guy with a lot of passion who has managed to safely lose quite a bit of weight in the past. Please be aware it may be intelligent to contact your doctor before making any changes to your diet or exercise routines, but I didn’t and was fine. I also can’t guarantee your results in any way but I *will* do everything I can to help you lose as much weight as possible in a safe, effective way.

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OK so the weight loss video I made won’t embed in my blog for whatever reason (grrr!) so I’ve posted it over at Google Video.

So first off please go and take a look by clicking here.

After you’ve finished watching, please come on back here for the rest of the this post…

Watched it?

OK, so to summarize -

What I’m suggesting is a 4 week challenge for a highly limited number of people. During that time you will have access to a password-protected area on this site where we can meet daily to share information and tips. You will have your own blog to post updates to and a discussion forum. You can ask any questions you have about your weight loss and I’ll do my best to answer them - though I can’t guarantee I’ll know the answers to everything.

I’ll also do my best to motivate you (and myself!) and basically our small group hopefully can feed off each other and all lose a load of weight! It doesn’t matter if you want to lose just a few pounds or if you have 20 kilos you want to lose - if you’ve got the right attitude I want to hear from you.

I will provide you with food lists, exercise suggestions etc. based on my own experiences of what has worked so you’ll be following a plan I myself have successfully used, plus having my help if things don’t go quite as you’d hoped.

You must:

1) Be able and willing to exercise for around 1 hour per day for a month with one day off a week

2) Be motivated enough to be visiting the password-protected area each day for a month and posting about your experiences

3) Be willing to be supportive of others and help keep the team on the straight and narrow

4) Be willing to post before and after details (no real name or face required if you don’t want) to show us how you did. Not only does this make it more fun but it’s a real motivator knowing the others are going to be seeing you change (or not, if you don’t follow the plan).

Finally the cost is zero - this is for my benefit as much as yours and I think should be a lot of fun.

What I’m asking for initially is any questions you may have on this. Please post them in the comments box at the bottom of this page so I can answer any that I haven’t covered in my rambling blog post and video.

Even if you just want to make a comment (get your name in early, anyone?!) then leave a comment.  

Then I’ll email you again in a few days time (probably Monday or Tuesday) just to let you know the doors are open. It’s at that point that you’ll be able to access the short little application form I’ll build. I’m hoping to get the group rolling a week on Tuesday (20th of May) at the moment so the application process will need to be reasonably swift over the next week or so.

Can’t wait to hear from you!

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In order to try and build an even larger following for this blog - and hopefully help even more people get into shape you’ll find us now on MySpace.

So if you’re keen on weight loss, health, fitness, muscle growth and so on, and you have a page over at MySpace please add us as a friend!

It’d be great to get to know some of our readers a little bit better. We’ll even (so long as the technology works OK) be adding blog posts from here onto our MySpace page automatically.

Fingers crossed

You can find our profile here.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Starting to lose weight you need to make a choice. And you need to keep making the choice all the time you’re slimming. It’s this.

Do you want to go all out - correct diet, hard exercise, focus, denial etc - and get the fastest results possible, or do you want to slowly introduce weight loss into your daily routine.

Do you want to spend an hour in the gym then come home to eat brown rice and chicken, or do you want to just take a walk with a friend on the weekend?

The choice really is yours.

Here are some factors to consider…

Generally those who go all out are going to achieve better results, faster, which may well prove very motivating. Seeing the pounds fall off each week is likely to keep you coming back for more.

Equally, people doing so much are, arguably, more likely to give up as they’re putting themselves under so much pressure that eventually something has to give.

Those who introduce things slowly are less likely to suffer from injuries caused by intense workouts and are more likely to be able to live a reasonable life around their new regime, but progress will likely be slow which may cause frustration before long. This could also lead to giving up.

Steve Pavlina who writes an interesting personal development blog some time ago mentioned using the power of overwhelming force to achieve your goals and I think its something you really should be considering.

Here’s the skinny…

Many military battles are won by using overwhelming force. This principle can help a small or less well-armed group win over a bigger foe. You simply apply everything you’ve got a short, sharp, intense hit.

You don’t wander in, fire a few bullets, stop for a bite to eat, fire a few more and so on.

No, you hit the enemy force with *everything* you’ve got - all your soldiers, you have planes dropping bombs, rockets firing at them and so on.

The enemy force doesn’t know what’s hit them!

How can you apply this overwhelming force to your weight loss? Tell your friends what you’re going to be doing. Clear out the kitchen cupboards to get rid of junk food. And so on. I’m sure you can brainstorm dozens of ways in which sticking to your diet is made more difficult or at least not as easy as it should be.

Make a list of these factors and turn them around so *everything* is focused on helping you achieve your fitness goals.

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We’ve talked in the past about the importance of motivating yourself when you’re on a weight loss plan and one of the best ways (after seeing how much weight you have lost yourself) is to see what other people have achieved.

This article at Refridgerator Raid lists 6 excellent case studies including one guy who went from 312 pounds to 184 pounds.

Run on over now

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