Alisa Tetrault began her fitness transformation in April 2015 at 200 pounds. A new mother, she wanted to lose her pregnancy weight and get in better shape so she could keep up with the energy of her daughter.
Over the following 6 months, she told her trainer, Jim Stoppani that her results were “more phenomenal than I could have imagined.” Initially using his “Shortcut To Size” program, she continued to use his products to press on with her weight loss journey.
In total, Alisa lost 42 pounds and 23 inches from around her body in those 6 months, a remarkable transformation! She now has a flat, ripped stomach and a completely new outlook on fitness and her life.
Be Sure To Follow Alisa On Her Instagram Here: @asila.f
Alisa was asked to list her keys to weight loss success and the steps she took to complete her amazing transformation. A brilliant list and must read for anyone looking to lose weight.
Alisa Tetrault’s 9 Secrets For Weight Loss Success
“Here, I’ll explain the nine keys that were essential to my successful journey from an uninformed fitness newbie to an informed fitness addict:”
1. Progress Tracking
Alisa only took one photo from the very start of her journey. If she could do things again, she would have taken photos from every angle in a bikini. While this is the hardest point to take photos, it is also the time when you wish you had taken more so you can look back and see how far you’ve come.
“About two weeks later and 10 pounds down, I excitedly took my first set of forward and rear facing photos in a mirror (don’t forget to turn sideways, I wish I had some of these too!). Little did I know, those photos would become my foundation for fighting off my own negativity for months to come. Anytime I felt like I wasn’t progressing, I’d snap a new set of photos and make a side-by-side to compare. This method would quickly remind me of how much my hard work was paying off.”
She also advises to take your measurements all over your body, waist, hips, chest, legs, arms etc. As these can be a better indicator of how you are really doing than the numbers on the scale.
“Remember that muscle is much more dense than fat. If you’re new to a lifting regimen, you’re likely gaining weight in the form of muscle. That’s what makes the scale unreliable. It can be discouraging to see that number when you’re making good movement toward your goals otherwise.”
2. Setting Realistic Goals
Alisa believes it’s important to understand the difference between your short and long term goals. Set one long term goal that you hope to accomplish one day in the future, but then focus on shorter term goals that you can complete in the coming days or weeks.
“Instead, try making a list of say, five things. Set smaller goals that you can easily reach in a one-month time frame. Focus on those goals and use the happiness you feel from accomplishing them to fuel your momentum into your next set of short-term goals. This method of thinking helped make my journey move along much faster on a mental level. It also helped me stay persistent and focused. Instead of thinking, “I’m only 1/20th of the way to my ultimate goal,” I thought, “Wow, I just accomplished one of my goals! I’m ready to get the next one under my belt too!” Then, 20 small goals later, you’ll be close to your ultimate goal and wondering how time flew by so quickly.”
3. Understanding The Difference Between A Diet And Lifestyle Change
Knowing the difference between a fad diet that you only want to do to lose a certain number of pounds will never work for the long term. It’s important to understand that to achieve the body that you want, you have to make changes in every aspect of your life and change how you approach dieting as a whole.
“I’m sure you’re not reading this because you want to lose 20 pounds then, fall off the wagon and gain back 30 pounds. I’m sure you’re not reading this because you never want to consume another carbohydrate or enjoy another home-cooked meal. That’s the difference in dieting and lifestyle changing. I cannot stress this enough. Make sure that your mind is in the right place and that you have a realistic approach, otherwise you’ll fail.”
Which is why Alisa gained such success through Jim Stoppani’s plans and his philosophy on a healthy approach to dieting.
“This is why I really fell in love with Dr. Stoppani’s nutritional logic. It’s impossible to go without your favorite things for the rest of your life. At least for me, it was unimaginable. I love food. Completely eliminating everything I love wasn’t a logical solution for me. The solution I needed was a crash-course in moderation. Don’t beat yourself up for being human. There has to be balance when you’re making a big commitment to change your life.”
4. Easing Into Nutrition
Starting off, it’s okay not to know everything. If you ease into healthy eating, you will make changes that will suit you for the long term and it will make the process so much easier.
“I cleaned up my diet. Day by day, I eliminated things until I felt I could go no further without learning more. It was a slow process, but I was trying. Take it slow and put forth your best effort and you’ll see results.”
After you get the basics right, you can start to learn more. Alisa started studying what it meant to eat healthy and learned more about all aspects of nutrition.
“From there, I got a notebook and I went through Dieting 101. I went back and forth. I skimmed. I studied. I wrote and wrote and scribbled until, finally, it started to make sense. Then, I read my notes over and over until it made more sense. The best way I can explain how learning nutrition felt to me would be to say it reminds me of learning a foreign language. The more I practiced, the more it began flowing through my mind fluently. Things I couldn’t grasp before started falling into place.”
5. Tweaking And Modifying Your Workouts
At the start, finding a workout can be daunting. There are so many options, different intensities, different lengths, different exercises, it can be almost impossible to find one that’s perfect for you, which is why Alisa recommends to tailor your workouts to your own preferences.
“At times, the training programs I was following would be too intense or difficult for me. I made many modifications along the way to make sure I’d be able to complete my daily workout. One of the modifications that I specifically remember having to do quite frequently was adjusting the cardioacceleration period between sets. I would go as long as I possibly could, and then use the remainder of the time to recover.”
If she couldn’t complete any more cardio after an intense workout, she would do whatever she could to keep her body moving. For her, it was important just to keep calories burning, even if it meant doing the smallest movements possible.
“Instead, I would do small motions just to stay moving. Things like walking in place, tiny bunny hops or slow butt kicks were my go-to exercises for these times.”
6. Improvising On The Fly
No gym, no excuse. Alisa only went to the gym once along her fitness journey, instead opting to workout at home and improvise if she didn’t have the equipment to complete the exercises.
“I train in my yard with minimum equipment. I’ve only been to a gym one time during my fitness journey. There were many exercises (sometimes over half of a workout) that I didn’t have the equipment to properly perform. Don’t be a victim of circumstance. Look up alternatives that target the same muscle(s) in a similar way and roll with it. Maybe your results won’t be as good, but I can promise you one thing: Your improvised version will yield a better result than doing nothing at all!”
7. Write Everything Down
Taking notes throughout your journey is a brilliant way to track your progress. You can look back on how far you’ve come and you can make decisions based on the stats that you have collected.
“When starting my fitness journey, I made a habit of physically writing everything down – what I ate, how much I lifted, how long my rest periods were, what type of cardioacceleration I did, etc.”
“I’m thankful that I invested my time into this habit because now I can look back through old journals and see exactly how I’ve improved in numerous ways. My diet, my strength and my cardiovascular conditioning data are all at the flip of a page. It’s fun and interesting to look back and see exactly how far you’ve come in more ways than just aesthetics.”
8. Start A Motivation Board
Find a way to keep your goals, both short term and long term in your mind. Preferably in a place you can see it everyday so you can continually stay motivated along your weight loss journey.
“Something that really helped me as I progressed further into my journey was making a “motivation board.” I bought a magnetic dry-erase board and hung it next to my refrigerator. Here, I would write my daily meal plans and my short-term goals. I used magnets to hang my beginning progress photos to remind me where I came from. I also wrote a motivational quote on it to remind me of why I was on my journey. With this method, my goals and plans were staring me in the face every time I walked in the kitchen. Nutrition was my hardest dirty corner to clean, so this really helped keep me accountable and on track in the kitchen.”
9. Find Your My Own Answers
Rather than waiting for someone to change your life, it’s important for you to take control. If you succeed, you succeed. If you fail, you can make your own changes again, with the knowledge of what went wrong last time. Making your own decisions is an important step, as it helps you stay on track for the long term.
“I’m an independent person. I don’t like help unless I have no other option. I found that by taking the initiative to try to find my own answers, I was retaining extra information. By being too prideful to accept fast answers, I found myself up to my head in articles for hours at a time. Although sometimes it took me hours to find the answer I was seeking, all of the outside information eventually started looping together. The extra knowledge I was gaining helped me understand other topics.”
“Take advantage of what rewards you’ll get from investing a little of your own time. If all else fails, there’s always someone to ask. That’s something I love about this brand.”