Extending the weight-loss plan

Fluid-busting massage

This massage should be carried out once a day. It aims to help the body eliminate fluid more effectively, stopping it from being reabsorbed into the tissues. It uses a very basic form of manual lymph drainage to do this, which means that instead of deep probing strokes you should use long, very gentle moves.

For best results, carry out the massage with a blend of essential oils that are designed to fight fat and fluid retention. For example, take two drops of grapefruit oil, two drops of mandarin oil and one drop of black pepper oil and add them to 10ml of carrier oil (test this first, since black pepper can irritate sensitive skins). You can also boost fluid loss by trying steams of saunas. Aim for one a week.

Start on your legs, at the ankles, moving upwards and towards the knees. Work both the front and back of the body. Then move up the thighs, focusing upwards and towards the groin.

Work around the arms, moving upwards from wrist to elbow. Now move past the elbow, massaging the upper arms towards the armpit.

Now massage your torso. The area above your chest, the upper abdomen, should be massaged outwards and either up or down towards the armpits, depending on the area being treated. If someone is massaging your back, strokes on the upper back and shoulder blades should be toward the armpit; neck strokes toward the ears.

Work the lower abdomen. Anywhere under the area of your navel should be massaged toward the groin. If someone is massaging your back, strokes should go upwards.

Extending the plan

If you get to the end of the month of the plan and still have more weight to lose, there’s a good chance that it’s fat that you now need to reduce, not fluid. You can therefore reintroduce wheat and dairy products into your diet in small amounts. Switch from soya to skimmed milk in breakfast meals. Add cottage cheese or 50g (2oz) of reduced-fat hard cheeses to your protein choices (and choose these once or twice a week). Also add wholegrain breads and wholewheat pastas to your carbohydrates in the evening (and again choose these once or twice a week). The rest of the diet stays the same.

You will also need to change the program, because after a few weeks of carrying out the same activity the body begins to get used to exercises and they become less effective. The simplest way to beat this is to add intervals to the aerobic part of your plan. After every two minutes of your normal aerobic activity, add 30 seconds to two minutes of working out at least 10 percent faster. These mini energy bursts stimulate your body and stop it from getting ‘bored’.

Living the detox life

If you’ve got to the end of the month and have lost all the weight you wanted to lose, that’s great; but you need to make sure you don’t put it back on again. Around 90 percent of people who lose weight do just that, so here are some tips:

Know your calorie count. If you eat more calories than you burn, you will gain weight no matter how cleansed your system is. To work out how many calories you can consume in a day without gaining weight, do this simple calculation. Multiply your weight in kilograms by 0.9, then multiply this figure by 24. Multiply this third figure by one of the following: 1.3 if you are in a sedentary job and do no exercise; 1.5 if you are in a sedentary job but exercise for 1-3 hours a week; 1.7 if you are in a manual job or exercise heavily (for more than three hours a week). (For example, if you weigh 65kg and fall into the second category above, the calculation for your calorie intake would be: 65 x 0.9 = 58.5 x 24 = 1,404 x 1.5 =2,106 calories.)

Start re-introducing wheat and dairy products. If you don’t have a food intolerance, there is no point cutting out wheat and dairy products any longer. If you aren’t sure, go back to normal levels but listen to your body: if you notice your waistline getting puffy, or the scales rapidly adding 2kg (4lb) or more in a day, you are intolerant. If this is the case, stay off them again for a few days, then introduce just low levels: no more than 1-2 servings of dairy foods and 1-2 servings of wheat foods daily. If you do keep dairy foods low, boost your calcium intake through leafy green vegetables such as spinach, kale and broccoli, calcium-enriched products like orange juice and bony fish like sardines. (The body needs calcium to burn fat.)

Reduce your toxic load. It’ll also help to drink the Chelating Cocktail daily from now on.

 

Keep exercising. According to the National Weight Registry in the USA, which is the world’s biggest survey of people who have successfully lost weight, this is the key to keeping weight down. The average person, in their studies, burns 2,800 calories a week through exercise – that’s a walk of 5-6km (3-4 miles) each day. Make this your aim too.