I’ve been a member of TT for 3.5 years. Until this year I’d never felt compelled to join in on a transformation competition. Initially I told myself that I had already lost the weight and there was no benefit to be gained in entering a competition (I was wrong, there are a myriad of benefits both mental and physical). Later on, I think it was fear of being so accountable for 12 weeks that stopped me.
For the longest time my goal has been to get to 10% body fat or below but I NEVER truly committed to achieving this. I think that to a large degree I didn’t believe I could achieve it and subsequently sabotaged my own efforts. Deep stuff I know, but it’s true.
Three months ago after a good deal of personal growth I finally overcame my internal resistance and completely committed to finally achieving my fitness goal and joined the transformation competition.
In all honesty I didn’t change a great deal to finally achieve my goal. My exercise work ethic is good; great even, so all I had to do was keep up that momentum and shift my focus toward metabolic resistance training and conditioning rather than strength. I had been following a strength program from another fitness guru prior to the competition so swapping back to TT checked this box with a big tick.
In general I already ate very well, practiced intermittent fasting and adhered to principles that “should have” facilitated fat loss. However it was my dietary indiscretions, cheat days and alcohol consumption that were holding me back. To address this I began tightening the screws on my current 70-80% compliance rate. I did it gradually so as not to overwhelm myself. The 1st 4 weeks it went up to 85%, the 2nd 4 weeks up to 90% and the last 4 week right up to 95%. This approach worked very well for me and the fat came off steadily throughout my transformation.
The following things helped me achieve this compliance rate:
- First and foremost accountability in the form of the TT forums. It’s amazing how supportive that place is and how a bunch of people you’ve never met can keep you on track and make you believe in yourself.
- Tracking food intake: I tracked every last calorie for each of the 84 days. I’m pretty well educated in the nutrition department but when going for extreme results you really need to take a more extreme approach.
- Finally the TT system of training. Not only did I lose fat. My overall fitness has gone through the roof, which in turn has allowed me to push myself harder and harder as the competition progressed.
For my efforts I’ve achieved more fat loss in the past 3 months than I had in the past 3 years. Ultimately there were no tricks or special diets. I ate good wholesome food, I ate less of it and I exercised intelligently to achieve my results. The “trick” was to commit 100% and go for it and to BELIEVE that I could achieve it.
I never would have thought I would have enjoyed this experience as much as I have. I can’t thank Craig and everyone on the forum for being such an inspiration along the way.
