In a recent article in Instyle Magazine, Heidi Klum and David Kirsch are featured with that lovely article title: “How to lose your muffin top in three weeks”. With Heidi being the beautiful Victoria’s Secret’s model and David being the coach, they seem to have an effective program. He offers a huge list of No No’s and a list of cardiovascular/body weight workouts and BAM- you could look as beautiful as her.
David’s list of No- No’s includes no alcohol, soda or coffee, no breads or starchy carbs, no dairy unless it’s skim milk or non-fat greek yogurt, no extra sweets and no excessive fats or fruits.
Phew! That’s a long list of don’t's in my opinion!
Here’s my take on the whole weight loss/fat loss thing:
It’s taken me a LONG time to finally lose most of my body fat- and I’m not there yet. And, a LOT of hard work. I do not do any “endurance cardio” ever! Our workouts are massively structured and always have a anaerobic capacity to them- but almost never will I be doing “long, slow distance” as my coach from high school called it. Weight loss does not happen over night. It doesn’t happen in three weeks. Although, I’ve heard it happening- most people want to make small changes over a long period of time, right? Yes, you could lose tons of weight on the David Kirsch method, but, would you be able to stick to it over the long haul? Me, I don’t think so. I like cheese. And, from reading it,the diet seems unreasonably restrictive and lacking in carbs and fats- even good fats like avocado’s and olive oil.
Remember, I am not a nutritionist, just a girl on a journey, really. The things I’ve learned and have applied are very little breads/cereals/ white flour foods {And, seriously, my tummy gets ANGRY when I eat that stuff!!}. I splurge on good dark chocolate. I eat egg whites with hummus or an apple + 3 macademia nuts for a snack. I eat fruit- like in my greek yogurt or cottage cheese. I am following the ZONE diet but I cheat. Losing unwanted body fat takes time. It’s taken me years to develop these habits, I’m not going to dump them all over night. One of these days, I might. However, in the meantime, I am still going to enjoy iced americano’s with cream (no sugar), chocolate and sometimes wine.
Who’s with me on this? Anyone believe that you can achieve what the magazines say you can? Why are the diets and/or articles always based on speed? This type of writing – is just plain lying, isn’t it? We are not going to get “great abs in three moves” or 15 minutes a day, etc…it’s going to take dedication to a fairly clean diet and sweat!
5 responses so far ↓
1 Janice - the Fitness Cheerleader // Mar 18, 2010 at 1:50 pm
I think what you’re talking about and David is talking about are two different things. You’re talking about a sustainable way to lose weight and maintain it – he’s talking about a quick, 3 week shock the heck out of your body lose fat approach. I *think* or I sure as hell hope, that what David is suggesting, is that you only do this for 3 weeks, then move into a sustainable lifestyle more along the lines of what you practise. Even an athlete’s training program is based on periodization training – a few weeks of building an endurance base, followed by a short fat burning strength building phase, then another short power building phase. If you keep your body guessing by using periodization techniques you will keep prevent your body from becoming adapted and no longer responding to the training demands. Following that an athlete will go into a maintenance phase, and then repeat the cycle again.
As we all strive for fitness, I think we often get complacent in our routines. I run with a group of ladies who are in awe that I’ve built from only running 3k to running a 1/2 marathon in 13 weeks. This same group of ladies run 5k every run… all the time – no more, no less. AT first they lost weight… now they’re gaining and saying why? I’m active afterall… It’s all about keeping your body guessing, and I think that David is suggesting that you try his workout for 3 weeks, lose some fat, then maintain. Just like athletes do. But whatever – I’m not David so I’m not entirely sure if that’s his message.
.-= Janice – the Fitness Cheerleader´s last blog ..If Roselyn Can Do It, Then So Can You! =-.
2 Fit Mommy // Mar 18, 2010 at 3:12 pm
Yes, you are right on the two things part. For me, the David Kirsch article lead me to my own weight loss journey. I am not an extreme person and would have a hard time dumping everything at one time!
3 Tiffany // Mar 18, 2010 at 4:53 pm
Man – that would be tough to stick to. I really need to give up alcohol and after dinner sweets. I don’t know if I could ever give up bread – that is a big part of my day. I start each day with a bowl of cereal!
.-= Tiffany´s last blog ..Why Why Why =-.
4 RunToTheFinish // Mar 18, 2010 at 10:01 pm
Hmm if I could look like heidi, I might just give it a go
.-= RunToTheFinish´s last blog ..Time Change or Sugar =-.
5 ryan // Mar 22, 2010 at 7:02 pm
I couldn’t agree more! long slow boring cardio is not the way to get lean & burn fat. Metabolic resistance training followed by high intensity interval training is the way to go. Great post!
.-= ryan´s last blog ..Elliptical Machines Suck for Fat Loss =-.
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