Amir has been my coaching and accountability client at Blueprint Fitness in North London for over a year.
I have worked with him one-on-one in a face-to-face setting and online throughout his first body transformation.
Currently, we continue to improve on his results.
The transformation presented in this article focuses on how Amir accomplished his initial goal. He wanted to “Get rid of the belly fat and tone up/build muscle. Learn good form for weight training and strengthen the back. Ideally, get down to 12% body fat.”
We started working together after the UK's last lockdown restrictions were lifted.
He struggled to get into his suits for his busy day-to-day work life as a real estate agent and ultimately did not feel comfortable in his skin after realizing that he had not done much for his health or fitness throughout the past few years. It was the nudge that got him to seek help.
Even though he was a member of a local gym and a “casual gym-goer,” there wasn’t any plan in place for him to achieve his goal, and he had no proper nutrition or exercise knowledge.
He had enough and felt he needed the correct advice and structured approach to start moving in the right direction. He wanted to lose weight and tone up, but efficiently and effectively.
In his own words: “I treated exercise and weight training casually and often as and when I felt was needed, but with no proper plan. I knew I needed structure, accountability, and also help with nutrition.”
If you want to achieve similar results despite having a busy life with family, work, and social activities, read the whole article to get inspired and see how we could make it possible for Amir.
Starting Point
As mentioned, Amir was a casual gym-goer who visited his local health club weekly. His training was not structured, and he lacked practical knowledge or consistency in his diet.
Spending his work hours at the desk and a more sedentary lifestyle at home meant body fat was accumulating too quickly.
So, we first set up a fat loss phase to help him reach his goal of getting rid of his belly fat, leaning out to reveal some good-looking muscle, and aiming for his desired body fat percentage with visible abs.
To improve his accountability, increase his commitment to his goal, and assess his rate of progress, we decided to take progress photos and circumference measurements and have him jump on our body composition scales every four weeks.
Before starting his training and nutrition plan as designed by me, Amir was doing the following:
Training – 1 session a week with light weights
- this is after a few years back when he was doing 3-4 sessions per week of a body part split routine of Back & Triceps one day, Chest & Biceps another day, and Legs on a separate day until his back started playing up (it flared up more often when he was also doing HIT classes and playing Squash)
- all of this caused him lower back pain, so he needed to cut back and not be able to enjoy his fitness activities as before - the lesson here lies in the fact that more is not always better; a minimal effective dose administered via a progressive plan that complements your lifestyle and a new way of structuring your activity efficiently for safe guidance towards your goal is better
Cardio – A light jog once per week
Diet – Eating ‘well’ with the typical meals described by him below:
Breakfast - eggs (scrambled or boiled) and some veg - asparagus/peppers/tomatoes and chilli - oats with almond milk, blueberries, and cinnamon;
Lunch - chicken breast with sweet potatoes/rice and veg - usually peppers/broccoli/green beans and hot sauce;
Dinner would be similar to lunch - turkey breast/steak/lots of salmon grilled - with wholegrain rice or white rice and sweet potato - for veg broccoli/green beans/avocado/asparagus/peppers;
Snacks - Greek yogurt with blueberries and chia/flax seeds - sometimes the same with oats - occasionally fruit - banana or strawberries and some cashew nuts
The above foods weren’t bad at all. However, a lack of structure in how he prepared the meals, served them throughout the day and tracked or accounted for the amounts of each food (no idea of macros or calories) unsurprisingly meant the weight (and body fat percentage) wasn’t going in the right direction.
Starting Bodyweight ~ 82.55 kg
Initial Setup
To lower his body fat percentage and lose the belly fat to reveal abdominal muscles, we needed to lose around 15-17 kg in about 4 to 6 months (a realistic time frame agreed upon to reach his weight loss goal).
To drop from an average weight of 81.39 kilograms (found during his first week of recording body weight daily to get this objective data) to 65 kg, we needed to stay within an average rate of weight loss of 0.96 to 0.63 kg per week.
Training—Amir could only schedule two training days around his busy work hours and family time, so we started with only two weight training days per week (the minimum recommended) on a full-body split, training each body part twice a week.
He mentioned that learning good form for weight training and restoring his strength would also be essential in this starting phase.
The workouts were built with a mix of basic compound lifts using free weights and some machine-based exercises targeting all the muscles involved in the primary movement patterns like squatting, hip hinging, variations of lunges, upper body pushing, and pulling with some isolation exercises for the arms, shoulders, core, and abs.
When someone starts with a limited time of 2-3 training sessions per week (each session takes 45 to 60 minutes), this is the best way to set the foundations and build progressions into that initial plan.
Cardio—We didn’t start with traditional cardio. Instead, the aim was to get 10,000 steps a day. He needed to move more in his daily life.
Diet—We decided to follow a Structured Meal Plan, which involves a high-protein, lower-carbohydrate, and moderate-fat approach.
After calculating his initial calories and macros for his diet, we designed his meal plan based on the foods he enjoys (described above by him at his starting point, and some of them were picked from our food groups recommended for meal plan design).
Amir started preparing his meals based on the meal plan and staying within specified amounts/portions for each meal ingredient (from experience, if you prepare your foods, you’ll always get better results).
It seems like a rigid approach, but it is needed at the start of the journey. The extra control you have, along with the applied education and discipline/habit formation, will help speed up progress and keep the results for the long run.
Making sure to batch cook all of his meals ahead of time (for 3-4 days at a time) is one of the practices that kept him on track and relieved all of the mental/decision fatigue so that he had more time for other important daily activities.
His starting calories and macros (calculated to keep him in a healthy deficit) were as follows:
Calories - 1810 per day
Protein - 170g
Carbs - 125g
Fat - 70g
The meal plan is designed to match the macros above and get him to eat the right foods consistently.
Check out his structured meal plan based on 5 meals (3 main meals and 2 snacks):
Meal 1 - 2 Whole Eggs, 120g Veggies, ½ Medium Avocado
Meal 2 - 100g 0% Greek Yogurt, 120g Fruit, 25g Almonds (or 20g 80%+ Dark
Chocolate)
Meal 3 - 150g Chicken, 100g Rice (or 130g Sweet Potato), 350g Veggies
Meal 4 - 45g Whey Protein, 100g Blueberries, 200ml Unsweetened Almond Milk
Meal 5 - 200g Salmon, 200g Veggies
From Amir: “A nutritional plan and a training plan were created. Each session is prearranged and recorded. Correct form and guidance are given. Also, I'm pushed enough that I get the maximum out of the sessions. Every week, my nutrition is reviewed and adjusted. Every few months, my training plan is adjusted to meet my goals. Results are recorded and measured.”
Amir’s Results
Week 1 to Week 26 Progress Breakdown
Let’s examine how we achieved the results presented in the above tables. The process will be similar in most cases, so you can do this, too.
Week 1 to 12
Progress during these first three months was fast, slightly aggressive, and consistent, so we didn’t need to make any adjustments.
The training plan followed the principle of progressive overload, increasing the weights and/or reps for each exercise only if it was executed with perfect form from one week to the next.
The average weight loss per week during this initial phase was around 0.97 kg (2.14 lb per week)
The least amount of weight lost was 0.67 kg (1.5 pounds) during week 10, and the maximum one, a drop of 2.63 kilograms (5.8 pounds), was lost during week 4 - owing to the reduction in calories, carbs, water weight loss, and stomach/digestive system contents in the first weeks on the plan.
Only one instance during Week 6 saw the average weekly weight increase by 0.29 kg, as Amir attended a multi-day family event with more food to enjoy. As a safety measure and to keep the rate of progress consistent again, we increased the daily step average from 10K to 12 K.
The primary metric in the circumference measurements table is the average waist measurement (at the naval - over the belly button, in other words - and 3 fingers - about 2 inches - above and below). We can see it dropped 15.5 cm.
He could easily fit into his work suits and started to feel great about himself.
Overall, he lost an average of 11.68 kg (close to 26 pounds) in the first 12 weeks and probably gained a couple of kilograms of muscle to improve his shape.
Week 13
The rate of weight loss was great, actually above our aim of losing 1% of body weight per week, and during Week 13, we went for a Diet Break during which calories increased to the maintenance level. I can say Amir was more than happy at this point :)
Week 14 to 16
He is back into a deficit, with calories adjusted to his new lower body weight to promote further consistent progress—daily calories at 1560.
The rate of weight loss for this period slowed down a bit to an average of 0.32 kg per week (0.7 pounds). We had another drop of 2 cm off the waist (totalling a reduction of 17.5 cm).
Week 17 to 26
A short holiday came about during week 17 when I suggested sticking to the new calories, but 3-4 days off the plan took its toll, and the average weight for this week shot up by 0.39 kg (0.85 pounds).
Quickly returning on track towards the end of the week meant we were already heading in the right direction. The following week, we had another drop of 1.44 kg (just over 3 pounds).
From weeks 18 to 26, the average rate of weight loss was around 0.4 kg, which helped us reach our target weight of 65 kg.
The training was consistent weekly, and performance only slowed down in the last few weeks as we reached the target body weight. This is normal and noticeable as you get leaner and strive for those lower teen body fat levels.
What Next?
For the next 4 weeks, we stayed around the 65 kg mark and tried to keep the weight steady. In week 5, we returned to maintenance, upping calories by 500 per day.
The scale weight rose in the first week and then plateaued. At this point, we increased the amount by 150 calories per day each week until we noticed the weight trending upward (it happened after 3 weeks). We hung here for another 4 weeks and then decided to start a controlled bulking (muscle-building) phase.
Investing some time in a controlled gaining phase means the goal has shifted towards muscle building. We’ll keep the rate of weight gain in check to minimize fat gain and put more muscle on so the physique will look even better in the future.
It is a phase during which we can enjoy a bit more food, perform better, and feel at our best in and out of the gym.
Consistency Pays Off
When life got busy, he still did not miss a session. Even if his diet was off, he still trained. When away on holiday, he still did some training and looked after his diet. He stayed consistent.
Consistency = 🔑
Consistently avoiding the "all-or-nothing" attitude is the way to go. When things don't go to plan, a quick return on track or always putting yourself back in the position to execute your plan after a misstep and checking in to tell me what's been going on will get the job done.
Here’s what Amir has to say about his overall experience and training with me over this past year:
“Started at over 82KG and got down to 65KG, unable to lift much with no proper knowledge or correct form, but soon began to understand the mechanics.
Then, I found myself doing deadlifts, squats, and all the traditional weight training exercises and pushing myself.
I struggled to fit into my suits and felt uncomfortable in my skin due to years of not doing much.
After the transformation, I felt energized, in control, happier, and less stressed, and I looked my best.
I also started to understand the science of losing weight and the importance of nutrition and a proper plan.
For all these reasons, I decided to continue, make even more progress, and further my goals.
Dan's knowledge and experience are incredible. He is very detailed and does not waste any time.
I get pushed to my limits to get the most out of the sessions.
The plan is also constantly changing, and goals are reviewed.
Minor adjustments are made each session to ensure progression.
Most importantly, everything is planned for your goals, so I can turn up, work, and leave, making training a joy.”
Thank you for reading, and I hope this was helpful.
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If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
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