Client Progress: Nicole

Published:  02/12/2017

History: Nicole is a moderately fit, 36 year old, busy working mom with husband and two young girls. In the past 5 years, she has gained weight after having children and working full time. She works at a job where she is surrounded by temptation. She reports a history of getting bored and losing motivation with past programs. She has the beginning of arthritis in one knee.

Nicole has done very well with her program which leads me to predict her continued success. I wanted to spotlight Nicole because she is an excellent example of someone who has taken the information I have given her and implemented it beautifully. Here are some key statistics followed by more detail which outlines the course of her progress.

Month One Progress

• 7.4 pounds lost!
• 7.75 inches gone! See below for details and notice how many inches she lost around her middle.
• 3.9% body fat lost!

5 1/2 Month Progress

• 15.8 pounds lost!
• 14.25 inches gone!
• 5.1% body fat lost!  

Nicole is still doing well with the occassional roadblocks that keep her from getting as much exercise as she would like and eating as optimally as she would like. But despite that, she gets right back on track and as you can see her progress continues! She says, "I haven't weighed this little since before I had children!".

Objectives: Lose 25 pounds and 10% body fat; learn to prepare healthy easy, make-ahead family meals and lunches for work; learn how to exercise while vacationing with family; make frequent changes in her workout and mode to create variety and interest; continue with weekly workouts with me for variety, progression and accountability; strengthen arthritic knee; incorporate family into workouts; learn healthy options for eating out.

We scheduled six training sessions for the first four weeks and scheduled weekly phone meetings to discuss any nutrition, exercise or motivation challenges she had. We will continue with 1-2 training weekly sessions.

Nutrition Plan: Nicole's My Fitness Pal log is set for: 1500 calories; 113 grams protein; 169 grams carbohydrate; 42 grams total fat; 15 grams saturated fat; 2400 mg or less sodium and 25 grams or more fiber.

Her actual intake: It is difficult to hit the target macronutrient numbers perfectly every day, so I like to evaluate ranges or averages for the week. Looking over her past-month's food journal, she has had an intake range of 1300-1600 calories; 130-185 grams carbohydrates; 35-68 grams total fat; 70-108 grams of protein; and 15-38 grams fiber, 2300-3400 mg sodium. She has made improvements in making healthier choices at work; prepping food on Sundays for the week; adding more fiber via fruits, vegetables and whole grains; she has been trying new family-friendly recipes; and experimenting with nutrient timing around her workouts. 

Her Workout Plan: 2,800 calories burned through exercise weekly, using a heart rate monitor to do cardio in the 70-80% heart rate zone, except for intervals. Do 3 personalized interval training workouts per week. Do 2-3 strength full body workouts a week; and stretching 3-4 times a week.

Nicole's Actual Workouts:

• Week 1 - Calories burned 2857.  Two instructional workouts with me and the rest cardio on her own (walking outside, bike, treadmill and elliptical at gym and one hike).
• Week 2 - Calories burned 3900. Two workouts with me, one hike, cardio, incorporated some interval training and one weight training session on her own. She purchased a TRX for use at home.
• Week 3 - Calories burned 2996.  One workout with me, cardio, walked to the movie theater with family, incorporated some interval training and one weight training session on her own. One hike.
• Week 4 - 4 days so far this week. 2555 calories burned. One workout with me one weight training session on her own and cardio.