Congratulations on completing my 8-Week Fat-loss Figure Trainer! That’s a huge accomplishment. Today, I want you to do all of the things you typically do on your Rest and Reevaluate Days. Most of these can be done before you take photos or step on stage.

Make sure you don’t consume any sodium today—that could have a very dramatic impact on the way you look. Really read those food and supplement labels when you’re cutting sodium!

YOUR DAY 56 TO-DO LIST:

WEIGH YOURSELF: You need to do this right after you wake up—before you take in any fluids, protein, or food. The key is to see how much your weight has shifted since you began this program. At this point you’ll have a full picture of about how much weight you can expect to lose on an 8-week diet program like the one you just followed.

DRINK FLUID: Of course, you have been drinking plenty of water and Hydra-Charge throughout this program. But it’s especially important that you’re getting all the water you need. Today, you’ll just drink water, skipping the Hydra-Charge due to its electrolyte content.

TAKE PHOTOS: Even if you’re preparing for a photo shoot, I still want you to take photos of yourself. That’s because these will be a better comparison for future programs. These photos should be taken the same as you’ve done on each Rest and Reevaluate Day through my 8-Week Fat-loss Figure Trainer. That means wearing the same clothes, using the same photographer (even if that’s you). Shoot yourself from the same angles in the same place with the same lighting. And position your body as you did for your previous photos. Then you’ll take your “real” photos when those are scheduled. If that isn’t until tomorrow, then I want you to hold absolutely steady on your sodium reduction and water intake.

UPDATE YOUR JOURNAL: Make sure that you’ve recorded all of your workouts throughout all of this Trainer series. Also make certain that you’ve included all of the foods and supplements you’ve taken during the previous 8 weeks. This record is a huge benefit in helping you figure out if you have any weaknesses in the big picture while you were following my 8-Week Fat-loss Figure Trainer. You’re going to refer to this journal over and over the next time you follow this program or one like it.

CALIPERS TEST

I’d really like you to get this body-fat test from the same person who performed this (and through the same means) as you did before beginning this 8-Week Fat-loss Figure Trainer. You should see a significant difference in your body-fat level as compared to when you began. If the test doesn’t accurately reflect this, then judge your progress more by the way you appear in the mirror and how your clothes are fitting. Make sure you get this test before you consume your cheat meal today or tomorrow. In fact, you can get your calipers test after your contest or photo shoot. I think it’s just a great idea to see how much body fat you lost during this 8-week program. It’s the last piece of info that you’ll record in your journal.

CHEAT MEAL

Many people carb load before a competition or photo shoot. If you are familiar with carb loading and know how it affects your appearance then you can consider carb loading. However, if you have not tried carb loading before a contest or photo shoot before, then I recommend that you hold off on this.

That’s because it may cause you to “spill over,” which means that you’ll smooth out your muscles, blurring the details and separation you created in your muscles.

One thing you can do to experiment is to try carb loading AFTER you’re completely finished with your competition and photo shoots. You can take in about 100-150 grams of starchy carbs and see if you notice that you look fuller and more detailed, or if carb loading causes you to look a little puffier and obscures details. So, as soon as you finish with this process, you can use this opportunity to see how this technique works for you.

Finally, you won’t eat a “cheat” meal before your contest or photos today. You’ll save that for after the very end of the process, and you’ll keep that cheat meal to the same parameters as before: 4-5 calories per pound of bodyweight for that one meal. I don’t want you to pig out.

REST ACTIVITY

Today, you can do what you need to do in terms of a rest activity. That may simply be posing on stage or for your photos. Remember that posing is hard work! You really need to work your muscles for isometric (stationary) contractions that show your physique off to its best advantage.

MOVING FORWARD

Now that you’ve completed my 8-Week Fat-loss Figure Trainer you have several options to consider for what you should do next. Here are a few:

1) Continue the program. If you’re happy with your results, but you feel as though you could make even more progress with another couple weeks on my program, then you can simply continue the program. You can use the Phase One or the Phase Two workouts, whichever you think will work best for you at this point. I wouldn’t go any longer than 12 weeks, though. I think that’s about the longest you should stay on a calorie-restricted program before switching to another style of program.

2) End the program and go through a recovery phase. After an intense diet and training phase, it’s a good idea to give your body a break. You can end the program, and take a week or two off from weight training. You can still continue to perform cardio. And, in fact, you can include other types of cardio such as high-intensity interval training (HIIT) or additional steady-state cardio as you integrate back to your maintenance nutrition program.

As you transition back to your typical eating patterns, it’s a good idea to re-integrate sodium fairly slowly. You don’t want to bloat or have your skin feel stretched—this can actually be quite uncomfortable, and it’s also a little depressing after all the hard work you’ve put in. My recommendation is to bump sodium intake by only about 500 mg every other day until you return to your normal sodium intake, which should be somewhere in the range of about 2000-2500mg per day. So, take about a week to return to your typical healthy sodium-intake levels.

3) Take stock and decide what program you want to do next. You can follow another one of the Kaged Muscle programs to support adding muscle. You can also train for another type of event such as a marathon or triathlon. Really, there are many options out there. You can also switch to training with a more CrossFit-style workout.

CONGRATULATE YOURSELF!

And don’t forget that what you’ve just accomplished is amazing! You’ve not only reduced body fat, but you’ve done so in a very healthy way. This required a huge amount of dedication and discipline.

I’d love to see your results. You should post your pictures to social media and tag me, letting me know how the program worked for you!