The Badass Body Diet: The Breakthrough Diet and Workout for a Tight Booty, Sexy Abs, and Lean Legs (3 page)

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Getting a Badass Body

BE THRILLED THAT YOU
picked up this book, because I’m going to show you how to get a tight ass and an overall lean, sexy body—without all the BS of dumb DIE-ts (yes, that’s how I spell it), miracle fixes, and fluffy exercises. Nope—none of that. I’m going to cut through all that crap and get you into the shape of your life—and show you the amazing lifestyle change that will allow you to stay there.

I developed this program in response to my own struggle with food and my desire to be able to eat whatever I wanted. Anyone who knows me will tell you I have an appetite. I love to eat, so I needed a plan that would let me enjoy food and ultimately change my body to look and feel the way I wanted it to. That is, more muscle and less body fat. Could this be done without severely restricting food? I wasn’t sure.

I went to work, researching various approaches to dieting. Most of the diets I read about were ridiculous: too extreme, restrictive, super complicated, and mostly fads. Still, I persevered. I ended up taking the best parts of certain diets and “Frankensteining” them into the best combo for me. I admit there was a lot of trial and error, but the result was a way of eating that was lower in carbohydrates, higher in fat, high in protein—and with some room for “controlled cheating,” which would give me a dose of reality in my eating habits. From everything I researched, these elements were key to successful weight loss if you wanted it and muscle gain—which is what I wanted. Along the way, I identified “booty foods” that could actually help reduce fat from the lower body. I included those foods in my program too.

Of course, food wouldn’t the only way toward a great booty and body. Exercise had to be an influencing component, though not the biggest one. Our bodies are more than just food-processing machines. They’re designed to play, move, and discover life. When you deny yourself the joy and power of movement, you plunge yourself into a vicious cycle of lack of motivation and binge eating.

Here’s another thing: I’m advocating a nondiet—and more of a change in the way you eat and see food, specifically the big three “macronutrients,” protein, fat, and carbohydrates. The Badass Body Diet is something you can do daily and live with forever—and with a few modifications and adjustments in portion size, your guy can do it with you.

Diets always fail, but understanding your food and what it can do for you is key to making permanent and positive changes. With this book, you now have the knowledge to see food differently and make better, smarter choices.

Ultimately, the exercises I included in my plan were strength-based and designed to activate a lot of muscle groups at once, particularly those in the thighs and buttocks. The workouts are short but intense, meant to not only firm up muscles but provide aerobic conditioning while taking into consideration how important your time is. Pairing my food plan with exercise, even only three times a week, will rocket your body into a transformation that you won’t believe.

I put my diet and exercise program to the test, using a single guinea pig: myself. My body started to change. I was getting leaner, but stronger and defined to precision. I was able to stay at the top of my weight class in Olympic Weightlifting. My rear end had gotten tight and free of cellulite.

My CrossFit clients took notice. They were curious about exactly what I was doing, and they wanted the same results.

Because their bodies were different from mine, I knew the program would need to adapt a little, so I eventually tweaked it to fit everyone and every lifestyle: the woman who wants a more aesthetic shape, the woman who has never done anything athletic or healthy in her life, the athlete who wants to perform better, and the seeker of more energy and a happier state of being. I wanted to include everyone and make it comprehensive enough for anyone.

The Badass Body Diet was born.

HOW IT WORKS: BADASS NUTRITION

How many times have you asked, “Does my butt look big in this?” Whether you’re dragging your boyfriend, hubby, or best friend through hell by trying on every outfit in your closet until you get a satisfactory answer, the question is always loaded, and you know your butt looks as big as Jupiter if you’re even asking the question.

To improve your rear reflection and the rest of you, you’ll follow my Badass nutrition plan. It focuses on clean, high-protein eating—with a twist: it’s a bit higher in fat than most diets you’ve probably been on. Once upon a time, fat was the “F” word—everyone thought it was very bad for your waistline and everywhere else. Sounds like a crazy idea, but many more recent studies have shown that dietary fat isn’t the bad guy. Half the composition of your cell membranes is fat, so it’s essential for healthy functioning. Fat is also key for absorbing fat-soluble vitamins like vitamin A, which encourages protein turnover and, indirectly, muscle growth.

Eating fat doesn’t mean you’ll get fat. In fact, consuming the right amount of certain fats can help you shed body fat, develop muscle, defend your joints, protect your heart, and make food taste better. So hello, dietary fat, good-bye, body fat!

You won’t feel hungry on my program, either, because you’ll be eating enough protein and higher-fat foods. Ultimately, you’ll feel satisfied instead of deprived. You’ll see and feel the pounds fall off—from your stomach first, since this is where fat from carbs is typically stored, and then from your booty, thighs, and entire lower body.

Be prepared to go pretty low on certain carbs. You’ve got to. When you take in too many carbs, your blood sugar elevates, and then the hormone insulin kicks in to bring it back down. In doing so, it takes the calories you’ve consumed and stores them as fat. And this fat is hard to get rid of, wants to stay put, and creates cellulite. If you ever find you’re getting fat, you haven’t adjusted your carbs properly

I won’t deny it: The low-carb approach works. A ton of research tells us that curtailing carbs causes dramatic drops in body fat. When you skimp on certain carbs and lower their overall intake, your body produces less glucose and stops creating fatty tissue. Your body turns to existing fat reserves to burn energy, so you lose weight.

I do make distinctions among carbs, though. I discourage carbs such pasta, cereal, bread, crackers, desserts, and processed foods, especially those with commercial brand labels with long lists of crazy ingredients, additives, and chemicals. If it has such a label, stay away! But don’t panic: I have a ton of great alternatives for these if they are a part of your life that you can’t let go of.

My dietary plan also includes some specific foods that can literally spot-reduce your butt. Yep, there are foods that will do this, and they’re the centerpiece of my diet. I call them “booty foods.” Think: meat and other animal proteins, fruits, vegetables, and yes, fats. Don’t run yet; let me explain! With the right protein, fat, and carb choices, you’ll burn up fat that is already stored on various parts of your body and produce rapid results to give you the motivation to create your ideal body. Of course, you get to eat many more foods than just my booty foods, because the Badass plan offers a lot of variety.

You’ll enjoy breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. Each meal is made up of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats designed to help you achieve the perfect posterior and shape—and a goddess-like bod in and out of clothes.

Fair warning: I’ve always challenged rules, so why have diet rules? I’m going to break a bunch of them. Don’t freak out. This plan works, and I’ve seen it transform the booties and bodies of everyone I’ve worked with. Go at it with courage and boldness. After all, as they say, tame women rarely make history.

HOW IT WORKS: BADASS WORKOUTS

Right now, you might not like the idea of exercising. I hear you. I used to hate to exercise. But I gave it a whirl and kept at it. Once I saw positive changes in my body, I felt like I was doing something good for myself that only I could do and couldn’t be bought. I always feel like a million bucks after working out. I know I’ve done something positive for myself, and this builds my confidence. Exercise also biochemically changes your system. It boosts feel-good chemicals like serotonin and endorphins, and it increases muscle-toning chemicals such as growth hormone and testosterone. Not to mention that exercise also increases your sex drive.

Getting a firm, sexy ass and body must involve the right kinds of exercises and workouts, and you’ll find them here. Just as you’ll eat foods to spot-reduce your butt, you’ll do exercises that will spot-firm it. Diet and exercise—it’s like a combo punch. No body part escapes my exercise program, however, because it’s not a good idea to work only your butt. You need to work off fat from everywhere to create the whole beautiful body package. My workouts tax your entire body, making it tough for any muscle part to goof off—which increases the effects of the workout. They’re fast-paced, too, with constant motion that aerobically elevates your heart rate and burns calories like crazy.

Sometimes women don’t want to do weight training because they’re afraid they’ll bulk up. You don’t have to worry about that, because for men, the muscular bodybuilder physique comes from male hormones as much as it does from lifting weights. We just don’t have the same hormonal makeup. The workouts here will firm, tone, and strengthen your body without bulking it up.

You don’t have to spend hours exercising, either. My exercises are easy to follow and accompanied by step-by-step pictures and instructions. None of my workouts lasts longer than 20 minutes, and I offer variety and levels of ability for everyone, from the absolute Badass beginner to the elite Badass babe.

If you follow my workouts closely, you’ll get a rock-solid sexy body that sizzles in skinny jeans, bikinis, and other clothes, and turns heads and literally stops traffic. And that’s the truth.

WHAT’S IT GONNA TAKE?

Maybe you’re a little reluctant or timid right now, because you’ve tried so many programs that have failed you. You’re sick of the word
diet
. You’re tired of exercises being pushed at you. Okay, fine. I get that too. But let’s look at this another way.

Think of the first time you had sex. It was awkward, a real fumble fest. You didn’t really know what was exactly going on. You weren’t even sure you liked it. But you tried it again and again. After more weird tries, you started to like it. Soon you loved it.

Well, it’s just like that with the Badass plan. You start it. You fumble a bit. You keep at it. You see amazing results, and then you love it. It becomes a part of your life.

I want to help you get there by sharing with you what I call the three Cs of success: clarity, confidence, and consistency.

CLARITY

By clarity, I mean being honest with yourself about where you are, where you want to be, and what you really want out of life. I advise my clients to keep a journal in which they clearly describe how they want to look and the goals for getting there. To start the process, I urge them to use visualization, a relatively old concept in the field of sport psychology used for performance enhancement. Before you start my plan, visualize your healthy ideal and describe it in your journal. Create the picture, feel it, and then hold it intently in your mind. See yourself already at your ideal. According to research, the mind controls the body by directing and moving it toward the visualized image. Another way to put it is, what you believe, you conceive.

Also, write down the concrete goals you can take to actualize that vision. How much weight loss is your ultimate goal? Ten pounds? Twenty-five? Fifty? Or perhaps enough to finally squeeze back into those jeans that have become too tight in recent months? Maybe it’s not so much about losing weight but rather getting that smoking-hot body shaped up. Feel free to make your goals as challenging as you like. This is, after all, your life.

Next, list what you’re willing to sacrifice to achieve your goals. Every accomplishment worth anything didn’t come without sacrifice. Understanding what you want and what it takes to get it is the important part. You’re stronger than you think—you just have to be willing to try.

During my own fitness makeover, it was obvious to me that I’d have to give up dearly beloved long-term habits such as drinking, smoking, and eating junk food full of fats and sugar. Be brutally honest about the bad habits you’ll give up. Will you stop eating fast food or nightly desserts? Will you give up daily cocktails? How about those daily sodas you’ve been knocking down? Will you stop being sedentary? Will you refrain from medicating yourself with food when you feel stressed out? Your bad habits are standing in your way. Don’t let this insignificant bad habit prevent you from the body you know you can have. Be your own boss, kick those bad habits to the curb, and replace them with good habits. That’s the Badass way.