In December 2022, Mel signed up for 1:1 coaching with Kate. Her major goal was to lean out over recovering from a serious concussion.

Additional goals we set:

Learn how to navigate nutrition successfully while managing RA flare-ups
Continue to train with progressive overload to balance overall health
Lower overall body fat for a leaner look

We decided to start with a conservative deficit in January of 2023 since Mel was already eating at maintenance calories.

Started at 1820 calories with a calorie floor of 1600 (never dropped below 1750)
Aimed for a weekly rate of loss between 0.5 to 1 pound

The Periodization Plan:

Via 1:1 Coaching:

December 2022 - April 2023 (4 months):

Gradual deficit from January to April
Mel lost 9lbs
Eating more than 1700 calories

Solo:

May 2023 - March 2024:

Recovery from surgery

Via EPN Cohorts:

March - June 2024 (13-Weeks)

Building Phase, gained 3.2lbs in 13 weeks

June - August 2024 (10-Weeks)

Fat Loss Phase, never dipped below 1800 cals, lost 9.0lbs in 11 weeks

Solo:

September onwards:

Graduated and living at maintenance!

So what’s next? Here’s the periodization plan Mel is working on solo as she has graduated from the cohorts and will be managing her own nutrition:

October - December: Muscle Building

Mel will be finding the top end of maintenance & then moving into another build phase through the Holidays with the primary goal shifting to adding more muscle.

January - February: Maintenance

Anticipated surgery will have Mel eating at Maintenance to focus on letting the body heal & recover as optimally as possible.

March-April: Fat Loss

A brief time spent in a slight deficit to lean out following the muscle build & maintenance phase.

Mel’s Key Takeaways of the Process:

What I thought was my maintenance calories at the start ended up being about 400 calories less than actual maintenance!
My autoimmune symptoms completely disappeared during the muscle build phase. Feeding the body well felt amazing & encouraged me to want to start another muscle build process quite quickly
Learning to trust the data was key to navigate the ebb & flow that comes along with the journey.
For myself, the added bonus of having my fellow cohort members going through the same learning process & sharing our journeys together amplified the value of the cost of the cohort.
Finally, of course you are the captain of your own ship. But having Laura there to help advise when it was time to adjust the sails always gave me the confidence that I was heading in the right direction.