Unbelievable Weight Loss Results From Week One of Boot Camp!
Are you ready for some protein pancakes? I thought so! They are pretty darned good…and a little syrup never hurts! 
Welcome to week 2!
We have had some great success stories to this point. Many boot campers are down 5 lbs or more! What are you experiencing? Weight loss? More energy? Less aches and pains? Leave a comment or shoot me an email and let everyone know about your progress to this point!
It is important to remind ourselves that weight is not the end all. I had one guy lose 19 lbs. during the first week of boot camp. What that tells me is that his colon was so clogged he was colon cancer waiting to happen. I’m glad he lost the 19 lbs…but I’m even more thankful that his colon is healthier!
There are several ways to measure an improvement in health. Increase in strength, increase in energy, decrease in pant size (assuming the previous size was an unhealthy large size), an improvement in what the mirror shows…there are several ways to register health progress. As you think (and journal!) about your journey and progress to this point, be reminded and encouraged that progress takes many forms, and that the category where your most significant progress comes may shift from week to week. It might be a change in weight this week that excites you the most, and a change in strength next week that is more noticeable!
DO THIS NOW:
Before you do anything else, measure out 1/2 C of almonds (tomorrow’s mid-afternoon snack) and put them in a bowl or plastic container. Pour water into the container until the almonds are covered by 1 inch. Let them soak this way overnight. This will help to unlock the nutritional value of the almonds. To learn why, read here!
From the Boot Camp Personal Trainer: I’m With You!
I am getting calls and emails from some participants, yet haven’t heard from all of you. I’m here to help! Ask questions, offer ideas or suggestions. If you have an old injury that is keeping you from doing some exercises from the workouts, let me know. If you are having trouble viewing the videos, let me know! I’d love to help!
To quote E.T.: I’m right here!
The Value of Virtual Boot Camp Day Eight: Introduction to Caloric Shifting!
Today is a great transition day for your body. We are combining proteins and carbs again. We are adding in a little bit of dairy! And we are adding in the calories! In fact, have you looked at the menu for week 2? Have you seen Saturday? A fiesta! You may be saying, “What the heck?!” Guess what, our body is saying the EXACT SAME THING! You will notice that we move the calories around quite a bit now. That will be our new M.O. Why?
I talked with a future client today (she doesn’t know she is going to do boot camp yet…I’m working on her). She’s in the midst of losing weight via a bar and shake program. She consumes 800 calories every day. And she is losing weight. Temporarily. You see, she is calibrating her body to expect 800 calories a day. So, when she comes off the diet and gets back to 2,000 or so….WHAM! The weight returns, and then some…because her metabolism was re-calibrated to expect 800 calories.
We kept a low calorie mark in week 1 because we were cleansing. Now that we are done with our cleanse, we are going to move calories all over the place. This jump, called caloric shifting, keeping the metabolism guessing (and burning!) more effectively. Just like all the things we do in boot camp (the number of meals/snacks, the types of meals/snacks, the types of exercise, the fiber drink), I recommend that you make sure to move around your calories every day for the rest of your life. Sound like a lot of work? Good thing you have me, and good thing I’m making new menus all the time! Welcome to the world of caloric shifting, or as I like to call it, metabolism confusion.
Wellness Tip of the Day: Stop Buying Those Berry Drinks!
There are all these exotic antioxidant drinks on the market these days: Xango, Monavie, Acai Berry, etc. They are a complete waste! A double-blind study was done to test the effectiveness of all these antioxidant berry products to see which one worked best. And it wasn’t even close. Melaleuca’s ProvexCV, a pill, has the most antioxidant capacity of any of them….by far! Welch’s Grape Juice came in a distant second place. For your friends who have terrible allergies, bad cholesterol, or have heart disease in the family (in my family, bypasses are an Olympic event!), ProvexCV is a must! Not to mention it’s a lot cheaper than all those berry drinks!
I Would Be Remiss If I Didn’t Tell My Boot Campers…
-Look ahead to Day 3 of week 2. We have a cheat meal scheduled for dinner. Be thinking about what you want to eat, and research the item(s) online beforehand. If eating out is going to be your cheat meal, watch out for the calories, fat grams, and sodium! You will be amazed with what restaurants put in our food!!!! NOTE: If you want to change your cheat meal to a different day (Friday or Sunday for example), simply swap the ENTIRE menu for those two days.
-Make sure to get sleep at night!!!! I finally got a great night’s sleep last night (thanks mostly to my girlfriend, who had to push me out the door at 10pm…it is tough to leave her!). When we sleep well, our body recovers well and prepares our brain for the next day. When we don’t sleep well, our body cannot repair and recharge as well (causing increases in appetite, hormone imbalance, decrease in concentration, etc.), and suddenly we have minimized the successes of the previous day! Sleep well each night and the boot camp will be more productive!
-Be sure to journal every day this week. And don’t forget to read your journal from last week. See where you succeeded. See where you fell short. And see where you can do better. It seems that those who are writing in the journal each day are more excited about their boot camp and more prepared for each day’s opportunities for success!
Adam Erwin is a Minneapolis-based personal trainer who is leading an online boot camp called “Virtual Boot Camp!” If you arrived on this page and are not yet a boot camp participant, go to www.rapidresultsfitnessmn.com/virtualbootcamp.html and register for our next group launch!
