Scott Blayney

I just finished a 49 day holiday challenge by Tom Venuto, author of the hugely popular ebook, “Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle“.  The reason for the timing?  He wants you to lose weight, or more specifically, lose fat while everyone else around you is gaining.  Oh yeah, and the winner gets a trip to Maui!  Let me tell you all about it.

I started on November 22 with a weigh in of 180.6 lb and a body fat percentage of 14.3%.  That’s not a bad weight really, but I started this journey a few years ago and 35 lb heavier.  Back then I was starting to get pain in my knees just from walking around.  I had gotten so out of shape that when I started trying to jog I couldn’t go more than about 100 yards before I was too out of breath to continue.

After I decided to start getting in shape a friend told me about Tom’s ebook.  I was really interested in what she had to share because I had watched her shed in excess of 50 lb!  So I bought the ebook and started to read it.  The funny part here is that the first chapter had nothing to do with weight loss, per se, but was about goal setting.  That chapter had the biggest influence on me out of any other in the book.  I started writing down my goals and actually hitting them.  This was a first, I had always resisted goal setting exercises.  But when what you’ve been doing hasn’t been working it’s time to try something different.

There are some key ideas in Tom’s book that I had no idea about.  First, that you could have a body type that responds to eating and exercise in a certain way.  Imagine trying diet after diet only to find out that your body type was responsible for your failure.  If you only knew your body type you could have approached weight loss in a new way and had better success.

Another key idea that I got from his book was that muscle, even when it’s not being used, is burning fat.  The logical thing to do with this knowledge is to build muscle!  Because of this understanding you should stop weighing yourself only, rather you should weigh yourself and then calculate your body fat percentage.  When you do this you know your body composition and your lean body mass.  This is, in other words, what you really weigh (lean mass + body fat = total weight).

Finally, the idea of counting calories, macronutrient ratios and good fats vs. bad fats.  You are what you eat, and no amount of exercise can compensate for a poor diet.  Tom outlines what you should know about these elements and then provides a sample meal plan for you to follow.  Of course you can come up with your own meal plan with the knowledge that he gives you.

So I start the challenge and don’t lose weight for the first 3 weeks.  No big deal, you can’t rush these things.  But I decide to get serious about counting calories just in case I’m eating too many.  I was.

Now I start losing weight, but upon closer inspection I find that I’m losing lean body mass at twice the rate that I’m losing fat.  So I start watching my calories to see where they’re coming from.  Not enough protein, too many carbs.  It turns out that 80% of the battle is your diet.  Who knew?

So I increase my protein, watch my carbs, and even go on a strict diet for the final 10 days of the challenge.

The result?  I gain back all the lean body mass that I lost and lose a total of 5 lb of fat.  Not bad for only 7 weeks.  The most important outcome was what I learned about diet and how it applies to my body type.  Win or lose the challenge, I came out ahead.

Overall, do I think I’ll win the challenge?  I don’t think so.  I’ve looked at other people’s results and, frankly, I’m humbled at some of their result.  I am pleased with my results.  I’m just over 11% body fat so it won’t be long before I can see my abs.  Tomorrow is the final day of the challenge and when the results have all been posted Tom will make his decision.

Check back soon and I’ll tell you if I’ve won.

UPDATE: The winners have been announced and you can look at them here (men) and here (women).