Celebrating this AMAZING client today! She was able to lose 15 pounds through her consistent hard work and dedication while also shifting her mindset to see food as fuel for her workouts. She was finally able to stop obsessing over food and feel more confident in her skin.
What brought her to coaching
She came to me this past September feeling really frustrated. She had been busting her butt doing Crossfit workouts 4-5 times a week and felt like she was eating healthy but didn’t see any visible changes in her body. Not only did she want to FEEL strong but actually look like she did Crossfit. She mentioned she had some mindset issues around food. In the past, she had become hyper-focused on her food and the scale. She admitted she was a little leary of tracking macros. She was worried it would bring back some of this more negative food-focused mindset but she was willing to give it a try.
Where we started
We started by having her track her normal food intake for 1 week. This helps give me a good idea of her baseline calorie intake to compare to her calculated “maintenance” calories. We found out she wasn’t far from her expected calorie intake. We began having her eat at her normal calorie intake but I did adjust her macronutrient ratio. I wanted to bring her protein up higher to support her lean muscle tissue and work on building muscle with her CrossFit workouts. I also adjusted her carb-to-fat ratio, actually INCREASING her carb intake and decreasing her fat intake.
She was extremely adherent to her macros and we even saw a bit of weight loss during the first couple of weeks. We worked calories up a bit and then maintained that intake for several months. She was able to go on vacation and go through the holiday season with a good amount of food. During this time she was also killing it in her workouts. She was making more progress than she ever had prior to starting nutrition coaching.
Ready for Fat Loss
After the first of the year, her body was feeling really good. We decided it was a good time for her mentally and physically to enter into a fat loss phase. We planned for a 10-12 week fat loss phase expecting to lose .5 – 1.5 pounds per week. I always say that fat loss isn’t exactly linear but dang it if she didn’t have a consistent 1-pound weight loss at each check-in!
She was extremely adherent to the process but she also had one day a week where she didn’t track. This was at her request. Given her previously mentioned issues with obsessing over food and how adherent she’d been during the week I felt it would be a good idea. It gave her a mental break from tracking and actually HELPED her stay more adherent. Her focus and dedication to the process paid off! She had an extremely successful fat loss phase losing nearly 13 pounds.
Time for Metabolic Restoration
Once the fat loss phase is complete we needed to make sure that we took care of her metabolism after being in a calorie deficit. This is to assure that she can maintain her current weight loss while also being able to eat a more sustainable/ higher calorie intake. We do this through metabolic restoration or what’s also known as reverse dieting. Simply put we slowly worked her calories back UP to her new maintenance intake.
Not only was she able to maintain her weight loss during this process but she actually lost 2 more pounds!
One of the biggest transformations I saw with Sara, was her mindset around food and her body. She was able to start seeing her food as fuel instead of stressing or obsessing about what she was eating. She begin to notice how her body FELT and the progress she was making with the different CrossFit movements instead of being hyper-focused on how her body looked! As her coach, I couldn’t be more proud of her! She put so much hard work and dedication into the process and I am so grateful to have been able to guide her along the way.
Sara’s Own Words
Here’s what Sara had to say after working together:” I just feel really good overall. Not thinking or obsessing about food or what my body looks like or weighs. I’m just really comfortable with where I am. I am finding some good balance with life now. No longer worrying or obsessing about food intake, just staying consistent and trying to eat as close to macros and calories as possible. I objectively know that my clothes are definitely fitting way better, looser, and I can just feel the difference. It’s been such a fun process. I’m gonna miss our check-ins. You’ve just been such a great cheerleader and person in my corner which has just really made all the difference. There were definitely times when I knew that if I hadn’t had your support I would have just said: “well this is good enough, I feel fine”. And I would have ultimately not been as happy as I am now. I appreciate you sticking with me and being a good tool for me and helping me work through some of my issues and thoughts about various things. It has really just been great!”
