SCUBA DIVING FITNESS

EXTREME DIET

Disclaimer: Before starting any diet or fitness program through the Service, consult your physician to determine if such program is right for your needs.

My weight was way above what is recommended. Standing at 1.65m, my recommended weight was about 60kg. At 95kg, that was way too much. Not only was I starting to lose my trim, but I was also finding difficulty catching my breath in the water while going against a current. I knew I needed a drastic measure to start feeling healthy again. My cardiologist was also shocked about my weight gain during Covid-19 and he was heavily recommending that I do something about my weight.

Before reading this, I would suggest you start reading “I AM – The Mental State” first. Without adjusting your mind and getting your mental health ready, you will NEVER SUCCEED using this extreme diet plan. This is not for the faint heart. My diving colleagues laughed at it and none of them thought that I will succeed or would I last through this extreme diet plan of mine.

Deciding what needs to go and what needs to stay

The first thing I decided was say NO to anything that is sugar-based. Juices, sugar-flavored drinks, any form of carbs such as bread, rice, and noodles. I knew all sugar and complex sugar is bad from my background. From weight gain, to sugar addiction to cancer, there is nothing good about being addicted to sugar.

Next, the frequency of meals. How often do I really need to eat? And what if I have an urge to eat and how do I get rid of the desire to munch? And if the extreme diet starts, what do I need to take to supplement myself?

Setting your goals

Without short and long term goals, you will be blinded. You need to see results and you need to know the direction you are heading. You CANNOT just have a plan of losing weight without a goal. You NEED to know how much weight you want to lose, you need to know what body type is yours and what you are trying to become. You need to be real and precise. That is the only way you will succeed.

KNOWING YOUR BODY TYPE

If you are not certain what type of body type, take some time to read this. Remember this, while being round is also a shape, no one wants to stay round forever.

I started planning. I am a Fat Rounded Endomorph, and weight gain was easy. My target was to quickly become an Ectomorph. That became my final objective. I know from my recent experience that while you age, your testosterone level decreases, resulting in quick weight gain. So achieving an Ectomorph makes the most sense.

Going Keto First

This was the easy part. I threw out all the candies, gummy bears, ice cream, soda, beers, alcohol, rice, instant noodles. But I needed an easy way to prepare food, and I needed someone to tell me how many calories I am taking. So I subscribed to a six-week Keto meal plan. Each meal is carefully prepared and the calories are stated on each meal. When the meals had substitute carbs, I threw them away as well. Each meal had about 1200 calories, which is way too much for me, so I usually took only half of each meal.

While cutting down on the meals, my desire to eat got lesser by the day. But what do you do when you have the urge to munch? I found the magic behind it. Black Coffee with Lemon. This drink is really bitter and it kills almost any urge to eat. And caffeine before any form of training also gives you an energy boost. So great. I decided to keep lemons at the dive shop and black coffee. Each time I have to urge to eat, I prepare a black coffee with half a lemon.

With a reduction of food intake, I was ready for the next step, intermittent fasting

Intermittent fasting 

I will not spend too much time explaining what is intermittent fasting. Google it and you will find a ton of information on it. But what I need is a plan on HOW TO DO intermittent fasting. There is various way to do intermittent fasting. But based on my working hours, I found 16/8 works best for me. This means, I fast for 16 hours (including my sleeping hours) and only eat during the 8 hours.

So my plan is to eat only during my working hours from 12pm to 8pm.

Below is a sample of what I do from the minute I wake up. The below diet is something that I am still mostly doing.