Sarah started at around 28% bodyfat, 135 lbs (we always measure bodyfat. Body weight is not that important). She trained 5-6 days a week, and did no cardio for the first 5 months.
With 6 weeks to show, we added cardio at 30 minutes, 3x a week. The goal was to not cause her metabolism to slow down (this is what we call the compensation point, where the metabolism senses a famine and halts its fat loss). I resort to cardio only when needed. Otherwise you can cause metabolic mayhem, and you lock a person into having to do that much cardio all the time, to keep the weight off. Not a good way to live moving forward.
The other deciding factor to minimize cardio was that she didn't want to suffer with a rebound effect, which is very common among competitors, where the body, that has been under the stress of dieting and hard training, puts the weight back on faster, and even more so, after the show. And many former competitors return to strict dieting tactics to try to get it off again, which can further mess up metabolism and sets the stage for even more
weight gain.
She ate whole foods. We did not do a carb deplete or load, nor a water deplete or load. These are not proven, and for some it can work, but for her body, her goals (she is a non-drug athlete, all natural which is the only way I coach, and in the non drug body, things take longer, work differently, it wasn't appropriate or necessary. We did not use fat burners (I have never supported fat burners) and relied on whole foods, proper meal timing, macros in place, and
a nice refeed once a week (that included some Jack Daniels too!).
At one point, 3 weeks out from show, Sarah's weight loss stalled...plateaued. I instructed her to NOT increase cardio, to not cut food, just to stay steady until her metabolism settled in...with such low bodyfat, the metabolism often wants to stop the fat loss, and if you force the body more, it will rebel. So we held on tight...for 3 weeks, no change...
Then the woosh....(I love that woosh part) 4 pounds down, 1 week to show, and she went on stage lean, strong, healthy and feeling and looking awesome!
So slow and steady won the day....Sarah went down to 14% bodyfat, 116 pounds and won her show.
Coax the body and it responds. Force the body and it rebels.
A lot of what I learned about with metabolism, successful weight loss and weight management has come by working with competitors, and putting myself through show also.
Now I know most women are not heading to show, nor do they have any desire to, but competing and coaching women who compete has taught me so much about how our bodies operate, where (and why) they hang onto fat, what macro's work best, and how to change beliefs to make for a solid Lifestyle Change (Sarah did beautifully with this. Her staying power? Focusing on how she wanted to live from that moment forward...how she wanted to feel, look, age....)
The fitness industry is highly competitive and ripe with abuse and mythology. But if you stay 'organic' and listen, really listen and learn, there is a lot of gold in those experiences. For me, it taught me how the female body truly works in all its intricacies and beauty, how to manage metabolism properly and with longevity in mind, and how ageing changes the body....or not.... (ageing isn't the problem, it is the decades of improper food and movement that
causes the ups and downs of ageing, including weight gain, excessive cortisol output, sarcopenia and more).
Sarah was a coach's dream, because she listened, she trusted and she kicked butt! Whole foods, no 'assists' or pharmaceuticals, no fat burners, just a devotion to eating right and to lifting well.
She then went on to have a baby, a second one is on the way and she will be returning to competition some day soon....her dream...
Today, Sarah lives at around 122 pounds, only 8 pounds up from her 14%, lean contest weight. She continues to train, eats well, and maintains her weight easily and effortlessly, because of her mind shift, and her attention to food, and, well, life!
For Sarah, the show is simply the icing on the cake.
The cake itself is how she gets to live her life moving forward as a mother and wife and athlete: lean, strong, healthy and with a healthy relationship to food, and total self love.
XO!
