HOW TO GET RID OF MAN BOOBS AND LOVE HANDLES
I had a shower this morning, weighed myself and realised I had put on about 7 kilos in the last eighteen months. Disgusted with myself, I dried myself thoroughly to get rid of any excess water, breathed out, held my stomach in and farted but to no avail, I still weighed 81 kilos when I weighed myself again. Naked, I wandered over to the full length mirror in our bedroom and surveyed the sorry physical state of the man I have become. My man boobs are now of epic proportions, I have love handles two women could hang onto, (I should be so lucky) and had I been wearing any underpants, my stomach would have been hanging over the waist band.
Still standing in front of the mirror, I pulled my shoulders back, sucked my stomach muscles in and tensed my arms by gripping my fists together. Overall, the effect wasn't too bad, it gave me an idea of how I looked about three years ago and that there is still some hope but I can't walk around as if I have a coat hanger stuck up the back of my shirt and like I need to have a dump at any moment.
I have to confess I look like shit, have been waking up lately feeling like shit, I have dark rings under my eyes and my skin isn't looking as smooth and wrinkle free as it did two years ago.
What is really annoying me is the fact that I went on La Feytaud Diet four years ago when I weighed 84 Kilos and lost 10 Kilos over six months. My waist size dropped to 33/34", I had more energy, slept better, was better humoured and generally felt better about myself. And for the first three years I maintained my weight. Sex life wasn't bad either.
I currently have a wardrobe of trousers I can no longer do up without cutting myself in half, I have a 36" waist, I am not sleeping well and I am definitely growing more grumpy as I grow older. So what am I doing wrong?
On the face of it, very little but on close analysis, although I am still following the basics of the diet, I am no longer following every step that La Feytaud tells you is necessary, I am eating more, I have allowed a certain amount of junk food to creep back into my diet and I am not eating the food in the right order.
Eat three times a day, first thing in the morning, midday and before seven o'clock at night; drink a litre of water before and during every meal, eat a portion of acidic fruit as your first course, have 3, 4, or even five separate courses, cut down on coffee and tea and don't eat anything that isn't real food.
This is the central message of Paul Herbert's diet book, La Feytaud Diet. It isn't until you read the book that you realise how much processed food that you buy in the supermarket isn't actually real food.
I am one of those people who wants to eat as soon as I think of going on a diet or losing weight. The reason that I lost the weight and enjoyed La Feytaud is because I was allowed, in fact encouraged to eat pretty much what I liked, what feels to be large meals and I wasn't going to bed hungry.
The reason I have put the weight back on is my fault; something Paul Herbert bangs home about; we all have to accept responsibility for our weight problems. I stopped drinking the water; most likely the reason for my skin drying out and the dark rings under my eyes, I stopped eating the food in the right order, I have been eating later and I have been eating a little junk food. Not a lot but certainly enough to make a difference it would seem.
So tomorrow, I am going back to La Feytaud and following the diet and lifestyle exactly as Paul Herbert says.
It is pretty obvious from the book that the author has little sympathy for people who are obese, in fact he pulls no punches; telling us we should be ashamed and disgusted with ourselves. Many overweight people are going to be put off by his tone but I actually found this psychology worked well for me. I was disgusted with the way I had let myself go back when I started the diet four years ago and I ashamed that I have let some of the weight creep back on in recent months.
He states categorically that he has no interest in our excuses, is almost insulting but pulls back from calling us fat, lazy bastards I think, or maybe I am thick skinned; and he is certainly not out to win any friends. However, I also found him incredibly supportive and understanding on the forum where he felt people were trying to help themselves. Just don't whinge, you will only get a broadside.
I believe he wants you to be insulted, wants you to take it personally and wants you to come out fighting and determined to lose the weight. If you take his comments too personally and walk away, he doesn't care and is not interested because he believes you are simply using this as another excuse not to take control of your weight.
Besides, if you think he is being tough on you, then I suggest you read what he has to say about parents who let their children get fat, supermarkets and manufactures of processed foods.
Paul Herbert describes processed foods as "Shite" and accuses any parent who feeds processed foods to their children as lazy, irresponsible and guilty of poisoning their children. He believes that the social services should intervene and if necessary remove the children from the parents to protect them from further harm.
He believes that processed foods are constructed in laboratories, interfered with have natural ingredients removed and manufactured ingredients added; there is nothing natural or healthy about processed food. Furthermore, he believes that you shouldn't eat anything that has to have a label explaining what the ingredients of any container are and if it states it is healthy, it almost certainly isn't.
In other words, if you can't skin it, peel it, or wash it without before eating it or cooking it, you should not buy it and you most certainly should not feed it to your children. In other words, La Feytaud Diet is all about heating natural, healthy food along with a good glass of wine that does not contain sulphate.
How to get rid of love handles