5 inches off my waist.
Now, I wasn't a big guy to start with, so those are some pretty awesome results.
And the great news is, it really isn't rocket science to get those kind of results in four weeks.
All you have to do is to create a fat-loss plan and then follow it to the letter.
And when you're creating your fat-loss plan, you need to plan just two things: your diet and your exercise.
Planning your diet You're probably asking yourself right now why you have to plan your diet.
Sure, you can get okay results by eating "a little more carefully" or by "watching what you eat".
Your body will grumble a bit and sometimes you'll stick it out and sometimes you won't.
You'll shed a few pounds and maybe someone will even compliment you.
But your body is sneaky and will persuade you to "just have an apple between meals" or "treat yourself to a fruit salad as a dessert" because they're healthy.
When you're dieting, your body wants extra calories and it will do anything to convince you that it's all right to have that extra portion.
If you want eye-popping, stand-out results, you've got to plan your diet and stick to it.
To plan your diet, sit down and write down what you normally eat for breakfast and lunch.
You'll also want to write down couple of main meals that you have in the evenings.
Work out how many calories you're eating on average each day.
As a 180lbs man, I was eating about 2,500kcal.
My girlfriend, who is about 120lbs, eats around 1,500kcal.
Now, when you start your diet, you will want to cut about 500kcal each day off your normal food intake.
So, pick a breakfast, lunch and evening meal combination that's about 500kcal less than your normal daily intake and eat that every day for your first week.
If you lose more than 2lbs, eat the same in week two.
If you lose less than 2lbs, cut another 250kcal off your food intake.
Keep going for the four weeks.
After four weeks, eat normally for a few weeks to regroup your energy and then repeat only if you really need to! Don't cheat a single time on your diet during the four weeks.
If for some reason you know that there are things happening in your life that are so important that you have to eat something different at some point during the four weeks, wait until they're over and do the diet then.
There's no point in trying to lose fat and going about it in a half-hearted way.
It's hard and painful so why do it for any longer than is necessary? Cheating only makes a diet last longer.
Planning your exercise The other half of the planning process is to plan your exercise.
This is where you can take your results from good to truly great.
I found the following tips to be really helpful:
- Exercise using resistance training three or four times a week.
Straining against a weight makes the body keep muscle and therefore the weight loss you lose is more likely to be fat.
Fat takes up more space than muscle so you lose more size than if you lost a combination of fat and muscle.
Therefore, you'll look much better. - Don't overdo cardio exercise.
A brisk walk for 20-30mins every day is perfect.
If you set your calories at the right level, you shouldn't need to do lots of cardio and too much will just tear you down. - Don't miss a single session during the four weeks.
If for some reason there are things in your life that are so important that you have to miss a session during the four weeks, wait until they're over and do the diet then.
There's no point in trying to lose fat and going about it in a lacklustre way.
It's hard and painful so why do it for any longer than is necessary?
I know how hard and painful dieting is and that's why I always plan my diets and only ever do four weeks at a time.
That's because I believe four weeks of hard and successful dieting is a lot better than four months of failed, half-hearted dieting.