For me personally eating every 2 1/2 hours worked best. I tried every 3 hours but really found I was getting very very hungry. After 2 1/2 hours I just start to feel a tinge of hunger and this meal timing works well for me. You should never really feel too hungry because you are eating so often. Regarding doing more cardio,  in my opinion it is a personal thing but not necessary. At my age (51) I have gotten in the habit of doing a 5 minute warmup and a 5 minute cool down which makes my cardio session 1/2 hour long. I have read of several others doing a similar thing. Having said that.....if I am really pressed for time I know I can be on and off the treadmill in 20 minutes. Also......I will still continue to play floor hockey.....basketball and squash ocassionally so I guess you could count that as extra cardio but these extra cardio activities are not necessary for great results. Your diet and nutrition is what will make or break your transformation."YOU CAN'T OUT EXERCISE A POOR DIET."

MyDecade, I am glad to hear you are having a great week!! Keep up the good work!

For me, as a guide, if I am hungry before 2 hours thenI didn't eat enough. If I am not hungry 3 hours later then I ate too much. You might have to experiment and find what works best for you. I did feel some significant cravings around week 10 but that is normal as your body starts to dig into the last stores of fat.

As for cardio: My personal goal is to give my all for 20 minutes. I aim to exIf I can still run after 20minutes then I didn't run hard enough.

All the best

Orrin

Great advise guys and great before and after pictures too!

Now, if you ate too little and are hungry before 3 hours, what did you do? Eat right away? Wait?

When you say you can't out exercise a poor diet, do you mean quantity wise or more quality wise?

Please note I'll start C1 January 3rd... Right now I'm planing as much as I can and learning too as I attempt to follow the program "before" I start...

I only do the 20 minutes.  If you do it right, that's all you can handle. :-)

If I was hungry before 2 hours I looked at what I ate (this is another good reason to plan and write down what you eat) and adjusted it. Because I recorded what I ate this only happened once or twice. Focus on progress not perfection right?

I think what fit4life meant was if your diet is poor then all your hard work in the gym is for nothing.

Hi Sharon,

Great pics too... Could you describe more about what "if you do it right" means?

I'm really trying to get it so that I can do it!

Hi Orrin,

So you waited until you were allowed to eat and adjust next time around... And recording what you ate was key... Thanks

MyDecade:  I will step in for Wonder Woman here and tell you what she means by that.  If you hit your 10's on your HIIT workout, and feel like you can't possbily go another second, then you nailed it and that is what doing it right is.  If you finish your 20 minutes and feel like you can go longer, then you need to amp up the intensity until you feel beyond uncomfortable.

Great description BDMon!

This is what I will be doing from now until the start of my C1 January 3rd and beyond:

1) Workout 3x week aerobic (weight is another issue...) if I remain "fresh" after 20 minutes increase intensity and proceed longer until tire.

2) Increase intensity next time to try to nail it.

What do you think?

Yes, weights are a totally different story.  Have you read the book yet?  If not, make sure you get it before January 3rd start, and familiarize yourself with the entire program.  Dialing in on your workouts is important, but diet is 80% of the puzzle.  You'll want to have your first week or two totally planned out before you begin.

As far as what you listed for cardio, that is exactly how you want to do it.  No fresh allowed, you want to be totally wilted when you are done!!!

Good luck, and happy reading.

HIIT = high intensity interval training.  Watch this video, it explains how it works. :-)

Definitely read the original book, the one with Bill Phillips on the cover.  It tells you everything you need to know and explains why.  It's the blueprint on how to do this right and get the results you seek.

MyDecade: make sure you are familiar with High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).  

HIIT incorporates a series of sprints with jogging / recovery periods.  The ratio is ~ 2:1 sprints to recovery.   A 20 minute HIIT session might include 34 intervals of 20 second sprints with 10 second recovery + some warm up and cool down.  If you do this and really push yourself during the sprints, you will collapse after 20 minutes.

It is very different from 20 minutes of cardio at a constant rate.  It is much more intense.

"YOU CAN'T OUT EXERCISE A POOR DIET" simply means that no matter how much cardio you do or how hard you pump iron if you do not eat a clean diet the results will be minimal at best.