Do you wish fat loss was easy for you? That you could get to a point where you didn’t have to stress about everything you ate, where you weren’t struggling to lose that stubborn body fat? A point where you knew what to do to lose fat?
Jasmin, a member of Beyond Strength, has gotten to this point. To where fat loss is easy for her. To a point where she knows what to do. And she’s thrilled about it.
If you know Jasmin, then you know she is one of the happiest, most positive people there is. Seriously, in the four years that I’ve known her, I can’t remember a time when she wasn’t smiling. And that smile is contagious; people feel that positive energy at Beyond Strength and are lifted up by it.
Her life hasn’t only been smiles though, because she was unhappy about something: her weight. Many people might not know that, since she has such a positive energy about her—as if nothing is hard for her. But losing the body fat she wanted was hard in the beginning. It was a struggle.
In reality, early on in her fat loss journey, Jasmin hit numerous obstacles until she found what made her successful with fat loss.
Past Gyms
Given that Jasmin was unhappy with her current weight, with how she felt in her clothes, she decided to do something about it. This meant joining gyms in the area.
Some gyms were similar to CrossFit in a way,
some had a similar small group model that Beyond Strength has,
some were more like boot camp classes,
… but the end result was always the same: she didn’t get what she needed from them.
In her words, she often found the gym filled with “non-experienced trainers who only worked there part time.” While this may not seem like a big deal, to be part time, it was more about the feeling it left Jasmin with. They weren’t fully invested in being there; weren’t fully invested in her success.
This was also important because Jasmin wanted guidance—help with what to do and what not to do—from a coach. Unfortunately, these gyms were more focused on making her feeling crushed then making her feel successful.
And this, in part, led to minimal consistency from Jasmin. She didn’t care to come back because they didn’t seem to care if she did. This hurt even more because there’s something else she wanted, besides guidance: a sense of community and social connection. She loves people.
So she left those gyms and looked for something better.
Along the way she found Beyond Strength’s website. She saw I was a coach there. This pleased her (since we already knew each other). She figured that, if I chose to work at Beyond Strength, then it must be a good gym.
But, this doesn’t mean she had absolute confidence we could get her to her goals. Hopeful, sure. 100% confident, no. Because, as mentioned previously, other gyms had failed her.
So, she joined Beyond Strength in 2019—excited but doubtful.
Beliefs As Barriers
Jasmin was uncertain if she would see the results she wanted out of training at Beyond Strength.
Past experience had taught Jasmin that some trainers are part-time, and not full-time invested in their clients; that some gyms have the goal to crush you each workout. She believed that she needed to kill herself in the gym to see progress. That, if she wasn’t sweating, if she wasn’t sore, if she wasn’t dead at the end of a workout, then she wouldn’t see results.
With regard to nutrition, Jasmin felt her nutrition had to be perfect—always—in order to get any results from her hard work. No bad days or mess ups allowed.
Crush yourself at the gym. Eat perfect always. Lose fat. Simple.
At least, that’s what she had been led to believe.
This is why, upon joining Beyond Strength in 2019, training seemed too easy to her. Jasmin felt good about a training session, not dead and wanting to puke. To her, it felt too easy. So easy it might not work.
“How will I make progress with this?” she often wondered. But Jasmin, having a level of trust with the coaches, embraced and trusted the process. She wasn’t where she wanted to be with her health, and thus, chose to try something new and see it all the way through. She was committed.
An interesting thing happened though once she trained at Beyond Strength for a few months. Jasmin said it best: “Past gyms left me feeling bad. Now, I leave with more energy and feel good. I even sleep better too.” Feeling good, sleeping better, and having more energy made it easier for her to train consistently.
In the past, Jasmin would crash on her couch for an hour or two after training sessions because she was drained. She had nothing left in the tank—the sessions took everything she had.
Now, however, with increased energy she could do other things with her time. And the biggest thing she did was this: she focused on improving her nutrition.
But let’s pause here for a moment. Before I get into the nutrition changes she made, this all begs a question: what made her stay? After all, she doubted the training would work for her since it felt too easy.
So how come she stuck with the process long enough for it to work?
What Made Her Stay?
Jasmin liked that she learned “what to do” at Beyond Strength. The guidance helped. The coaching was great. But there was something else.
To understand what that something was, you’ll need a little more context.
Jasmin lives independently. And she likes to be independent—the feeling of being able to take care of herself, to do things on her own.
But, she values social interaction and human connection as well. When she wasn’t at work or at the gym, she was out with friends hiking, dancing, and just spending time with them.
That’s what kept Jasmin coming back to Beyond Strength: the community. Because of our community, she was encouraged—and excited—to keep coming back.
“My favorite part of Beyond Strength,” Jasmin said to me once, “is the vibes. If I’m in a bad mood, I leave feeling better.”
She knows that people care about her at the gym. That, if she didn’t show up for her session, for whatever reason, that people noticed, and someone would reach out to check in with her. Because the gym isn’t just for her physical fitness.
As Jasmin said, “It’s not just physical fitness, but mental fitness too.” Jasmin has friends at the gym that she can joke around with, share a smile with, and train with. This sense of community, of human connection, kept her coming back long enough for her to see progress with her fat loss.
And, with that said, let’s answer the important question: how did Jasmin lose 14 pounds at Beyond Strength?
The Nutrition Change Jasmin Was Looking For
So. What was it? What was the key to Jasmin’s fat loss success? What one thing helped her the most?
Jasmin followed our plate portion guideline.
At Beyond Strength, we offer a 12 week nutrition course that our members can enroll in. Early on in that program we introduce plate portions as a guideline for nutrition. Here’s what the plate portion guideline looks like:
- Half of your plate is fruits and vegetables
- A quarter of your plate is protein
- A quarter of your plate is carbohydrates
It’s that simple. For Jasmin, this is what made fat loss click, because it no longer felt complicated to her.
The plate portion gave her awareness: she saw she didn’t eat enough protein. See, Jasmin is a vegetarian, and protein was tough for her to get in. This was an important thing to improve, especially since she had been strength training consistently.
By limiting the total calories she took in each day—which came naturally from balancing her plates better—and increasing her protein intake since it was low, Jasmin saw results.
She lost 14 pounds.
By the way, I don’t want to leave you with just the plate portion—I’ll give you a sneak peek into the 12 week course as well. The video below (filmed by Coach Greg) discusses the Plate Portion Guideline as well as some other goodies. Check it out:
Let’s shift gears a little bit though. Because while Jasmin losing 14 pounds is awesome, it’s not everything; in other words, Jasmin understands she isn’t done yet. Fat loss isn’t the only thing she cares about.
Let me explain.
More To Life Than Fat Loss
Jasmin, while happy about her fat loss progress, understands this isn’t the end of her journey—but only a part of it. Because she has other goals.
These days, since she crushed her 14 pound fat loss goal (she went from 148 to 134), she has more time to spend with her friends and do the things she wants in life—part of which involves pursuing her strength goals in the gym now. And Jasmin isn’t only concerned with her own goals.
Here’s her perspective: Jasmin’s fitness and health journey isn’t about her—not fully, at least—because it’s about her friends and family too; it’s about how she can make their lives better, about how she can bring health and positivity to them.
In the end, Jasmin’s healthier lifestyle serves as a model for how her friends and family can live healthier lives too. This comes directly from her giving fitness and nutrition advice when asked, and less directly from simply being the positive, healthy person she is.
As she said before, “It’s not just physical fitness, but mental fitness too.”
And that mental and physical fitness will help Jasmin do what she ultimately wants to do—to fulfill her legacy—which is to make other people’s lives better.
Or, as Jasmin would say, “To be someone who always brings life to the party.”
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