Natalie came to us wanting to “lose weight and tone up”, and I think it’s pretty safe to say she did just that.
She started in a position of training on her own and having a pretty good understanding of nutrition and training, however, she wanted to step up her results.
Natalie works shifts, so firstly had to come up with a approach which takes into account her very early starts and very late finishes.
Before we got started she told me that she’d realistically be able to complete 3 x weight sessions per week, so that’s what we factored in. Gone were the days of multiple fitness classes each day. We simply focused on three full body weight sessions per week and included plenty of squatting, deadlifting, hip thrusting, pushing and pulling.
Here are some of Natalie’s recent figures as to what she is lifting in the gym.
Squats > 80kg 4 sets of 3
Deadlifts > 82.5kg 3 sets of 3
Hip Thrusts >107.5kg 3 sets of 9
We took the “flexible dieting” approach with Natalie’s nutrition, meaning she would track her calories and macronutrients daily using the app MyFitnessPal, still managing to factor in her favourite foods. Sure he had plenty of fruit, vegetables, fibre, lean protein sources, but was still able to have ice cream, chocolate, crisps, and anything she fancies. She was educated enough to know it probably isn’t sensible to go blowing 1300 kcal on a tub of Ben and Jerry’s in one hit, but still included her favorite treats “Reeses cups”.
Natalie’s calorie intake started around 1400 kcal and gradually decreased as her weight dropped, finishing on the 1150 kcal mark leading up to her shoot. She’d ensure she was aiming for around 100g of protein per day, to help maintain the muscle tissue she had, while dropping body fat, so she still looked lean, and toned as her weight dropped.
Here are a few of the physical changes Natalie has achieved.
- Weight: 137lb > 120lb
- Size: 8-10 > 6-8
Natalie’s transformations had its up and downs, good days and bad, but the work ethic and dedication that she has put into this has been incredible. Always keeping me up to date with her progress, how she’s feeling, any issues she’s had, what’s she’s had for breakfast, literally anything.
I believe this is why she’s achieved such a fantastic result, and that’s due to the communication I as a coach have had with her, and the ability to reassure her and keep her on track when she’s having a wobble.
I couldn’t have been more pleased with the result Natalie got, and can honestly say that she’s been an absolute pleasure to coach.
Final words from Natalie:
“Before starting with Sam I’d always been ‘fit’ going to the gym every day of the week, a bit of weight training and a shed load of cardio! I was your typical gym class addict, sometimes doing a 2-3 a day. Nutrition wise yeah sure I ate ‘healthy ish’ (Monday-Friday) sometimes not even that. I wanted to lose weight, tone up, and look as if I actually go to the gym, but I wasn’t seeing the results I wanted despite how hard I tried.
Then it all changed.
I joined Performance Project because I wanted real results and to make a change to my life!
And boy have I got that.
Sam set me up with calorie and macronutrient goals to hit on a daily basis, at first this was totally alien to me and felt like such a task that would have been so easy to pass off. As the time went by this became more and more natural, using Myfitnesspal to log everything I was eating I was able to monitor my food accurately.
Training with Sam has taught me so much, the knowledge I have gained in regards to nutrition is amazing, the media blasts you with so much rubbish about what you should and shouldn’t be doing with your lifestyle and diet.
We took the ‘flexible diet’ approach which trust me when dieting is the biggest life saver, how many FAD diets do you see that you can allow you to have chocolate on your breakfast?!
Flexible dieting works with eating what fits into your macronutrient and calorie goals, and it’s that simple! Before my time with Sam I wouldn’t have even thought about this and quite frankly would have thought what a load of cr*p!
Sam didn’t lay out what I had to eat, or when I had to eat, I done this myself.
I checked in every Sunday morning with Sam, filling out a form inputting my food information, training information and answering a few questions and pop it back on an email with my weekly progress photos.
Did I have bad days? Hell yeah!
Did I still go out and eat? Hell yeah!
Did I celebrate my birthday the WEEK BEFORE my shoot? Hell yeah!
Was it easy? Not all the time
Did I want to give up at times? Maybe on a bad day!
I can genuinely say I loved every minute of training and the build up to my photo shoot, and would do it all again in a heartbeat.
Sam has changed who I am as a person not just physically, but mentally as well. He has helped me through everything and made the whole process so easy, and gave me all the support I could of ever asked for”
Credit to Ben Mark Photography for an awesome shoot.
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Sam Meade
Latest posts by Sam Meade (see all)
- Client Result: Natalie Grieve - June 30, 2016
