Your Best Body in Record Time! 4 Days to Glory...Emergency Body 101

Have an important event coming up, vacation, big date or just ready to feel more confident in that bikini already? If you are motivated and want to show off your absolute BEST body, then I have some phenomenal tips/tricks up my sleeve to give you the best 'you' version you can get in record time (um, 4 days.) These are my fail-proof miracle-body manipulations. It's a hard core plan, and it will take discipline to do, but it freaking works!

BEFORE

AFTER - 4 pounds lost in three days

Have you seen the contestants on the Biggest Loser drop 40 pounds in one week? Water weight or not, the scale did not lie, it was pounds lost and you can visibly see a difference in their body structure. You also can rid yourself of unneeded bloating and pudginess with these tips and you don't have to hop on a scale in front of the nation. I would hope you would try all the tips to get the full effect but I assume if you only want to do some parts, you will likely see great results also. Of course, my disclaimer is that you will want to consult the doctor before doing this and you should ALWAYS listen to your body's queues. This is not something you can maintain long term, not that you would really want to either but its a great short term fix!

THE PLAN: 4 days to Glory:

1. Daily hot bath with Epsom salts  - This is powerful. If you do Epsom salt baths daily by itself, I think you would be impressed and want to come thanking me with big hugs. I can't stress enough how amazing Epsom salts are good for flushing out excess toxins and old cells that we don't need. Epsom salt is cheap and I bought my last bag of it at the grocery store in the bath area. I think 2 cups in a regular sized bath tub should work, and use as hot water as you can, then plan on soaking for 30-45 minutes.

2. Drink a gallon of water everyday (or two!) - The more water you have in your system the happier your liver and kidneys will be. If they are operating at 100%
then your body will be ready to flush fat, water weight, and toxins out of your body.              Happy liver+happy kidneys= fat burning mode

3. Take MagO 7- This is a powerful colon cleansing product, take it every night (start with 2-3 pills/night) on an empty stomach before bed with water. These are amazing at clearing out your colon and you will get your digestion back in order by the 3rd day of taking them. These are what got my stomach to stop being bloated after taking them for two nights. Beware! You can take up to 5 of these at once but I don't recommend it. These are a detox for your body, so be aware of the mild effects of detoxing. In the mornings, you will be visiting the bathroom, so make friends with the idea of getting rid of what your body didn't need anymore.You can buy these at health food stores.

4. Eat dinners EARLY - Eat (light) dinners before 6pm, if you can. Or about 3-4 hours before bedtime. You want to give your digestion a well-deserved break and go to bed on an empty stomach, which allows your body to clear out the food you consumed that day.

5. Eat breakfast late - Eat breakfast after 9am, or later. The longer you can go between dinner and breakfast is the better for your digestion. I aim to get a minimum of 12 hours between dinner and the next day's breakfast. This time between meals will create a fasting effect. Fasting is known to benefit SO many things including weight loss, gaining lean muscle mass, increasing energy and clearing out old "stuck" thoughts. Read more here or here.

6. Stay busy - Boredom makes me sooo hungry... it can bring out the hungry demon within ALL of us. Grab some meditation CD's or music from the library & get yourself to a good, happy, confident place. Be proud of yourself, do some positive self-affirmations and discover the you that's been in hiding. Need help staying positive, go here. Need help with your self-confidence, go here. What are your goals? Remember them, write them down in a journal and always keep them on the fore-thought of your mind.

7. Close down the kitchen- Just the sight of food will make us all hungry, as it often triggers something emotional. I recommend putting the food away in cabinets or the fridge. Then mentally tell yourself after your meal that you are closing the kitchen down. Sometimes I have to tell myself to simply WALK AWAY because the longer you are there is the more you will consider going back for a second helping or the easier it will be to justify grabbing something for your sweet tooth. But remember, you have gone down that path before, and it's time NOW to try something new. This is where meal planning can help, by  knowing how much you want to eat ahead of time. Also, refer to #6, stay busy. Plan a walk after your meals or do something else you love doing. You need to have activities after your meal so you can eat and pull yourself away from the food easily. Maybe even plan just to brush your teeth, clean teeth can often deter more eating.

The Food:
The primary foods are veggies and meats. It's simple. Anything else might be OK in moderation but remember, we are looking for BIG results in a short amount of time. Focus on your goals through this process, they will make the self-discipline all worth it. Here are the food staples of this emergency plan:

• Salads: Loads of veggies to fill you up with the vitamins and nutrients your body wants. Great salad ideas here. And, if you are going to eat anything outside the food list, eat it ONLY after you have eaten a salad first. Give yourself the nutrients and often you won't want the other stuff after that. Think of wedge salad with yummy bacon or a big ass chicken salad with bell peppers and carrots. For your dressing your best bet is olive oil and vinegar but if you splurge here, don't worry about it, just follow the plan as close as you can. And don't shy away from eating a salad for breakfast, it's a delicious and different way to start the day!
• Green smoothies: Recipe here. Feel free to change this up by adding steamed broccoli, asparagus or cilantro - or any kinds of veggies to feel good about. A half a lemon (clean it, chop it and throw it in there) will help cut the bitter taste or if you MUST, add steamed carrots or roasted beets.
• Chicken - Have some already cooked & you will have an easy protein salad ready to throw together. The easiest way to cook chicken is to bake it in a bath of chicken broth in the oven for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. So easy! 
• Veggies- My favorites are carrots, red bell peppers, radishes, cucumbers, beets, raw or steamed broccoli or asparagus. You can even make up some guacamole. You can get your veggie inspiration here. Cut these up and have them ready to grab so you aren't tempted when it's time to eat. Veggies are just more appetizing when they are cut- up and ready to grab. 

Things to Avoid:

• Processed Foods - Your body treats them as toxins. It will hold onto extra water to wrap around the cells to save them from the foods that are poisonous to it.
• Salt - Your enemy when you need to slim down. Surprise, you don't need it! 
• Alcohol - The devil in disguise. If your liver is burdened by removing booze from your body, then it doesn't get a chance to burn fat. More info here, under water section.
• Gluten/Breads/Pastas/Chips - Reach for the bread bowl and it's welcome to bloat city for you! Also these foods turn into sugar in your body & cause unwanted insulin spikes. when insulin is in your system, your body will store calories. 
• Fruit - We are going to avoid fructose which also causes insulin spikes & tends to cause bloating in some of us (me!) Plus the sweeter taste will cause a domino effect and you to crave more sweet things. Best to avoid it and make life easier. It's just a few days, you won't miss it that much.
• Nuts - Just for a few days, you want to steer clear of these yummy treats. This includes nut butters and nut flours. This one in particular was really hard for me since I tend to eat almond butter like the world is ending.

Workouts! (my favorite part!)

These are the extra bit you need to put you in turbo fat burning mode: Plus you will probably feel energized by this eating style and want to put that energy to good use. And working out keeps you busy, you WANT to stay busy. Also, remember with these workouts that you want to be gasping for breath, not just breathing hard. Out of breath and difficult to say hi to someone means that your body is increasing the good muscle-building hormones and silencing the others. 

1. Sprints! This means different things to different people. It could mean walking faster intermittently or it could mean sprinting like there are mountain lions chasing you either on foot or by bike. Read this if you have any doubt of the AMAZING benefits of sprints. Run for 30-seconds, at an all out speed and then run at a slower pace to catch your breath for a minute or two. Then repeat that and aim for doing 6 rounds. If that's too much, just do what you can & you can hug me as a thank you later. These will make you feel like a God and your human growth hormone level will increase significantly.

2. Tabata It's a funny word for a simple movement. Tabata research has been done in controlled studies and has proven effective in putting your body into fat-burning mode and increasing your VO2 Max. The best part is it's something that takes minimal time (4 minutes!) and is intense enough to make you break a sweat. You are welcome to read here on the why's if you need convincing. You are basically doing 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest for 8 rounds. There are numerous exercises you can do this with such as burpees, power cleans, push ups, mountain climbers, and my personal favorite is squats. 

Let me know how this goes and be sure to share your results!