I have been a fitness enthusiast for many years. And for all those years, I have been striving to achieve a lean, hard abdominals if not a 2 or a 4 pack. One of the fallacies I used to entertain for over 10 years was —as long as I workout hard I will achieve those abs.

It wasn’t until 2005 (if I recall correctly) that I realized my desire was just a dream. As long as I didn’t get a handle on my eating habits, I will never see desired results. The realization came about after visiting the Men’s Health forum. If you have never visited it and are striving to achieve real results then you need to sign up (free registration) at that forum and ask lots and lots of questions. Not only that, but also that many people have shared a wealth of information on everything relating to fitness and more.

Most opinions are from real people who have gone through the journey and have reached their destination or have achieved desired results. So I educated myself reading many wonderful posts and started to change my habits.

Let’s get this straight from the start—if you are not ready – you will struggle! A lot of people think will power and discipline alone is enough to change. What they don’t understand is that your inner self must be congruent with your desires that your outer self is trying to achieve. Without harmony between your conscious and subconscious self, there won’t be 100% commitment. And to be successful, you need absolute 100% commitment. Unwavering, passionate and focused commitment.

And this, I was able to achieve only after a lot of trials and errors. If you are anything like me (loves ice cream!!!) then as long as you start again, every time you fail – you will eventually whack yourself in the head and ask a very important questions. Why do all the hard work if you are not serious about getting extra ordinary results?

In November 2007, I seriously examined my motives and realized that I was doing myself a gross injustice by continuing eating the way I was. Hey listen, I am healthy. As I write this, I am wearing size 6P to 4P clothes size.

I am 152cm tall and weigh 130 lbs (27% body fat so this means, my body is mostly muscle). I am an advanced level exerciser and can complete a 70 minute high intensity workout without a problem (most of the time- depending on my diet). Still, I ‘feel’ fat because I don’t have that one thing that I desire passionately: Hard Rock Abs!

So in December 2007 I embarked on a 100% eat clean challenge. I deliberately decided this month for the challenge because it is one month that I (indeed nearly all of us) over stuff ourselves on the wrong foods.

Remember I said you have to be 100% ready for change? Well, I wasn’t. But the great thing about this challenge was that I ate clean more often than not. My ice cream and frozen yogurts were replaced by fresh blackberries, blueberries and 0% MF yogurt 3x day containing 40 calories and only 3g of sugar!

Instead of alcohol over Christmas, I chose Perrier and Pellegrino with a big dash of fresh lime. When I needed a real sugar rush, I chose fresh orange juice, not from concentrate. Yes, lots of sugar content but as Dr. Oz said, it also comes with a lot of nutrients. And as long as you don’t go overboard even OJ can be a part of your healthy diet!

The Strategy

Now remember, these were set with my personality in mind. You can, if you choose— try my strategies or—modify them slightly to suit your personality and lifestyle.

Rule #1
Do not eat in bed! This was extremely hard for me since my regular TV is in the bedroom.
For years, I just got into the bad habit of eating in front of the telly. And when the telly is in the bedroom—oy!

Rule #2
Don’t buy anything unclean. This includes popcorn (one of my ex-favourites!) which is considered empty caloric snack and is allowed in some diets. Keep everything that contains high percentage of sugar and fat out of the home so you are not tempted. Hiding it doesn’t work (trust me – I’ve done that and failed miserably. Like everything “forbidden” these food becomes an obsession!

Rule #3
Eat 6 – 8 small meals a day. What does that mean? If it fits into your closed fist – it is one serving. The best way to measure that is go to your local dollar store and pick up those tiny plastic containers that will only hold about 30 grapes. Get 8 of those and plan your meals around that tiny thing! You will see – you will fall in love with the strategy as soon as you realize how your new eating habits doesn’t leave you feeling hungry or stuffy!

Rule #4
Do not eat carbohydrates (except for vegetables) after 3:00 pm. Now of course, if you have an active lifestyle in the pm then you can extend the deadline. The idea for me was to not eat any bread, pasta, potatoes or rice 7 hours before I went to sleep. I just found that this helped me wake up pekish – not exactly hungry, but ready to start the morning with a healthy breakfast!

Rule #5
Eat lean cuts of meats. Do not purchase any lunch meats or anything that is pre-packed and has been sitting in the grocer’s fridge for who knows how long! Buy fresh and freeze it yourself.

Rule #6
Eat a small high carbohydrate meal 2 hours before your workout. This is optional and very important if you are working out in the afternoon. You area already restricting meals and initially, you will have no energy to put in a high intensity workout. So to help your body move to optimum intensity, eat a small carb meal (and I mean small so you don’t get cramped up when working out!). This meal can simply be 1 steamed, baked or boiled sweet potato with 300 ml water. When I am unable to make myself a meal, I take half serving of my protein shake 30 minutes before my workout. !

Rule #7
Exercise!!! Very important – you have to kick start your body every morning so do a 15-30 minute workout in the morning if you don’t have the time. Same with the p.m. – if you think you don’t have the time, just do 15 minutes for your heart. Do something that will burn maximum calories – like jumping rope. If you are like me and collect home workout DVDs then Turbo Jam Fat Blaster or any of the Cathe DVDs will allow you to burn maximum calories. Cathe DVDs actually have some great pre-mixes that last anywhere from 20-37 minutes. Once you get started, you will love it!

Ideally, you should put in 3.5 hours of workout per week – that is if you are healthy or you don’t want to see your body change tout de suite! But if you are looking for incredible results, then you need to put in at least 5 hours of workout every week! For faster results, add 4 hours (total 9 hours) of workout every week! You have the tool and the option – so go ahead and plan your week!

Rule #8
Don’t let yourself down! You are your biggest supporter and only you can make things happen in your life. So decide on a goal, make the commitment to succeed and don’t let anyone or anything distract you. It will be hard initially, but if you stay true to your promise, things will get better and you will definitely succeed!

Rule#9
If your goal is to lose weight or if the goal is to stay at a certain weight – then promise yourself to start all over again, as soon as you gain 5 lbs! The last 10 pounds are very hard to lose so don’t let it reach to that level! Take action as soon as you realize your waistline is increasing again! Make it a lifetime promise and spare yourself future torture of going through the entire process again and again!

Rule#10
Drink lots and lots of water through out the day. You pee must run clear. You body musn’t tell you it is time to drink water. You must feel hydrated at all times. Even when you are working out, you should be sipping on water.

That’s it! Oh—one more thing: Pay it forward! You know the ups and downs of your journey. You have acquired little box of treasured tips. You learnt it all from someone – now it is your turn to pass on the knowledge! Allow the wheel of transformation to never stop. If you are not transforming then someone else should, because of you.