What does it take to achieve a head-turning 8 week transformation?

Is it even possible?

The answer is YES.

Here’s my 8 week transformation…

The above transformation took 56 days (8 weeks on the dot!).

In this article, I will share what I did to achieve such results, so you too can embark on your own 8 week transformation.

P.S. This article is suitable for both men and women – the 8 week transformation principles are the same regardless of your sex.

Before diving into the juicy secrets, I’d love to share my background story and what motivated me to change…

Enough was enough…

I was munching on a kebab, barely present, watching the news (all about Coronavirus!), and intermittently checking my phone…

I looked down at my half-eaten kebab and thought, “where’s that gone?”

It was digesting in my gut. Even though I’d wolfed it down, I didn’t register a single bite…

Do you ever get that…where you look down at your plate, and it’s empty? But you can’t remember eating it! Lol.

As the meaty kebab and dense pitta bread were digesting in my stomach, I bent over to pick up the TV remote and felt the rolls of stomach flab squeeze on top of each other – do you know that feeling? That moment you realise you’ve gained tons of weight. It isn’t very pleasant.

I had been abusing my body with food for weeks, eating pizza, chocolate, sweets, cookie dough… you name it!

I felt ashamed, especially considering I’m a personal trainer who’s supposed to be in shape 365 days of the year.

ENOUGH WAS ENOUGH.

I woke up the next day, looked in the mirror, and didn’t like the person staring back at me. I needed to get myself back in shape and decided then and there to embark on an 8 week transformation.

I took the first step and never looked back.

Fast forward 8 weeks and I got in the best shape of my life…

What did I do to transform my body and achieve head-turning results?

Well…

It would be an honor to share my secrets with you…

#1 Weight Training 4x per week

If you want to achieve an 8 week transformation and get head-turning results when it comes to weight loss and changing your body’s shape, you need to lift weights…

Lifting weights is what improves the definition of your muscles – and who doesn’t want that?

Summary of my weight training program:

• Weight Training 4x Per Week. The focus was on lifting heavy weights with strict form.
• Full-body Workouts, which are ideal for fat loss and quick body transformations.
• Eight Exercises Per Session and I did three sets of 10-12 reps per exercise.
• Compound Exercises that target lots of muscles all at once: rows, presses, squats, and deadlifts.
• Tracking – I recorded all of my weight training sessions in a gym diary and aimed to beat each workout. It’s essential to monitor your progress and always try to improve i.e., either lifting heavier or completing more reps.

#2 HIIT & LISS cardio to shed stubborn body fat

If you want to burn shed loads of fat, improve your fitness, and feel good about yourself, then do more cardio.

Cardio done correctly will boost your stamina and help you shed layers of stubborn body fat.

I did a combination of both HIIT and LISS cardio.

• HIIT stands for High-Intensity Interval Training
• LISS stands for Low-Intensity Steady State cardio

What’s the difference between HIIT and LISS cardio?

HIIT is intense. LISS isn’t.

• HIIT involves sprinting and maximum effort i.e., 100m sprint
• LISS is slow activity i.e., walking, slow cycling, etc

Both are good and have pros and cons to them. I’d recommend reading this article I wrote to better understand what’s best for you.

KNOWLEDGE BOMB: HIIT cardio predominantly burn carbs whereas LISS cardio mostly burns fat.

Cardio 7 days per week….

I did HIIT cardio on the days I lifted weights (4x per week). All I did was 5-10 minutes, where I would sit on an exercise bike, cycle as fast as possible for 20s, then rest for 40s. I would repeat this 5-10x after my weight training session.

Then on my rest days from weights (3 days per week), I would sit on a bike and do some cardio at 50% effort. It’s like a walking pace where you can still hold a conversation and aren’t too out of breath. This type of cardio is ideal for fat loss. Low-intensity cardio is more beneficial for fat loss compared to HIIT.

I started my 8 week transformation doing 30 minutes of LISS cardio on the bike and did this for two weeks, then every two weeks I increased my cardio by 10 minutes, for example…

• Week 1-2: 30 minutes on the bike 3x per week
• Week 3-4: 40 minutes on the bike 3x per week
• Week 5-6: 50 minutes on the bike 3x per week
• Week 7-8 60 minutes on the bike 3x per week

#3 Diet Strategy

So as you know, diet is vital, without creating a calorie deficit, you won’t lose weight, no matter how much exercise you do. I would strongly suggest you read this article on The Science Of Weight Loss – you’ll never need to read another weight loss article after this one.

How many calories did you eat?

I started my 8 week transformation on 2,200 calories and gradually lowered my calories every two weeks:

• Week 1-2: 2,200 calories per day
• Week 3-4: 2,000 calories per day
• Week 5-6: 1,800 calories per day
• Week 7-8: 1,600 calories per day

As you can see, I lowered my calories every two weeks. This way, your body keeps losing weight, and it’s not too drastic.

If I had started at 1,600 calories per day, my results would have been much quicker. However, I would have burned myself out after four weeks and probably binged myself into a food coma!

It’s better to start high with your calories and bring them down slowly, rather than jumping straight in at the deep end. This is why you need a personal trainer to help you establish a sensible calorie set point and guide you through the process.

High Protein Diet

If you want a leaner body with firm muscles, you should be aiming to consume at least 1.5g of protein per Kg of body weight. So if you weigh 80kg, that’s 80kg x 1.5g = 120g of protein per day.

Throughout the 8 week transformation, I ate at least 140-150g of protein per day. Protein kept me full and allowed me to train hard and build lean muscle.

I ate lots of foods from my keto recipe book…

You can pick up your own copy of the Keto Recipe book below (for less than a McDonalds!)

The Keto Recipe Book is £4.97

#4 Low Carb Diet The Last Week

In the final week, I cut my carbs down to 50g per day, so barely any carbs what so ever. This was to help me get rid of the last bit of fat. It was tough, but you could see the results unfold on a day to day basis.

I replaced the carbs with more fatty foods and more protein, such as oily fish, red meat, eggs, and protein shakes.

#5 Carb Load

On Saturday (24 hours before taking my final photos), I did what’s called a carb load – This is where you go from eating minimal carbs (below 50g a day) to then eating lots of carbs.

Why I hear you say?

Well, to present your body in the best way possible and show off your muscles, you deplete your body of carbs so that it looks flat, and your body has no choice but to burn fat…

You then fill up and restock on carbs.

The final results is that you end up with the same leanness, but with fuller muscles. It’s what bodybuilders do before a competition or photo shoot.

On Saturday, I had 800g of carbs. Basically, two boxes of Rice Krispies with almond milk!

I know it sounds kind of strange, but it works!

Starting Your Own 8 week transformation…

By all means, you can take the information you’ve learned in this post and go and apply it yourself.

But if you would like to be guided through the process every step of the way, then why not sign up to my 8 week transformation challenge?

If you like, I will help you over the next 8 weeks to achieve the same level of results?

You can sign up for the challenge below for just…

£149

If you have any questions about the 8 week transformation plan, then I’m happy to jump on a phone call to discuss with you or schedule a Zoom/Skype call if you prefer?

You can also message me here.

Look forward to helping you on your 8 week transformation,

Nick Screeton – LEP Fitness