TEAM VIGGITY
Nutrition and Fitness for YOU

Follow Whitney

Here is an email quote from Whitney I received on Thanksgiving:

“… I have noticed little weird things about my body like the part below my knees is skinny and then my calves are round. I can feel the bone on the side of my hip more than I did before… I even squeezed into a size 0 pair of jeans at the mall. They were tight, but they fit! So long story short I was feeling good. So the other day I had a doctor’s appointment and when I stepped on the scale I was 125.5. I haven’t weighed that little or worn this size since before high school. It’s been 8 weeks of just eating good food and working out a sane amount and just being consistent and not stressing and its really paid off…”

BTW: 125.5 = minus 7 lbs in 8 weeks

On this page you will find an example of the type of change one can expect using Team Viggity body re-composition strategies. It will not go into exact details as those are specific to the client and everyone is different, but this page will give you a peek at the methodology. It is important to understand that what works for one person may not work for another, and thus adjustments may need to be made. You will get to read about the unique experiences of one person’s attempt to improve her body. This page will also give the reader real time updates to the statistics (approximately once a week) along with real life untouched photos.

There are a few factors to consider with this particular client that makes this case unique. The first is the beginning fitness level of the client. Whitney is already in very good aerobic shape, as she trains and coaches both Jiu Jitsu and gymnastics, as well as takes group fitness and yoga classes each a few times a week. The only new fitness model to be added is pure strength training. The other difficulty is her food allergy profile. Whitney is allergic to wheat, dairy, eggs, and fish. This takes quite a few food options off the table. The reason I point this out is because it would be ideal for me to take an obese person and show weight loss, or take a bodybuilder out of season and show them diet for a competition. This is a misleading tactic often used by many other companies to show their products’ effects. As a relatively fit person, with a relatively good diet, at this point many would consider Whitney the “after” photo. My goal with this page is to be honest with the reader, not misleading.

Case Study

Client: Whitney
Age: 25
Height: 5’6”
Body Type: Ectomorph

Starting Statistics: 10/1/11
Weight: 132 lbs. (60 kgs)
Body Mass Index: 21.3 (normal range)
Body Fat Percentage: 17.28 (athlete range)
Body Fat Weight: 22.81 lbs.
Lean Body Weight: 109.19 lbs.
As the numbers indicate, she is already lean, and dropping much more weight would be unhealthy.


Starting Strength Markers: 10/1/11
Push Ups: 18
Pull Ups: 6
Dips: 11
As you can see, she’s way above average female strength already. Adding muscle will help improve her body fat percentage while keeping her weight in the normal range.

Goals: Our client will be undergoing a 3-month body re-composition in an attempt to lower body fat percentage and increase muscular strength. The primary goal is to reduce the client’s body fat percentage to below 15, while maintaining a body weight above 120 lbs. This will occur primarily through nutritional changes including correct calorie consumption, and macronutrient manipulation. The secondary goal is to increase muscular strength through resistance training through added weight lifting, with an emphasis on progressive overload. Cardiovascular training will not be added as the client is already a performing 8-10 hours of aerobic activity a week.

Program Overview: There are two main components to the program, the nutrition and the training. There are of course other things to consider like recovery, and life style, that will factor in, but much of this is left up to, and reported on by, the client.

Nutrition
The main focus is to consume nutritionally dense quality calories while minimizing empty calories. Whitney’s plan emphasizes low glycemic carbohydrates, green vegetables, and lean protein sources. The main difference you’ll see between her plan and many other common weight loss programs is a higher calorie count. Because she is involved in many forms of exercise from Jiu Jitsu to gymnastics, and lives an overall active lifestyle, she needs more fuel. Many plans focus on lowering calories too quickly and thus stall weight loss after a quick initial drop. Whitney will be eating 4-6 meals per day with a 40 carbs-30 protein-30 fat macronutrient profile designed around her training schedule. Right now, the same protocol will be used every day. Do not be confused; calories are not created equal.

Training
The goal here is to stimulate muscle growth. At this point, Whitney will be training 2 to 3 times per week, rotating 3 different plans. The plans utilize a few different set and rep schemes, but in general work sets are between 1 and 3, and reps between 4 and 10. The total amount of work sets is between 9 and 15. The workouts take no more than 40 minutes and include a significant amount of rest between sets and exercises. It is a very classic approach to strength building. The goal is to work the muscles, not the heart rate. 2 to 3 minutes rest is usually required between sets.

1st Update: 10/9/11
Weight: 129.6
No other significant changes
Comments: Whitney lost 1.5 pounds in the first week which is an ideal rate. However, after one week, it is always unclear whether it is actual weight loss of regular body weight fluctuation.

2nd Update: 10/16/11
Weight: 128
No other significant changes
Comments: After approximately 2 weeks, Whitney has lost 3 pounds. This is the perfect amount of weight loss for her to experience. Losing anything more than 2 pounds per week for someone at her bodyweight is too much. When a person loses weight too quickly, more than 2-3 pounds per week, it is most likely the loss muscle mass and water. This is obviously detrimental in the long run. Initially, one may lose weight quickly, especially those who are obese, and that is fine, as long as weight loss tapers down to a reasonable range after about a month or so. Everyone reacts differently to a dietary change, but a switch to a ketogenic or low carb diet often creates a drastic water loss initially.

3rd Update: 10/24/2011
Weight: 127
So far, Whitney has lost 5 lbs in 24 days. I’m sure you are thinking that this is not much, but you must also consider the quality of the gains, or in this case, losses. She is still upping her strength on all key lifts which means that she is most likely adding muscle mass. This will counter some of the fat mass loss. Once body weight loss has stalled out, we will adjust caloric intake to keep making progress.

4th Update: 11/24/11
Weight: 125
If you read the quote at the top of the page, you know that Whitney is killing it and feeling great! Many people will read it and underestimate the 7 pound drop in 8 weeks, but remember, slow loss = fat loss. Fast loss = muscle / water loss (often). I am so proud of Whitney, I may just have to buy a sports bra!

Follow Whitney on her journey to a leaner, stronger, healthier body. Keep checking in on the “Follow Whitney” page to see her real life, real time results, using Team Viggity strategies. If you like what you see, contact teamviggity@gmail.com to get more information on how you can get your own personalized nutrition and fitness program.