12 Month Body Plan

[TonyM78]

Hi everyone,

I’ve been playing around with this program for a few years now and have recently finished the structure. It’s primarily for weight loss but can be used to build muscle as well, based on how you use it. It’s designed to be easy to stick with and effective for people of most fitness or experience levels, but particularly beginners who already have a lot of bad habits they need to break.

The content of the program is nothing new, but it’s delivered in a way that tries to promote good habits that will hopefully become second nature.

The program is based on an initial 12-month cycle. (Seems like a lot, but this isn’t a quick fix, rather a transformative process.) Each month is a new step – basically a new habit that you pick up or drop. Some steps are mandatory, others you can choose from a small list to suit your tastes. With only one exception, you can do the steps in any order you want.

(I myself can vouch for its effectiveness, as after 6 or 7 months in the program I realized I was losing weight without even trying. I had no trouble sticking with it like I did with every other diet I ever tried.)
Here are the steps (Later I’ll explain each one in detail):

1. Water * 2. Sweets * 3. Soda * 4. Fried Potatoes *
5. Fried Foods * 6. Resistance Training 7. Cardio 8. White Bread
9. White Flour 10. Calories 11. Fruits 12. Vegetables
13. Meal Schedule 14. Meal Frequency 15. Complete Meals 16. Macros

I realize a few of these steps may automatically make you question the merit of the program due to current information. Rest assured, I’m aware of the facts and have chosen to include certain steps for other reasons which I’ll address.
Steps marked with an asterisk (*) are mandatory. Step 1 must be done first, but all others can be rearranged in any order you like.

Additionally, you must do Resistance Training, Cardio or both. However, if you only choose one, I strongly suggest Resistance Training. Lastly, if you choose not to count calories, you must do both steps 8 and 9.

I start the exercise steps at very minimal levels to make it accessible to beginners, with the intention of gradually increasing the volume. To further encourage this progression, especially for those who aren’t as inclined to exercise, I offer the incentive that for every additional 30 minutes of daily exercise (6 days per week) that you add to your plan, you can eliminate one non-mandatory step, completing your cycle a month earlier. So, for instance, if you’re exercising 1 hour per day, 6 days per week, you could complete the cycle in 11 months. If you were to do 3 hours of daily exercise, 6 days a week, you could potentially complete the cycle in as little as 7 months. That kind of volume might not be for everyone or fit with their lifestyle, though.

The idea is you can choose how you do this plan. If you hate exercise, you focus more on diet. If you hate regulating your diet, you exercise more. Or you find your own balance. It’s made to build healthy habits that you can keep up long after your cycle. For those more advanced or disciplined, you can try it in less time. (1 week per step, 2 weeks per step, etc.) But for those who have struggled with staying on a diet, I recommend the full month and making each step like religion in your mind.

For those who’ve already mastered one or more of the habits, (meaning you practice them on a daily basis and have been for a month or more with no trouble) you can complete the cycle one month faster or more. Many of the steps, however, also come with a fine tuning step. You can do these as part of the initial steps, work on them as you’re working on the other steps, or use them as a separate step after you’ve completed the initial cycle.

Hopefully it will even challenge some of the more experienced people out there. I know if you complete all the steps, including the fine tuning, you’ll be in amazing shape, barring any medical issues. (By the way I’m nowhere near that level yet.)

That reminds me…
I AM NOT A DOCTOR NOR DO I POSSESS ANY KIND OF CERTIFICATION; I AM ONLY A REGULAR PERSON WHO HAS DONE EXTENSIVE RESEARCH IN THE AREAS OF EXERCISE AND NUTRITION. DO NOT BEGIN ANY DIET OR EXERCISE PROGRAM WITHOUT FIRST CONSULTING YOUR PHYSICIAN.

Some who are more disciplined may be able to reach their goals using only a select few of the steps. This is more for those who are having trouble with some of those steps initially.

Also, you can have one cheat day for every successful month (meaning you followed a step all month, including the ones you’ve already mastered). That way the idea of giving up certain foods doesn’t seem so permanent. But if you save cheat days, space them apart at least a week or two. And if you’re the kind of person who goes off their diet completely if they have a cheat day or cheat meal, don’t do it until you know it won’t hurt your success.

(to be continued)

 

[TonyM78]

The Steps

I don’t get very detailed with the explanations because I figure most people here know the basics, but if you have a question feel free to ask.

1. Water

Drink at least 12 to 16 ounces of water first thing upon waking up and before every meal, no matter how large or small.

(I feel this step is extremely important not only for health reasons but also to help initially with appetite control and moving forward. Get it ingrained into your head that whenever you even think about eating, go for the water first. It may take a little time to master this one, as sometimes you’ll probably forget. I would try to drink water before you go to get food and order water with your food, as well. If you’re halfway through a meal and realize you forgot the water, stop and drink it before you finish your meal. Even if you’re done eating, just drink the water as soon as you remember. You’ll get better at remembering with time until it just becomes a habit you don’t think about.)

Fine Tuning:

Once you start to get an idea of how much you want to eat in a given meal, use water as a way to stick to that. Drink another 12 to 16 ounces of water after your meal. Wait 5 or 10 minutes before eating more.

2. Sweets

Eliminate sugary foods from your diet. This includes, but is not limited to: candy, cake, cookies, doughnuts, sweet rolls, scones, ice cream, pudding, pie, etc.

Fine Tuning:

Eliminate foods that contain hidden or artificial sugars from your diet.

3. Soda

Eliminate all soda from your diet. This step also includes fruit juice, sports drinks, energy drinks – basically any drink with added sugar. No sugar in your coffee or tea, either.

Fine Tuning:

Eliminate drinks containing artificial sugar.

So basically you can drink water, coffee, tea or milk (though this should be treated more as food).

4. Fried Potatoes

Eliminate all fried potatoes from your diet. This includes French fries, hash browns, potato chips (unless baked), and any other potato product that is fried.

Fine Tuning:

Eliminate baked potato chips as well. Eat only baked potatoes with the skin on.

5. Fried Foods

Eliminate all deep-fried foods. This includes, but is not limited to: fried chicken, onion rings, crab Rangoon, egg rolls, hushpuppies, any sandwich or meal containing meat other ingredient that is breaded and fried, etc.

6. Resistance Training

Before I go into this, I want to clarify that even if you are lifting weights it does not mean you will be gaining muscle. This will depend on eating a lot more calories than what you are burning as well as getting enough protein, fat, and carbohydrates every day to build muscle. Even if you’re doing all of these things it will be a very gradual process. With women especially this should not be a concern if you’re worried about gaining muscle, as it is very difficult for women to increase muscle mass since their testosterone levels are so much lower than men. So I want to encourage everyone to at least try out lifting, as it is an amazing fat burner as well as having many other benefits like counteracting osteoporosis, lowering blood pressure and alleviating some symptoms of arthritis, diabetes, depression and back pain, just to name a few.

Level 1

30 minutes of weight training or other resistance exercise 2 to 3 days per week.

Any basic or beginner program will do. Try to start with something simple.

This routine will hit all the major muscle groups and give you the best workout in the least amount of time:

Squats
Bench Press
Bent Row
Deadlift*
Overhead Press
Straight Leg Deadlifts

*This is a power exercise which will burn more calories than any of the other lifts. However, as with the other lifts, take the time to learn the form very well, as it can lead to injuries if done incorrectly. If you are uncomfortable doing this exercise, you can substitute Upright Row which will hit the Trapezius muscles as well, though you won't be able to lift nearly as much weight and hence will not be burning as many calories.

Do 1 or 2 sets of each, (depending on how long you take for each set), 8-12 reps, keeping rest time between sets regular to minimize variables (1-3 minutes between sets)

I would try sticking with something really basic like this until you stop improving (increasing the weight or number of reps you do each week), then try doing something like a different rep range each week (15-20, 8-12, 1-5, 8-12, etc.)
If you can’t do this workout three times a week, try a split routine. Divide the exercises above into two workouts, and do more sets of each. So for example, you would do workout A on Monday, workout B on Wednesday, A again on Friday, then start the next week with B on Monday, etc.

For this particular routine I'd go with something like this:

A
Squats
Bench Press
Bent Row

B
Deadlift
Overhead Press
Straight Leg Deadlift

With only 3 exercises, even if you take a 3 minute rest between each set you should have no problem doing at least 2 sets of each exercise and still keeping it around 30 minutes.

Follow whatever schedule you like, but starting out try to take at least one day off between workouts. If you’re in really bad shape you can start with 2 days a week and work up to 3.

You should try to stick with only these exercises for at least the first couple months. They’re some of the most effective overall and will provide the most dramatic results, whether you’re trying to build muscle or just burn calories.

Fine Tuning:

Level 2

1 hour, 3 days per week

For a 1-hour workout you can still keep using those same exercises, then add a few for the other muscle groups, for example:

Barbell Curls
Triceps Press
Calf Raises
Wrist Curls
You can also add Deadlift/Upright Row and Dips which should round it out pretty well. Remember to do the exercises where you will be using higher weights at the beginning of your workout.

Level 3

1 hour, 6 days per week

Obviously you’re going to need a split routine by this time, if you aren’t using one already. You can keep this same exercises if you want and should still keep seeing improvement if you alternate the amount of reps. You can also try shortening the rest time between sets

Level 4+…

If you want to do more feel free, this is just basically how the progression goes…
As far as how often to increase volume, that depends on you. If you’re less experienced, I’d add maybe 30 min. extra per month.

If you don’t know how to do some of these exercises or what the proper form is, do your research before you jump in and get yourself injured. I’m happy to answer any questions you might have or refer you to somewhere you can get a good answer.

7. Cardio
(running, jump rope, elliptical, etc.)

Level 1

30 minutes of cardio 2 to 3 times per week

Fine Tuning:

Level 2

30 minutes of cardio 6 days a week

Level 3

1 hour of cardio 6 days a week

You can divide the time up however you want; it’s more focused on total volume.
As with the Resistance Training, if you’re in bad shape you can start with 2 days a week and work up to 3.

8. White Bread

Eliminate all white bread from your diet. This includes any bread that is not specifically designated as ‘whole wheat’.

9. White Flour

Eliminate all foods containing white flour. This includes, but is not limited to: pizza, meatballs (unless specifically listed as containing ‘whole wheat bread crumbs’ or something to that effect), some pasta

(People who are trying to gain muscle mass may not want to eliminate these things, and that’s perfectly fine. It’s made more to help those having trouble losing weight. If you’re trying to gain, your structure will be much different and you’ll probably focus more on a select few of the other steps. If you’ve chosen to do this step along with Step 8 instead of counting calories, I strongly suggest you also add step 16 at least. There are a lot of foods that, even if they don’t fall into these categories, are still easy to eat a lot of. No matter how you look at it, to be successful you will end up having to do some regulation eventually. Again, if you’re strongly opposed to that, try adding more exercise volume.)

10. Calories

Based on your personal goals, determine your recommended caloric intake per day and stick with it.

(This is probably the hardest for a lot of people, which is why you can do steps 8 and 9 instead if you don’t think you can handle this one. Even then you’ll still have to eventually regulate

11. Complete Meals

Eat all 3 macronutrients with each meal: fat, protein, carbohydrates (This is just to promote more balanced eating habits. (I’m also assuming people are eating at least some of all 3 macros every day. If not, I definitely recommend this step.)

Fine Tuning:

Balance your macronutrient intake based on your personal goals. (I should make this a mandatory step along with calories but I want to give people more flexibility.)


12. Fruit

Eat 1 or 2 whole fruits per day. No canned, frozen or dried; only fresh.

13. Vegetables

Eat at least 3 servings of vegetables per day. Preferably fresh, but frozen or canned if you can’t.

These next two may be sketchy for some people. They’re here more for people who have trouble controlling appetite or to help promote more balanced eating.

14. Meal Schedule

Eat each meal at about the same time every day. (This is to help more with appetite control, but also overall health.)
I know it doesn’t really matter as far as weight loss.

15. Meal Frequency

Eat 5 or more meals per a day. (Again this is more for appetite control)

16. Macros

Based on your personal goals, determine your recommended amounts of each macro-nutrient (protein, fat and carbohydrate) and stick with it.



(to be continued)

 

[TonyM78]

You can pick and choose most of the steps and gear the plan toward your own personal goals.

I keep the details to a minimum as I know there’s already a great deal of information about all this stuff, but I’ll be glad to answer any questions as best as I can. I’m no expert by any means but if I can’t answer a particular question I’m sure someone else will be able to.

Like I said, do the steps in any order. The order they’re listed in would work fine as well. I tried to gear that progression more toward people who has some pretty poor eating habits.

Basically you should try to take the month you’re on to focus on the next step so that by the time that month comes, it’s law. Do whatever works for you (eat more of the food you’ll be cutting out next month, etc.) but with the understanding that it still is a diet so you should be consciously treating it like one, as it will affect your results. This will be harder for some people then others obviously. If you have no problem doing this you may not need half the steps in here. For those that do, it should help over time by building better habits.

Once you’ve completed your initial 12-month cycle, you can keep going from there if you want, adding other steps or using the fine tuning steps. If you start to slip on a step and find it too hard to stick with, don’t just move on to the next step. Repeat the whole month if necessary. If after that you’re still having trouble, change the order a little and do that step later or replace it with another one if it isn’t mandatory.

If after your first cycle you’re in a place where you’re happy with your results or can maintain good results doing what you’re doing, by all means just keep doing it. The idea is to find something doable for you that helps you meet your personal goals.

I’ll list a couple example 12-month plans.

The first one is for someone who has a lot of bad habits and does little to no exercise but wants to lose weight.

1. Water
2. Sweets
3. Soda
4. Fried Potatoes
5. Fried Foods

I kept the first 5 steps the same, as we need to cut out those really bad foods and try to clean up the diet a little first.

6. Resistance Training
7. Cardio

I now want to get this person to be more active from here on out. With these two steps they’ll be doing 30 minutes of daily exercise, and hopefully they’ll work on the fine tuning and gradually increase this.

8. Fruit
9. Vegetables

Now we’re adding some good foods to help fill them up and improve their health.

10. White Bread

Switching to whole-wheat shouldn’t be a huge struggle, but they may not want to drop white flour altogether, so:

11. Calories

This will help them get to their ideal weight, and with all the good habits they’ve picked up they should have an easier time with appetite control as well as eating meals that are more filling but less calorie-dense.

12. Macros

This will help them get their body composition to just where they want it.

Now, on the other hand, if someone wanted to do this program with the goal of gaining muscle, we could do something like this:

1. Water
2. Resistance Training

After all no muscle will ever grow without the initial stimulus to make that happen.

3. Calories

And no muscle will grow if they aren’t taking in enough calories every day

4. Macros

We also need to make sure they’re getting enough of all of the macro-nutrients. At this point, the basic elements for building muscle are all there. I’m hoping that they are increasing volume in the resistance training. They may, however, still be eating a pretty poor diet. So we’ll try to clean that up a bit so the gains they see are more muscle than fat. This will also help with energy levels.

5. Sweets
6. Sodas
7. Fried Potatoes
8. Fried Foods
9. Fruit
10. Vegetables
11. White Bread
12. Cardio

I add the cardio as this will help with the heart and lungs, which will in turn help with their workouts. Realistically, if they are seriously trying to gain muscle, they would have increased the volume of their resistance training enough that they could have actually dropped one or more steps, but that doesn’t mean they can’t keep going and do the full 12-month cycle anyway, as this would be a very good structure that would make for some fairly clean gains with a minimal amount of extra fat. When they’re happy with the amount of muscle they’ve gained, all they need to do is adjust their calories and macros to cut unwanted body fat.

So the plan can really be used regardless of your goals, but again it is most effective for those who need to make a lot of improvements and don’t have the discipline to do it all at once.

I hope I can get at least a few people to try this program out, as I know from experience it is very effective and would be very interested to hear other peoples’ thoughts and experiences. Once again, I’m glad to answer any questions you might have about any of the steps or the plan in general – even questions not directly related to the plan itself but that would be pertinent if you did decide to try it out.
I know there’s a lot more information I wanted to include, so I’ll update this as it comes to mind.

Good luck!

 

[TravellingKiddo]

Hi. Im a 19 year old girl. I've always been very sporty, and I was at my fittest 2 years ago when training 2-3h a day for kickboxing. Now I'm in Australia and my body feels like shit as I am not doing regular exercise every day. As a waitress I am on my feet for 10 hours a day. I want to try out your plan as, but I would like to start straight away with the water and cutting off sweets. Is that ok? I have noticed the great addiction that the consumption of sweet things generates in me, a craving that I am not able to control unless I cut them out completely. I am 173cm and currently 71kg (gained 5kg in 4 months!!!). In a few weeks I will be traveling around Asia which should help on cutting out sweets. Any advice or tips? Very much appreciate your efforts to write out this plan.


Clubvapea

 

[TonyM78]

TravelingKiddo,
I know how quickly we can go downhill when we cut down on exercise and stop watching our diets. Within a year I became weaker, started having back pain, heartburn (which I'd never had in my life) and became winded just climbing a flight of stairs. Once I got into month 3 of the program where I'd cut out sweets and soda altogether, many of these issues magically went away! Still have a little back pain but once I get rid of the bit of extra weight around the middle and start lifting again, that should go away.

Anyway, to answer your question:

Yes, you can definitely do the plan at whatever pace you're comfortable with. The important thing is that you completely master each step. So if you think you can take on more than one at a time, I say go for it! As far as advice or tips...

I know what you mean about the sweets craving. It doesn't take much, either. I broke the sugars into 2 steps, so you have your sugary foods and then your sugary liquids, just to make the process a little less painful. Remember that fruit juices are included with soda, as well as anything that has artificial sweeteners, as this can generate the same effect. Though I don't specifically lay this out as part of the main step, to be the most successful I'd suggest eliminating those, too if you haven't already. Also watch out for foods that seem to generate that same kind of craving, for instance things like fried rice, grapes (I could probably eat a whole bundle at one sitting if I'm not careful). These foods are okay but try to eat them as part of a meal rather than by themselves. It really helps to have your protein, fat and carbs together with each meal and helps to build more balanced eating habits. Try to eat protein first, as it will help fill you up quicker.

Also, even though spacing meals out or eating at certain times doesn't have a huge effect on metabolism overall, I think it helps greatly with appetite. I always find that the hungrier I get, the more I start leaning toward the more carb-dense foods and even begin adopting the mindset 'oh, one soda won't kill me'. It won't kill me, but it will definitely slow down my progress. Of course, the plan is based on a very gradual progression, so you don't necessarily need to focus on things like this early on unless you're going for faster weight loss. The most important thing, I think, is to completely focus on each step until it becomes habit, then later on once you're accustomed to more clean eating habits with no problems you can take it further.

It's great that you were into kickboxing. I think any kind of martial art is amazing for the mind and body. I used to be into fight training myself and will probably take it up again some day when I have more time. One thing that I cannot stress enough is to try to incorporate some kind of strength training into your routine, as this is the best way to keep the muscle you have while still burning fat. In addition, doing the basic core compound lifts can burn a lot of calories, especially when you get into the heavier weights. Of course with this program it isn't required to start exercising right away, but if it's something you're used to, I don't think it's a bad thing at all to start sooner rather than later. It's when you make more changes to your diet that you start seeing the visible results of this, however.
With the exercise steps as well, just make sure that once you integrate them into your plan you are ready to commit to them fully. So if you burn out before then and aren't up to doing 3 30-minute workouts a week to start out, take it slow until this can just become part of your normal routine, then gradually increase the volume.

I hope this helps, and if you have any other questions please don't hesitate to ask! Glad you're thinking about trying the program. I wish you the best luck and would love to hear about your results and experiences.
Take care

 

[TravellingKiddo]

Hey again. It's now day 3 and I'm feeling great. My body is appreciating the small changes and effort I'm putting in. So my plan goes like this:
W1 water + weights wanting to start with the 2nd most challenging step for me
W2 sweets - definitely the most challenging step, take it full on on week 2 after first weeks motivation!
W3 soda as I never drink soda anyway
W4 fried foods - this might be slightly more challenging.
And from there on. I have got a good routine with fruits and veggies and cardio anyway so I will make it stricter later. I've been trying to cut out sugar out slowly already this week so that W2 it will be like religion in my mind.
Feeling great, especially with strength training. Good to be back doing it. Thanks for your plan, I will keep commenting on my progress.

 

[TravellingKiddo]

And to mention I put water, weights and sweets on the first 2 weeks as I feel like my body really needs a change in these aspects ASAP! Rest of the steps I will do slower.

 

[TonyM78]

TravellingKiddo,
Hey, that's great. Definitely interested in hearing how it goes. Not everyone is disciplined enough to do it by the week, but if you already have some pretty decent habits it can work well for you. I'm really glad to hear about the strength training - I think that's one of the single best things you can do for your body.
Good luck!

 

[TonyM78]

Thank you Katie, yes you can achieve your ideal body using this program, just depending on how far you take it. It can be a slow process for some as it focuses on getting rid of all the bad habits and picking up some good ones. The whole habit-forming process doesn't happen overnight, which is why it's a 12-month program, though like I said some people can do it in less time depending on the habits they already have. I take willpower out of the equation as it can only take you so far. It's easy to be super-motivated early on and then burn out after a month or two, or even a couple weeks. But with this program you are constantly making changes that your body gets used to, and who wants to give up a diet they've stuck with for 6 months or more?

That process involves maxing out your set somewhere between 6 and 8 repetitions and eating the double the amount of carbohydrates. Great guide here for a perfect fit body!

What process?
For any weight-loss purposes, I actually wouldn't recommend adding carbohydrates. Yes, you need them for energy, especially if you're very active, but unless you're trying to build muscle, you don't really need to add MORE carbs to your diet. When in a reduced-calorie diet, protein is one of the most important things to make sure you're getting enough of.
As far as the 6-8 rep range, this also depends on your goals, but really any range works for any goal and the difference between rep ranges is minimal. I like to keep it simple, and 8-12 is the most common range followed for hypertrophy. However, hypertrophy will only happen if you are also eating a LOT of calories, and even then it can take years, depending on the person. For the purposes of weight loss, I think the most important thing is just sticking to the core compound exercises - the ones where you're lifting the most weight and hence burning the most calories - work up a good sweat, and of course be safe!

 

[TonyM78]

My update:

I'm actually in month 4 right now, as I started in January. The progression has been a little slow for me, though, so I started kind of implementing a few of the other steps, though not being too strict about it. My program is:
1. Water
2. Sweets
3. Soda
4. Fried Potatoes
5. Fried Foods
6. Resistance Training
7. Cardio
8. White Bread
9. Complete Meals
10. Vegetables
11. Calories
12. Macros

Though by the end, I'll be doing about an hour of daily exercise (would do more but I work full-time and go to school) so I'll be able to eliminate one of the steps.

Anyway, I've been making the change to whole wheat bread. Sara Lee's is really good and I'm actually preferring it to the white bread now. My daily staple has been natural peanut butter on whole wheat; Jif and Skippy are both good. I've also been at least looking up how many calories my meals have, just to kind of get the memory banks going again. (I used to automatically know what everything was, but I'm a little out of practice.)

I'm really psyched to start the weights in June. I'd be doing it sooner but I'm in physical therapy for my shoulder. It's going good so I should be clear to go by then. Meanwhile the exercises I'm doing for my shoulder are at least giving me a minimal workout. I've been trying to stay around 2000 calories a day also, though again not being too strict. And since next month is goodbye fried foods, I've been eating a little more of them as the end of the month draws near. I weighed myself about a week ago and I've actually lost 4 pounds already, even though I'm not following a strict diet but just from the gradual changes I've been making. (Oh and by the way this is still with drinking on Saturday night, which I'm trying to slowly cut down on as well.)

The program is about doing what works for you. Once you get to the point where you can let go of those certain foods and be fine with it, if it feels like things are moving too slow, there's no reason you can't work on some of the other steps a little bit ahead of time. The biggest thing is to make sure that when a new month comes up, you are fully committed to that step. And remember, you get one cheat day for every full successful month, so giving up your favorite foods isn't permanent!

 

[TonyM78]

So June is quickly approaching...

My shoulder has made incredible strides in recovery in the past couple weeks, so I'm to the point where I can starting adding weight to the barbell. Which means the outlook is good for staying on track with my plan moving forward. For a workout, since I've been off weightlifting for a while, I'm going to go with Starting Strength. The workout will be as follows:

A
Squat 3x5
Bench Press 3x5
Bent Row 3x5

B
Squat 3x5
Overhead Press 3x5
Deadlift 1x5

So it would go something like Monday - A, Tuesday - Rest, Wednesday - B, Thursday - Rest, Friday - A, Sat/Sun - Rest, Monday - B, etc., always alternating between workouts and always taking a day off between workouts.

The 3x5 means 3 sets of 5 reps each with a rest in between. The Deadlift would be one set of 5 reps, reason being this is already enough if you're going heavy on this exercise, especially if you're doing Squats in the same workout. So anyway the idea is to try to finish all sets of 5 reps with each exercise. If you complete each set of 5 for a given exercise, you add 5-10 lbs. to the bar next time, (usually 5 for upper body exercises and 10 for lower body). If you don't complete the sets, you don't add weight.

The Squats you'll be doing every workout to stimulate the central nervous system which will in turn help with the other exercises. Though doing this exercise every workout seems contradictory to conventional wisdom, Starting Strength is designed for beginners and it takes a beginner a while to get to the level where they're able to tax their muscles enough to make them require additional recovery time. Once you've been on this program for 3-6 months, and you aren't able to keep adding weight, it may be time to move on to an intermediate program. But we won't get into that right now. For purely weight loss purposes, you could really stay on this program indefinitely. Muscle gain is a different story.

Many people use this same workout to gain mass when they are starting out lifting, but because of the amount of calories you can burn doing exercises like this, it works very well if you're trying to lose weight as well. In addition to the calories burned from the workout, your body will be burning even more calories because your muscles will be demanding them to repair themselves.

If gaining muscle is not your goal, again, I stress DO NOT WORRY. The only way this will happen is if you are eating MORE than you are using in a day, and even then it takes a very long time. If you're female, this is even less of a concern, as the fact that women have about a tenth of the testosterone of men makes building muscle even more difficult. This is not to discourage anyone if this is your goal, but be aware of what to expect. If you are someone who is fortunate enough to be pre-disposed to gaining muscle more quickly than most, you can also just continue to use the same weight with each workout rather than continually increasing it if you don't wish to gain muscle. But make sure you're at a weight that you've worked up to rather than a weight you just 'decided was enough'. And don't just assume you are one of those people unless you have visible proof.

So anyway, the last couple weeks of May didn't go so well. One too many cheat days, I think as a result of going extra strict for a few weeks to a month and then having a couple 'relaxed' meals because I thought it wouldn't matter since I'd done so good. So take note! Learn from my mistakes. I try to analyze why a particular attempt failed and alter my strategy accordingly. So what I've gained from this is that I need to stick with the program (SLAPS FOREHEAD). In my case, I thought I was ready to take it to the next level, when in reality I was probably just getting antsy because I was looking forward to working out and wanted to see more progress faster.

I'm now relaxing somewhat for the last week of May (meaning I'm not beating myself up if I have a Mountain Dew or a meal consisting of tortilla chips and a cookie). Due to years of experience counting, I'm still aware of roughly how many calories I'm taking in, so I'm at about my maintenance right now. This is just to prevent my previous progress from being negated by a week of indiscretion.

Starting June 1st (month 6 for me) and not a day sooner or later, I'll be going back to my plan BY THE BOOK - Water every meal, no sugary food or drinks, no deep fried foods, + 30 minutes resistance training (weight training) 3 times per week. I won't be trying to watch calories either, as this step won't be until Month 11 in my plan.