How many months’ progress do your pictures represent? What were your stats for each picture?
They represent 10 months–I’ve had a hard time determining my body fat percentage.
Here’s my rough guess: Beginning – 28%. Now – 22%.
In terms of weight, I started at 145 pounds and I weigh 124 pounds now based on weekly averages.
What has happened so far on the program?
I’ve been on a cut since the beginning with occasional maintenance breaks while I was on vacations. I’m not going to lie, I have a hard time restricting the amount of food I eat!
As much as I’d like to do a 25% deficit and get the cut over within a couple of months, that hasn’t been the case. So it has been a slow cut BUT I feel good every day, which I think matters more in terms of being able to stick to a diet.
My goal now is to get down to 18% body fat or around 120 pounds before I begin a bulk.
Besides the weight loss, I absolutely LOVE and am constantly amazed by what my body is actually capable of! I NEVER thought I could do a pull-up, but I did! I NEVER thought I could do dips, but I did! I NEVER thought I could run, but I did in a recent back-to-back 5K and 10K.
Perhaps the best of all, I NEVER thought I actually had abs underneath all that fat, BUT THEY ARE STARTING TO SHOW!
My body is still a work in progress but I am so proud of how far I’ve come. And it all began the day I ordered Thinner Leaner Stronger from Amazon.
What workout split from the book did you use?
I started with the 4-day split, experimented with the 3-day, and am on the 5-day now because I LOVE starting my day with training.
What, if anything, almost kept you from buying the book or starting the program?
I probably shouldn’t name any specific programs, but I’ve done some in the past where they only allow you to pick and choose from a specific menu/recipe when it comes to your diet. These programs tend to also provide body weight workout routines targeted at women (high reps and long, frequent cardio sessions).
I couldn’t follow through because I didn’t like the foods, didn’t like to cook complicated dishes, and didn’t see how the hours of bodyweight workouts and mind-numbing cardio were getting me anywhere.
Maybe because I’m a PhD student, I grew tired of guessing what might or might not work. I wanted to KNOW why programs are designed the way they are–why women need to do high reps and hours of cardio but not men and why eat these specific foods and not others.
Were there actual research findings backing these programs up? I needed a book with “theories” to answer my whys. And Thinner Leaner Stronger seemed different to me at the time and I had nothing to lose by checking it out and seeing if things made sense. And they did. So I decided to try out flexible dieting and heavy lifting 🙂
What do you like most about the program?
It was easy in a sense that I could get in and out of the gym in an hour. And I love the program, which makes it easy to stick to it. I also love the program because I’m no longer working out just to burn off calories–I’m not looking at my watch to see when I can get off the treadmill.
But rather, I’m at the gym to TRAIN, to get stronger. Sure, it’s nice to see those abs starting to show and my weight going down. But what I love more is seeing what my body is actually capable of.
Ultimately, this program changed my mindset altogether–I started to care less about how I look, but focus on what I can do. And I think this is spilling over to my career as well 🙂
How does this program compare with others you’ve tried?
More or less the same answer as I gave above. But overall, this program makes much more sense than the other ones I’ve tried.
Rather than giving me a list of acceptable foods and exercises, Thinner Leaner Stronger educated me and taught me specific skills to be able to design my own diet and exercise routine, which is essential to long term sustainability and adherence I believe.
How has what you’ve achieved with your body changed other areas of your life?
I’m much happier, I’ve adopted a mastery mindset to life in general, and I’m finally more comfortable in my own skin. Having been a chubby girl and growing up in the Chinese culture, I suffered from major body image issues–and I used to think I was hopeless especially given my PCOS diagnosis.
I tried to “love my body,” I tried different crazy diets, did hours of mind-numbing cardio, etc. Nothing worked.
Ever since I finished reading Thinner Leaner Stronger, though, and over the course of the last 10 months, I’ve made eating a healthy, high-protein diet and weightlifting a habit that takes no willpower (going to the gym is pretty much like brushing my teeth now).
I feel SO good every single day and I love seeing my body change and what it can actually do. It’s spilling over to my work because I start to think that if I can accomplish in the gym what I never thought possible, maybe I can do the same in my work . . .
Challenges no longer seem threatening to me and I begin to realize it’s OK to fail from time to time–it’s not a reflection of ME as a failure, but a process that I can learn from and get better at what I’m doing.
Overall, saying that Thinner Leaner Stronger (or Mike’s work in general) changed my life would not be an exaggeration.
Who would you recommend this program to and why?
YES. I still don’t understand why so much BS (e.g., starving yourself, hours of cardio, lifting makes you the next Hulk) is sold to women when it comes to fitness and weight loss.
I often point my female friends and colleagues to Thinner Leaner Stronger and hope that someday they might find success with this program as I did.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
YOU CAN DO IT. I’m honestly not special and if I can do it, you can do it too. I promise you Thinner Leaner Stronger is NOT some crazy demanding program that requires you to turn your life upside down to make it work.
In fact, when I first read it, it seemed almost too good a program to be true–seriously, no mind-numbing hours of cardio on a 1200 calorie diet every day?
It works. Give it a chance and it might just change your life too 🙂
Did you use any Legion supplements?
I take Whey+ protein and it’s amazing–helps me so much in meeting my protein goals!
