Weight-Loss Goal, Exercise Plan, Fat-Loss Focus Transform Woman From Self-Conscious to Sexy
Most people want to lose weight. Brandy HAD to lose weight. Her reasons, which were very privately hers, instilled her with a determination that was bound for success. All she needed was the right game plan, the right answers, and the right person to help her uncover the beautiful woman she knew that she was. I was that person for her.
Weight Loss with the Right Personal Trainer
Unlike most personal trainers, I help my clients attack what is truly getting in the way of their success. Most people talk about portion control being a big problem with their foods. The portions aren't the problem, the food choices are (going nuts on chocolate cake is bad news...going gangbusters on celery is not a problem). Often times it is not infrequent gym visits, its the lack of fat loss/weight loss gameplan for the workouts (why not burn more calories on a treamill in 10 minutes than you can in 40?). Usually the problem isn't a lack of progress, it's a lack of understanding about what progress looks like in the beginning, middle, and end of a body change and weight loss program.
With Brandy, I trained her in Medina once-to-twice a week, created workouts for her every day she exercised, and worked with her to create a food plan that she could execute every day. With a few emails, text messages, and phone calls to check in and provide encouragement and accountability, I worked hard to provide the services and be the right personal trainer for her weight loss transformation.
Weight-Loss Success Story
So what does a 61-pound weight loss story look like? And how does a 43 year-old mother of three go from a size 18 to a size 6 (which also hapens to be her smallest size as an adult!!!)?
Brandy was focused from the beginning and lost 25 pounds in her first six weeks. With a weight-training-based program and cardio program concentrated on fat loss, paired with a food plan focused on nutrients over quantities, Brandy saw success quite quickly. She started at 206 and was down to 181 pretty quickly. We continued to chip away...some weeks no pounds lost, some weeks five pounds lost. She didn't eat perfectly, but she consistenlty hit her nutritional marks.
We worked around Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Years, and a surgery (almost every great weight loss story has major obstacles with time frame, peer/family pressure at celebration gatherings, etc.). When all was said and done, Brandy had lost 61 pounds...and it was virtually all fat. I cannot express to you her joy, when buying her first ever pair of size six pants, she figured out that she weighed a few pounds more than her previous adult low, but was a few sizes smaller than she could remember being. That is a body composition triumph my friends!
Weight Loss You Can't See
(punctuation note: perhaps no one cares but me, but I will say that I am using/not using hyphens correctly in my headings...not sure if anyone even noticed but me...my copy editor for my upcoming book is a junkie on hyphens! I digress...)
What makes Brandy's story remarkable is not necessarily her weight loss, not necessarily her fat loss, and not even her very obvious body composition change and related reduction in pant size. What makes her story great is that, in the first ten days she lost zero pounds. The scale, which is just an indicator of progress but not THE indicator of progress per se, didn't tip early in the journey.
I told Brandy to expect that, though. She did lose weight in her first 10 day...she lost fat. However, her fat loss coincided with some muscle gain. The net result was zero change on the scale, but the fat loss/muscle gain switch was four pounds. She was kicking butt those first ten days and didn't even know it...which is why it is important to include fat loss measurements in any significant weight loss program!
Why Most People Fail at Weight Loss: The Scale
Brandy is a scale monger. She steps on the confidence-killer every single day...almost as if she was a stock to be traded on Wall Street or something. Weight loss is not day trading, people!
Most people, when they start an exercise program in accordance with a nutrition plan, actually kick butt during the first couple weeks. However, that progress doesn't show up on the scale. It might be a tiny bit noticeable in how clothes fit (looser, perhaps) and the mirror might tease with signs of progress, but the scale says "No change here!" a lot during the first seven-to-ten days.
For people who are trying to lose weight, I encourage you to take heart during the beginning process of your journey. Your body is likely to burn some fat and build some muscle (especially if you are working with a good personal trainer!) in the early going, but not show that progress on the scale. Keep at it, don't lose heart, and the visible and scale-based progress will come!
Adam Erwin is a personal trainer who travels the world working with people who want to experience fat loss and weight loss in record-time. He currently resides in Minneapolis, MN and loves to train the great folks in the Eden Prairie area. Visit www.keepyourbetterhalf.com to learn more about his work.