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Every once in a while as a trainer you come across that dream client who gets mind-blowing results faster than even you expected. In today’s show I’m sharing one such story, because regardless of timeframes the takeaways are applicable to almost anyone with a body gain goal.

Today let’s cover 2 Simple Switches and 3 Mindset Must-haves that let my client drop from a healthy-yet-not-happy 24% body fat to an ultra-fit-and-lean 17% in 3 months.

To set the stage:

My new client was a hard-working young school teacher in her late 20’s. She was very much into a regular consistent habit with her exercise… at least an hour a day, at least 6 days a week.

So far as food?

That one was very consistent too. All meals planned, prepared and adhered to… with strict, ok let’s call it restricitve discipline.

So here we have the sadly not so uncommon…

=> the more you do the more you have to do with exercise and,

=> the less you eat the less you have to eat with food.

If you’ve been there you’ll recognise this is absolutely unsustainable and also hugely Un-fun.

Let’s start with the simple switches…

Switch One: I significantly reduced the amount of carbs my client was consuming – primarily the low fat processed carbs – and drastically increased her protein intake.

=> for example my client would consume a large banana (for energy) just before her spin class. Now that’s awesome if your goal is fitness and you don’t want your body to utilise any fat stores as energy. If that’s not the case then it’s just a step up from guzzling sugar-water as you sweat it out on that bike.

=> she also skipped afternoon tea and was ravenous by dinner. Now I don’t believe you must eat afternoon tea however for my client this would lead to over-eating at and after dinner. More lean protein and good fat in her salad at lunch and a snack late afternoon, like a protein bar or shake enabled her to feel satisfied until dinner and in control of her last nutritious meal of the day.

Switch Two: I significantly reduced the amount of cardio my client was forcing herself to do – primarily moderate intensity machine cardio and spin class’s – and introduced high intensity weights training.

=> the excessive cardio was fuelling my clients battle with energy out v. energy in. It’s that vicious carb-over-refueling fitter and fatter cycle that is so easy to get caught up in.

=> high intensity weights not only has a huge bang for it’s fat burning buck by elevating your metabolic rate for hours after you stop exercising (unlike low-moderate intensity cardio) it also does not make you crave that pesky carb over-refuel.

As my client got into a regular weights routine, specifically this was just 1 half hour session with me and 1 on her own each week her body began to crave more lean protein and less processed carbs. Because she was diligent in giving her body the protein at each main meal and after each weights session and also the rest and recovery it needed she built sexy, lean, muscle fast.

The cycle switched to a losing battle to stay a float with cardio and low fat processed carbs to a sustainable, enjoyable weights and one ingredient foods approach.

No surprises right?

The thing is I’ve recommended similar refinements many many times when I meet someone struggling with increasing effort, decreasing results and a near overwhelming need to give up as it’s just too hard to sustain.

It’s the Mindset Must-haves that my client already had locked and loaded when she came to me that allowed her to achieve her mind-blowing results.

So, what makes the difference between one person with the same advice, support, time and limitless potential who makes the change and the person who doesn’t?

Mindset Must-have #1: Consistency.

Find an approach you trust and give it a fair, consistent-dilegent-NON-program-hopping-no-taking-the-bits-you-like-and-ditching-the-rest-go!

You’ll never know what plan works if you don’t work the plan!

Mindset Must-have #2: Out Prioritise Overwhelm.

Prioritise your exercise and your meal planing, shopping, preparing and eating. We all have the same time. How you chose to spend it comes done purely to what you’ve decided is must important to you, both now in the moment and for your future health and happiness.

To fail to set priorities and allow yourself to get caught up in random – overwhelming and ineffective – busy’ness is lazy thinking.

Mindset Must-have #3: Back-yourself 100%.

When it takes longer than expected, when you experience a set back, when your clothes feel a little tighter before they feel a little looser (as they did for my client) back yourself and back your approach to stick with it as long as it takes.

This also means backing yourself to know when the actions you’re taking are not working and having the certainty of self to see that merely as valuable feedback to learn from and then find another way to take that next step forward.

To get actionable today, How locked and loaded are you with the 3 Mindset Must-have’s?

To recap that’s,

#1: Consistency.

#2: Out Prioritise Overwhelm.

#3: Back-yourself 100%.

These are 3 of my favourite subjects to write and talk and think about.

If you’d like to dig deeper with any of the 3 I’ve link to the posts I’ve written on each in the headings above.

That’s it for me today, I hope you can join me tomorrow for the Friday FAQ show where I cover, 3 Natural Weight Loss Hacks.

If you liked this you’ll also like: Smart Simple Weight Loss: Prioritise v. Overwhelm.

If you’re yet to share the Healthification love – just click here to zip over to iTunes and leave an honest rating and review. It’d help me out big time. With gratitude, Kate.