Six months ago, I shared my 1 year transformation story ( Read here : 7 Simple Steps to get from Skinny to Brawny in 12 months – My Transformation Story ). But after that, I slowly started to stray off the path. It’s been a busy couple of months due to several personal commitments, but that was just an excuse I told myself to justify my indiscipline.
My diet got crappier, occasional cheat meals turned into several cheat days in a row and I started skipping workouts.
And then one day, this is what I saw in the mirror.
How did I let things go down south so fast? I thought.
Around the same time, I came across this fat to fit transformation video of my childhood idol Hrithik Roshan for his upcoming movie.
If he could do that at age 45 after a slipped disc, what excuse could I possibly have?
It was just what I needed to see to get back on track.
The Fat to Fit Plan
I gave myself 30 days to get back from fat to fit. No excuses this time around!!!
Building strength and losing fat at the same time meant that the workouts had to be intense and the diet right on point, so that’s what I did.
Disclaimer : The plan is based on my own personal observations ( through trial and error ) over the years, and specific to my body type. Everyone is different and there’s no one perfect diet or workout for all. Do consult an expert before you try anything drastic.
The Fat to Fit Diet
Step 1 – Figuring out the Macros
A TDEE calculator (total daily energy expenditure) tells us the no.of calories we burn everyday i.e the amount of calories we need to maintain current body weight.
Also it’s a good place to start any new diet plan. For me it was 2500 kcal.
The next step was to determine the macronutrient breakup i.e the % of calories that you get from proteins, carbohydrates and fats. I decided on a 25% carbs, 35% protein and 40% fats (also known as the low carb diet).
Crunching the numbers, it meant I needed to take 156 g of carbs, 220 g of protein and 111 g of fats every day.
Step 2 – Charting out a Diet Plan
I only used the following food sources for all my meals
Carbohydrates – Brown rice, Oats and Vegetables
Proteins – Unflavored Whey Protein, Chicken Breast, Eggs and Nuts
Fats – Olive oil and Nuts
This is my detailed 2500 kcal meal plan for the first week of this plan
5-15 AM : Pre Workout – 45 g whey protein with water
7-30 AM : Breakfast – A shake with 50 g Oats , 100 ml Milk, Almonds, Chia seeds, Pistachio nuts, Walnuts and 45 g whey protein
1 PM : Lunch – 150 g Brown Rice, 200 g Chicken Breast, 100 g Vegetables with Olive Oil
7-30 PM : Post Workout – 45 g whey protein with water
9 PM : Dinner – 150 g Brown Rice, 3 Eggs, 100 g Vegetables with Olive Oil
Note : Cooking your own meals and measuring food intake is mandatory. No matter how good your intuition is, you can’t ” eyeball ” the nutritional values / quantities of food.
Step 3 – Making Changes
Every week, I took progress pictures and measured my bodyweight. Based on the feedback, if i was losing weight and body fat, I kept the calories constant for the coming week.
Otherwise, I dropped 200 kcal per week mainly through carbs and fats, keeping the protein intake constant.
By the last week, I dropped down to 1900 kcal.
Note: You can use a measuring tape, skin fold calipers and a digital weigh-in scale ( fractions will be easier to note ) to measure progress.
Cheat Meals
30 days is a short time to include any cheat meals without affecting your progress. However, I did give in to several bags of potato chips and Chinese takeout on the 15 th day.
Luckily, there was no visible impact.
The Workouts
I did two workouts per day, morning sessions were cardio based at cult.fit. They have several options to make cardio fun and interesting. You can read my full review here ( Cult.Fit Review : Hyderabad )
The evenings were reserved for my regular gym sessions. You can find the detailed workout plan in my post. ( 7 Simple Steps to get from Skinny to Brawny in 12 months – My Transformation Story )
Working out twice a day and eating in a caloric deficit makes you feel weak and hungry all the time but as with everything in life, you get used to it. The first week is the toughest, though.
I started to post my daily workouts on social media to keep myself accountable. It did push me on those days where I didn’t feel like getting out of bed. I missed two cult.fit sessions over the 30 days, but managed to get at least one workout session per day throughout the plan.
Summary
Overall, I lost 2 kgs of body weight, brought down my waistline by 2 inches, gained an inch of arms size and achieved a decent level of muscular definition, as seen in the before/after pictures
However, I understand that this approach is not for everyone due to time/personal constraints and if continued over the long term, probably not even healthy. But If you feel like going all out for 30 days to test yourself, do try something similar and share your experience.
Please subscribe here to get my latest posts delivered straight to your inbox.
