A month ago I wrote a little post called The Project. Introducing you to 3 people who I am coaching through nutrition and blogging about their results. I'm sorry I haven't updated as much as I'd like, we've been moving and it's hectic!

Anyways. I wanted to share a little bit of their results and what they had to say about it. Perception is quite the thing. We may think we see no progress but the rest of the world sees it all. Or we may see little progress and think "what a waste of time" but in fact that small progress but be huge to someone else.

Jenn

In the first month Jenn has done very well. Some "cheat" days where macros were forgotten about and some workouts missed. Guess what? This makes her human like the the rest of us. And guess what else? She still had results. She kept getting back on that horse the next day and she has results to show it.

Weight - Down 4 lbs
Chest - Down 0.5"
Waist - Unchanged
Hips - Down 2.75" (WOWZA!!!!)
Thigh - Down 0.5"
Arm - Down 0.5"

I've put Jenn on a plan to loose on average 1 pound a week. So it looks like she's on track. I know it might not be aggressive enough to some or to her (her goal is about 35 lbs), but two things I want to point out. Firstly it didn't take 3 months to gain weight, so slow and steady is the most sustainable way to loose weight. And secondly our marathon mama here does A LOT of cardio training for her half marathon in two months, traiathalons and so on this summer. Steady state cardio like what she is doing lets your body adapt to it. So it's harder to use cardio to burn off extra fat like in others, in conjunction with the caloric deficit. This is all said, I think she has done amazing! The perseverance in this busy working mom of two is downright inspiring.

Vanessa

Vanessa also endured some personal stuff that put her off track some days, but again still had progress! I'm even amazed the one night she came to my place with some friends and we were wine drinking fools and she kept to the no alcohol for the first month part. Good on you girl!

Weight - Down 5 lbs
Chest - Down 1.5"
Waist - Down 1"
Hips - Unchanged
Thigh - Gained 1.5"
Arm - Down 1"

I've also put Vanessa on a 1 pound a week deficit. She started HIIT cardio and lifting heavier weights. This would be why she's gained that 1.5" in the thigh. For someone tall like her, that can be a difficult thing to do! Her goal was originally to loose 15 lbs. The last check in she said "I'm not sure I'm going to get to my weight loss goal with the muscle I am building, but I feel good about where it is going". There ya go. What's that saying? Be stubborn about your goals, but flexible about how you get there. She wants to look a certain way based off a weight she was before. But if she looks that way and weighs more does the number really matter? Good for you Vanessa!

Here is a side by side of the first month's difference for Vanessa.

Dylan

The strong silent type. Ha ha. I ask each of these three a bunch of questions at check in and he never has much to say. But let me tell you the strong in that part is real. He's been pretty on point with his nutrition plan and macro counting and his results are damn impressive.

Weight - Down 14.5 lbs !!!!!!!
Chest - Down 1.5"
Waist - Down 2"
Hips - Down 1.5"
Thigh - Down 1"
Arm - Down .5"

Any females reading this wishing they were a man? Ha ha. I kid I kid. I've put Dylan on about 1- 1.5 lbs a week loss. I wasn't sure on his numbers exactly because there was some additional factors for him. Some cardio/supplements he was taking that may or may not have messed with his metabolism a bit. But here we are. I even almost upped his calories after the first two week because of a 10 lbs jump! He' s also missed a few workouts from work and had to change his cardio plan a bit because of an injury, but he keeps on trucking along. Great work, well on your way to your goal of coming down 25-30 lbs. Can't wait to see you after the three months with that commitment!

All three of them started with a daily meal plan for the first two weeks. One I worked out specifically to their macro numbers. After the second week I spoke more about macros, what they are and how to swap foods out. Because I can only imagine how sick they were of the same thing everyday. No alcohol was for the first month. Alcohol is one of those funny things, that once consumed, makes us forget about calories and macros. Think back to all those late night pizza binges after the bar! Now they are all free to swap out meals and food within their daily goal numbers. I've helped them with being able to calculate alcohol into their plans as well, putting no foods really off limits, just kept in moderation to reach their goals.

Thanks for reading!

Take care,

Jen