From Beta to Alpha: How I lost over 20 lbs. in 10 Weeks
I’m tired of seeing my military folks go about this the wrong way, or make it more complicated than it has to be. Which is one of the many reasons why I’ve finally decided to post this. The hard gainers should read it too, because the same frame work can be applied to building lean body mass.
Small Overview:
On Monday April 12th 2021 I weighed in at 200.3lbs. This is something I honestly thought I’d never share, because it’s the heaviest I’ve ever been.
Mind you, ironically this weight gain was also in tangent with the COVID pandemic era (if you guys remember that). People being stuck at home or isolated just caused them to feel more anxious, depressed and gave room for other unhealthy habits such as drugs, binge eating etc. As an online transformation coach I knew I had to step my game up if I wanted to push forward helping people at a higher magnitude. Which is exactly what I did. The end result? I lost 20.5lbs within a short 10weeks timeframe.
Now this might seem like an absurd amount of weight loss for some, given the timeframe. However, my top client was able to lose ~24lbs with my Elite 1-1 Transformation Coaching, using the same framework I’m disclosing in this article. What’s even more impressive is that he preceded to lose a sum total of ~34lbs when I followed up less than a year later.
Here are several other before and after shots. Oh, and for those with a “busy schedule”, I was able to accomplish this while working both a full-time and part time job:
I’ll also have a link for my transformation video at the very end.
How did I do it?
Here are 7 practical steps I took to make it happen:
1. OPTIMIZE PROTEIN INTAKE: Implementing a flexible dieting approach, I prioritized both my protein and caloric intake (after deciding on my weight loss goal). Now my flexible dieting approach is not synonymous with the conventional “IIFYM” approach, nor is it an umbrella that allows you to consume all the junk food in the world that fits into specific macro-targets. Instead its a framework that plays a pivotal role in altering an individuals eating pattern using the highest level of individualization in terms of available resource, food preference, meal timing and other awareness methods. This alleviates rigidness or restrictions that impedes on long term success.
2 . DO NOT RESTRICT YOURSELF : Too much restrictions can have adverse effect on your overall progress. More over, I’ve seen it put people in the mindset of attributing a level of morality to foods or dieting in general. Ex: “I’ve been trying to eat more ‘good’ foods.” or the more common“I have been cutting out carbs from my diet because it is ‘bad’. Which evokes this negative internal dialogue and outlook of certain foods being “good” or “bad”. When in reality it’s the quality and quantity of how you consume it that can have adverse effect, such as unhealthy weight gain or weight loss.
3. SIMPLIFY THE PROCESS : Alter the foods you currently enjoy in a way that compliments your weight loss goal rather than introducing 100% new meals all at once. By Including meals you actually enjoy you’re more likely to increase the chances of long term adherence. The frame work for this can be done by establishing your 24H-EE and seeing where you are in relation to that. By that I mean I’d first recommend using a 1-2 weeks timeframe (at minimum) to just get into the habit of tracking the meals you’re currently eating and then tailoring those meals to fit your dieting requirement . The most detrimental thing a novice can do is follow the overly-saturated “just cut your calories” weight loss advice, especially if they’re already in a crash-diet.
4. PRIORITIZE COMPOUND LIFTS: In terms of workout, I customized a 5 day training split with each workout session being around 1 hour, prioritizing compound lifts every training session. The 5 compound lifts that have pretty much been game changers are; Flat Bench BB Press, Pull-ups, BB Squat, OVH Press and Deadlift. One thing all these exercise have in common is that they’re all compound movements. In performing these movement you’ll condition your body to get used to changing the angle of more than one joint while engaging multiple muscle groups. Which in turn can help you to optimize your overall caloric expenditure and body composition goal. In a addition to that you’ll be putting yourself in the best position to elicit maximum hormonal (testosterone, growth hormone etc.) response.
5. ESTABLISH A CADENCE FOR ACCOUNTABILITY: The 3 biggest things that’ll inevitably deter you from actually following through with your goal at hand are making excuses, rationalizing or falling short with overall accountability. You’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone who’s achieved extraordinary results without an accountability partner. The easiest way to establish a cadence for accountability is finding an accountable peer or mentor who has the tools and resource to help cut your learning curve and crush your goal at hand (i.e. get you to where you want to be). Accountability at the highest level will come from a coach, who’s done what you’re trying to do, or even helped people to get the results you’re after. It’s a sure way to maximize your performance and learn how to become better overtime. There’s no reason to reinvent the wheels going through the traditional trial and error, especially when you can simply expedite the process. At the very least, you can increase your chances of following through by sharing your progress with someone regularly.
6. TRACK-EVALUATE-ADJUST: The hallmark of every great fitness enthusiast, personal trainer, and bodybuilder alike is their ability to efficiently track, evaluate, and adjust accordingly! It’s imperative that you’re tracking every aspect of both your diet and training session. If I’m on deployment I use electronic logs or the notes app on my iPhone to track my training. Otherwise I’d just use my exclusive fitness app. In terms of diet, I use myfitnesspal along with my fitness app. I Review my meal entries at the end of every day with my nutrition targets in the foreground. Doing this will enable you to see where you are in relation to your nutrition protocol. Subsequently I then take about 10 mins to evaluate and make adjustments if necessary. The objective is to put yourself in the best position to hit your nutrition targets the subsequent day. Literally just 10mins or less, that's all it really takes!
7. OVERCOME PLATEAUS: By effectively implementing the previous steps, you’ll put yourself in the best position to see fat loss progress throughout the course of your program. Now If there’s a complete halt to your overall progress, that is to say your average weekly weight completely stalls for a minimum of 2-4 weeks, then you’ve possibly hit a plateau. At this point, the first thing you’d want to do is revisit the data from step 6 to make sure you’re not underscoring any part of your diet or training.
This is where the help of a coach can come in handy. A good coach can objectively decipher whether there’s a lack of adherence to the program at hand, or you’ve just hit a new maintenance point where your energy output and intake are equal on an ongoing basis. If it’s the latter you can either drop your energy intake, bump up your energy output, or do a combination of both.
Training Overview:
I started with 5 resistance training + 2 active rest days (where I’d do mobility work or L.I.S.S). I finished off with 5 resistance training, 3 x 200cals cardio sessions, and 2 x 6 to 10 mins METCON sessions. It’s important to note that this was done putting into context how aggressive I wanted to be with the goal at hand, my overall activity pattern, work schedule, level of training and other important factors. Having said that, I’ve helped clients accomplish similar results with both 3 days and 4 days training split that worked best with their individual needs and schedule. So just remember, your overall training requirements may be vastly different from mine.
Nutrition Overview:
My starting nutrition protocol was ~2500 cals(Protein~185g). My ending nutrition protocol was ~2200 (protein~175g).
Here are several meals I had on a HEAVY rotation during my diet:
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