“I signed up with W10 performance for the 12 week programme hoping for a bikini body I would be proud of. The journey a have taken has not only achieved that but has turned my dietary and sporting beliefs on their head. At the end of the twelve weeks I have lost 6.5% body fat, 5.5kg in weight (4cm off each thigh!), have dropped a dress size and I feel amazing.”

---

Tammy came to W10 in what most people would consider pretty good condition. A former competitive athlete, regular netball player, occasional triathlete and all round fitness enthusiast. Typical of many of our client profiles, Tammy worked in the City, enjoyed her social time (a drink, or two!), already had an eye on her training and considered that she had ‘a pretty good’ diet. Her body fat was average for an active female, she was reasonably fit and she had previous knowledge of training and nutrition.

Tammy’s goals were straight forward – to lose weight (body fat) and improve her fitness.

---

“I signed up with W10 performance for the 12 week programme hoping for a bikini body I would be proud of. The journey a have taken has not only achieved that but has turned my dietary and sporting beliefs on their head. I’ve been asked to share my experience, so here it is:

When I met Jean-Claude we agreed that I would train three times per week. I agreed also to follow nutritional recommendations which would evolve as the programme did. I was told that the training would consist of mainly resistance training, high intensity interval work and limited typical cardio exercise. In all honestly this made me nervous, as I am what most people would describe as a ‘big girl’ – not fat, but a product of genetics and years of athletics and netball training – and my dream body did not include me looking like a female bodybuilder!

I raised my concerns to Jean-Claude who reassured that women do not bulk up with properly applied weight training and that I would definitely ‘lean out’. I wasn’t totally convinced but decided to trust Jean-Claude as he was very confident and certainly seemed to know what he was taking about. The initial diet would be based on a caveman diet – if it could walk, swim or fly it was included in moderation, as were quality fats (nuts, oils and so on), and vegetables were included in large quantities – ruling out all the rice, potatoes, legumes, dairy and of course alcohol initially. The first three weeks would be ‘cheat’ free and the deal was that I had to stick to it – agreed.

The first session started with an assessment, including my body fat being taken (a big pair of tweezers that pinch your skinfold). My body fat was broadly 21% – with a lot of the fat being carried on my back. The first training session did consist of mainly free weights but I was very surprised that I was dripping with sweat and breathing heavily throughout….not pretty!

The change in diet was easier than I thought – lean protein and raw/cooked vegetables for breakfast lunch and dinner, with snacks (nuts and some fruit occasionally) as required in between. My colleagues thought I was mad and I have to admit, at times, so did I! To be honest though, it just became part of my routine. Strange and at times irritating at the offset but soon becoming the norm.  I was training two or three times a week (depending on work commitments) and the hard work was starting to show results. My ‘love handles’ and thighs were shrinking (I had secretly measured them at the beginning as I was not convinced that I would get smaller with weights – if it came to it, I wanted proof that JC was wrong!). The dimples in my cheeks that had once been lost had reappeared in my face and my sleep was improving. As for that matter was the condition of my skin. I was starting to feel really good.

At the end of my ‘cheat’ free three weeks I had a netball team trip away (these are renowned for being ‘indulgent’!). The instruction from JC was to eat and drink what a wanted – I had earned it. I had a few vodkas of an evening and a couple of refreshing beers after my games but I mainly stuck to the diet with a few bits of chocolate and bread thrown in for good measure. I did receive a lot of compliments about my figure (at this point I think I had lost 2kgs and about 3% body fat) which made me feel really good and inspired me to keep going.

Every training session I was pushed respectfully to my limits. There was no denying it, the sessions were hard – JC knew what I was capable of and he would make sure I fulfilled my potential. He seemed to be able to get in my head; he knew that if he said to do 8-10 reps I would do the 10 and then as if reading my mind he would then tell me I could squeeze one more out, I did it as I am sometimes far too competitive for my own good!  There were days when I couldn’t walk properly, there were days when I could barely pick up my glass of wine (the one glass I was allowed each night!) but then there were days when I felt beyond good. I was sleeping really well every night, which made me more efficient at work and overall, I was generally a lot happier. I also found the 3-4pm afternoon lull didn’t affect me anymore. The well balanced diet also meant that I didn’t have the chocolate/biscuit cravings.

At the end of the twelve weeks I have lost 6.5% body fat, 5.5kg in weight (4cm off each thigh!), have dropped a dress size and I feel amazing. I have had a week off training and found to my surprise that I miss it! I am still sticking to the diet as it works for me. The couple of ‘cheat’ meals that I have been encouraged to include every week (where I can eat what I like) actually leave me feel bloated and sluggish the next day – meaning that more often than not I don’t even have them.

I still do athletics and netball and the odd triathlon. I actually did my first triathlon of the year about eight weeks into my training and my times for every discipline were better than I have ever achieved – this without doing the long laborious runs that I hate. All I had done for the previous eight weeks was weights and a few strongman exercises (pushing, pulling and dragging all sorts of things that weighted quite a bit). No doubt about it, I was surprised but impressed.

I am 37 years old and have competed at a high level in athletics and netball since I was 12, yet I have never been this lean or this fit in all those years. I was well and truly from the school of thought that when it comes to training, your muscles need lots of any type of carbohydrates (lots of pasta, etc), that weights make you bigger and slower and that to lose weight you need to run lots – definitely not so. I have had my mindset completely.”