Hansie Louw

Author, Coach, Entrepreneur

21 day body transformation – three key things to do

by 2 Comments

In a 21 day body transformation challenge there are the three key things you need to do when you are taking part!

In the challenge I am doing now there is a first prize of R25 000 (U$1400) and that drew my attention.


Story of the R50 note … this follows in the video below.


All of us will be able to use some extra cash for some or other reason.


Body transformation – first thought – I could not even come into consideration. Thought 2 – maybe I could give it a try – but how? Let me gain weight and muscle.


How do I do that?


I want to share three key things with you briefly in the video attached:

1. Focus and gather friends to support

2. All is not ruined if you cheat

3. Have a plan and stick to the plan. Adjust where required ….

My idea – lose weight like crazy for ten days – build muscle like crazy for ten days!

Check in again to see what happened …. I will keep you updated ….

Update: 4 August 2020 – day 1 completed – small weight loss

I had a normal day of meal replacement shakes and then a full plate of normal healthy food. I ran a 4km hilly run with friends in roughly 30 minutes. 

I started with a fast last night at 9pm (should have been 8pm, but I had a late coffee). The first portion of the fast is dry which means no liquids (apart from brushing my teeth and my shower this morning). This will last for 18 hours. Then it is on to different liquids and electrolytes today. I expect to lose at least 1,5kg today. Exercise for the day will be 88 kettle bell swings and 50 pushups and no running today. See you at the next update!

Interesting few days, it has been! I managed to drop the weight only to pick it up over the weekend with a long run and some relaxed eating. So from Sunday night 9pm it is another fast for two or three days to see what happens. Could I now drop 4 kg in three days? We will see – I wanted to be about 5kg down from my starting weight last Monday – this seems to be a very difficult step now! Let’s go and see what is possible (10 August 2020 – 9:20 pm)

 

Covid-19 : How to survive when I get it?

by 4 Comments

It happened in four days after diagnosis of Covid-19

Yesterday (Tuesday) I read a note of a friend that explained how quickly one of her colleagues died as a result of the Covid-19. “She passed away at 12 o’clock (Monday). She was diagnosed last week Thursday … and had been self isolating and medicating… Last night (Sunday) she was rushed to hospital after struggling with shortness of breath. Knowing my sis I’m sure she gave a big fight, but sadly it was not enough….”

I was very sad when I read this note. It was a big shock to my friend and to me who recognised the lady from a picture although I was not close to her. What was so threatening is that it took only four days since diagnosis. Of course the lady must have been ill before that time already.

survival t shirt
I Survived Covid 19 T Shirt

So I asked myself this question – will I die?

I am ready to go. Of course I do not want to go now. There are so many contributions that I still want to make to help transform the world, but I am ready.

What is my chance of death statistically?

In South Africa between around 4 people out of 10 000 tested are positive. Out of 10 000 people that will amount to 400. From those that tested positive for the virus around 3% passed away (as calculated on May 18). In my equation this comes to 12 people. My chance is 0,12% to pass away. This differs from country to country and area to area.

What other aspects could take me into a higher risk category?

If I am over 60 (closer to 70 and beyond) there is a bigger chance of death. If there are the so called co-morbidity causes then the chance is even higher. That means other illnesses that could contribute to an earlier death. These are hypertension (high blood pressure) (8%), diabetes (9%), chronic respiratory disease (8%), cancer (8%) and cardio vascular disease (13%). The percentages indicates the number of deaths from research of one segment of Covid-19 patients. That means if 100 people get ill then your chance is 8% of passing away if you have hypertension. If you have two or more of these illnesses then of course the risk gets bigger and bigger. In New York 75% of all deaths came from people with an underlying health issue as at 13 May 2020. That is a very high figure!

 

What kills a person when you get Covid-19?

 The main amount of deaths come from ARDS : Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) occurs when fluid builds up in the tiny, elastic air sacs (alveoli) in your lungs. The fluid keeps your lungs from filling with enough air, which means less oxygen reaches your bloodstream. This deprives your organs of the oxygen they need to function.

In short: you cannot breathe.

What could I do to mitigate the risk of death?

One of the important aspects is to make sure that you get more vitamin D – the sun helps a lot for this!

 

Equally important is to make sure that your levels of Zinc and Selenium intake is sufficient to assist your body to fight the virus. Vitamin C is important too.

 

There are many conditions that you cannot make a change to over a short period of time. On the other hand, if you are overweight or obese, you could measures in place to deal with that immediately. It is not uncommon to lose 8% to 16% of your weight in a given month if you do it correctly and safely. That will immediately make a difference to hypertension if that is weight related. If you start to eat differently and fast differently (or start fasting for the first time) it will make an enormous difference.

If you are ready to make some changes to your life and you want more information, please complete the form below.

 

Chocolate and Coke for a snack – change this like I did

by Leave a Comment

Coke and Chocolate

chocolate

I remember those days. It was easy – for a bit of energy, first a slab of chocolate and then some 2 liters of Coke just to rinse it down. Well, truth be told, sometimes the Coke took a little bit longer. I was younger then and quite active and the 1200 or so calories of this combined “snack” did not increase my weight drastically. My massive weight gain only occurred in my late twenties and then throughout my thirties.

I managed to keep the weight from ballooning by still playing league tennis, but later on I started to get too slow and fat for the singles matches. The tennis court was too big. So the weight kept on going up. My claim to fame was eat a few chocolates to balance the beers I drank after two sets of doubles tennis games during the week. The chocolates was to balance the alcohol in the beer as this was often taken before supper with a long time since lunch.

Business Lunches

Lunch, well that is another story. Often business lunches went on too long with too many calories and a few extras for desert. Then I had to eat my main meal of the day at home as I forgot to tell my spouse that I did have a business lunch (or will go for a business lunch that day). Two full meals and some extras and your weight will go up. Mine went up and up to a total of 115 kg before I realised that I should make a plan.

Well, to be honest, I did realise it. I just could not get started. My sister (she was the youngest of five) told me at regular intervals  how she lost weight. She lost about 19 kg and she looked amazing. Every week or so I heard about her progress. At that stage I have tried many diets before and some were quite successful, but very hard work. The challenge was that I just picked up the weight again. This time it was twin kidney stones that did the trick.

I was on holiday at the Bahamas when the kidney stones struck me. The pain was just excruciating. I tried to survive until the end of the holiday trip, but we came back earlier. While I was crawling on the bathroom floor trying to find some comfort on the cold floor, I promised myself that I would get healthy, that I would lose the weight. I did not really know how or if it would work, but I said I would lose the weight.

Meal replacement shakes

Back in South Africa my doctor removed two kidney stones and I started  with my weight loss plan immediately after that. One shake in the morning and restrained intake during the day. No cool-drinks or alcohol or fruit. I lost five kg the first three months which included a December holiday time. I was excited – it was the first December in years that I did not gain weight.

Meal Replacment

After that holiday I started with two meal replacement shakes (some were chocolate shakes) per day and continued with my disciplined eating. I continued to lose another 21 kg over a six month period. My total loss over that time was 26 kg which was not too fast, but also not too slow. It was 3,5 kg per month for the last six months.

Some nights I was dreaming that it was only a dream and that I did not lose the weight. I would rush to the mirror just to make sure that it was the truth. It was difficult for my mind to accept the fact that the weight was gone. At times my wife would touch   me during the night and feel scared thinking that there is a stranger in bed with her – the body shape was not right.

Our youngest son said to me one day, “Dad, you are not a dad anymore!” I could not understand what he was referring to. He then continued to explain that all the fathers of his friends had big stomachs. Mine has disappeared, so naturally, I was not a dad anymore in terms of that qualification for what a dad should look like. I was definitely not a Coke and chocolate dad anymore. The strangest thing is that my urge or craving for the sweet things disappeared completely. This is remarkable! It is like a dream come true.

Comrades Marathon

One of the biggest things that happened to me was the fulfilling of a life long dream to run the Comrades Marathon (a distance of almost 90 km) which I did for the first time about two years after I lost the weight.

The magic now is that I am able to control my weight. I still take meal replacement shakes for the balanced nutrition that it gives me, the speed that I can make it and the sheer taste of it – it tastes like heaven, the way that I make it. I would still eat a chocolate, but it would be a thin layer of chocolate with a protein content of roughly 10 grams. From time to time a small chocolate here or there (the more unhealthy ones) will not make much difference to my weight now.

I know that you could lose the weight that you want to lose,  I know that there is a lean person inside you that want to get out and to show the world what you look like inside and what you are able to achieve.

You can be successful!

Let me know if you need assistance.

Bellville, South Africa

19 July 2017

Comrades
Comrades