Katie started working with me in November with the goal of dropping some stubborn body fat whilst improving her CrossFit performance and general strength.

What did we do?

We kept things simple but executed them consistently:

• Monitored calorie intake to be in a deficit across the week, allowing us to have higher calorie intakes on training days.
• Kept carbohydrates relatively high to ensure her high volume of training was properly fuelled, allowing her to perform at her best.
• Incorporated her favourite foods into her diet to ensure it was as easy as possible to stick to.
• When calories got low, we made sure that her food volume was as high as possible to make hunger a lot easier to manage. Tons of fruit, vegetables, lean meats and low fat dairy were the order of the day.

The end result?

Katie looked a ton leaner via dropping some stubborn body fat from around her abs, whilst her CrossFit, gymnastic movements and strength performance all went up despite losing 3kg (approx 5% of her bodyweight, which despite what she thinks, is a fair amount!).

She managed to do all of the above whilst working full time, being a Mum, going on work trips, training hard and a skiing holiday thrown in there too. No matter what was thrown at her she remained flexible which allowed her to stick to the plan, and ultimately make some amazing progress.

I’m proud of you Katie, well done!

Anyway, enough of me rambling on. Over to her.

Katie

I have been into fitness all my life, having played regular team sports at school and university (lacrosse and netball). In 2012 I was introduced to CrossFit, and since then I have built a passion for lifting weights, being strong and being fast… I love nothing more than being thrown into a gassy workout!

In the last 2 years, I started playing closer attention to my diet in relation to performance. I would say that I mainly ate clean but at times would go very paleo, and low carb and then swing back to more primal based meals. Although I was lean, I still felt I had some stubborn body fat that I couldn’t shift and that felt that if I could get leaner I would be able to progress more in the gymnastics movements which I still struggled with at CrossFit.

I have known James for a few years, but in 2015 I became aware of the work he was doing for clients on the nutrition side. I was sceptical to start with, how could you cut calories so much and maintain strength?! I saw James’ progress in his powerlifting, he was a lot lighter on the scales, lifting more weight and still posting pictures of chocolate brownies – I knew it was time to get in touch!

In November, we started on a program to understand what I needed to do to maintain my strength (I did all my own programming), but shift the stubborn body fat. The goal was never a desired weight on the scale but to see body composition changes without an adverse affect on my performance. The net result is about a 3kg loss in weight (not much I know), but the pictures show something different, I am stronger, faster and leaner than I was in November, and gymnastics movements seem so much easier!

My day to day eating have not radically changed to how I ate before, they have been small subtle tweaks here and there taking into consideration my training and competitions. The one great thing is the inclusion of chocolate back in my life!  Yes, almost every day. I no longer eliminate food groups like I use to and then binge on them later.

Next year, I move into the CrossFit Masters category and I am hoping that everything I have learnt on the nutrition side with James can help me really enjoy this first year of Masters competing.

I can’t thank James enough for helping me with these results; he is positive and friendly and encouraged me every step of the way. No question is a silly question, and he always has an answer or something different to try which has been achievable given my busy lifestyle.

It has taken time, dedication and understanding of how my body works with the training I do, but James makes it easy to break it down into small goals so you always feel like you are making progress.

I’d recommend James to anyone! What’s stopping you?”

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