One thing I haven’t talked much about up to this point is your sodium intake, and that’s crucial as you approach the end of a fat-loss program. Some people will tell you that you should cut out sodium (essentially salt) earlier in a fat-loss program, but I think you’ll get much better results if you keep your sodium intake fairly moderate throughout. So you can consume 2–3 grams of sodium per day up to about this point in Operation Aesthetic.
If you’ve cut your sodium earlier, that’s fine. But now you need to start dropping it a notch. Sodium causes your body to hold water, and your body naturally adjusts to the level of sodium you consume on a daily basis. Reducing sodium will cause your body to reduce water retention and thus display more detail in your physique.
At the same time that you reduce sodium, you should also increase water intake. You’re going to flush most of this out of your system, which will not only enhance the appearance of your physique, but it will also keep you hydrated as your body releases fluids.
For today, I only want you to reduce sodium intake slightly. Just drop it about 500 mg from what you’ve been consuming. That can be as easy as cutting out adding salt to food, or checking labels to see which foods you’re consuming that contain sodium—some of these may surprise you.
We’re going to drop sodium very low before the end of Operation Aesthetic, but you don’t want to do this too early. Today is just a warm-up for the sodium depletion you’ll go through on the last couple days of my fat-loss Trainer series.
Since you’re so close to the end of Operation Aesthetic, I’m including two of the easier abs moves. These also really allow you to focus on the aspect of your abs that’s weakest. Lying leg bench lifts work the lower abs, and standing cable crunches work the top portion. Make adjustments to my recommendations based on your needs.
|
EXERCISE
|
SETS
|
REPS
|
COMMENT
|
|
Early morning cardio
|
1
|
25 minutes
|
Perform this session upon waking on rest days before consuming food.
|
|
Lying leg bench lift
|
4
|
20
|
You can allow your legs to go a little lower than the bench to get a deeper stretch in the lower abs.
|
|
Standing cable crunch
|
4
|
Burnout
|
Vary the weights so you work your abs in different ways with different levels of resistance.
|
|
Post-workout cardio
|
1
|
25 minutes
|
You can perform this one at any time of day so long as it’s at least 3 hours or so after your previous session. Make sure you’ve had at least one whole-food meal between these cardio sessions.
|
TIP: You’re only 4 days from the end of Operation Aesthetic. While I think it’s important to engage with social media to hold yourself accountable and find support from a group, you shouldn’t post full images of your physique when you’re this close to the end of the program. Save those for your last photos at the end of the program. It’s fine to tease with a shot of one of your arms, a close-up of your abs or your calves, but don’t give too much away this close to the end of the program. If you do post a partial shot, then make sure you tag me at: https://www.instagram.com/uzoma_obilor/
Or by email:
uzomasspr@gmail.com
FAT-FRYING SUPPS: RE-KAGED®
This post-workout protein provides essential ingredients that support recovery. After you finish your Operation Aesthetic workouts, you need to prioritize recovery to ensure you can perform at your best during your future workouts. With ingredients such as whey protein isolate combined with ProHydrolase® digestive enzymes, patented Creatine HCl, BetaPower®, and fermented L-Glutamine, RE-KAGED helps you recover so that you’re ready to hit the gym for every session in this program.
FOR BEST RESULTS: Get in RE-KAGED immediately after every weight-training workout.
