I WENT FROM BRANDO TO RAMBO

Name: Bill Stanton
Age: 40
Height: 5'8"
Starting weight: 220
Six weeks later: 190
Bill Stanton, a security consultant, had been pumping iron since he was 15.
But even with his rigorous weight training, he kept getting fatter: By the time
he reached 40, he had ballooned to 220 pounds on his 5-foot-8 frame. Why?
Because Stanton’s diet and exercise routine consisted of doing bench presses
and squats and then finishing the night with chicken wings and booze.
“My pants were fitting me like a tourniquet, and it was like I was in a bad
marriage—I was living comfortably uncomfortable,” Stanton says. “The Abs
Diet challenged me to get on the program, step up to the plate, and step
away from the plate.”
you want. Anything. During the bulk of the week, you’ll focus on foods
that will charge your metabolism and control your temptations, but
you’ll also have the freedom and flexibility to stray just enough to
keep you satisfied without ruining all the work you’ve already put in.
You’ll gain time. On some diets, it seems like it would take less
time to organize a hunting party and stalk a woolly mammoth than
it would take to plan and cook the recipes they tout. On this diet, all
of the meals and recipes are low-maintenance. For planning purposes,
all I want you to do is take this program 2 days at a time. Since
mindless noshing is the nation’s number one diet buster, your best
defense is to plot out a simple strategy for how and what you’re going
to eat each day. Every night, take 5 minutes to sketch out what and
when you’ll eat the next day, and you’ll have deflated temptation
and gained control. After reading the principles, you’ll see that the
Abs Diet establishes a new paradigm for weight control. Simply:
MORE FOOD MORE MUSCLE LESS FLAB
W H Y T H E A B S D I E T ? A N D W H Y N O W ? 33
After following the Abs Diet for 6 weeks, Stanton lost 30 pounds—and has cut
his body fat from 30 percent to 15 percent. “I looked pregnant. I looked like a
power lifter—big arms, a big chest, and a big gut. Now I look like Rambo.”
Stanton appreciated the diversity of the Abs Diet meals and the plan’s totalbody
approach to working out, though he admits that eating six times a day
took some getting used to. “What I had to do was learn to eat to live, not live
to eat,” he says. And then, he says, everything just rolled from there. Once his
mental approach changed—being committed to the plan, limiting the number
of times he partied at night, and eliminating late-night meals—he was able to
turn everything around. “You wake up attacking the day rather than waiting
for the day to end,” he says.
Now, everything just feels better. He’s always in a good mood. He walks taller.
He has more energy. And now he’s a model for others.
“I work out at Sports Club L.A., where people are really focused on looking great,“
he says. “Even there, guys and girls all come up to me.One guy said, ‘You are
kicking butt. Everybody sees that transformation. You’re inspiring a lot of people.’”
Stanton has changed his physique so dramatically that he’s even been accused
of taking steroids. “I take that as a compliment,” he laughs.