| Page 7 read by Jose:
Phases of Transformation
Phase I Fat Loss and Phase II Superhero
Version 1 - 238 lbs and fat
This was my starting point. I remember being so done living inside of that unhealthy version of myself. I began the 4X4 Fatloss Plan eating the same shitty foods that created that body in the first place, and then I effortlessly gravitated toward healthier, more nutrient dense foods over time. I didn't want to feel deprived or stressed out following regurgitator advice that is all over the internet of doing excess cardio, weighing my food, prepping meals, counting calories, keeping logs, journaling, using apps, hiring a coach. I didn't want any of that complexity. The 4X4 approach created a seamless shift in my perception that put me in 100% control over my body's state of wellness.
Making a choice first. Making a commitment to take control of my body's homeostasis, is how it started for me. I had let it find its own without my conscious involvement for many years to the statistical result of the masses.
Version 2.0 - 181 lbs @ 10% Bodyfat
Prime bodyweight, a blank canvas to build on. Sticking to the Nine Commitments of the 4X4 plan, I lost 57 pounds in 4.5 months, still eating meat, burgers, and fried foods, just cleaner and smaller portions following the common sense guidelines in the 4X4 plan. No specialized supplements beyond a basic daily multivitamin, B complex, and whey protein shakes and protein bars that are available just about anywhere. This became a life exercise in self-mastery, and getting to this point showed me how easily I could exist at a healthy, athletic 15% bodyfat at all times. I remember it feeling so great to get to my prime bodyweight!
No special supplements required. Nothing "extra" needed to achieve natural prime bodyweight. This was my blank canvas that I hadn't felt in decades, since my early 20s. The 4X4 Plan is merely a common-sense shift in nutritional perspective.
Version 3.0 - 182 lbs @ 5.5% Bodyfat
Additional supplements are required here. My choices were take steroids* or optimize gut function?
One way or another, this level of fitness requires "something extra" to attain and hover at. I added Added 11 pounds of new natural muscle after a full year of being vegetarian, no meat whatsoever which made it easier for my immune system to regenerate my body's cells. 70% of my immune system lives in my gut in the form of white blood cells, the rest is actively circulating in my blood repairing and rebuilding. I started making milk kefir and I used multiple acemannan-based products to supercharge gut mocrobiota activity. Attaining this level of fitness without steroids, hormones, testosterone treatments, using no drugs or medications, where I could step on stage and compete with the best, also required me to incorporate a baseline supplement routine and tightening up my body's cellular regeneration process.
*I am not against the use of anabolic steroids or other PEDs. Steroids are highly misunderstood, and I don't consider them dangerous when used properly. Still, this is where I had to make another choice to live out my superhero physique 24/7...
If I use performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) like anabolic steroids, HGH, even doctor-prescribed T-injections, I would not be able to compete in tested events, and the more reputable events have a seven year minimum of non-PED use. Even worse, then PEDs would receive the credit for my hard work up to this point.
I chose to stay steroid-free for now, and compete in a few more tested Natural Masters Bodybuilding divisions, at least for a few more years before I document my 1st anabolic steroid cycle. In Jose's FFR, steroids are a privilege that should only be used by guys who have already mastered their body composition naturally. To me, they've earned the privilege to use them, and so have I when that time comes.
I started 57lbs overweight.
For anyone committing to a quest of uncovering their best physical self, I want to lead an attainable path for others by my example. If I can use 4X4 to maintain a natural, vegetarian, lean and muscular, near stage-ready superhero body 24/7, someone else that needs to lose 40-50 lbs or more can *easily* use the 4X4 and still eat meat, drink moderate alcohol, and smoke whatever they want and exist at a healthy prime bodyweight at all times.
I concluded that augmenting digestion to supercharge my immune system response to workouts was my long-term key to enhancing the recovery effect of my body's baseline cellular regeneration in a sustainable, easy-to-manage, healthy way that manifests my superhero body.
The 4X4 Fatloss Plan:
(click to download printable MICROSOFT WORD version and stick on your fridge)
Use the same bioimpedance scale in before and after:
4X4 Mini-intro Fast Food & Restaurant Ideas
(Video filmed in 2016 when I still ate meat during Phase I Fat Loss)
Quick nod to heavenly Milk Kefir
The quest for optimizing digestion, led me to bacterial yeasts & cultures. The gut is lined with tens of trillions of bacteria that break down the food we ingest (think active fermentation in your gut) releasing the nutrients that our organs use as catalysts to carry out their functions. That's how I visualize it happening in my fitness fantasy.
I started making milk kefir because it is the world richest source of probiotics found in any single food, which turns my gut microbiome into a nutrient-producing powerhouse for my immune system to manifest my superhero physique much more efficiently over time.
A nice, tall mug of Milk Kefir is one of my daily meals, sometimes two, four to five days a week consistently.
Milk kefir has to be made at home. It is not the same commercial, over-priced kefir garbage in some grocery stores. You cannot buy it, and it is also the main reason I'm not vegan. My friends know... I'm a kefir freak!
