CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
Hello, you little winner, its me again, Joe Wicks, The Body Coach. Im back with another instalment of
Lean in 15 and this time its
The Shape Plan. For those who havent heard of Lean in 15, heres a quick recap. I used to be a personal trainer and boot camp owner in Surrey, UK. Then one day in January 2014, from my little flat in Surbiton, I had an idea. I started to post 15-second videos on Instagram (@thebodycoach) showing people how to cook a lean and healthy meal in under 15 minutes.
The #Leanin15 hashtag was born and my little idea has gone on to inspire and help hundreds of thousands of people all over the world to cook, exercise and get lean. Ive used the power of social media and my love of exercise and nutrition to share my message with the world, and now my mission continues with this second book in the Lean in 15 series. My aim is always to keep things quick and simple because I know that life gets busy and we dont have time to spend hours in the kitchen every day. With Lean in 15 Im going to show you that you can have a busy job and family life and still find the time to stay lean. Book 1, The Shift Plan, was all about shifting unwanted body fat with my post-workout carbohydrate-refuel method and high intensity cardio sessions. . .
These sessions will be challenging, as we combine weight training with HIIT cardio, but trust me, the results will be worth it. This tried and tested training system is currently transforming men and women all over the world. And dont worry, you dont need to start with Book 1. You can start to live the Lean in 15 lifestyle with this book. The main focus in this book is on building strong, lean muscle while reducing body fat. By increasing your lean muscle mass, you will increase your metabolic rate.
This means you can eat more of the food you love, burn more body fat and stay lean all year round. Dont be put off by the thought of lifting weights. Its not going to make you look bulky like some 1980s German body builder. No, no, no that just doesnt happen in the real world. This plan is, however, going to teach you how to fuel your body and make you stronger, more defined and leaner than ever. The great thing about the Shape Plan is that you really dont need an expensive gym membership or lots of costly equipment to complete the workouts.
You can, of course, train at the gym but if you decide to train from home all you will need to invest in is a workout bench and a good set of dumbbells. And thats it! You can get to work on building the body youve always wanted. As the training intensity builds, so too do the energy demands placed on your body, and this means that instead of having just one carbohydrate meal (as I recommend people do in The Shift Plan), you now get to smash three carb meals on a training day. Wooo wooo! Hello carbs. Get in my belly. With Lean in 15 the days of going hungry and calorie counting are over.
The days of standing on the sad step (the scales) and measuring your success by a number are gone. Im here to show you that there is another way. The low-calorie diet industry has got it all wrong. The science is old. The fat-loss diet products being constantly marketed to you are the reason people are struggling to lose body fat. Sorry for the little rant but it really does upset me! I literally scream at the TV when I see adverts for new diet pills, dust diets or one of those drinks that they claim expand in the stomach to make you feel fuller.
How can they even get away with that on TV? The simple truth is this nutrition doesnt need to be complicated. You dont need to starve yourself to get lean. You dont need to deprive yourself of lovely tasty foods and eat like a rabbit to burn fat. And you really dont need to spend your life feeling helpless and unconfident in your body because youve tried and failed on every diet. Lean in 15 is different because its not a diet. Its a flexible approach that will fit into your life and become a lifestyle.
Diets have an end date but this does not, which is why it works for so many people. This book will provide a mini-education in nutrition, where you will learn the basics and follow a simple plan to take control and build a strong, healthy body. Is it going to be easy? No, of course its not. Not at first, at least. Changing habits is really challenging. If it was easy everybody would be walking around looking super-lean all year.
Its going to take a lot of meal prep and effort in the kitchen. Its going to take real dedication and consistency with your training, but when you see the results and grow in confidence and fitness every week it will be worth every single bit of grub, sweat and skipped beer. The hardest part is actually starting, but once you do youll love it and momentum will carry you all the way to lean land. The principles of the Shape Plan are taken from my 90 Day Shift, Shape and Sustain programme which has changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people all over the world. Ive included a few transformations and testimonials in this book but if you want to see more and get inspired please visit thebodycoach.co.uk. So heres to the new school.
To a new challenge and a new way of doing things. Take this book and run with it. Commit to making a few small lifestyle changes and it will transform your body and the way you eat forever. Id like to say a big thank you for picking up and investing in this book. I really hope you find the information useful and enjoy the recipes Ive worked hard to create. You are in control of the way you look and feel, so go and make yourself a lean winner.
Keep it Lean. WHAT MAKES LEAN IN 15 DIFFERENT? Before we get started I think its really important to remind ourselves exactly why low-calorie diets dont work in the long term. Lets just think about how many diets have been and gone in the past years. Im sure you can reel off a few from the top of your head and may have even tried some of them yourself. Was it fun? Probably not. Could you imagine spending your whole life on it? Errrm, no way! And thats the problem.
You should never start something that you know you wont enjoy or be able to stick with. Low-calorie diets have one thing in common they are unsustainable. This is because they rely on deprivation and they are both mentally and physically draining. People cant live their lives on a diet that makes them feel hungry, unhappy, low on energy and obsessed by the numbers on a set of scales. Many diets also fail to educate people on nutrition and instead focus on creating a huge calorie deficit. This is an outdated approach and doesnt focus on health at all.
For example, some diets ban all foods high in fat. So eating an avocado, which is full of heart-healthy monounsaturated fats, is suddenly a sin and banned! This doesnt make sense as we know that not all fats are the same, and some fats such as omega-3s are actually essential to the body. Whats even more frustrating is seeing those same diet companies promote and sell highly processed low-fat junk foods with zero nutritional value to the body. This is why things need to change. Education is key to long-term health. A calorie is not just a calorie.