Friday 22 October 2010

Green Faces Diet: The Results

Hi everyone,

First of all im tired of the term "green faces" so for the rest of my life i will refer to it as GF. Oddly enough if you type GF diet into google im right at the top of the list! Internet fame - Job done.

Todays blog will reveal all the results of my clients during the GFD and i will try to conclude what i feel the best and worst things are about the past 3 weeks.

Who did it?

3 weeks ago, 10 people started the GF challenge. Mostly they were PT clients of mine, some work colleagues and myself. PT sessions per week for each individual ranged from 1 to 3 sessions/week, i will put the number next to the weigh loss in (brackets).

RCC clients excited at start of the GFD


The results

The weigh loss results were as follows:

DG - 107.9 - 102.7 (3 per week)
PD - 106.3 - 102.2 (1 per week)
KB - 60.4 - 55.5 (2 per week)
SP - 56.0 - 54.8 (3 per week)
ES - no change
CD - down approx 4kg
NW - down approx 4kg
DB - down approx 2kg
SF - down 1 kg
LP - no change

It was very noticable that the first 7 days are the most potent for this plan and some people lost up to 4kgs (8.8lbs). The 2 biggest results came from those who had admittedly put on weight through poor eating during summer holidays, so it was expected they would drop back down. After day 8 this plan gets very tiring -  Its not the energy but the lack of options/tastes available. There is only so many times you can eat brussel sprouts for breakfast and not question your sanity!

The best and worst

The best thing about this diet is obviously the immediate weight loss and health kick. For those who are 'stuck' in their weight loss quest, this may be the plan to bust through a plataeu.

The worst thing is the boredom. It's not that you want to really eat things that are bad - its just the menu becomes very bland, very quickly. See my GFD solution in the conclusion.

Client Comments

During the last 3 weeks i was continually interviewing my clients on how they felt, below are some of the most important things said:

"After only one week i haven't any of my usual PMS symptoms! My husband is a big fan of this diet"

GFD can reduce PMS symptoms. Thats a pretty powerful statement!

"I'm sleeping much better"

"I don't feel hungry at all"

"I'm so much calmer around my husband and child, in situations where i would normally get stressed"

"I have more energy at the end of the day"

"I can't do this a day longer - i have to add fruit today or i will go insane (Day 2)"

"I feel like i'm turning f*cking green"

"I had a coffee today and couldn't sleep"

"For the whole 3 weeks all i was thinking about was eating Haribo jelly sweets" (That was me)

The Hulk. Possibly the best GFD client of all time?

Goals and behaviours

What i found is that those who did not have a goal of losing that much weight were not 100% into it. Their goals were different from those who lost a lot of weight and their behaviours were different.

What is your goal? if it is to lose as much weight as possible as quickly as possible then the GFD is for you. If you are happy with your current levels then i would suggest not doing it. You have to want to lose the weight or its just not worth it.

Conclusion

We only took 3 weeks out of our usual lives to do this diet plan and its a great exercise in discipline and understanding your own body. I think it is brave to decide to do this and would like to congratulate all my clients who had a go and made some progress. Brave? yes. The easiest thing in the world to do is remain the same and not try to change your health and live better. The amount of times in the past few weeks, the 'normal' life around me put me in situations where i would definately break the plan. The problem with most people's lives is that every 5 days a weekend rolls around which brings the inevitable influx of calories, alcohol and inactivity. As i mentioned above - what is your goal? I also found it bizaare that some of my clients' (so called) friends were negative about the 3 week challenge. I really hate people who are so insecure they need to de-rail those who are trying to make changes. Choose your goal and own it 100% - if someone tries to de-rail you... tell them to F*ck off... seriously.

Fact:  GFD is great for quick return to normal body weight after a period indulgence. I dont care what anyone says/thinks about the past 3 weeks, me and my clients lost a total of 24kg in less than a month - has anyone else in the region done that? probably not.

I found it useful in re-programming my green intake. As predicted in my article, i have eaten more green vegetables than ever and although i dont plan to eat that quantity again, but my body has been re-programmed to eat more from now on.

My GFD solution

For those people who think that doing this diet will leave them short on energy, i honestly believe that is rubbish. Anyone who cannot tolerate a lower carb diet after a week is either:

a) genetically a carb-type person (usually african and hot climate races)
b) Addicted to a steady supply of sugar (good and bad) for energy

Are you addicted to sugar?

I would suggest most people are option b) and are unwilling to be brave enough to lose some bodyfat and "tough out' a stricter diet for any period of time.

Final thought - During our PT course, i stayed off Carbs for 2 weeks and performed 2 bleep tests before and after - the results were the same. How would i be able to run the same time with absolutely 0 carbs in my body? A: Protein (4cals/g) and Fat (9cals/g) are energy sources too. Believe it. Fat will not make you fat, but sugar will.

Spread the word and share this with your facebook friends below :)

1 comment:

  1. Very interesting read! I started my GF diet 8 days ago and it's had its ups and downs. I'm a 34 year old woman/sugar addict, so I'm experiencing the fatigue that you talk about being associated with being a sugar addict. But I'm coming out of it, so that's a great result to get out of doing it, if nothing else.

    I started the blog to help others and I actually am mostly having fun with the recipes and food aspect of it, so if you care to check it out, please do! Maybe some of your PT clients will find it helpful if they decide to give it a whirl. Especially because, like you said, the food can get boring. I'm trying to keep it fun and exciting.

    http://greenfacesdiet.com

    ReplyDelete

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