My 5 Day Cleanse

Why Did I Do A Cleanse?
Well aside from all the reasons stated in Keris Marsden's blog post explaining the scientific stuff, my personal reasons were as follows:

1. To Reduce Inflammation:
   Over years and years of training I have, of course, developed little niggles in places and got my aches and piais. Most recently my right shoulder has felt somewhat inflamed and a bit tender. I've been going heavy lately with 5 sets of 5 reps and think I just overdid it a bit. Anyway, after reading up on other people's experiences from doing a cleanse a lot of them mentioned that joint/tendon pain had massively reduced, if not vanished. I'm keen to resume my training regime so reducing inflammation is top of my list.
   
   
2. Reduce Body Fat:
   Now, I don't feel I need to lose any body fat (I hope you will agree), however I'm more curious to see how much bodyfat one can lose in just 7 days. Simple as that.
   
   
3. To Rebalance My Gut:
   It's no secret, I fart A LOT. I'm not ashamed of this and I will continue to do so, so get over it people ;-) I also eat a lot and I suppose it's only right I have gut problems but recently I have felt really bloated and had to make one too many trips to the toilet (Nuff said). Gut healing is one of the big perks to this clense and I would love for my stomach to feel normal again.
   
   
4. The Challenge Of It:
   Anyone who half knows me knows I love to eat, so this was always going to be a huge challenge for me. I knew I would have to apply a serious amount of discipline to get through this and wanted to see if I had it in me.
   
   
5. A Great Blog:
   I knew, due to this being so far out of my comfort zone being a big foody and all, it would make a great blog post. I kept a daily log of what I consumed, the ups and downs, the moods, the cravings and the benefits. I will also log my training each day and how it felt. I'm hoping there is light at the end of the tunnel and my reasons for doing this are fulfilled. Either way I will log my honest feelings and opinion and put it out there at the end of the 5 days.

Officially this cleanse should have lasted for 7 days but I thought - let's not get carried away. Besides I didn't want to spend my Saturday night drinking a shake. No ta.

What physical exercise will I be doing to support my cleanse?
Charles Poliqiun recommends doing 10 sets of 3 reps to avoid lactic acid build up, but I won't take this approach. I will stick to 3 reps but only do 5 sets, I would get seriously bored if I done 10. I'm also going to do plenty of mobility work and stretches and a couple of yoga sessions too. I plan to keep the weights nice and heavy for my 3 reps and im very curious to see how my strength fairs under these circumstances.

What will be hardest part?
I will simply just miss eating, there really is not much else to it. I'm a huge coffee fan and I know I will miss this dearly too. This is a guy who normally consumes 7-8 meals a day and around 4000-4500cals so just the sensation on chewing will be deeply missed.

SO HERE IT IS:

Please forgive me as some is written in past tense and some present due to the stages I wrote the post.

Day 1: Monday 25/7/11
So, it's the first day and I am some what excited to get started and give this a go, which is surprising considering I love eating and I eat a lot. I have many people who can vouch for this. I am mentally ready to do this.

Its 5.15am and I kick my day off with 3 scoops of UltrainflamX mixed with 10g of glutamine, 5 BCAA's and a green tea. As you can imagine this did not even touch the sides compared to my usual feast but at this point I felt good and was ready for the day.

It's now 8.30am, I have drank plenty of filtered water and I now have an hour before my next client and I am starving (I would normally have my second breakfast now) and all of a sudden not feeling so sure about what I had got myself in to. The worst thing was, I had forgotten about the cleanse, as I was finishing with my client I was thinking about what I was going to eat........then it hit me, I couldn't eat. I had a shake and a load of pills to look forward to, great :-(

I wanted to structure my shakes in a similar way to my meals, so I spaced them out over about 6 shakes. My day was roughly as follows each day:

5.15am: 3 scoops of ultrainflamx mixed with 10g of glutamine, 5 BCAA's and a green tea.

8.30am: 3 scoops of ultraclear plus mixed with 10g of glutamine, 5 BCAA's.

10.30am: 3 scoops of ultrainflamx mixed with 10g of glutamine, 5 BCAA's and a green tea.

1pm: 3 scoops of ultraclear plus mixed with 10g of glutamine, 5 BCAA's.

4pm: clean greens drink mixed with 10g of glutamine, 5 BCAA's

6pm: 3 scoops of ultraclear plus mixed with 10g of glutamine, 5 BCAA's.

9pm: primal fibre drink mixed with 10g of glutamine, 5 BCAA's

As you can see it was all liquid based and yes I was weeing every 20 mins but this was to be expected.

Believe it or not my energy levels remained high right up until 9pm. However this is where I crashed and burned, I couldnt even string a sentence togehter, although it had been a busy day this was not how I would normally feel.

I didn't train today as was still recovering from Saturday's beasting (Keris' 'Kettlebells for Strength, Size and a Sixpack class).

Aside from feeling hungry all day long, it really was not as bad as I was expecting. Infact one of the biggest benefits to not eating is that you now have so much time on your hands. I got so much done today because I was not eating anything. It was a great feeling as it was a very productive day.

I applied topical magnesium to the backs of my knees and neck to aid my sleep. I slept really well aside from waking up once in the night for no reason in particular. Apparently this is due the the liver detoxyfying so its a good thing.

Day 2: Tuesday 26/7/11

Please note I used the same layout of shakes as I did yesterday, I just rotated the ultraclear plus flavours slightly between vanilla and banana/pineapple. Neither of which taste amazing but they taste a darn sight better than the ultrainflamx which is simply rank.

When I woke up I felt really bloated for some reason, I felt this way for at least the first 2 hours of awakening but once it went I had that hollow feeling like my stomach was competely empty.

I got to around 2pm I had treated myself to a massage. When finished I was desperate to eat, my energy levels were high but I just wanted to eat. I read Charles poliquins blog entries from his cleanse and noticed he ate celery sticks. This was awesome news, I went straight to Tesco to buy a pack of organic celery sticks. Anyone would have thought they were dipped in chocolate the way I sank my teeth in to them. I have never in my life enjoyed a stick of celery so much.......AMAZING. Just the crunching sound alone was something else.

Once again, my energy levels remained high all day which I still found very surprising. However, I was in a cafe at around 2pm having a green tea whilst being nasaly raped by the smell of a grilled ham and cheese panini being made, I was trying to get through some emails and I was really finding it hard to concentrate on the task in hand. The temptation of not only the sight but the beautiful smell of food was really testing and incredibly frustrating. It was here I called Keris and told her I was struggling, a few words of encouragement and I was back on track :-)

Tuesday is always a long day at work for me and I was devastated at the thought of not going home to a hot dinner. I felt really tired so figured it would be a shake, an episode of 'Rescue Me' and then an early night.

I had a workout in the morning today but it was really basic stuff sticking to the nice heavy 5 sets of 3 reps with my main focus on back, then a good stretch afterwards. Felt like I was going through the motions more than anything else so not the most satisfying of workouts.

Again I applied the topical magnesium to aid sleep.

I was in bed and suddenly something had dawned on me.......for the first time that I can remember in my life, I had gone a whole day without doing a poo. Sorry for the detail here but I'm a 2-3 times a day man, I mean a lot goes in so a lot's gotta come out :-) but I didn't feel bloated or anything, I'm sure it was purely related to the reduction in the volume of food.

I had an awesome night's sleep, didn't wake up once and felt alert, awake and ready to go on Wednesday.

Day 3: Wednesday 27/7/11

Again when I woke up I had the same bloated feeling as yesterday, but today it was more uncomfortable.

Ah there we go........my first number two in 48hrs, and it felt good :-) Bloated feeling gone and feeling normal again.

My energy levels were really high in the morning up until about 2pm, although I had a pounding headache at around 11am. So 2pm came and then boom, the ultimate energy crash and all I wanted to do was sleep. I felt so lethargic and rough I was ready to jack it all in. I then had a whole organic cucumber to eat and a clean greens drink and within minutes I felt so much better.

Although my energy levels picked up in the afternoon and remained high until the evening I was really struggling to concentrate again. My emails felt like they were taking forever to write, it was like my body was ready for a big heavy workout but my mind was at snail's pace (no comments please, you people are so predictable), very weird.

All my clients were very supportive and encouraging which really helped keep me on track.

Today was easily the hardest day and I was looking forward to it being over. According to others' experiences, the 3rd day is a killer. This reassured me that better days were to come.



I deeply missed eating and again coming home after a long day and no dinner was really hard, so I treated myself to a nice relaxing soak in an Epsom salts bath. Then applied some topical mag and off to bed I went.

Thursday: 28/7/11

I had an awesome nights sleep, the best for a long time. I woke up with no bloating for the first time so far and felt energetic.

Had a busy morning but I always finish work early on a thursday. After my last client I did 30 mins of mobility work and stretching as I planned on having a heavy session on Friday.

When I got home, I lightly steamed some organic broccoli and organic asparagus, again just the sensation of eating solid food was overwhelming. Felt so much better for eating it (mood wise).

Today is my best day, my energy levels are high and finally feel like this cleanse is doing me good. Don't get me wrong an English breakfast would go down a storm but I felt pretty damn awesome all day long.

Sat down in the evening to watch a bit of TV and at 8.30pm I was struggling to keep my eyes open. So I applied my topical magnesium and hit the hay. Excited at the thought of 9hrs sleep.

Friday: 29/7/11

I had the worst night's sleep of the week, it felt like 3 hours sleep as appose to the 9 hours I was so badly looking forward to.

However, nothing was going to keep me from smiling today, as today I could introduce brown rice to my diet. How exciting. I got up early and boiled some organic brown rice and some broccoli and asparagus for my breakfast. Starting the day with a solid meal felt so good, although within moments of finishing I felt so bloated. It was like my stomach had shrunk, although my mood was much better for eating and my energy levels were through the roof, infact the best they had been all week. This was great news as I planned to have a nice heavy training session with my training partner Rich today.

Although neither of us felt as psyched as we normally would, we both managed some nice and heavy lifts and even some PBs which lifted our mood. Although, we would normally finish our sessions with a tasty post workout shake followed by a feast of a meal. As this was not the case today you could say we both just felt pretty miserable and sorry for ourselves.

I decided to have some more brown rice after my workout as my appetite was through the roof, this really helped.

I was busy with clients today which helped keep my mind off things. Although my energy levels were through the roof I was more and rady for this to be over.

Day over, and again I was overwhelmed with joy at the thought of spending the night popping pills and drinking a shake for my dinner but I was only 1 day away from completing the cleanse and there was no was I was going to break.

I HAD DONE IT.

Saturday was here and I was so excited to eat and I must say feeling incredibly proud of myself.

So, let me share the ups downs with you:

The Ups:

1. The pain I was experiencing in my right elbow had completely gone, it felt this way from the Wednesday. I was so pleased.
2. My energy sky rocketed, I felt awesome. It was consistently high all day.
   
3. I felt less bloated and my stomach felt nice and flat, it as a good feeling.
4. I had for sure lost some body fat, nothing drastic but you could see a noticeable difference in my abdominal definition and also my shoulders and arms looked leaner.
   
   



5. I found it really easy to wake up for some reason, I was naturally waking up early and had no problems getting out of bed when the alarm went off.
6. I realised that I was drinking coffee out of liking it as opposed to it being a necessity. This was good to know as I had always told people that I just loved coffee it was never something to get me through the day. I missed it but was more than happy with my herbal teas.
7. I felt victorious, I felt like I had accomplished something that I'm sure many believed I would never pull off. It made me feel incredibly disciplined, I felt mentally stronger for doing it.
8. Overall, by the end of day 5 I was feeling hungry but pretty damn awesome and can certainly say there were benefits to what I had put myself through, but........

The Downs

1. I had a constant feeling of hunger, I was thinking about food 24/7 and this is not a very nice feeling. It made it hard to concentrate.
2. At times I actually felt quite miserable. Not eating meant I had more time to work, I am a bit of a workaholic and as much as I love working I felt as though it was all just work, work, work. Food and training are my release and I missed them both.
3. I was not doing a number 2 regularly enough and I kept getting waves of pretty bad bloating, however I must admit I'm sure I was not consuming enough fibre with my drinks. But now I know for next time.

To be honest these are the only real downs that come to mind, so as you can see the good well out weighs the bad which is always a positive thing.

But the question is - Would I do it again and would I recommend it to others?

For sure I would do it again, I would alter it slightly for my own needs. I have learnt so much about my body over this 5 days and would love to give it another go putting everything I have learnt into place. I can't say I saw or felt the difference I was expecting but what can I say, I'm a very optimistic person and although I was initially very dissapointed with the outcome I soon reminded myself that
a) I didn't do the full 7 days
b) I sometimes forgot to take the suggested supplements
c) I certainly was not getting enough sleep
and
d) I really was way too optimistic.

It is very tough and you have to be mentally ready to do it but I would most definitely recommend people try it although don't try and wing it, consult a Biosignature practitioner like Keris Marsden first to learn the ins and outs and to be properly adviced. If your going to do this you may as well do it properly for maximum gain.

I can't lie, although I did it, I really struggled to stay on track but I think it's so important to test yourself, throw yourself out you comfort zone and really test your boundaries.

I feel as though I have been reset and I feel highly motivated not to throw it all away. Even 3 days after whilst following a clean paleo style diet, I am feeling great. I can't wait to have my first workout, I'm feeling energetic, strong and incredibly focused.



So what are you waiting for contact Keris at Keris@fitterlondon.co.uk now to hear all about it.

Have a great day,

Matt

Nutritional Cleanse

Last week I completed my third nutritional cleanse. If you are looking for my stats on body fat dropped, muscle mass gained you’ll be disappointed. I didn’t measure before or after as I didn’t embark upon the cleanse for those reasons, having been through a stressful couple of months I was feeling tired, bloated and nauseous. Struggling with digestive issues, insomnia and generally feeling rundown. When you feel this way it’s almost impossible to keep your diet clean as sugar and coffee are the only things that get you through the day.

One thing I have observed about working in the fitness industry is that sometimes you are so concerned with other people’s health and wellbeing you almost forget your own. Long hours and investing 100% in encouraging and motivating others can be exhausting at times.

I like to use the cleanse to reset myself, it is a massive reboot for all my bodily functions. For years I have struggled with digestive problems and when these flare up I know I’m in trouble, as I’ve mentioned before 80% of your immune system is based in your gut – whatever your health goal if the gut is not on board it won’t happen. I tend to suffer from nausea attacks and when these become frequent I know I’m getting run down and need to act.

Even worse, my sleep was becoming disrupted. Sleep is by far the most underrated aspect of health and wellbeing, you can lean up in a couple of days just by getting in a couple of 9 hour stints (remember 1 hour before midnight is worth two after). In Traditional Chinese Medicine waking throughout the night has been strongly linked to different organs and the time you wake can provide an indication of issues such as blood sugar management (before 1am), liver toxicity (1-3am), oxidative stress such as pollution (3-5am) and digestive disorders (5-7am). If you wake consistently over several night you should check the clock:

And finally I also wanted a break from training for a week, I had been training hard and pushing my body, lifting heavier each week, everyone that knows me knows I’m guilty of a bit of overtraining every now and then ;-) my joints usually flag up a warning sign that I’m overdoing things but I find weeks off training mentally very tough. For me a cleanse is ideal to encourage a recovery week. You can still follow strength training protocol but I decided to practice yoga every other day, walk lots and make time for epsom salts baths, acupuncture and saunas all week.

The shakes I used were an alkalising liver detox and anti-inflammatory in different flavours, I also used L-Glutamine, multi vitamins, zinc, fibre drinks, topical magnesium, green drinks and a tincture of adaptogenic herbs. I had three shakes a day, 2-3 green drinks and a fibre drink.

I actually felt nauseous when I woke up on the first day of my cleanse, what a great start! (Big cleanse tip, eat clean the day before you start so day 1 will be much easier!) My first day was spent at college, 8 hours of lectures (on digestion coincidentally!) and then attending an evening lecture on Dirty Medicine. It was by far the hardest day of the cleanse, the shakes actually made me feel even more nauseous as the detoxification process took hold but on the plus side the lectures kept me focused and took my mind off food.

Hunger came and went in waves but nothing I couldn’t cope with and I massively rate the cleanse for regulating appetite, you realise how much you completely ignore your natural appetite day to day and eat just because; you can, you’re bored, your miserable, everyone else is, or simply because its “mealtime”.

Another plus point is not having to worry about buying, preparing food or even the cleaning up after dinner which gives you a chance to catch on some much needed relaxing evenings and early bedtimes. Even in the day you have a lot of time on your hands to crack on with things you've been putting off and become uber productive, I ploughed through assignments, revision and reports each day and it felt good to keep busy. My second day was much easier, I already felt lighter, the sluggishness and nausea had gone. I went to Bikram yoga and enjoyed it more than I have ever before, I think once you are in detox mode you become focused and start to enjoy everything that helps the process along.

I also had electro – acupuncture on day two as my joints were feeling a stiff and sore, this is common on a detox when the toxins are released into the blood stream inflammation can become exaggerated. I added a proteolytic enzyme into my supplements (an enzyme that can be used as an anti-inflammatory agent - also present in pineapple and papayas if you prefer food to supplements). My acupuncturist also treated me with moxa, a herb that is heated and placed on acupuncture points to stimulate energy (qi), improve blood circulation, speed healing and improve immunity - its feels amazing!

I'll spare you the day by day account of the rest of the week except to say that there were peaks and troughs in my energy levels (ideally you would do it during a holiday and take an afternoon nap). Eventually my energy levels balanced nicely, towards the end of the week I was sleeping like a baby, waking early and refreshed, no nausea, no bloating and my skin was clear.

The hardest part was Friday and Saturday evening as everyone else is heading off to the pub you feel a bit sorry for yourself, you realise almost EVERYTHING we do socially involves food and drink. Luckily by then you are so near the end and reaping the benefits you become stoic until the end. I woke up on Saturday feeling light as a feather, clear headed and energised. People commented that I had lost weight and leaned up which is obviously a great bonus.

On Saturday afternoon I even managed to sit in Sophie’s Steakhouse with my fellow cleanse pals Matt and Rich who completely KO’d by the weekend (they endured a very different experience on the cleanse and will be giving their personal account too) as they ordered in steak, sticky ribs, mash potato and woffted a hot chocolate brownie under my nose. I read the papers with a glass of water:





A cleanse transforms your appreciation for food and enjoyment of mealtimes, rather than just eating for sake of it. My first meal was grilled cod and steamed vegetables, it never tasted so amazing, going forward I’m going to use my renewed enthusiasm to change my diet and keep it clean and varied, there’s no way I’m losing my new found energy levels.



My Cleanse Tips

Skin brush every day to stimulate the lymphatic system, especially where you have cellulite.

Herbal teas are a godsend throughout the day, you’ll be surprised how comforting a warm drink is when you’re are not eating. I love Dr Stuarts Detox tea (spearmint, liquorice, dandelion root, sage, milk thistle) or Teapigs spearmint tea.

To rebuild your digestive system add in a good non-dairy probiotic powder to your supplements, several servings of L-Glutamine through the day and a good fibre drink.

Creative playlists are essential! I listened to my favourite music all week long, either to relax, boost energy levels and keep my head from getting foggy.

Be prepared to be depressed, emotional, anxious and sad probably all at once, I reckon everyone cries once on a cleanse, matt cried twice ;-)

Stock up on limes, freshly squeezed lime juice in your water alkalines the body and throughout the cleanse your breath isn’t the best so limes and lemons in your water help to freshen the taste in your mouth.

Do the cleanse with someone, it is so much easier to share the experience and stay motivated with others, you won’t cheat for fear of letting others down and when it gets to the weekends you can chill with some dvd’s together or go out dancing on nothing but a glass of water.

I'm going to embark on another cleanse in September and hoping to make it a team efforts if you are interested in taking part email me keris@fitterlondon.co.uk for more details.

My Primal Journey

I’ve been passionate about getting an amazing body pretty much since I saw Daniel Craig in Casino Royale. I know it’s pretty cheesy but sometimes we can draw inspiration from the most unusual things.

Since then I’d subscribed to Men’s Health for a while, tried various “muscle building workouts”, trained at a white collar boxing gym, wasted countless amounts of money on supplements that promised the earth but delivered little and read everything that I thought was possible about my diet.

The result? A broken nose, love handles, a chubby belly and no muscle definition!

Role Models

I decided to enlist the help of Keris Marsden and Matt Whitmore, the nutrition and fitness Jedi’s of Fitter London.

I needed experts “who had been there and done it” to help me overcome my major stumbling block... big muscles, or lack of! Keris told me to keep a diary for 2 weeks and here is a sample of what I ate:

6:00 Alpen with All Bran topped with walnuts, Yeo Valley strawberry yoghurt, whole milk, cup of tea (with whole milk).

8:00 Post-workout shake (2 scoops of whey protein with fine oats).

10:45 Banana.

11:00 Coffee (with whole milk).

2:00 Tinned tuna mixed with olive oil, olives, orange pepper, tomato, basil, mushroom, watercress, rocket, spinach in 2 Food Doctor bagels.

14:00 Almond & yoghurt Eat Natural Bar.

16:30 Protein Shake.

18:30 Satsuma.

19:10 Salmon, Greek salad, roasted new potatoes, 250ml fresh orange.

Not bad as standard nutrition advice goes but this wasn’t giving me my desired results. My diet was the same every day and lacked variety. Keris explained that she would use the “BioSignature Modulation method” to help me achieve my goals. The what?! It all sounded very complicated but I had an open mind.

BioSignature Modulation

Keris explained that the world-renowned strength coach Charles Poliquin developed BioSignature Modulation in the last 20 years. His theory is that a persons hormonal profile is indicated by where they store body fat and by modulating hormones through exercise, nutrition and supplementation I could decrease body fat from specific areas. I’d kind of resigned myself to a life of skinny arms and a chubby belly so this was music to my ears.

The Process

Keris took a 12 site skin fold body fat test and analysed the results. These were quite shocking for me. My body fat was 23.7% and the priority sites on my body were the “Umbilical” and “Suprailiac” areas. What did all of this mean?! Well my love handles and chubby belly were an indication of poor blood sugar management, too many carbs and a stressful lifestyle.

I knew where this came from. I’ve always eaten heavy sugary breakfasts such as porridge with honey or muesli. Plus I loved dairy and eating bread (whole wheat of course). Oh and 12 hours a day in the office with unpredictable hours wasn’t helping.

The Paleo Solution

Keris explained that I needed to get my body fat down to 10% to build up muscle definition. Losing weight to build muscle went against everything that I had read BUT the previous way of doing things had not worked.

I was prescribed a basic supplement cycle to start balancing my blood sugar levels and get my diet as clean as possible. The diet was “Paleo” and I had to follow a strict version of it for two weeks.

Paleo is based on a primal or hunter/gatherer lifestyle. Our ancestors did not eat vegetables that were sprayed with chemicals or life stock that was pumped with growth hormones and fed with crap. As Poliquin says, “if it’s not green, or you can’t kill it with a spear, then don’t eat it.”

The rules given to me were:
1. All the non starchy vegetables you can eat.
2. All the lean meat (organic), fish and seafood (wild, not farmed) you can eat.
3. No refined carbohydrates/cereals.
4. No processed food: cereal, crisps, chocolate, biscuits, cakes, etc.
5. No dairy products.
6. No legumes (including peanuts)
7. 2 – 3 litres of water per day.
8. 8-9 hours sleep each night.

I also had to cut out caffeine. This was going to be tough. Caffeine, sugar and carbs are the staple diet for most office jobs!

However these strict rules were vital in making a difference to the effectiveness of the supplements and lean my body down. It would also ensure that I absorbed the maximum nutrients from my food and not waste energy processing grains and dairy like before (which were heavy on the digestive system).

Train Like a Caveman

The exercise regime prescribed by Matt would be intense, short and varied. A bit like how our ancestors used to train when they were hunting for food or escaping from lions and bears.

Train With Me

I’ll be making more posts about my “primal journey” and record how well I keep to the diet, supplements and exercise. I’m writing these posts because I like the idea of having accountability towards Matt, Keris and my Fitter London peers.



I don’t know how long the journey will take, but I’m aiming to torch my belly and love handles within 4 weeks. After that, serious muscle building and getting an amazing body is on the agenda.

In the next post...

I will report on my first two weeks of living like a caveman, let you in on the killer exercise regime prescribed by Matt and reveal my all important measurements after two weeks of eating Paleo.

BioSignature Success in 4 Weeks

Having been training with Fitter London from early 2010 I had already seen a great progression in my overall strength and fitness but was still looking for that extra something to get the improvements I really wanted. I've been training for over 10 years and have always struggled to gain size and a considerable increase in strength, mainly thanks to what I thought was my high metabolism. Siting in the region of 70kg in body weight I am by no means a big guy and could consume up to 6000 calories a day, combined with a decent weight training program, was still only able to gain around 2-3kg in muscle mass that would then be lost if my calorie intake dropped. I'd resided to the fact that its just the way I am and was never going to get the strength gain I wanted.

When Keris first introduced me to the BioSignature concept, I was intrigued to see if the principles could be used to help me get the results I wanted. I soon got online to research the origin of the idea and found myself on world renowned strength coach Charles Poliquin's website, who developed the BioSignature method. I lost hours reading blogs and articles, discussing strength and body conditioning concepts that had completely opposing views on fat loss and muscle gain to those of the fitness magazines and personal trainers I had previously spoken to. I was absolutely fascinated and sold on the idea that the concept could help me get the results I wanted.

My initial assessment involved the measuring of my body fat percentage at 12 points around my body that revealed a current measurement of 11.8%. Then followed an in depth analysis of my current diet and lifestyle that was then followed by a strict 2 week diet and supplementation plan with the intention of getting my body fat percentage below 10% and a high intensity, varied training schedule based on the Fitter London classes and one personal training session a week with Matt.

The diet was a paleo based diet, high in protein and removing dairy and carb heavy food with the exception of fruit. I found the first few days a challenge as the craving for sugar set in and my body felt tired as it adapted to a protein based energy source. With the promise of a cheat day after two weeks on the plan, I could eat what ever I wanted. it wasn't a tough decision to stick with it and persevere.

Within 4 days of starting the prescribed plan I was already starting to feel better not only physically but mentally too. I could concentrate for longer at work (something I've always struggled with), my sleep was getting better and my general energy levels through out the day were more consistent without the afternoon slump. I was now able to maintain a higher intensity during workouts and could start to see a marked difference in my body composition. As the two week mark approached and all aspects of my training improving, I was keen to see what my second assessment would reveal and the list of sugary, carb laden foods I was planning on eating on my cheat day was growing and growing!

At the second assessment, my body fat measurements revealed I had dropped 2.2% and was now at 9.6%! I couldn't believe the results and although I had lost body fat, my overall weight was the same meaning I had gained a noticeable amount of lean muscle mass. This is exactly what I had hoped for and although I was now on my promised cheat day, I had no real desire to pig out on sugar and carbs and ruin all the progress I had made. I did make a point of eating fish and chips after completing the first two weeks to see how it made me feel and I have to say, I felt absolutely terrible after wards. All it did was reiterate how good I was now feeling on the low carb diet. I'd also kept a complete, day by day record of everything I had eaten over the last two weeks and on inspection, Keris gave me some pointers on where I could improve/change to get even better results.

These two weeks had given me exactly what was promised when I decided to take on the BioSignature challenge and the next two weeks were set to see even more improvements. What I really liked about the whole concept was the combination of intelligent nutrition and supplementation and a focused training program that was specific to me and adapted to my body's needs as I progressed. Preparation was key to getting the diet bang on and admittedly, it was initially a struggle to prepare enough meat for my meals and to avoid resorting to quick fix meals like sandwiches. It soon became a part of my routine though and I enjoyed the challenge of coming up with carb free meals.

6 weeks after starting the BioSignature process I've seen a dramatic increase in overall strength, ( in the region of 20% for some exercises, something I never though possible in such a short time), my ability to concentrate has improved, my sleep is better and my overall well being has had noticeable improvement. I've also learnt a lot about my body, what works for me food wise and what I can achieve when given the right coaching and direction. Now with the knowledge of how good I can feel, the low carb, high protein diet has become the mainstay of what I eat and with continued support and advise from Keris and Matt, I can't see an end to the personal development I can achieve. If your looking for a way to get in shape by loosing fat quickly and becoming leaner and stronger than you ever have before, BioSignature is for you. With a bit of commitment, perseverance and hard work you can achieve the body and levels of fitness you've always wanted.