While the factors resulting in fat loss can vary from individual to individual, the general process that we use for Lifestyle Transformation is the same:

IN THE BEGINNING...
When you initiate contact with your coach, you'll be directed to keep a daily food journal for five to seven days. We have a food journaling system, Genesis, that makes this process easy and efficient. Your coach will have access to your daily journal, and after 5 to 7 days will assess your eating patterns along with caloric intake and balance of carbohydrates, proteins, and fat. That assessment will include a recommended caloric and macro nutrient (protein, carbs, fat) ratio level for launching into the first step, called Fueling.

FUELING
The purpose of this step is to build up your metabolism. Why? Because a well-functioning metabolism is key to healthy weight loss. Think of it not in terms of losing weight, but burning fat. In this step, we’re stoking your metabolism to a point of maximum efficiency. We’re preparing it for the next step - rotation - in which we trick your body into burning stored body fat for fuel. The most descriptive way to explain this is to compare it to a campfire. Imagine sitting next to a campfire on a cool evening. The fire is cooling down, and you’re getting chilled. You need to stoke it with more wood to get it to burn hot and provide you with that warm glow. The more wood you add, the hotter and more intense the fire grows.

We’re not used to thinking like this, but our metabolism works the same way. The more food you eat that is truly good for your body, the hotter your internal engine will burn. This “thermogenic” process, meaning “the production of heat,” is what burns calories. What makes this process possible is ingesting what we call “clean, real, food.” Food in its basic form - fruits, vegetables, grains, meats - with minimum processing and adulteration. Food that works for your particular body - and that’s what we help you discover: your individual fueling needs.

During fueling phase we will be slowly refining your food choices as we determine what foods work for you and what foods don’t. The goal is to ensure that the nutritional choices you are making will increase the thermogenic process. Not only is fat burned in this process, but because your body is receiving vital nutrients, your muscles benefit as well.

You will be weight training in this stage. We want to change your
body composition so that you have more muscle than fat - this is what will give you a sleek, fit shape. You want to increase your muscle mass as much as possible. (No ladies, you won’t get huge and look like bodybuilders, I promise.) Physiologically speaking, you also want somewhere for the carbohydrates you are consuming to go. Your liver will metabolize carbohydrates and turn them into glycogen, which will be utilized by the muscles for growth. This in turn will increase your metabolism, because muscle is an active tissue that will burn a lot more calories than fat will.

It is a common misconception in our culture that to lose weight one must do an abundance of cardiovascular work (also called aerobics) and reduce caloric intake. The problem with this is that if the body is not getting enough fuel to begin with to function properly, or the right type of fuel, then the added stress of cardio will trigger the body’s famine response - which means that the body will store virtually everything you eat as fat to avoid starvation. When we bring the caloric intake up with the right foods (or fuel), we turn off the famine response, feed the body’s nutrient stores, fill the muscles, and teach the body that it’s okay to relax and process the food without storing more fat. As the body trusts this process, it will begin to burn stored body fat for fuel, as it was designed to do.

In other words, we are lowering the insulin reaction to foods by keeping blood sugar down through eating clean and healthy whole foods. Insulin directs the body to store fat and burn carbohydrates as fuel. If we keep the insulin at low levels, we stabilize the blood sugar and the metabolism burns fat for fuel instead of carbohydrates. This also leads to plenty of glucose for the brain which results in stabilization and feeling good - an added bonus.

You won’t do cardio work in this fueling phase. We allow the body to do it’s natural thermogenic process and save the cardio for later, in the rotation phase, as a way to trick the body into burning more stored fat. This is more effective once the body knows HOW to burn stored fat. Again, that is what it learns to do in this fueling phase.

The fueling phase lasts an average of three months, but varies widely according to individual requirements.

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ROTATION
The rotation phase consists of daily changing the calories and macro nutrient levels to find the level that will trick your body into burning stored fat for fuel. These levels and caloric ranges are different for everyone, as are the foods that will optimally fuel each individual. Prescribed cardio is added in the rotation phase to stimulate the body’s need for fuel. Cardio keeps the metabolism up, increases the fitness level of the individual, and stimulates an increased need for fuel. Your coach will determine how often and how long your cardio sessions will be, based on your individual requirements.

You will continue to weight train. We want the body to understand that it needs to keep all the muscle you have, and we do this by using it. Often.

The main goal of rotation is to keep the cardio work as low as possible (why work harder than you have to?), as well as to consume as many calories as you can while still losing body fat and maintaining or even gaining lean muscle.

This phase lasts as long as the person is happily burning stored body fat for fuel, having a good time, and enjoying the process of a newly emerging body. Average time is about six months. Again, this varies widely.

Some folks don’t ever go into rotation. These folks have bodies so happy in the fueling phase that they will begin dropping fat and continue dropping fat, sometimes without adding cardio work. This is the ideal. It’s also fairly rare.

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Maintenance consists of teaching you to maintain your gorgeous, svelte, fit and healthy body. This phase can last four to eight weeks. First we take you off rotation, level out your calories, and slowly bring them into line with a maintenance level of macro nutrients. We begin to bring your cardio work down to a level that is just enough to maintain your body at the physical goal you have set. You will continue to weight train and continue to sculpt your body.

Using the tools you have learned, and the vast information you have gleaned about your body, you will take good care of it. You will take better care of your body than your car, your house, your computer, your yard. You will appreciate and thank it every day for providing you with a healthy, enjoyable, good looking place to reside!