My 8wk Fitness Transformation

I’ve always been someone who has eaten healthily (whilst enjoying a night out!), but I have never previously followed a set nutritional plan that has been specifically counted and laid out. I’ve always eaten ‘well’ and whilst playing rugby I was a lean 106kg and could probably get away with eating a bit of rubbish on weekends due to the rigours of training.

That being said I’ve never really had that elusive 6 pack. You could see the outline of the top but never anymore. During Monday to Friday my nutrition was always on point, but come the weekend I was a bit more lax with a few glasses of wine and the odd dessert. I was happy, but before January I made the decision to start the year with a purpose and abstain from all gastronomy gluttony for 8 weeks.

It really hasn’t been that hard as I took all the guess work out of it. I had my program and nutritional plan written for me by JC and all I had to do was follow it to the letter. 8 weeks later I’m here still around 105kg but I’ve lost over 5.5kg of fat and added roughly 2kg of lean mass. My waistline has come in and my 34′ jeans are loose, wow!

You can see my abs and I’m a lot more vascular. I haven’t really put myself through calorie restriction and I’ve enjoyed every moment of it. Even the 20 rep squats! I weight trained 3 times a week and did a 20 minute EDT session on a Saturday morning. That was it – a far from extreme training schedule.

What I’ve learned throughout all of this is that eating ‘clean’ will only get you so far. It’s like telling someone to ‘train hard’. This basic advice will take someone a long way, but there’s a lot of leeway either side. If you want fast results and progress, you need to have things tailored for your individual needs.

Yes, measuring your food can become tiresome (I actually didn’t mind this), but if you aimlessly train without an end goal, then you will always do the bare minimum. On the training side I found I pushed myself far harder than I have done previously, and even had to have a little word with myself at the end of leg day!

The reason I did this was to prove to myself for one that I could, plus I needed to after stuffing my face WAY too much over Christmas! I love food, I always have, and always will. I don’t really have a sweet tooth but once in a while ill have a little treat. That being said, I was standing testament to the masses out there that train their bollocks off only to see little or no change in body composition. As I’m quite a big man, 6ft 4in and around 105kg I carried my frame well, but on my post Christmas return I felt bloated and wasn’t comfortable.

You can overeat on good food, hence why telling someone to eat ‘clean’ won’t really cut it in the long-term. Initially people will reap the benefits of so called ‘clean eating’, but further on down the line things will need to be tailored and individual macros worked out. You need to see what works best for you, that is why enlisting the help of a Personal Trainer (who knows what they are doing) will help massively. It takes all of the guess work out of it for you, and all you need to be is disciplined and focused on the task ahead.

My 8-week transformation worked for me as it had an end date.

You need little goals to hit in your training, otherwise you will stagnate and begin to wonder what the point of it all is. Being someone who has weight trained for a long period of time I need things to be kept fresh. This is what I’m doing and I’m extremely happy and pleased the way things are going!

Hopefully you all found this honest account helpful – and thank you so much Foundry!

We help our members with a nutritional programme that works for them, if you’re struggling, give us a shout at our personal training gym in Richmond or try out our sessions and we’ll help you work out a plan that suits you.

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