Summary: Today we have an interview with Michelle Acorn. Michelle placed sixth in the latest Venus Index Transformation Contest. Check out her pictures: Michelle Was Ready to Give Up The Venus Index system was completely new approach to her and a pretty shocking workout style. She never tried anything like it, the workouts were challenging and the diet simple, completely contrary to what she did in the past. Michelle worked out in the past, but it wasn't a priority. And from a fat loss stand point, she never dieted in her life, always just looking for better and faster way to lose weight. She never found a good plan and never stuck to any program. Well at least until her co-worker sent her an email with a link to a previous VI contest. Looking at the girls' transformations was a huge wake up call for her. While she'd lost a few pounds in the past, it always got to a point where she stopped. She was giving up, so the Venus Index came exactly at a right time. Michelle decided to enter the contest, she saw it as a way to stay motivated and have some accountability. Once she checked the program and saw the rest of the amazing transformations, she bought it and started right away. And after a few weeks of training she added Eat Stop Eat fasts and started paying more attention to her diet as well. It's All about Calories Fasting helped her understand that in order to lose weight meal timing or food choices didn't matter, it's all about calories in and out. At first fasting scared her, her mind was playing with her and trying to convince her that it's not a good idea, however she gave it a shot and to her surprise discovered that she felt fine and didn't crave any food during the fast itself. It took her as little as three fasts to get used to them. After that she practiced intermittent fasting once a week and on the non-fasting days decided to shoot for 700-1000 calories a day. This worked really well for her. Fat loss is really just a matter of eating under your energy expenditure. The mix of food and the choices are entirely up to you and your own preferences and lifestyle. Sure it's probably not a good idea to eat only pizza, because you would probably not enjoy having just a few slices for the whole day, however you can still have some tasty snacks. For example Michelle was snacking on her kids' 100 calorie snacks, she just kept the amount low. At the end of the contest she stopped fasting and upped her calories a bit. This is the theory behind the Transformation Diet. Here is the thing, most people start dieting slowly, and cut their calories even more when they are closer to contest shape. However, this often times leads to a lack of energy, tiredness, moodiness and all sorts of other unwanted effects. your body can handle a limited amount of systemic stress before you push it over the edge. And this is exactly what most people experience before the end of the contest, and that can lead to a rebound. Believe it or not many fitness models gain as much as 30 pounds right after their contest. What's the point of that? Having a great body for two weeks while feeling like crap to get it? And then immediately rebounding and being out of shape for the rest of the year? No, thanks. There is a better way. The way that Michelle has done it and how the Transformation Diet is designed. Diet the right way from the beginning and quickly get to your ideal bodyweight, once you are there, increase your calories intake to maintenance or BMR and have energy for the final weeks as you become leaner and leaner. This will also prevent you from rebounding afterwards. Workouts Must Be Challenging Michelle did the VI workouts phase one and was pretty sore in the beginning, but after a few sessions she could handle the workouts pretty well. And that's just how it works. If you are not used to a well-designed workout, the first few weeks might be pretty challenging,
