Personal Trainer Tells a Singapore Fat Loss Story

After helping clients with personal training in Singapore for more than 10 years, I often have to tell stories to give them an idea of what to expect from their program. Here is one such story about fat loss.

I recently had a client called Jack (Not his real name) who wanted to start getting in shape after many years of unhealthy eating.

Part of the exercise program was to help him get stronger. The building of strength is important because it allows you to use more energy during training and this is good for burning fat.

Also, getting strong prevents muscles from breaking down as you go on a diet where calories may be low. This means that you don't get the "rebound effect" where you quickly gain weight back after a diet due to excessive loss of lean muscle.

For the strength portion of his workouts Jack did exercises with heavy weights for his current fitness level. The exercises we used are big movements like deadlifts, squats, and chin-ups. At the end of 5 weeks for example he could lift 120kg five times in the dead lift which is a respectable amount of strength.

The next portion of the workouts was the fat burning portion of the workouts. We used simpler exercises put together in a circuit like fashion. The aim of this portion was to boost Jack's metabolism both during AND after the workouts.

The workouts are hard work and so Jack's metabolism is ramped up for up to 30 or more hours after the training session while his body is recovering from the workout. The result is that he burns many calories because even just 1 hour of this kind of training can result in 30 hours or more of increased calorie burning. Exercises used here include lunges, jump squats, pushups and burpees.

We never used cardio in the traditional sense such as jogging or cycling because it is boring, and it often leads to overuse injuries as well as muscle loss.

For nutrition, the first task was to help Jack's body start to become efficient at burning fats. We did this by asking him to eat more healthy fats such as nuts and fish oils. Eating more fat teaches your body to burn fat efficiently. Meanwhile, at Jack's level of body fat he is not suited to consume carbohydrates of any kind except green, leafy vegetables. So his nutrition plan was high in protein, high in healthy fats, very high in vegetables, and very low in processed foods and unhealthy fats.

After 2 weeks, Jack's body became adapted to using fat as a fuel. Then we decreased the amount of food he ate, and his body started using his body fat stores for fuel. That is why he only lost 1kg in the first 2 weeks, but 4kg in the final 2.

At no point did Jack need to feel hungry because when his body started to absorb high quality foods, his body automatically tells him that is has enough food. This is different from when he eats foods with low nutrient content like noodles. The body does not know when to stop because pasta, sugar and other bad foods have close to zero nutrients so the body is still "hungry" even though he may have eaten alot.

The Final Stats? Start Weight - 115.5kg

End Weight - 110.5kg

Lean Mass Start - 76kg

Lean Mass End - 78g

5kg of weight lost, 2kg of muscle gained.

That means actual fat loss is 7kg

THIS is the key stat:)

Fat percentage drop from 33% to 28.8%

Measurements: Arms 45cm both start and finish

Waist 113cm drop to 107cm (2.5 inches)

Below are the fat measurements at the start

Chin: 14.2 mm

Cheek: 14.6 mm

Pectoris: 41 mm

Triceps: 31 mm

Subscap: 33 mm

Mid-axillary: 40.2 mm

Supra-iliac: 62 mm

Umbilicus: 64 mm

Knee: 18.8 mm

Calf: 29 mm

Quadricep: 37.2 mm

Hamstring: 56 mm

Below are the measurements At the end.

Chin: 11.6 mm

Cheek: 12.8 mm

Pectoris: 33 mm

Triceps: 26.9 mm

Subscap: 28 mm

Mid-axillary: 32 mm

Supra-iliac: 46 mm

Umbilicus: 49.8 mm

Knee: 14.6 mm

Calf: 18.8 mm

Quadricep: 27 mm

Hamstring: 48 mm

Big drops in Supra iliac (love handles), Sub scapular (upper back) and Umbilicus (abdominal) - these are key indicators for health issues. So Jack's health improved alot.

I know that these are typical results with clients who under go personal training and who do what we ask them to do. Jack trained in the gym 3x per week and did 1-2 other days of recreational activity like basketball or leisure walks.