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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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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Weight loss and diet pills are very popular these days - after all, anything that claims to be able to help you lose more weight than *not* using them sounds appealing, now doesn’t it?

Equally, you could just exercise less or eat more and if the pills work, continue to lose weight.

But because these pills are so popular there are a lot of sharks out there and you’re taking a risk when you order from a company you don’t know. What’s more, diet pills don’t tend to be cheap either so there’s also a financial risk to you.

Now, I should say that diet pills aren’t my strength when it comes to weight loss. Yes, I have blogged once or twice in the past about some pills I have tried but there are other people who know far more than I do about the subject.

One example I recently stumbled across was Criticalorie, which has a really nice, clean, clear layout which makes it easy to read and find your way around.

Their site has a really nice collection of informative articles on diet pills, the most useful of which I personally found were the various diet pill reviews - two example being that of Noxycut and their Alli reviews.

I have to admit that quite a few of these pills I hadn’t heard of so it made some useful reading and I expect to return to their site on quite a regular basis to “swot up” on all the information they provide free of charge.

If it’s something you’d like to know more about, I think their site is well worth a visit.

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Every day somebody new is telling you that *theirs* is the best way to lose weight.

And every day the population gets fatter and fatter.

It’s like watching one of the soap powder commercials - every new innovation is their best yet - it’s all you’ll ever need.

Until the next week when they bring out an even *better* product.

If weight loss was easy and there was one best way to lose weight, everyone would be thin.

Except they’re not.

This is for two reasons:

1) Weight loss takes effort. No matter what anyone tells you, unless you go for surgery, you’re not going to wake up thin tomorrow. Or even next week. Sure, there are systems and principles that can help with rapid weight loss, but they still take time and effort.

2) Whilst general theories of eat less calories, do more exercise work at a basic level, what works for you may not work for someone else. Again, there are programs like Body For Life that factor in individual differences to a certain degree but you also need to take into account the most important element: the brain.

Different people think in different ways. Different people have different views of what hard work is, an exciting diet, a tough workout and so on. So while even *chemically* two people may both benefit from the same diet and fitness program, it’s quite possible that one will find it a chore and drop out soon after starting while the other will find it super-simple to stick to.

And so, there is no real best way to lose weight.

All I can suggest is to read as much of the information at this blog as possible, and try to spot the recurring themes of what has and hasn’r worked for me.

Then try out some of the diets, recipes, exercises and so on and watch not only your physical transformation but also how you *feel* about what you’re doing.

Because if it inspires and excites you - if it feels good even when you ache after a good workout - you’re probably on the right track to the best way to lose weight for you.

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