This case study explores my client Kaitlin's transformation process. She was once a chronic dieter and struggled with bingeing - training way too much and eating to little. Over 9 months she lost 12kg of body-fat, finishing the process feeling content in her body. 

Client: Kaitlin

Goals: To lose weight and build muscle, and get off the diet/rebound cycle for good. 

Time Frame: 9 months. 

When we met, Kaitlin was lifting weights 5 mornings per week, and returning to the gym after work to do cardio. She wasn't losing weight, and found herself binging on the weekends regardless of all the effort she put in. 

I immediately cut the cardio out, leaving in just one day as an 'optional' for when she went to the gym with her boyfriend and didn't have weights prescribed. 

I wrote her a 5 day weight training program, with each session focussed on strength and taking no more than 1 hour to complete. 

8 Week Fat-Loss Block

Kaitlin's starting weight was 62kg. in the first 8 weeks of dieting she lost 7kg. She stuck with 1730 calories per day, and had a cheat meal with her partner every two weeks. This have her a mental break and helped her refuel for each fortnightly block. 

We learned pretty quickly that processed foods were not agreeing with her, and she chose to stick with whole foods for her cheat meals. This accelerated her weight loss even more, and she felt amazing after those meals.

Building Phase

As she was focussed on transforming her body over time, we then entered a building phase. We retuned her calories to maintenance (the amount of food you can eat to maintain your weight), which for her was an average of 2200 calories per day. By this point she removed the cardio, as she realised she didn't need it in order to get the results she wanted. 

She completed 2 x 8-weight training programs during this time, and her weight didn't increase at all. She struggled to eat all the food. 

Kaitlin then learned how to write her own meal plans, giving her more food variety. She loved the process of tracking and choosing her own meals, and did this leading into her next fat-loss phase.

Second Fat-Loss Phase

This final fat loss phase was with slighly lower calories of 1550 per day. She continued the fortnightly cheat meal. She lost a further 5kg in this phase (less this time around as she was getting much leaner here). 

She ended the fat loss phase just under 50kg, which was a 12kg loss overall. 

Results

Weight - 62kg - 49.8kg

Waist - 77cm - 62cm

Belly - 77cm - 69cm. 

Kaitlin now had all the skills she needed in order to keep the weight off in the long term, and continue her body transformation journey in her own.