This past weekend marked the finale of BEFIT’s 12th instalment of the 12 week weight loss challenge known as The Biggest Winner.
And with this challenge, we stressed mindset. BECAUSE mindset is everything. It is the base of your fitness and precludes everything else…
Because when you put everything under your control and put everything on YOUR shoulders at all times, the responsibility never shifts. This is what it takes to build a high degree of fitness, weight loss results and it is something that is not for the faint of heart.
If you don’t have a strong positive mindset how can you overcome challenges with nutrition and exercise?
We made a point to touch base with the participants and helped set up an action plan that worked best for their life.
Here is how they did:
Total participants – 43
Total weight lost – 419.5lbs
Average weight lost per participant – 9.8lbs/person
Average weight lost per week – .82lbs/person (which I think is a really healthy number!)
Average attendance per week – 3.8 workouts/week
AND HERE ARE OUR BIGGEST WINNERS!
I asked Heather to provide a few words to help others in their weight loss pursuits. Here is what she had to say:
“I have been a BEFIT member for 9 months now. I have been amazed by how great these workouts are each month. The support and encouragement from the trainers are like nowhere else. I am also blown away by the amazing members and how encouraging everyone has been. When I signed up for this challenge I really looked at it as an opportunity to invest 12 weeks in myself. I kept my diet low carb, low sugar, high protein and greens. I also made sure to get my daily water intake. If I was hungry for snacks I kept it to something protein based. In the beginning of the challenge I found my fitness pal app helpful to stay on track. Basically, I applied all the knowledge that was provided in Josh’s posts and kept it consistent. I was amazed at each weigh in to see the scale drop because after a few weeks of consistency I didn’t have to think about it anymore. I am so excited to continue this fitness journey. Thank you BEFIT!”
I asked Nathan to provide a few words to help others in their weight loss pursuits. Here is what he had to say:
“Whatever you’ve read about Josh and the crew at BEFIT is absolutely true! If you want to work out with a great group of people and excellent trainers (who all know your name!) to accomplish things you never thought possible, this is the place to go. I love how passionate Josh is about the gym and the members and how willing he and the team are to support people at all levels of fitness. The recent Biggest Winner challenge was a great opportunity for me to assess how I was doing in terms of my commitment and nutrition. After seeing my wife Kelly achieve amazing results this year I accepted Josh’s challenge to take more control over what I was doing…and I am thrilled with the results. Thanks again to all the trainers and other members who provided much-needed inspiration (especially Ian T, who always shows up and puts in the work, and Mike C, who brings a great attitude every single day!).”
And here’s some other great weight loss efforts:
Here is the attendance for the 17 people above and how many times they were in the gym out of a possible 72 workouts:
Heather did 61 workouts (average of 5.1 workouts/week).
Nathan did 50 workouts (average of 4.2 workouts/week).
Laura did 61 workouts (average of 5.1 workouts/week).
Kate did 55 workouts (average of 4.6 workouts/week).
Melanie did 74 workouts (average of 6.2 workouts/week).
Suzanne did 69 workouts (average of 5.8 workouts/week).
Kelly did 57 workouts (average of 4.8 workouts/week).
Mike did 65 workouts (average of 5.4 workouts/week).
Christine did 68 workouts (average of 5.7 workouts/week).
Keith did 55 workouts (average of 4.6 workouts/week).
Maxine did 69 workouts (average of 5.8 workouts/week).
Corrine did 46 workouts (average of 3.8 workouts/week).
Joel did 32 workouts (average of 2.7 workouts/week).
Gurpinder did 62 workouts (average of 5.2 workouts/week).
Julie did 67 workouts (average of 5.7 workouts/week).
Shandy did 54 workouts (average of 4.5 workouts/week).
Vicky did 66 workouts (average of 5.5 workouts/week).
Overall, you’ll see the majority of people above exercised over 4 workouts/week. There was only 2 people that didn’t in that list above! Everyone has busy lives… Shit happens… People move… Work commitments… Vacations… The above people showcased how to live life while moving the needle forward in their weight loss goals.
When you combine consistency in the gym with consistency in the kitchen. You can achieve great things.
So after 12 weeks of healthy eating… what’s next?
Here’s my sugggestion…
KEEP EATING WITH HEALTHY HABITS.
The net effect is you have a lower metabolism which will make it harder for you to lose weight in the future.
This is the crux of yo-yo dieting and is why people struggle to lose weight with long term adherence. They do a diet for 12 weeks, then go back to their old ways or adhere less to the guidelines of that diet or lifestyle…
Moving forward, your priority should be to elevate your metabolism!
HOW TO DO THIS:
- You increase healthy food intake in a controlled manner to increase your metabolism without gaining excess body fat.
- This process helps counter all the negative things that start happening after reducing your calories for an extended period of time.
- So after eating less calories for these past 12 weeks, I recommend to increase your carbs and fat by 10% (which is not that much and best measured instead of eyeballed).
- From there, you will course correct based on results. It would be best to take pictures, weight and do measurements of yourself every 2 weeks to really get an idea of what is going on…
Based on the feedback of your pictures, weight, and measurements you would do the following after 2 weeks:
– If you’re down weight, measurements show dropped inches, and you’re looking leaner in your pictures, increase your carbs again by another 5-10% (YOU ARE NOT LOOKING TO LOSE WEIGHT RIGHT NOW – YOU ARE SETTING YOURSELF UP FOR LONG TERM SUCCESS)
– If you’ve maintained and are looking the same (weight, measurements, picture), then increase carbs and fat by 5% (YOU ARE NOT LOOKING TO LOSE WEIGHT RIGHT NOW – YOU ARE SETTING YOURSELF UP FOR LONG TERM SUCCESS)
– If your weight and measurements have gone up and the pictures show you’re carrying more fat, keep the numbers the same (so that your body can stabilize with that amount of food).
After this assessment keep going for another 2 weeks before checking in again.
Stick to the changes, be diligent (food journal works for this) and be consistent as you assess and correct.
And remember, this is increasing carbs and fat from healthy choices. Not junk food. It’s increasing the 90% of good food that you eat on a regular basis. Not the 10% of unhealthy food.
So why just the small increases?
Because if you eat more than that, your body wont know what to do with the extra calories and you will put it on as fat and gain the weight back.
5-10% is such a small increase that this will begin the process of rebuilding your metabolism.
If you build your metabolism back slowly, you will keep most of the weight off, be able to eat more, and bring your metabolism back to normal or even faster than it was when you first started your weight loss journey.
A good rule of thumb is if you “dieted” or excessively restricted your calories for 12 weeks, you will have to build your metabolism up for at least 12 weeks. Even better, you can continue to do this for as long as you want.
Wouldn’t it be great to maintain your bodyweight on 3000 calories a day? Imagine when you go to lose weight a year from now how fast the weight will come off!
As you are tracking every 2 weeks with pictures, measurements, and weight, you will be able to adjust bi-weekly without gaining too much weight and letting things get out of control.
As I said at the beginning of this post. It all starts with mindset, and it’s all under your control.
Utilize the mindset and discipline you practiced the last 3 months as a platform to deliver permanent results long term.
And as always talk to us if you need anything!
Committed to your success,
Josh Saunders
BEFIT
