Late last night I had an amazing experience with the Icewave patches from Lifewave.

Even though it was 3am in the morning and I was super tired and ready to go to bed, I decided to pull out the camera and shoot a quick video to capture my excitement.

Looking For Three More People

I’m looking for three more people to personally mentor as part of my Lifewave team and to build this business out with me.

If you’re serious about building a long-term recurring income stream, I want to work with you as part of my team.

Here’s what I can bring to the table:

• Business mentoring and coaching (I normally charge $95/hour for this)
• PSYCH-K Balances to bust through any limiting beliefs – conscious or unconscious you may have about growing your Lifewave business (I normally charge $190/session for this)
• Matrix Energetics practitioner (I normally charge $190/session for this)
• Law of Attraction coaching / mentoring (I normally charge $95/hour for this)
• Connections and mentoring from top level Lifewave distributors who are exploding their businesses right now
• ALL OF THIS FREE!  IF YOU DON’T SUCCEED, I DON’T GET PAID!

If you’d like to be one of these three more people I’m looking to mentor, I will do everything in my power to help you succeed as a Lifewave distributor.

But I only have three more spots left, so hurry.

Contact me if this is you.

Ever have one of those moments in your life where an opportunity comes along, that you weren’t necessarily looking for, and you just can’t stop thinking about it?

About three weeks ago such an opportunity landed in my lap.

Normally when I come across something this interesting I almost always share it on my Blog right away.

However, in this particular case, because of the nature of the company and the product that it produces, I wanted to be totally sure that the product actually worked before talking about it on my Blog.

Let me explain why.

Lifewave Patches

When Gregory – a reader of this Blog – first contacted me three weeks ago, he told me about an incredible product that he has been having amazing success with in my home country of Poland.

The product is actually an American made product, but he is a distributor in Poland looking to expand his reach here in Canada and North America.

At first I didn’t really understand what this product he was talking about really was or how it worked, but I must say that my intuition was signaling me to definitely look into it.

So even though I was Uninterested at first, something about this company, it’s product and Gregory’s energy caught my attention and I decided to look further.

So I decided to look into the product that he was selling.

Lifewave patches are based on a brand new technology that synergistically  works with our bodies – instead of against them – to provide a variety of very impressive benefits ranging from pain relief, to weight loss, to anti-aging and a lot more.

What’s even more amazing about this product is that it accomplishes this without putting anything INTO the body.

Meaning, the patches that you place on your body are non-transdermal… which basically just means that they DO NOT put any kind of chemical or pharmaceutical or anything else INTO the body.

Nothing gets transferred from the patch placed on the skin into the body.

Instead, the patches work on a brand new energy based technology that instead signals the body to produce these results similarly to acupuncture or acupressure but without the need for needles.

Skepticism

When I first started looking into this line of products in more depth, I was instantly skeptical.

I mean the company advertises that they have products that improve energy, offer pain relief, better sleep, weight loss and anti-aging!

I mean any one of those industries is a multi-billion, if not trillion dollar industry!

And this company has products for all of these?  Cmon…

I went from being Uninterested to being highly Skeptical.

And that’s exactly what I told Gregory – my new friend from Poland.

So what did Gregory do?

Well, he put me it touch with a guy named Mark who lives in Florida and who has been with Lifewave for like 7 years or so and basically let me interrogate the guy.

For two and a half hours I threw all kinds of questions at Mark and listened to him sharing his story and intimate details about the product and company.

Right off the bat I knew I was talking to someone who KNOWS what he’s talking about when it comes to natural health, nutrition, personal training and marketing.

Mark’s been in these industries since before I was in diapers.

My skepticism turned into excitement as Mark explained to me in simple, step-by-step terms how the product worked.

Proof

After my call with Mark, I was excited.

My skeptical questions were answered and then some.

I saw the vision behind this company and product and I more-on-less understood how the product is able to produce the results that it does.

I’m no bio-engineer or cellular biologist or anything, but I do understand the basics of human biology and nutrition and how cells work and communicate with each other.

I went from being skeptical to being open minded and even excited, but I still wanted proof.  I wanted to try the product myself so that I can see and feel it working.

I told Mark that if I actually test out this product and it actually works for me like it has for so many others, I would jump all over this opportunity.

Working in the corporate world for 15 years I’ve seen some big opportunities come and go, but this is HUGE.

Mark saw my enthusiasm and agreed to send me some product samples while I agreed to do my due diligence and research on the company and product.

Research

David Bekham and Olympic Swimmers w/ Lifewave Patches On

I spent the next few weeks doing extensive research on the product, the company and all the studies that they’ve been doing to prove the effectiveness of their product.

I’ve looked into a lot of different natural products in the past but I’ve never seen one this well documented, researched and proven with clinical studies and tonnes of testimonials.

I mean this company has enough testimonials to make your head spin from professional athletes to celebrities to doctors to scientists and more.

If testimonials are not enough for you, the company also has extensive published clinical studies on the effectiveness of their products.

Jumping In

As I waited for the samples that Mark sent me to arrive, I decided to jump in and get involved with the company as I conducted my research.

Lifewave distributes it’s product through a network-marketing affiliate commission structure which perfectly aligns with how I like to do business.

I love being an affiliate and when I find a product that I can get excited about – I want to jump in with both feet.

What’s more is that unlike most of the other affiliate marketing opportunities I get involved with, Lifewave is based on a binary network marketing structure that encourages team-building and provides me with the potential to build a long-term residual income stream from this business.

I’ve done a lot of affiliate marketing over the last few years, but in all of those opportunities I only made money for as long as I was actively bringing on new leads and clients for them.

As soon as I stopped actively promoting, I stopped making money – which really sucks.

With Lifewave, however,  anyone who becomes a distributor in the company has the opportunity to build a long-term residual income stream that can continue to make them money for years and years.

Trying Out the Product

Two days ago my product samples from Mark finally arrived and my wife and I tried them out.

We started with the Icewave patches that relieve inflammation and pain in the body.

Since I have no pain in my body, we used my wife as a guinea pig.

She has a sore upper back injury that’s been really bothering her for the last few weeks, caused by an accident she was in a few years back.

As per Mark’s instructions, I asked her to rate her level of pain on a scale of 0 to 10 with 0 being no pain at all and 10 being excruciating pain.

She rated her pain level at about 4-5 out of 10.  So let’s say 4.5/10.

I then followed the instructions as explained to me by Mark and the product brochure to apply the Icewave patches to my wife’s back.

Within about 2-3 minutes my wife reported that her pain was now virtually gone.

She basically said “Ok, that’s weird…the pain is gone.  I’m sold!”

I asked her “What would you rate the pain at now on a scale of 0 to 10?”

She said basically either 0 or 0.5.  There was a tiny little bit of pain still there if she lifted her arm and positioned it in a specific way, but the dull-aching 4.5/10 pain that was there before was now gone.

I was impressed.

In fact I was so impressed, I jumped on my computer and immediately became an active distributor in the company and ordered a batch of product.

Later on that night we also decided to try out the Silent Nights product the company produces.

It essentially helps you get a better, more restful sleep.

My wife has been having problems sleeping, especially after her accident so this was a perfect test.

We stuck the patch on and my wife went to bed.

Within just a few minutes, she reported feeling extremely relaxed which is highly unusual for her when going to bed.

Even if she’s really tired she’ll go to bed and have trouble falling asleep.  This wasn’t the case yesterday.

All I can say is that we’re sold on the products.

Personally, I’m excited about and waiting to receive my order of the Energy Enhancer patches – which is one product that Mark was not able to send me a sample of yet.

I don’t have pain in my body and I don’t have problems sleeping so I’m not as excited about these products as my wife is, but I’m really excited about trying out the Energy Enhacer patches.

The Energy Enhancer patches are actually the first set of patches the company developed and actually built the company on.

They have been used by professional athletes and every day people all around the world to produce more energy in the body, naturally and without the use of stimulants or chemicals.

Where to Get Lifewave Patches

You can learn about and order Lifewave patches from virtually anywhere in the world by going to my Lifewave distributor website here:

http://www.lifewavecanada.com

The retail prices on the products vary depending on where in the world you are ordering from and the quantity you decide to purchase, but you’re more or less looking at a cost similar to that of about a cup of coffee a day.

Lifewave patches carry a 100% Satisfaction Money Back Guarantee.

Wholesale Discount

Although you can order the product directly through my distributor site above at retail prices, I actually wouldn’t recommend doing that.

Instead, I would actually recommend becoming a “Distributor” with the company so that you can take advantage of discounted wholesale pricing for the products.

Now if I am a distributor and I would obviously make more money if you ordered this product from my site at retail pricing, then why am I telling you about the wholesale discount?

Well, because I don’t really care about the $20 or so profit I would make by retailing the product to you.

Instead I would much rather get you to sign up as a “Distributor” and hook you up with discounted wholesale pricing on all your future orders, in exchange for one simple thing.

All I ask is that once you’ve had a chance to test out this product and it’s made a difference in your life – that you refer a couple people my way by telling them about the product.

This is not mandatory in any way, but it’s just a friendly request in exchange for hooking you up with the wholesale discount and sharing this product with you.

Gregory shared this product with me and I know it’s going to change my life.  It’s already changed my wife’s life.

So I want as many people as possible out there to hear about this product.  People who don’t read my Blog but who might suffer with back-aches, or sleeping problems, or who simply want more energy or the anti-aging benefits of these products.

You don’t have to bug anyone or try to sell anyone anything, but just share your success story with people if it comes up or they ask you about the patches.

If you don’t feel comfortable sharing this with anyone, that’s OK too… you can still get the wholesale discount.  No pressure at all.

To sign up as a “Distributor” so that you can get instant access to wholesale pricing simply follow these steps:

(1) Click on http://www.lifewavecanada.com .

(2) Click on “Sign Up” in the menu up top.

(3) Click “I Agree” on the following page and select your country of residence.

(4) Scroll through and select your desired package.  Please note that there are many different packages so choose your desired package carefully.

For example, if you wanted to start out with the Bronze Energy Enhancer Pack – here in Canada that package costs $99.95.

This will enroll you in the company as a distributor and send you your product, as well as your distributor kit, a DVD and whatever else is listed in the package.

Click “Continue”.

(5) On the next page enter in your New Distributor Information and create your account.  Continue through and complete the order.

From that point forward, when you order your next products, you will be able to purchase them at wholesale pricing which is typically at least 20% below retail.

* If at any point in the process you are asked to enter a Sponsor or Affiliate ID or code, my sponsor ID is 775657.  It should auto-tag you with that when you use my link on this page, but just in case it didn’t you will need to use that code.

Business Side?

As I mentioned before, Lifewave distributes it’s product through a network marketing model of distribution like a lot of other highly successful companies in the world.

What this means is that there is a business opportunity side to this company that you could get involved with.

Obviously this is not something that’s for everyone, but when you sign-up as a Distributor in the company and you purchase product you are automatically eligible to start earning commissions on anyone you refer to the company, or anyone who purchases product through your replicated retail store site.

Meaning, lets say that you purchase the product and realize that it is absolutely amazing.

And lets say that you want to share it with some of your friends who you know will benefit from this.

Perhaps you know someone who is a runner who could benefit from the Energy Enhancer patches.

Or perhaps you know someone who would be interested in the anti-aging benefits of the patches or someone who constantly suffers from chronic pain.

Well, you can actually start making a part time, or even potentially a full time income by telling people about this line of products.

If you’ve been looking for a business opportunity with a company that has a good product and an amazing compensation structure as well as a good leadership team, this is it!

I’ve been looking for a company like this for over 10 years.

What’s even more awesome is that if you do decide to look into the business side of this company a bit more seriously, you would get the opportunity to work with me personally one-on-one as well as Mark and Gregory who are powerhouses  within this company.

Like I mentioned before…the business opportunity side of this company is not for everyone, but if it peaks your interest, don’t hesitate to email me with any questions you might have.

And if it’s not for you, that’s OK too, but definitely at least check out the products – and make sure you sign up as a Distributor so that you can save yourself some money by getting access to wholesale prices.

If you would like to get involved in the business side, simply follow the exact same instructions as above to become a Distributor and then contact me to let me know that you’d like my help building this business.

I’ll be glad to give you more information about the business and how you could potentially start making some part time or full time income with Lifewave.

http://www.lifewavecanada.com

So it’s been about a week since a friend of mine sent me a copy of “Your Wish is Your Command” – a 14 CD audio set, produced by Kevin Trudeau of the Global Information Network.

I’ve completed listening to all the CD’s and I absolutely love this thing.

Out of all the different books, CD’s, DVD’s and programs out there on the Law of Attraction, and more specifically related to building wealth – I think this is the simplest, most complete and unique product on the market – period.

If you’d like to learn more about “Your Wish is Your Command“, check out my previous post.

In this post, however, I want to talk about my first impressions of the Global Information Network (GIN).

What is the Global Information Network?

The Global Information Network (GIN) is something unique.

At it’s most basic form, it’s simply a group / society of like-minded individuals who help each other to achieve their respective goals, dreams and desires.

Membership in GIN is by invitation only.

After about a week of research into this group / society, I have to say I’m starting to really dig this thing.

Being totally honest, I was originally rather skeptical about this thing.

The last thing I’m looking for in my life right now is some kind of “thing” to join.

I’ve got my businesses and Blogs to run, and not a lot of time outside of those things to pursue yet another “thing”.

However, the more research I do on this thing, the more I realize that this could be way too big of an opportunity to pass by because I’m “too busy” to fully understand it.

Over the last 5 days or so I’ve had numerous conversations with various friends via telephone and I have been trying explain to them what GIN is and why I think it’s interesting.

The funny thing is that just when I think I understand this thing, I learn something new about it and have  yet another “Aha” moment, and I have to call my friends again to re-explain things.

At first I thought GIN was just another multi-level marketing (MLM) company.  Now, even though GIN has an optional MLM component to it – it’s not really an MLM.

And I’m not saying that because I think MLM’s are bad, or because they’re “scams” or “pyramid schemes” or any crap like that.  I’m not that ignorant.  Most MLM’s out there are awesome.  I’ve been in a few myself and there are many benefits to MLM’s.

No, the reason I say that GIN is not just an MLM is because the optional MLM component of it is really just that – optional.

Meaning, some people who become part of GIN may choose to participate in the MLM aspects of the group, but you don’t have to.

If you’re already in another MLM, and not interested in this component of GIN, that’s totally fine – you don’t have to be.  GIN can still help you to skyrocket your results in the MLM you’re already in!

That’s what’s cool about it.

Also, if you’ve got ZERO interest in pursuing any MLM’s or the MLM portion of GIN, that’s cool too – you don’t have to.

Meaning, if you’ve already got a business you’re building or a career path you’re pursuing that you’re happy with – GIN can still help you skyrocket your results in those areas of your life.

In fact it can help you in all the areas of life – not just business / money related.

The information shared with GIN members encompasses all aspects of life / wealth – including health, relationships, career, business and of course wealth building.

Once I realized that even though GIN has an optional MLM component to it – and it is not really just an MLM – I got even more excited about it.

You can take the information you learn from GIN and the people you meet and the contacts you make within the company and apply it to help you build any type of business – whether that be a Blog, an affiliate marketing business, or any other type of business or career path.

I’m still learning more about GIN and the benefits of becoming a (paid) member, and in the meantime I’m just going through a lot of the FREE training they provide to affiliate (free) members.  I have to say that so far I’m really impressed with what they offer even just free of charge.

For example, yesterday I listened to an audio program called “How to Build a Business When You’re Flat Broke” and I was blown away by how cool it was.

Awesome, practical advice on how to start building your business (any business really) even if right now your credit cards are maxed out and you’re totally broke.

Affiliate members get access to this program free of charge.  See below if you’d like an invite to become an affiliate member.

Who the Global Information Network is NOT For

Based on my research so far, I can confidently say that I know who would benefit from checking out GIN.

More importantly, I am pretty sure I know who GIN is NOT for.  If the following points describe you, then GIN is probably NOT for you:

• People looking for yet another “Get Rich Quick” MLM opportunity
• People who are happy with the normal “Work Mon-Fri, 9-5 from age 25-65, then retire broke.” life plan 95% of the North American population is on
• People whose #1 value in life is to fit in, be normal, and to try not to stand out in any way
• People who are deathly afraid to take any calculated risks in life in any way, shape or form
• People who consider the nightly news, the government, and Wikipedia as the most reliable sources for “truth”
• People who think that the Law of Attraction is complete hogwash

If these points describe you, then GIN is probably not for you.

So who is GIN for then?

Once again, I’m only speaking from my own initial first impressions and about a week’s worth of research and from going through their free affiliate training here – but I think GIN is for four types of people:

(1) Entrepreneurs / Business People – GIN is for entrepreneurial minded / business people who are either running their own companies, or are on a career path with a company that they enjoy working with.  People who are not necessarily looking for another business opportunity, job or anything like that, but who are more interested in personal development and becoming more successful in life and in the projects / businesses they are already participating in.

So for example, let’s say you work for a company X and you love your job there, but you’re just interested in learning how to make more money (working at X) or through investments, etc. or just looking for life success principles in other areas of life such as health, relationships etc.  If that describes you, then GIN is for you.

(2) People Looking for a Business Opportunity to Make Money – If you’ve been looking to learn from the best business minds on this planet, and at the same time to be exposed to a ground-floor, fast growing opportunity that offers you a long term, residual income, then GIN is for you as well.

(3) People Who Are Broke – If you’re in a position in your life right now where you have a burning desire to succeed and take things to the next level, but you feel held back by the fact that you’re currently broke, with credit cards totally maxed out and don’t feel like you can “afford” another business opportunity – then GIN is definitely for you as well.

(4) People Looking for World Class Personal Development Materials – If you’re just looking for access to the world’s best personal development materials which are not available anywhere else, then GIN is for you as well.

That’s pretty much it.  If you any (or all) of these describe you, then GIN is probably for you.

My Membership with GIN

As I mentioned in my previous Blog post, I’m currently NOT a paying member with GIN.

Why?

Well, it’s very simple.

First of all, I only started doing research on this opportunity about a week ago.

When I first heard about it, I was a bit skeptical but because of my friend’s recommendation I decided to at least sign up as a (free) affiliate member to see what the company is all about.

Signing up as an affiliate member does NOT give you access to the same type of training that real members get, but it does give me the opportunity to (1) feel the energy of the organization from the inside, and (2) to check out what free resources they give away to non-paying members.

By doing that, I can test out to see how well I like the company without having to commit to being a full paying member yet.

My idea was to go through the free affiliate training to see how I like that first, before I decide to join.

So far I really like what I’m seeing.

When I first heard about this thing I was only about 2% interested in potentially joining as a member.

When I started going through the “Your Wish is Your Command” audio’s, I became about 60% interested in joining as a member.

When I signed up for their (free) affiliate program, I became about 80% interested once I saw all the cool stuff you get access to even with just a free membership.

Now that I’ve gone through some of the affiliate training, I’m about 90% interested.

I’ll write more Blog posts as I go through all the training and if/when I decide to become a full member I’ll let you guys know.

How to Sign Up as an Affiliate

As I mentioned before, becoming a member of GIN is by invitation only.

Even the (free) affiliate membership requires an invitation from an existing GIN member/affiliate.

If you’d like to join GIN as an affiliate (or a member of course), you can use my invitation code – which is simply “paulymath” to join.

Remember, don’t sign up if you’re someone like the type of person I described above in the “Who GIN is NOT For” section above.  If that’s you, please don’t sign up.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am also offering a free copy of my eBook “Law of Attraction Turbocharge” to anyone who signs up on my GIN Team as an affiliate (or member of course).

As soon as you sign up, your name/email will pop up under my account and I’ll send you a free eBook version of my book – Law of Attraction Turbocharge which I currently sell on Amazon.

This is my gift to you for giving GIN a try as part of my team.

There is no cost associated with becoming a GIN member.  This is not a “trial” or anything like that.  You will not be charged anything for being an affiliate.

You will, however, be given access to success training materials that could help you to make money.  You will also get access to other affiliate member benefits such as participating in their weekly draws where they give away $500 in cash to random winners each week.  You can get more details on that inside.

Of course by being invited through my code you can also upgrade to a full paying membership at any time – like I’m thinking of doing – but there is no obligation to do so – ever.  It’s 100% your choice.

All the affiliate sign up does is give you access to some of the free information GIN offers to affiliates such as the “How to Build a Business When You’re Flat Broke” audio program which you’ll get access to instantly after signing up.

Once again, I understand GIN is not for everyone.

I just wanted to share this with you guys since I know a lot of you are interested in personal development materials, the Law of Attraction, entrepreneurship, health and building wealth – and GIN offers some unique and awesome resources on those topics.

If you click on the banner below, it will take you to the sign-up page having already pre-filled my “paulymath” invitation code:

Please note that when you click on this banner it will say:

“I want to apply for membership in the Global Information Network (GIN). I understand that I may cancel my membership at any time, and that all Membership Dues, including Initiation Fees are nonrefundable.”

Don’t be alarmed by this, they are only referring to “Membership Dues” *IF* you choose to upgrade to a paid membership later on.  If you’re just signing up as an affiliate, there is no fees and you don’t even have to enter in your credit card or anything like that.

Once you fill in your information on this page and click “CONTINUE”, you will be taken to the next page where you need to select the “AFFILIATE” option to sign up as an affiliate. Once again, you will NOT be required to enter in a credit card or to pay for this option (since it’s free).

If you do select one of the PAID MEMBER options, then of course you will be required to enter in a credit card and pay. Just don’t confuse the two. It’s pretty obvious and self explanatory, but I figured I’d mention it.

Alternatively, you can visit this page and enter my affiliate code “paulymath” to get access:

This evening marked the final day of my Weight Loss Challenge against Tyler Cruz.

As a quick recap, we started the weight loss challenge on May 24th and we each agreed to lose 14% of our starting body weight.

My starting weight on May 24th was 216.0 lbs, so my target weight loss was 30.2lbs for a final weight of 185.8lbs or less.

Final Weigh In Video

As you can see in the video, I weighed in at 1.0 lb less than my target weight of 185.8lbs so I made my weight.

Tyler made his weight too, so we both lost over 30lbs since starting this challenge.

Weight Loss Graphs

Here are our combined weigh loss graphs.

The Journey Up Till Sept 1st

For anyone just tuning in now, I documented my weight loss journey up until September 1st in these posts:

May 24 – Weight Loss Challenge – Paul vs Tyler – Rematch
May 29 – Weight Loss Challenge – My 2011 Strategy
June 12 – Weight Loss Challenge – Paul vs Tyler – Day 19
June 23 – Weight Loss Challenge – Paul vs Tyler – Day 30
June 29 – Weight Loss Challenge – Paul vs Tyler – Day 36
July 04 – Weight Loss Challenge – Paul vs Tyler – Day 41
July 06 – Dr. Bernstein Diet – Day 1
July 11 – Dr. Bernstein Diet – Day 7
July 18 – Dr. Bernstein Diet – Day 14
July 25 – Dr. Bernstein Diet – Day 21
Aug 01 – Dr. Bernstein Diet – Day 28
Aug 08 – Dr. Bernstein Diet – Day 35
Aug 15 – Dr. Bernstein Diet – Day 42
Aug 22 – Dr. Bernstein Diet – Day 49
Sept 01 – 30lbs Weight Loss Target Reached

The Last 3 Weeks

From September 1st until my update post today I didn’t do any updates.

I won’t deny that laziness was a big factor for that.  I got really tired of doing weekly updates.  I hit my 30lbs weight loss target on September 1st and I didn’t really want to talk about my weight anymore – to be honest.

A 120 day weight loss challenge is a long time to be focusing on your weight and weighing yourself every single day.  It got kind of old after a while, so I decided not to talk about it anymore after I hit my target.

During the last 3 weeks, in addition to continuing to eat healthy foods, I did a lot of experimenting with portion control and learning how to eat the foods I previously enjoyed and craved, like pizza, or McDonald’s or fish’n'chips, but just in smaller quantities. I also paid more attention to how eating those types of foods – even in small quantities – affected my mood, energy levels and of course my weight.

Some of these foods, in small portions didn’t affect me in any negative way that I could perceive.  I still had lots of energy, and was in a good mood etc., and my weight didn’t go up.  Other foods which tasted good, did affect me right away – making me feel sluggish, and in a down/depressed mood.

Another thing that I was monitoring pretty closely is the process of replenishing my glycogen levels coming off the strict portion of the Dr. Bernstein diet.  I knew that the process of replenishing those levels of sugar/water in my liver would cause my weight to go up by at least 3-5lbs – not in terms of fat gained, but in terms of glycogen/water retained by my liver.  If you missed it, I talked about the whole glycogen thing in this post.

This is where most people freak out and start panicking – when their body re-gains that 3-5lbs of glycogen/water weight.  It’s a natural process though and it’s how the body works.  It doesn’t mean that you’re gaining fat, it just means you’re replenishing your glycogen stores, so it’s to be expected.

From September 1st to the 14th my weight fluctuated between 186 – 190 lbs or so.

I knew that in order to hit my final weigh-in weight of 185.8lbs I was going to have to go back on a stricter diet and exercise program in my last week of the competition, however I ran into an unforeseen obstacle.

The Injury

My original plan for the final week of the competition was to significantly increase my exercise levels and run every day on the treadmill for at least 3-5kms.  I was going to start this 7 days before my final weigh-in and do it every single day.

However, after my first 4km run mid last week, I somehow injured my tailbone while running.  I didn’t fall or anything like that but I think I just over-strained myself somehow due to running with an improper posture.

This put a huge dent in my exercise plans as I was basically bed-ridden for a few days and I wasn’t able to actually run until Monday – with just 3 days left in the competition.

In the end I just ended up doubling up on some runs, running 2x/day on Monday and Tuesday and then once on Wednesday and I hit my target weight.

My Advice

I will end this post with two pieces of advice for anyone looking to lose some weight.

Firstly, before you go looking for the next diet, or exercise program or some shake that will make you lose X pounds in X days, start with your beliefs.  Everything starts with your beliefs – especially the subconscious ones you’re not even aware of.  PSYCH-K can be of huge benefit here.

Secondly, invest in a diet program with a proven track record.  Losing weight is hard enough even when you’re doing things the right way.  There’s no need to try to stumble your way through trial and error dieting strategies you pieced together from various places.

After having gone through it, I recommend the Dr. Bernstein weight loss clinics.  If there isn’t one near you, find an alternative that has the same proven track record.

Today is Day 100 of my Weight Loss Challenge with Tyler Cruz, and Day 59 of being on the Dr. Bernstein Diet.

As a quick recap, our competition is for each of us to lose at least 30lbs by Sept 21st.  Whoever doesn’t weigh in at least 30lbs lighter by Sept 21st, has to pay the other person $650 if they hit their goal – or $325 to the BC SPCA if neither of us hit our target.

My starting weight at the beginning of this competition, on May 24th was 216lbs.

Eight days ago, on August 22nd, I weighted in at 190lbs.

Now, even though I still had until September 21st to drop down to my target weight of 186lbs, while writing my update post I decided to set a goal for myself to lose the remaining 4lbs and to hit 186.0 lbs by today – September 1st.

I’m happy to report that I hit my target weight today – weighing in at 186.0 lbs.

Now, I’m not out of the woods yet as far as the contest is concerned as I still have to take into account a couple of factors:

1. Morning weight vs evening weight.  Typically I weigh-in a little bit lighter in the mornings on an empty stomach, than in the evening after dinner.  My final weigh-in will happen on Sept 21st at 10pm, so that will be my “evening weight”, which means I have to allocate at least 0.5 – 1.0 lbs extra for that.
2. Weight in clothes difference.  For my final weigh in I will be wearing slightly heavier clothing than I normally do for my morning weigh-ins.
3. Camera.  I have to allocate about 1lb extra for the camera that I will be holding in my hand while doing my final weigh-in, since that is what I did for my starting weigh-in.

These three factors combined mean that I still have to lose at least 1-2lbs minimum in order to weigh in at -30lbs on Sept 21st.

Of course with $650 on the line, there is no way I’d cut it that close anyways so I want to make sure I’m weighing in at a much lower weight than 186lbs on that day just in case.

Having said that, I’m not worried since I still have just under 3 weeks to lose enough weight for the “buffer”.

My Plan So Far

My plan in losing this 30lbs so far has been split up into two Phases.

Phase 1

During Phase 1 of my plan I actually made almost no “physical world” changes of any kind in my plan.

For the first 42 days of the challenge I simply focused on two things in Phase 1:

1. Aligning myself spiritually with manifesting a healthy, fit and energized body.
2. Aligning my mental beliefs with manifesting a healthy, fit and energized body.

Those were the two things my intuition told me to focus on first.

Meanwhile, my competitor – Tyler Cruz – who doesn’t believe in concepts like aligning yourself spiritually or mentally and pretty much mocks it as “woo woo” stuff, jumped straight into making physical world changes to his diet and exercise regime.

Ten years ago I was just like him, and I too thought that “success” is all just about taking action in the physical world.

Then I learned that 90% of “success” in any endeavor has nothing to do with the physical world, or the actions you take.

Without spiritual and mental alignment, action accomplishes nothing long term except one thing – burnout.  I learned that the hard way 10 years ago.  Today I know better than to ignore the spiritual & mental realms.

During my Phase 1 spiritual and mental preparation phase, Tyler was all excited checking in with me on a daily basis seeing yet another day of him losing weight and me accomplishing “nothing”.

In fact, if you look at a comparison of our weight loss graphs from May 24th to July 1st, here’s what they looked like:

Imagine how excited Tyler must have been on this day, seeing me weigh in at 215 lbs – having lost virtually no weight in the first 40 days or so in the competition.

On the same day, he weighed in at 204.4lbs which meant that he had lost 8.4lbs in the same time period.

That is typically the type of results you see if you jump in and make “physical world” changes ignoring everything else.

You see fairly quick, physical world results which can be very exciting.

This is also why 99% of weight loss programs out there IGNORE the spiritual & mental side of things. They know that the only way to get people to buy a program or diet is to show them instant, physical world results IMMEDIATELY after starting the program.

That is also why most weight loss programs out there fail.

Phase 2

For Phase 2 of my plan I was intuitively guided to start the Dr. Bernstein diet, which I started on July 5th – just 4 days after the 215lbs weigh-in I just mentioned.

Now let’s take a look at another graph.

This one shows what has happened up until today – Sept 1st. In this graph we’re also looking at the number of pounds lost, instead of just actual weight since Tyler and I weighed in at different starting weights.

As you can see I have not only caught up to Tyler’s weight loss, I have surpassed him as well.

I am now 9.2 lbs ahead of him in the competition, whereas on just two months ago on July 1st I was 7.4lbs behind.

Now, the funny thing is that for anyone who doesn’t believe in “woo woo” stuff like making the spiritual and mental shifts necessary for weight loss, they’ll just look at my results and point to the Dr. Bernstein diet alone as the source of my results.

They’ll say that the reason I’ve lost 29lbs in the last 2 months is because I just took “action” and stopped eating crap and started eating the Dr. Bernstein diet.

And while it is true that I did take action, and I did make dietary and exercise changes in the last two months – those things are not the CAUSE of the weight loss. They are the EFFECT of the Spiritual & Mental changes that preceded the actions.

The false belief that the true source of weight loss comes from physical world changes (like diet & exercise) is about as accurate as saying that the true source of electricity is your wall outlet, or that the true source of water is your tap, or that the true source of money is an ATM machine.

Before and After Pics

Here’s my before / after pics from May 24th and today.

As you can see, even though I’ve lost 30lbs, I still have some weight to lose. I’d guesstimate around 20 lbs more to really hit my ideal weight range.

What’s Next?

Well, I’ve still got 3 weeks to go in the competition, so I’m going to continue losing weight as I want to make sure I have a nice buffer for my Sept 21st weigh-in.

I also have some ideas for what I want to do next after Sept 21st, but I am being intuitively guided not to worry about those things until after the Sept 21st weigh-in, so for now I’m just focusing on that.

Well, it’s been another week on the Dr. Bernstein diet.

As a quick recap, I’m on Day 49 of the Dr. Bernstein Diet and Day 90 of my Weight Loss Challenge with Tyler Cruz.

A couple weeks ago I went in for my “Maintenance” consultation at the Bernstein clinic and I got all the information about switching to maintenance.

However, I haven’t really been following the maintenance plan they set out for me.

I’ve been kind of doing an in-between diet, where on some days I’ve been eating pretty healthy as if I was still on the strict Dr. Bernstein diet, while on other days I’ve had some “cheat” meals here and there which are not really part of the diet or maintenance plan.

Nothing too unhealthy, but for example one day I had a baked chicken wrap and garden salad at Pizza Hut – with water (no pop).

The garden salad was pretty healthy, and most of what was in the wrap was healthy too except for the wrap itself.  Since it was a white wrap it doesn’t strictly qualify for the Bernstein plan.

Also, on another day I had a Vegetarian Pizza from Dominos on a thin crust.

Basically what I’ve been doing is experimenting a little bit with trying out some of my favorite foods, while trying to minimize how bad they are.

For example, in the past when I went to Pizza Hut I would order an actual pizza, with chicken wings and pop.  Now I’m ordering something that’s much healthier, but not perfect.

Same with the Dominos order.  Normally I used to order a pizza on thick crust, drink 2 cans of Coke with it and possibly some dessert.  Now even when ordering an unhealthy “cheat” meal, I still stuck to a veggie pizza on a thin crust and drank water, not pop.

I’m actually quite surprised how well I’ve been able to keep the weight off, considering I had a lot of such “cheat” meals this week.

Having said that, even though I’m pretty happy where I’m at, considering my experiments with eating foods not on the Bernstein plan (strict or maintenance) this week, I do think I need to do a minor tune-up on my beliefs again.

I found that as soon as I hit around 190lbs, it became way too easy for me to want to cheat.

I have a feeling that I have some beliefs about my body wanting to be at around 190lbs.

This is not surprising to me as it’s been a very long time since I’ve weighed less than 190lbs.  I’m not exactly sure how long, but I would estimate probably around 10 years since I’ve been in the 180′s, so it’s no wonder my body likes this weight.

I’m going to do some PSYCH-K balances tonight to help me drop down to the next level, moving closer towards my ideal weight.

Dr. Bernstein Diet – Results So Far

As of this morning, I weighed in at 190.0lbs.  This means I’ve lost a total of 22.8lbs in 7 weeks on the Dr. Bernstein Diet.

It also means I’ve lost a total of 26.0 lbs since starting my weight loss competition with Tyler Cruz.

Here’s my updated graph.

And here’s my comparison graph against Tyler Cruz:

Also, here’s some interesting stats between the two of us:

Basically, I’ve lost 26.0 lbs so far in the competition, which means I’ve got 4.0 lbs to go in order to hit my 30lbs target.  To hit that target between now and Sept 21st I need to lose an average of 0.14lbs/day.

That shouldn’t be a problem, considering that since I started the Bernstein diet I have averaged 0.47 lbs/day in weight loss in the last 7 weeks.

Tyler has lost 18.8lbs so far in the competition, which means he has 11.2lbs left to go to hit his 30lbs target.  To hit that target between now and Sept 21st he needs to lose an everage of 0.39lbs/day.

He started his diet right from Day 1 of the competition and he has averaged 0.21lbs/day.

But then again, you never know what will happen.  In the last week since I’ve switched to maintenance and have been cheating a bit, I’ve only lost 0.8lbs in 7 days which is a 0.11lbs/day average.

So I can’t start slacking now.

Setting a New Goal

Looking at these stats, I have just decided to set a new goal for myself.

I’m going to try to lose the remaining 4.0lbs I have to lose to meet my 30lbs target by September 1st.

That will give me a nice 21 day cushion to lose a bit more before the weight loss competition is over.

That basically gives me 8 days to lose 4.0 lbs.

That is NOT going to be easy, but I think if I push myself I can do it.

Wish me luck.

This week was my first week of being on the Dr. Bernstein “Maintenance Diet”.

I went in on Tuesday for my maintenance consultation, and got my maintenance booklets and the plan explained to me.

The plan makes total sense.  You basically start to add in certain foods, one by one each week and increasing your caloric intake.

The idea being that if you add in a few foods and a week later you didn’t gain any weight back, then you can add in the next batch of foods.

For example, if previously something like yogurt was not allowed, then the plan adds in yogurt (amongst other things) in a certain quantity and you measure what happens.

If you don’t gain any weight that week, then you can keep the yogurt and add in more stuff.  If you start to gain weight, then you take away the things you added and try again in smaller quantities.

The point being to slowly pull your body out of diet mode into normal eating mode, instead of shocking it out of diet mode and causing fast weight gain.

My First Week on Maintenance

I can’t really report what my first week was like on maintenance because I didn’t go on maintenance.

I am still sticking to the strict diet as before, since I still want to keep losing weight but I am no longer going in 3x/week for the accountability and the shots.

Instead I’ll be going in for 1 shot / week, but I’m still going to keep going with the strict diet.

Although I am still on the strict diet, this week I had gone out for dinner a few too many times and ate stuff which isn’t on the diet.

Meaning, at White Spot I ordered a salmon burger with caesar salad for example.  The bun for the burger wasn’t on the diet, but everything else inside the burger and in the salad was.  So I “cheated” a bit by having that bun, but then in exchange I just didn’t have my daily allowance of fruit for example.

All in all I think it evened out and for each meal that I ate out which wasn’t 100% Bernstein compatible, I made up for it somehow by removing calories somewhere else such as from my fruit portions etc.

Dr. Bernstein Diet – Results So Far

As of this morning, I weighed in at 190.8lbs.  This means I’ve lost a total of 22 lbs in 6 weeks on the diet.

It also means that I have lost a total of 25.2lbs since starting my weight loss competition with Tyler Cruz.

Here is my updated graph for this week:

As I am writing this post I just realized that I am now less than 5 lbs away from my target of losing 30lbs!  For some reason I thought I still had more than 5lbs.

I’m getting so close now, yaay!!!

I’m not going to make any comments about Tyler, except to say that he’s still doing his walks, increasing their distance and sticking to his diet.

You guys can be the judge of how well it’s working by looking at this graph.

We now have 36 days left in the competition.  I wonder if I can hit my 30lbs weight loss target by September 1st.  That would be sweet.

Dr. Bernstein Diet Review – After 6 Weeks

As with previous updates I still stand in my recommendation of the Dr. Bernstein diet program.

I’ve been very impressed with it ever since I started.

Even though I am not following the maintenance plan so I can’t comment on that specifically, I can say that I like the maintenance program because of it’s simplicity.

I like that they switch you down to a 1x/week schedule for shots and accountability and I like that they are offering the 1st month of maintenance for free right now.

I’m making a fairly significant change to my Bernstein diet plan this week.

Today marks Day 35 of being on the diet which also makes it Day 76/120 of my Weight Loss Challenge with Tyler Cruz.

This past week I had my 2nd appointment with my Dr. Bernstein clinic doctor and we went over my blood test results and weight loss results so far.

I was happy to hear that all my blood results returned normal.  I never go to the doctor so I honestly had no clue what to expect.  I was a bit worried that perhaps my cholesterol levels might have been a bit high due to my weight gain over the years, but they were normal.

Switching to Maintenance Mode

When you go on the Bernstein diet, there are two sets of weight loss targets that you set.

The first weight loss target is set by them, according to what they consider a “reasonably healthy” weight range for your body type / height etc.

For me, that body weight is anywhere in the range of 185-195lbs.

The second weight loss target is set by you, based on whatever weight you would like to be at.

As part of the program, they allow you to be on the diet up until you reach the lower end of the range that they set for you, and then the doctor approves your weight loss below that level in 5lbs increments.

So for example, if I wanted to set my target with them to 175lbs, then I would be able to stick to their diet plan until I reached 185lbs and then the on-staff doctor would have to approve me to lose the extra 10lbs on top of that.

I guess they do this to prevent problems with people who want to lose way too much weight and become underweight.

Anyway, one of the benefits of dropping your weight within their target range (once again 185-195lbs for me) is that once you reach that goal, you’re allowed to switch to “Maintenance Mode” if you’d like.

Of course you can stick to the diet and keep losing weight, but as long as you’re within that range you “qualify” for “Maintenance Mode”.

Last week on my Wednesday visit I weighed in at around 196lbs which puts me very close to the 195lbs I need to be at to qualify for “Maintenance Mode”.

So I had a chat with my doctor and he asked me what I wanted to do – keep losing weight or switch to maintenance.

Now, obviously I want to keep losing weight, but at the same time there is the $600/month cost associated with going in for my 3x/week appointments with them.

Also, there is the drive there and back I have to do 3x/week which costs me time as well.

On top of that I have also been noticing that eating healthy the way I eat now has become a habit for me and I don’t really need the 3x/week accountability anymore like I did in the beginning.

So after meditating on it a bit, I have decided to switch to “Maintenance Mode” on the diet.

The cool thing is that the first month of maintenance is free of charge.  Right now they include it as part of your start-up costs to get started on the diet.

So by switching to maintenance mode, I’ll be saving myself $600 plus the time to drive to the clinic an extra 2x/week.

On maintenance mode they basically increase your daily calories, allowing you to have some of the foods that were originally taken out of the stricter diet back.

You also no longer go in for your shot 3x/week, instead you now only go in once a week.

So you still get the accountability of weighing in and talking to someone once a week, and your weekly shot, but it’s not as hardcore as going in 3x/week.

Since I still want to lose a lot more weight, what I’m actually going to do is switch to “Maintenance Mode” and go in for my shot/appointments once a week, but I’m still going to follow the diet pretty strictly like I am now.

I kind of wondered if my energy levels would drop if I stopped going in for my shots 3x/week but so far that hasn’t happened.

Last week I only had one single shot on my Wednesday appointment.  The clinic was closed on Monday and I canceled my Friday shot because I told them I’m switching to “Maintenance Mode”.

So essentially I’ve already dropped down to having one shot per week and so far I feel totally fine.

I haven’t had any lack of energy or anything like that, which is encouraging.

In the last week I have also only had one appointment and haven’t needed the extra 2 days of accountability.  I’m sticking to my diet pretty well every single day without any exceptions or cheat days or cheat meals.

Tomorrow I’m going in for my “Maintenance Mode” consultation where they will teach me what foods I can put back into my diet to maintain my weight.

I’ll take that information and keep it for later on when I actually stop doing the diet.  For now I’ll probably just stick to what I’m doing right now, since it’s working.

We’ll have to wait to see if my results change over the next few weeks.  If I stop losing weight, I’ll switch back to the hardcore diet mode with 3x/week shots etc.

Dr. Bernstein Diet – Results So Far

As of this morning, I weighed in at 193.8lbs.  This means I’ve lost a total of 19lbs in 5 weeks on the diet.

This also means that I have lost a total of 22.2lbs since starting my weight loss competition with Tyler Cruz.

Here’s my updated graph for this week:

As you can see by the blue line, I’m well below my “pacer” line to lose 30lbs by September 21st.

In fact, it’s exciting to know that I only have another 7.8lbs left to lose to hit my 30lb weight loss target. Yaay!!!

So how is Tyler doing?

Not so good.

This graph pretty much says it all.

As you can see, Tyler’s weight loss has turned into a battle of sorts with him struggling to keep losing weight.

He’s going on all these super long walks, walking and walking for 10kms or more, exhausting himself and thinking that it will somehow help him lose weight quicker.

In the meantime though, he’s constantly in a mental battle finding it hard to stick to eating healthy foods.  The other day he polished off 6 cabbage rolls (about 800 calories) and a bowl of popcorn as a late night snack.

Who knows what other snacks he hasn’t even mentioned to me.

In his last few weight loss update posts he claimed to have some kind of secret weapon for weight loss, but it doesn’t look like it’s working very well.

I’ve tried to tell him many times that if you don’t have the right mindset and beliefs all aligned properly first, you won’t be able to stick to the physical world action steps required to reach long term results.

You can’t fight your subconscious mind forever.  Eventually will power runs out and the subconscious mind wins.

Unfortunately his beliefs don’t include believing in things like beliefs.  He thinks it’s all “mumbo jumbo woo woo” stuff.

So, on he goes, walking, and walking, and walking…

… then it’s back to binging on cabbage rolls or worse, and the cycle continues.

I hope he figures it out pretty soon, we only have 43 days left and he still has almost 14lbs to lose.

I’d really hate to have to take his hard-earned $650 at the end of this competition.

Dr. Bernstein Diet Review – After 5 Weeks

Every week that goes by I am liking the Bernstein diet more and more.

It’s become a habit for me so eating this way is easy and the pounds just keep peeling off.

My appointment with the doctor this past week was very positive and I felt like he totally had my best interests at heart.

The doctor and the nurses at the center didn’t try to talk me into sticking to the 3x/week appointment schedule, instead of switching to the maintenance mode.

They were super cool about it, no pressure tactics of any kind were involved.

They told me what my options were and let me decide what I wanted to do.

After having just the one shot this past week, I still feel like I have a tonne of energy so I don’t think it will be a problem sticking to the 1x/week maintenance mode while still losing weight.

In fact, this past week I have lost 3lbs, which is up from the 1.8lbs I lost the week before.

My weight loss progress on the diet so far looks like this:

Week 1 – 7.6lbs
Week 2 – 3.4lbs
Week 3 – 3.2lbs
Week 4 – 1.8lbs
Week 5 – 3.0lbs

I’m very happy with this.

What do you guys think?

As always, my latest body pics are available on my Body Transformation page.

Today is Day 28 of me being on the Dr. Bernstein Diet, and Day 69/120 of my Weight Loss Challenge with Tyler Cruz.

Besides the weight loss results, one of the best things I like about this diet is that I always seem to have a lot of energy.

On other diets I’ve been on, I have always felt tired or weak while dieting, but on the Bernstein diet I haven’t experienced any of that until the other day.

On Saturday, my wife and I had a family brunch at our house and instead of eating my typical Bernstein diet type foods I had Reuben sandwiches with corned beef and sauerkraut.

Calorie wise, the amount of food I ate on Saturday wasn’t any more than what I eat on a typical Bernstein day, but I did forgot to take the multivitamin and potassium/calcium supplements my Bernstein diet recommends.

By Saturday evening I found myself being so tired.  I had zero energy to do anything, except sit on the couch and watch TV.  Even watching TV wasn’t relaxing enough, and I ended up falling asleep and having a nap.  Later on in the evening I went to bed early as I was so tired.

Holy crap I could totally tell the difference between eating my typical healthy food low-calorie meals I normally eat now, and the not so healthy low-calorie meals I ate on Saturday.  I think not taking my supplements also made a difference.

So the next day I went back to eating a lot more vegetables and healthy foods, took my supplements and my energy returned.

Dr. Bernstein Diet – Results So Far

After 4 weeks on the Dr. Bernstein diet I have lost a total of 16.0 lbs so far.

This also means I have lost a total of 19.2 lbs in my Weight Loss Competition against Tyler Cruz.

Here is my weight loss graph so far in the competition:

Tyler is still lagging behind at 15.4 lbs lost in the competition and it looks like he had another 5-6 day setback this past week again.

Here is a comparison graph of my weight loss vs Tyler’s.

Exercise Update

As far as exercise is concerned I’ve been continuing to do my runs and walks 3-5 times a week, although this past week I found myself so busy launching my new project that I didn’t do any runs.

This is something I plan on correcting today.

So far in the last two months I walked/ran around 25 km in June and around 38 km in July for a total of 63 kms in both months.

Free Gift From Amped Media

My friends over at Amped Media sent me a free gift the other day to help me with my runs.

It’s a new pair of Nike Free Run+ 2 Running shoes.

My previous Nike running shoes are still in pretty good shape, but they do have almost 500 kms on them now and I have been thinking about getting a second pair of running shoes for running outdoors.

So this new pair of shoes from Amped Media came at the perfect time.

I’ll probably use my current pair for when I run outdoors, and save these new shoes for when I run on the treadmill.  I can’t wait to try them out.

Thanks Amped Media!

For those of you who don’t know, Amped Media is an affiliate network who I have been doing business with for years.  In fact, they are currently one of only a small handful of networks I do business with and by far the one I have had the most success with.

When I was first getting started with affiliate marketing back in 2008, they were extremely valuable in helping me to build profitable affiliate campaigns and I’m still running campaigns with them to this day – although on a much smaller scale than I did back in 2008/2009 due to the affiliate restrictions that Google brought in for their Adwords advertisers at the end of 2009.

Dr. Bernstein Diet Review – After 4 Weeks

This past week I only dropped from -14.2 lbs to -16.0 lbs while on the Bernstein diet.

That’s a loss of only 1.8lbs, which is a bit more than half of what I lost in the previous two weeks (3.4lbs in week 2, and 3.2lbs in week 3).

As I already mentioned above, this weekend I didn’t fully follow the diet 100% in terms of the type of foods I ate on Saturday, but I did eat roughly the same amount of calories I should have eaten.

Also, I had a really busy week with projects overall and with the launch of my new project, so I didn’t do any runs/walks this week.

So I can’t really blame the Bernstein diet for a lack of spectacular results on a week where I didn’t follow it 100% and when I didn’t do any exercise.

At the end of the day, losing 1.8 lbs in a week isn’t bad at all, although with the strict nature of the diet, the costs and the vitamin shots that I’m taking I expect to lose 3-4lbs/week for it to be worth it.

As always, you can see my updated body pics on my Body Transformation page if you’d like.

With four weeks completed on the Dr. Bernstein diet, what do you guys think of my results so far?

Today is day 21 of my Dr. Bernstein Diet, and day 62/120 of my Weight Loss Challenge with Tyler Cruz.

Last week I had my first appointment with my Dr. Bernstein clinic doctor.

I’m usually not a very big fan of medical doctors when it comes to nutrition / weight loss related issues as most doctors have almost no nutritional training in their background, but I was actually quite pleasantly surprised with this doctor’s visit.

The doctor actually knew what he was talking about related to nutrition and weight loss, and I didn’t hesitate to ask some very direct questions.

I found one of the questions he answered very enlightening.  It’s something that has been bugging me for a long time, related to weight loss.

Why Do We Lose Weight Quickly Only at First?

This question has been bugging me for a long time.

I’ve gone on so many different diets and have lost a lot of weight very quickly, usually in the first 1-2 weeks.  However, after losing the initial 5-10lbs or so, it seems like my weight loss progress comes to a grinding halt.

If it was a matter of me falling off the diet after the first two weeks and not following it properly anymore, then I would understand, but that is not what happens.

I typically follow a diet perfectly, adhering to all the guidelines and in the first 1-2 weeks I’ll lose 5-10lbs or more very quickly.

Then, while still following the diet perfectly, my weight loss results will diminish greatly.

I have always found this to be very frustrating and annoying, and never really understood why this happens.

The doctor I met with at the clinic last week finally shed some light on this.

Glycogen Weight Loss vs Fat Weight Loss

The secret to unraveling this mystery of the initial rapid weight loss we all experience when going on a diet is related to our glycogen stores in the body.

You see, besides bones, muscles and fat, the body also has a reserve tank of something called glycogen.  Glycogen is a type of carbohydrate / sugar based fuel that the body uses for short-term energy.

Although everyone’s body is slightly different, we might carry 5-10lbs or more of glycogen/water weight in our bodies.

Glycogen is stored in the liver and in our muscle cells, and for every gram of glycogen the body also stores 2-3 grams of water along with it.

Another thing to realize is that glycogen provides us with 4 calories of energy for every gram of glycogen, as opposed to fat being 9 calories per gram.

So what does all this add up to?

Well, lets say that through dieting we create a calorie deficit of 7,000 calories in one week.

7,000 calories / 4 calories per gram for glycogen = 1,750 grams of glycogen.

Meaning, the body will use up 1,750 grams of glycogen for that fuel.  That’s 1.75 kg or 3.86lbs.

So burning 7,000 calories of glycogen for fuel would result in a weight loss of 3.86lbs.  Not bad, right?

Well, it gets better.  You see, as I mentioned above, when the body stores glycogen it also stores 2-3x it’s weight in water as well.  So on top of the 3.86lbs of glycogen you will also shed about 7 – 10lbs of water along with that glycogen.

So that results in about 10-14lbs of “weight” loss (a combination of glycogen and water) in the first 7,000 calorie deficit we create through dieting.

So far, so good.

We get all excited seeing that weight loss, but what happens next?

Well, once the glycogen levels get depleted, THAT is when the body actually starts to burn fat for fuel, instead of glycogen.

So let’s say that once again we stick to our diet perfectly and in the following week we once again create a 7,000 calorie deficit (as an example).

However, this time around instead of burning glycogen for fuel, we’re burning fat.

How much weight will we lose?

Well, fat provides us with 9 calories per gram of fat.

So 7,000 calories / 9 calories per gram of fat = 778 grams which is 1.72lbs.

So, what does this mean?

Well, what this means is that hypothetically speaking, the difference between losing 7,000 calories of Glycogen vs 7,000 calories of FAT can be as much as 10-14lbs of weight loss vs 2lbs of weight loss for the same amount of calories.

If we know this going into a diet, then we can expect those first 5-14lbs of glycogen/water weight to disappear in the first week or two, followed by a  much slower weight loss of 2-3lbs in the following weeks.

However, if we don’t know this, then we get all excited for 1-2 weeks on any diet and then we feel like shit afterwords when our progress slows down.

The Great News

As sad as it is to see your weight loss progress slow down after the first week or two, the great news is that as soon as your weight loss slows down, it means you’re actually burning FAT off of your body.

You see, any glycogen/water weight loss is pretty much irrelevant because glycogen/water weight loss is NOT fat loss and fat loss is what we’re after.

Once you go off your diet, you’ll gain the glycogen/water weight back anyways but you’ll keep any fat loss.

So hypothetically, let’s say you start off at 200lbs and go on a diet for 8 weeks.  Your weight loss might looks like this:

Week 1, -10lbs, 190lbs (mostly glycogen/water weight loss)
Week 2, -3lbs, 187lbs (fat loss)
Week 3, -3lbs, 184lbs (fat loss)
Week 4, -3lbs, 181lbs (fat loss)
Week 5, -3lbs, 178lbs (fat loss)
Week 6, -3lbs, 175lbs (fat loss)
Week 7, -3lbs, 172lbs (fat loss)
Week 8, -3lbs, 169lbs (fat loss)
Week 9, +10lbs, 179lbs (re-gained glycogen/water weight)

Do you see the pattern?  The first -10lbs and the last +10lbs really don’t count.  They just represent your body losing glycogen & water and then regaining it back when you start eating “normal” again.

There’s nothing wrong with that.  It’s how the body works.

But the 21lbs of FAT loss is what really matters.  So this person would have gone from 200lbs to 179lbs in that 8 week period of time, with 21lbs representing actual real fat loss.

So the GOOD news is that as long as you’re sticking to your diet, when you start to see a slowing down of your weight loss after the first 1-2 weeks, that means you are now finally starting to actually burn FAT!

So don’t freak out if your weight loss slows down.  That’s a good thing, not a bad thing.

Of course if your weight is slowing down because you’re going back to your old bad eating habits, that’s a different story, but if you’re sticking to your diet/exercise program then it’s a good thing.

Dr. Bernstein Diet – Results So Far

As of this morning, I have lost 14.2lbs in 21 days on the Dr. Bernstein Diet.

This also puts me at a loss of 17.4lbs since starting my Weight Loss Challenge with Tyler Cruz.  That’s more than half way towards the 30lbs we agreed to lose by September 21st.

Here is my weight loss graph so far:

As you can see, I have now moved pretty far below the green “pacer” line and I’m hoping the graph will continue at the same pace or better.

I think I’m safely out of the initial glycogen / water weight loss phase of my program, which means I’ve burned 3.2lbs of fat in the last week.

I’m happy with that.

So if you look at my week-by-week weight loss so far on this diet it looks like this:

Week 1 -  7.6lbs lost (most likely glycogen/water weight + fat)
Week 2 – 3.4lbs lost (fat)
Week 3 – 3.2lbs lost (fat)

Understanding what I understand about glycogen/water weight loss now, this pattern makes total sense to me now.

What about Tyler Cruz?

Tyler’s actually been doing pretty well with his weight loss as well, until today.  We’ve been pretty much neck-to-neck with our weight loss stats every day until this morning when he jumped up by 1.6lbs.

I’m now 4.4lbs ahead of him in total weight lost in the challenge, with Tyler weighing in today at -13.0lbs and me at -17.4lbs.

Dr. Bernstein Diet – Review After 3 Weeks

In last weeks review of this diet I said that if I continue to lose weight at the same pace of 3-4lbs/week as I did in week 2 then I would be really impressed with this diet.

Well, in this past week I lost 3.2lbs so now I am really impressed.

Why this is super exciting for me is because on previous diets I have always had a good 1-2 weeks, but then I always seemed to have hit a brick wall every week after that.

This time I’m continuing to lose weight so I’m really happy with that.

As I wrote about earlier in this post, I also had my first actual doctors appointment at the Dr. Bernstein clinic this week.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the doctor actually knew about nutrition and weight loss, as compared to most medical doctors who usually know nothing about these subjects.

As part of going on this diet, the doctors also ask you to go in and get your blood tested for some of the most common things like cholesterol levels etc.

I did that last week as well, and we’ll be going over my results on my next visit.

Another thing I’ve realized too is that with my total weight loss of 17.4lbs in the Weight Loss Challenge so far, I have now lost more weight in one go than any other time in my life.

On other diets or weight loss programs I’ve been on, I’ve always lost 10-16lbs and then stopped the program, so I’m now entering into new territory for me weight loss wise.

I’m going to do some PSYCH-K balances around this as well to make sure that I don’t have any blockages, beliefs wise related to losing more than 16lbs of weight.

I don’t think I do, but I want to make sure.

As usual I’ll be taking my weekly pics and measurements and posting them on my Body Transformation page shortly.

If anyone is interested in doing the Dr. Bernstein diet, contact me to get a free gift from me if you tell them I referred you.