The Tracy Transformation

By Stacey Nolan Young

Meet Tracy. She’s your average 27 year old woman. She works full time in an office setting. She is single. She enjoys herself on weekends with her friends. She is well liked and friendly. But she is not happy with the way she looks. In fact, she is so unhappy with the way she looks that she has made the decision to do something about it. She gets in touch with me to meet and chat. In that meeting she makes a decision that changes her life!

Tracy had recently lost approximately 10lbs on her own by making some small changes when it came to nutrition choices. She’d also been involved with aerobics 2-3 times per week. However, she’d lost the weight and then plateaued. She was frustrated that she wasn’t losing any more weight. When we spoke she made the decision to try our Personal Training Program. And there began her journey.

MONTH ONE

To get things started Tracy came in and had an assessment with me. During this sit down meeting we got a baseline for where she was and laid out a plan of action for her. We took her weight, body fat percentage, and waist, hip and chest measurements.

This was followed by a fitness evaluation in which Tracy performed a series of tests including cardiovascular and muscular endurance, strength, flexibility and a posture evaluation.

NUTRITION

In that first assessment we went over my plans for her concerning nutrition. She wanted to lose 25lbs in 12 weeks which I suggested was lofty, but attainable given her level of commitment. Because she had already made some positive changes to her lifestyle in the past couple of months I felt she was ready for a few more “rules” than I would normally give out to someone new. She was highly motivated and ready to get down to business.

In those first few weeks Tracy had many nutrition related questions so I decided to go to the grocery store with her to explain what foods would provide nourishment for her body and what foods wouldn’t. It’s very easy to get confused when companies are touting their products as “healthier choices”. My job was to filter out the abundance of “information” out there.

EXERCISE

Tracy began training with me in the gym two times per week. In each workout we did foam rolling, dynamic mobility work, resistance exercise, stretching and cardiovascular exercise. In the first 4 weeks of training we focused on whole body type movements to ease her into the “training realm”. It was my personal goal to get Tracy to enjoy her training experience as it was something that she was reluctant to do.

Outside of the gym with me I asked Tracy to get in 3 hours of exercise per week. This included walks, her aerobics and various other activities. If anyone reading this is thinking “Well there’s no way I’d have time for that” then I urge you to consider the amount of television you watch or the amount of time you spend on the internet. Five hours per week of exercise is nothing compared to how much time the average person spends doing those things on a weekly basis. For Tracy it was simply a matter of shifting her priorities and she was in the place to do it.

GOALS

As mentioned above, goal setting is one of the most important aspects of a journey like Tracy’s. In times when things get difficult these goals can keep you motivated. We encourage all of our clients to come up with some goals and a deadline for them. Here were Tracy’s initial goals:

*Lose 25lbs
*Perform 75 Step Ups in 2 minutes
*Perform a 2 minute plank

We posted these goals on our “Client Goal Board” for everyone here to see. By doing so we put a support structure in place for her and we also made her accountable to herself and to others.

MONTH ONE RESULTS:

At the end of those first few weeks we re-assessed Tracy. She was down 8lbs, had more energy and was feeling much better about herself. Already you could see the changes and this was something that motivated her to continue.

MONTH TWO

On the training side of Tracy’s journey, this is the point where I upped the ante a bit. Workouts became more intense and I split them up differently. No longer was she doing whole body type exercises each workout but rather she had an upper body day and a lower body day. Exercise volume was increased and exercise selection was a little more advanced and individualized. After her first full leg day I thought she wouldn’t come back! Okay so maybe it wasn’t that bad…or was it? *insert evil laugh*

We put more of a focus on Tracy’s mid back to develop and strengthen it. This would help correct some postural issues that we were dealing with. We also focused on some unilateral leg training as we needed to correct some imbalances in order for her to be able to perform bigger movements like the squat and leg press which in turn would burn more calories.

I also added some more interesting cardio spurts to her workouts at this time. And while she liked most of it she quickly came to despise the “hillclimbers”.

On the nutrition side we made a few small changes but pretty much kept things the same. The old saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” may have some credence after all.

BUT THEN…

Tracy caught a bug that was going around her office and it took her out of commission for over a week. She did everything she could during this time, ate what she could stomach, rested and tried to boost her immune system. She wanted to keep up with her exercise but I advised her to take it easy and to rest until her body decided it was better. As much as this pissed her off she knew it was for the best. So she recuperated. Unfortunately this put a little snag in the timeline that she had set for herself but after a brief hiatus she was back in action.

MONTH TWO RESULTS

Tracy made some solid strength gains this month and her training intensity was at a higher level than the previous month. Her body was able to handle more demand.

Despite being sick for the better part of a couple of weeks Tracy still managed to lose weight. This month she lost a total of 4lbs which averaged out to a pound a week. That’s a healthy weight loss rate in our books. And even better to us was the fact that each pound she lost was fat and not muscle.  While Tracy was not satisfied with the glitch in the plan she was more than motivated to continue because the inches were coming off.

MONTH THREE

In this month we continued with the high level of intensity in her workouts. The cardio portion went up a bit. I added even more workload to her training days. Her body had actually adjusted to the previous levels and demanded more. She worked very hard with me and she worked even harder on her own. She began biking places and running the stairs at her office on her lunch hour. Tracy had become a very active person. People were noticing her results and she was inspiring people to do better themselves. And if you think it was easy for her you’d be mistaken. Tracy had to deal with ignorance many times during her journey. There were times that she felt alone in it and there were times when others tried to sabotage her efforts. She handled each situation with strength and perseverance and with her eyes on her goals.

We tweaked her nutrition a bit for this final month. I played with some timing for food intake and advised her to forge ahead.

MONTH THREE RESULTS

In her final month of the program Tracy trained hard and did everything right. She lost 5 more pounds and more inches. She was feeling fantastic and getting compliments from many people. The changes were obvious and unmistakable.

FINAL RESULTS

I performed Tracy’s final fitness test again to see how far she had come in her 12 weeks of training. Here are her results:

12 Minute Cycle Test:
Start - Tracy biked for a total distance of 3.42 miles in a period of 12 minutes.
End – 3.53 miles!

2 Minute Step Up Test:
Start - She completed 64 step ups onto a low bench in a period of 2 minutes.
End – She completed 78 step ups and CRUSHED her goal of 75!

Push Up Test:
Start - Tracy wasn’t able to complete one solid push up
End – She completed 11 real push ups! (not the “girly knees bent” kind)

Plank:
Start - She held the plank position for 56 seconds
End – She held the plank for 2 minutes and 25 seconds and CRUSHED her goal of 2 minutes!

Postural:
Like most people that walk through our doors Tracy had a postural deviation called kyphosis where there is a curvature of her upper spine. This probably has to do with years of reinforced poor posture. And as mentioned above she is an office worker who sits at a desk hunched over a computer all day long. She also has what is referred to as forward head posture where her head is in front of the center of her shoulders. Both of these conditions are quite common in today’s society. It was my goal to improve this.

At the end Tracy’s posture has improved significantly through a combination of stretching and strengthening exercises. In the side view of the pictures below you can definitely see the difference.

And finally I reassessed Tracy. I took her weight, measurements and body fat percentage again. Here are her results:

*DRUM ROLL PLEASE*

Weight: Down 17lbs
Body Fat Percentage: Down 5%  from 26% to 21% which is an ideal number for women.
Waist Measurement: Down 4 inches
Hips Measurement: Down 2.5 inches
Chest Measurement: Down 3 inches

Total Inches Lost: 9.5 inches!!!

I know what you are thinking. No, Tracy did not hit her 25lb goal. Regardless of this she did an amazing job! I am positive that she would have lost a few more pounds during the time that she was sick but all in all she did a great job and she looks incredible. She should be really proud of her efforts.

On top of the weight loss and the loss of inches Tracy is much happier and healthier. She claims to feel so much better, has more energy and focus and she is ecstatic about her lifestyle changes. She plans to continue this new found lifestyle and has signed on with me on a consultation basis for the next few months to provide her with more guidance while she continues to tone her body. We are so proud of her accomplishments and we look forward to the next leg of her journey.

Posted: August 20th, 2008 at 10:29am By: mark