About 212 lbs…
Why not, let’s go… @TrainForPain #t-ransformation2023
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Great couple hours of entries!
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A heap of really good entries this year although some of those before shots are way too good. 
. I have started making zero progress while I am on vacation. I am telling myself that taking this time off will me new newbie gainz when I start back. It’s my truth and I’m sticking to it.
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152.2 lbs with 34" waist on the morning of New Year’s Day. Let’s see what we can do over the next five months. #t-ransformation2023 @TrainForPain
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My excuse is that compared to my coach, mine are definitely before pictures!
Hey all you awesome T-ransformationers! I’m not in the pool this time around, but I’ll be cheering you all on and am here to offer diet/nutrition support if anyone needs it!
To help kick this off and get y’all started, here’s some things to get you rolling:
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Start where you’re at not where you think you should be. If your diet has been completely off the rails, then jumping into this thing full-on keto with a side of intermittent fasting probably isn’t going to be your best strategy.
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Find a diet/eating style that doesn’t make you miserable. If you wake up every day hating your life because you only get to eat dry chicken and plain broccoli, you’re gonna have one hell of a time being consistent.
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Make sure that your new diet and exercise program should improve your life not consume your life.
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Simplicity is your friend. Take it back to basics. If you don’t know where to start, fill 1/2 of your plate with non-starchy veggies, 1/4-1/3 with lean protein and the remaining space with a starchy carb (preferably something with some nutritional value - sweet potatoes, potatoes, whole grains, etc.). Sprinkle in a little fat for flavor and call it delicious. Do this 3x’s each day for the next week and see how ya feel. Adjust as needed.
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Remember that you can eat all the kale, drink all the protein shakes, take all the supplements, and run the “perfect” program - but if you don’t deal with the $h!t going on in your head and heart, you’re still going to be unhealthy. There’s more to T-ransforming yourself than just the stuff you can see. You gotta peel the onion if you want to be indestructible. This is no joke.
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This whole T-ransformation thing is a marathon, not a sprint. Take it one meal, one workout, one day at a time. Don’t look back and don’t give up. One bad meal won’t wreck you, one day of bad meals won’t wreck you - but when it starts turning into more bad meals than good, it might be time for a little come to Jesus. And FYI, Jesus is a BIG fan of meat and veggies - just look at the Garden of Eden - it was full of meat and veggies, so you probably should be too!
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There are no good or bad foods. The devil is in the dose. All foods can fit, but all foods can’t fit all of the time. Set limits - maybe 2-3 “treats” per week. This approach is going to be better than a full-on cheat day every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Spreading small amounts of the good stuff out rather than gorging yourself all at one time will both help you enjoy what you’re eating more and leave you feeling less deprived. I promise.
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Train and eat for LIFE not just for a couple good pictures at the end of all of this only to arrive right back at your before photo a month after it’s over. Think long game and you’ll likely end up feeling great, performing like a beast, getting stupid strong, AND as an added bonus - you’ll look good naked too.
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For the one person that might still be reading all of this nonsense - YOU’VE FREAKING GOT THIS!!! Now go out there and OWN IT!!!
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GAME ON!!
Signed,
-Quad Queen
(Dietitian by day, T-ransformation Cheerleader by night)
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This is something I’ve been thinking about and was going to tag you in my log- but it will likely be beneficial to everyone here.
I was fairly strict carb-wise solely for the reason that I felt better that way. Less bloating, more/consistent hunger. I have within the past year decided to forego that restriction and go full on IIFIMM (if it fits in my mouth). If I were to start making a transition back to a restricted carb approach, how would you typically handle something like that? I’m not necessarily one to completely abandon a “style” of eating, but it would seem to me like there would have to be some sort of way to acclimate your gut back to that way of eating?
I’m not in a hurry to cut out carbs again, but at some point it may be happening. If this is too broad of a question, I apologize and can just go into it full on and suffer the consequences!!
Edit: also, I wanted to add that I appreciate your post and support for all of us!
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Loved the whole post QQ but loved this bit the most
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This might be my favorite acronym to date.
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Are you saying I did it wrong?
Now that’s a grapplers back 
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Great advice!
Question for you - any tips for eyeballing portions when dining out to try and get a sense of, “Ok, that’s about X oz meat, X cups rice,” etc?
I realize dining out is typically not conducive to strictly tracking food, but 1) I know I’m not cutting dining out for 6 months, and 2) I’d like to still have some way to at least try and track what I’m eating vs those being complete “mystery meals.”
I’ll be trying to pick the ‘healthier’ options when possible, but still want to try and log when I can if we eat out (and will try to modify breakfast and lunch accordingly to give more ‘space’ if I know, for instance, that we’re going out to dinner). I can typically keep a pretty good log when I’m at home, but I want to get better about tracking when I can’t put everything on a food scale.
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I was definitely dehydrated yesterday, I’ve started the challenge badly, gone from 224lbs yesterday to 227lbs today
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Oh, heck yeah!! I actually try to encourage my clients to break free from the food scale/measuring cup leash. That can get super excessive and it’s kind of a time suck. It’s great to measure when you’re first getting started so you know what a normal portion looks like and then to spot check yourself every once and awhile to make sure you’re still on track, but doing it every day, forever - um, HARD NO.
You can pretty easily estimate just using your hand as a guide:
Palm = 3-4 ounces meat/protein
Clenched Fist = 1 cup
Front of a Closed Fist = 1/2 cup
Tip of Index Finger = 1 tsp
Thumb = 2 TBSP
Dining out is especially tough because you don’t know how much oil/butter they throw in to make things taste good. A few helpful tips:
- Order things with dressings/sauces and gravies on the side so you can control how much you use.
- Order heavy hitting ingredients on the side - nuts, cheese, sour cream, dried fruit, tortilla strips, guac, etc. on the side and only use as much as you need/want.
- Request that they use less/no oil/butter when making your meal. Ordering things PLAIN can go a long way. They can soak a lot of butter into that “healthy” side of broccoli…
- You can also just order whatever the heck you want BUT then only eat 1/2 of what you’re served. The devil is in the dose! If that’s too tough to do - ask that they only serve you 1/2 and put the other 1/2 in a to-go container for you. That way you won’t be tempted to take just “one more bite”.
- Don’t drink your calories. Alcohol is dangerous and when you start getting all fancy with cocktails - things start adding up real fast.
If you’ve got a favorite restaurant or know where you’re going and are struggling with what might be the best choices - just send me a link to the menu and I can help you navigate it.
I hope all that helps!
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I would start by taking out and/or decreasing the amount of carbs at the meals furthest from your workouts. So…
If you workout first thing in the morning, keep carbs at dinner to help fuel your a.m. workout and hit them again at your post-workout breakfast. If you’re doing intra-workout carbs, you can keep them there too but maybe scale them back if your workouts are 60-90 minutes or less. Ditch any other carbs during your day - lunch/snacks.
If you workout mid-day/before lunch, I’d say no/low carb breakfast and then do a pre-workout snack consisting of a little carb/protein or a protein/fat combo alternately, you if you’re using an intra-workout drink, you can just roll with that. Hit your carbs at your post-workout lunch and then have a small to moderate amount at dinner (because carbs help you sleep!!).
If you workout after work (late afternoon/early evening) - then go no/low carb at breakfast and lunch and follow that same pre-workout snack or intra-workout drink protocol as above and then hit a good dose of carbs at your post workout dinner.
These are my general recs, without knowing what your doing now. If you’d like a better tailored answer - shoot me an “average day in food” example including quantities and time eaten and I can dial ya in.
Don’t apologize!!! And definitely don’t be miserable!! Life’s too short for that and carbs are delicious. Also, you train like a beast - you’ve got a little room for some. If you put em’ in the right spot and consume them in responsible quantities, you’ll likely feel even better than you do when you’re strictly low carb.
Also, this right here:
Is GOLD. 
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Pretty much described my lunch…
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