8 Week Weight Loss Transformation Guide
Achieving an 8-week transformation takes hard work and dedication. You need to be realistic in your goals and find something that will be sustainable. Often we put ourselves into an extreme calorie deficit or exercise excessively.
With this 8-week weight loss transformation guide, you will be able to maximize your potential by bulking up and leaning out. Be sure to get an ok from a doctor before going to the extreme with your weight loss.
We’ve got a slew of tips, tricks, pointers, and a complete weight loss transformation workout plan to help you lean out over the next 8 weeks, so that you’ll be slim, trim, and ready for action in any season. If you’re a visual person, taking 8 week weight loss before and after pictures may help you.
8-Week Weight Loss Transformation Tips
Calculate Your Macros
All successful weight loss transformations begin and end with your diet.
What you eat and how much you eat are crucial to your success. If you’re not consuming the right amount of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, you’re at risk of losing muscle while dieting. When you don’t know how much you should eat, you really have no idea if you are in a calorie deficit or surplus, which makes tracking your success (or failure) complicated.
Eating too much results in no weight loss (and possible fat gain) and eating too little can increase your chances of losing muscle. Therefore, in order to know whether or not you are actually in a calorie deficit or surplus, you first need to get an estimate of your total daily energy expenditure.
There are a number of quality calculators available on the web, and we also provide a step-by-step guide, here.
Once you have a rough idea of how many calories you need to eat to facilitate weight loss, you then need to start tracking your food intake (including every morsel of food that crosses your lips) so you can know whether or not you are adhering to your calorie deficit. Bites, licks, and tastes of foods often go untracked and can have an affect of your overall weight loss journey.
Be OK Saying “NO”
There are many holidays, festivities, and family gatherings throughout the year. While these make for lasting memories, they are frequently filled with copious amounts of high-calorie fare in the form of creamy mashed potatoes, delicious cakes, and various other decadent treats.
Yes, these foods do taste great, and, in the moment, you’ll love eating them. However, the endless snacking, eating, and indulging leads to a plethora of excess calories ingested and unsightly fat gain. (These are where bites, licks, and tastes come into play.)
To avoid binging and accumulating excess body fat, realize that it is OK to say “NO” (politely, and more aggressively if necessary) to second helpings, luxurious desserts, or excessive alcohol.
While you may sacrifice some immediate gratification, your perseverance will be rewarded with having to spend fewer weeks cutting in the spring.
Remember WHY You Eat
Far too often, especially during the holidays, people eat because they’re stressed, depressed, lonely, overwhelmed, sad, and/or pressured to eat by family. Food is often used as a crutch or coping mechanism.
Treating food in this manner leads to binging on calorically-dense (and usuallly micronutrient-void) food that spikes blood sugar and insulin levels, promotes fat gain, and ultimately leaves you feeling worse (after the inevitable carb crash).
That’s why it’s important to remember your “why” for eating -- to fuel your body and mind for your workouts and support recovery and growth.
Yes, food is something that should be enjoyed and celebrated, but it is not a remedy or cure-all for the troubles of life. When you find yourself getting stressed or anxious, seek out a friend or relative for help. However, if those same individuals are the cause of your stress, take a moment for yourself.
Breathe deeply and process the situation. This will enable you to bypass the food and alcohol binges and avoid sabotaging your hard work.
Make Adjustments
Over the course of the next 8 weeks, you’re going to lose fat, but during that time it’s important to keep track of how much and how fast you’re losing weight. Remember that as your body is transforming, so will your plan. This is not something to get frustrated by. In fact, this shows that progress is happening.
Your metabolic rate may lower as a result of losing excess fat and body weight, which means you may have to do some “tweaking” to your daily calorie intake to keep losing weight. Additionally, you also want to make sure that you aren’t dropping too much weight too fast. Losing too many pounds per week increases your chances of losing lean muscle mass, which is the exact opposite of what you want to happen when dieting.
If you are losing 1-2 lbs/week, keep your calorie intake and training consistent for the following week.
However, if you are losing less than 1 lb/week, add in a 15-20 minute cardio session after your resistance training session OR reduce your calorie intake by 200 calories per day.
If you are losing more than 2 lbs/week increase, then your daily calorie intake by 200-250 calories per day or drop one of your weekly cardio sessions.
After making adjustments continue weighing daily, while keeping track of your progress along the way.
Don’t Skip Sleep
Many people can get caught up in busy days filled with shopping, parties, family gatherings and just work in general. In an effort to get everything done that needs doing, people usually opt to wake up earlier and stay up later at night, which means they shortchange their sleep each night.
While this might seem like a crafty way to get more things done each day, in actuality, it’s setting you on the fast track to stalled fat loss, irritability, and potential weight gain.
Skimping on sleep immediately impacts your recovery and hormone production (hindering workout recovery and impairing future workout performance), increases hunger and stress levels, and decreases cognitive function. The end result is one cranky person who is an ideal scenario to eat more high-calorie, nutrient-void foods, store more fat, be less active, and lose less weight..
To get ahead of the hustle and bustle, try to plan ahead, setting time aside for work, family, and daily exercise. Also, don’t forget to plan your meals. All of these tips will support your efforts to stay on track with your weight loss transformation program and make this an incredibly successful, fat-shredding 8 week transformation.
8-Week Weight Loss Transformation Workout
Over the next 8 weeks of transformation, you’ll be training 6 days per week following an upper / lower split for resistance training workouts while also incorporating 2 conditioning days in between your 2 lifting days.
One day per week, typically Sunday is reserved for resting, watching football, and active recovery. In other words, spend your Sundays enjoying family and friends.
For active recovery go for a walk, perform some easy yoga, or do light stretching to promote circulation and recovery.
Some other pointers to keep in mind for this 8-week weight loss transformation workout:
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Training sessions typically consist of paired exercises that are to be performed as supersets with minimal rest between exercises. After the pair of exercises is complete, rest 90 seconds and then perform the next superset.
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Make sure to fuel up properly before you workout by selecting the ideal pre workout, such as Ape Sh*t, to energize your mind and body.
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If training with great intensity and/or performing workouts lasting for over an hour, you may also want to supplement with Intracell to sustain performance and blood sugar levels during training and support energy production. Also, remember that carbs are not the enemy, especially in and around your workouts!
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After your workout is complete, jump-start recovery and repair by consuming 1-2 scoops of ISOLIT (protein supplement), and then proceeding to have your post-workout meal.
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Do NOT add any extra exercises or sets to this training program. If you are truly giving each workout everything you have, there is no need to do further weight lifting or cardio. Everything you need to get results in the gym is right here.
- COMMIT -- You’ve got 8 weeks to get lean, mean, and ripped for winter fun time. Bear down, stick to your diet, and train your ass off. The rewards will be well worth it!
Monday - Upper Body A
|
Exercise |
Sets |
Reps |
Rest |
|||
|
Barbell Bent Over Row |
3 |
8-10 |
0 sec |
|||
|
Flat Barbell Bench Press |
3 |
6-8 |
90 sec |
|||
|
T-Bar Row |
3 |
10-12 |
0 sec |
|||
|
Incline Dumbbell Twisting Press* |
3 |
10-12 |
90 sec |
|||
|
Standing Low Cable Row |
3 |
12-15 |
0 sec |
|||
|
High-to-Low Cable Crossover |
3 |
12-15 |
90 sec |
|||
|
Rope Hammer Curls |
3 |
10-12 |
0 sec |
|||
|
Overhead Rope Extensions |
3 |
10-12 |
60 sec |
*Begin with hands pronated and as you press the weights up rotate your hands inward so that at the top of the rep, palms are facing each other. When lowering the weights, reverse the motion.
Tuesday - Lower Body A
|
Exercise |
Sets |
Reps |
Rest |
|
|
Barbell Back Squat |
5 |
10 |
120 sec |
|
|
Leg Press |
4 |
8-10 |
90 sec |
|
|
Leg Extension |
3 |
12-15 |
0 sec |
|
|
Leg Curls |
3 |
12-15 |
90 sec |
|
|
Standing Smith Machine Calf Raises |
3 |
15-20 |
60 sec |
|
|
Hanging Leg Raises |
3 |
AMRAP* |
90 sec |
Wednesday - Kettlebell Conditioning Circuit
Grab a kettlebell (or dumbbell) and prepare to face a kettlebell complex like you’ve never attempted before.
This one is intense and will ignite your metabolic furnace for superior calorie burning and accelerated fat loss.
To perform the complex, perform each exercise for 5 reps all on one side, then perform all reps for each exercise on the other side.
After completing the circuit, rest 90 seconds before running the gauntlet another 3 times for a grand total of 4 complete rounds.
- 1 Arm KB Swings
- 1 Arm KB Clean
- Racked KB Reverse Lunge
Thursday - Upper Body B
|
Exercise |
Sets |
Reps |
Rest |
|||
|
Weighted Pull Ups |
3 |
8-10 |
0 sec |
|||
|
Standing Military Press |
3 |
8-10 |
90 sec |
|||
|
Bodyweight Chin Ups |
3 |
AMRAP* |
0 sec |
|||
|
Seated Alternating Arnold Press |
3 |
10-12 |
90 sec |
|||
|
Seated Lat Pulldowns |
3 |
10-12 |
0 sec |
|||
|
Cable Lateral Raise |
3 |
12-15 |
90 sec |
|||
|
EZ Bar Curls |
3 |
8-12 |
0 sec |
|||
|
EZ Bar Skullcrushers |
3 |
8-12 |
60 sec |
*AMRAP = As Many Reps As Possible
Friday - Lower Body B
|
Exercise |
Sets |
Reps |
Rest |
|||
|
Trap Bar Deadlift |
4 |
6-8 |
120 sec |
|||
|
Deficit Reverse Lunge |
3 |
10 / leg |
60 sec |
|||
|
Romanian Deadlift |
3 |
10-12 |
90 sec |
|||
|
Bodyweight Alternating Step Ups |
3 |
20 / leg |
0 sec |
|||
|
Seated Calf Raises |
3 |
10-15 |
60 sec |
|||
|
Mountain Climbers |
3 |
15 / leg |
60 sec |
Saturday - Bodyweight HIIT Workout
For your Saturday bodyweight high-intensity interval training (HIIT) session, perform the exercise as one continuous circuit moving from one exercise to the next with as little rest between moves as possible. After completing each round, rest for 60-90 seconds, and then get back to work!
Perform each exercise for 30 seconds. Complete the circuit a total of 4 times:
- Jump Squats
- Chin Ups
- Military Push Ups
- Alternating Lunges
- Bodyweight Rows
- Burpees
