Hey guys,

That’s a wrap on Bootcamp Effect Biggest Winner Season 5!

I would like to thank all who participated. I appreciate your passion and commitment to your weight loss goals and am always so excited when I see your results!

12 weeks is a long time to stay committed. In my first email, I challenged all participants to come up with a reason WHY they wanted to lose weight. After all, everyone had a goal looking something like this… “I want to lose at least 10 percent of my bodyweight in 12 weeks.”

The thing is the goal is important, but it isn’t the most important part of a successful goal achieving mindset. It was YOUR REASON WHY which was your fire. It was YOUR WHY which would override those days when you didn’t feel like working out or making the better nutrition choice.

I invite you to revisit your REASON for wanting to lose weight. If you struggled in this challenge or didn’t meet your expectations, I challenge you once again to ask yourself WHY? For a deeper reason will become the foundation for maintaining your commitment long after the inspiration fades.

I hope the accountability meetings were informative and that you feel comfortable with healthy lifelong nutrition habits moving forward!

But knowing is just a small piece of the puzzle!…

Taking action or even imperfect action always trumps knowledge. Even the most imperfect of plans executed perfectly will trump the most perfect plan executed poorly. So keep moving. 80% of all success is just showing up!

We will be running another transformation contest in the first quarter of 2015 for those of you who know where you can make improvements, and for those of you who want to push your envelope even further!

We set this season up to challenge you (more than any other season). We ran it through 3 holidays! (If you count Halloween). That’s 3 times where you were going to face adversity and tough decisions in every direction.

The thing here now is to just KEEP MOVING forward. Don’t rest on your success. Don’t rest on your defeat. We know we will all fail from time to time, but the thing is to not let these small slip ups destroy us. A 12 week weight loss challenge is a short term solution to a long term issue. When those habits get ingrained, that why gets fortified, and that switch gets flipped, your mindset, your nutrition, everything firing on all cylinders… you have a long term solution.

And as always, whether it be for 12 weeks or the rest of your life…

YOUR RESULTS ARE AN OUTCOME OF YOUR ACTIONS.

Here are the top 3 results for women and men in The Bootcamp Effect’s Biggest Winner Season 5 according to percentage of initial bodyweight lost.

Women:

Emily – 11.7%

And here’s a few words from Emily:
“12 weeks ago I signed up for The Biggest Winner challenge. I had been coming to bootcamp at that point for about 4 months. I was stronger and fitter for sure but I hadn’t seen any movement on the scale. Once I started the challenge my mindset changed and I started looking at food differently. In our meetings Josh would give us nutritional info and inspiration to keep going. The one thing that really stuck for me, the thing I thought about everyday was about instant gratification. Sure if I eat that cookie right now I would probably really really enjoy it, but wouldn’t I enjoy the gratification of reaching my weight loss goal so much more?
Something else that really worked for me was to schedule my workouts on Sunday. Yes I am a total nerd and kept a binder for the challenge. I would look at my work schedule and then decide where I could fit workouts in and write them on my calendar. I couldn’t stand the thought of crossing them off because I just didn’t feel like going so it helped me stick to the schedule.
I couldn’t have finished this challenge without my new friends and the trainers at the Bootcamp Effect. Yes I am the one who did the hard work, turned down the baked goods, refrained from eating chocolate santas for breakfast because there are no rules at Christmas and stuck to water at many holiday parties. But without the texts, emails and Facebook messages, the words of encouragement or Laurie adding extra weight when I wasn’t looking I wouldn’t have finished let alone won. So thanks everyone! I’m already looking forward to losing my next 10 percent!”

Cathy – 11.6%……………………………… Matching her first bootcamp challenge!

And here’s a few words from Cathy:
“Well, this third Biggest Winner contest is over for me. Since September 2013, when I first walked into The Bootcamp Effect, I have lost a total of 53 pounds. This past round I was able to lose another 20.2 pounds! I find this crazy amazing for myself. Joining The Bootcamp Effect was one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life. I am a changed woman. I have made sustainable changes for life. This makes me even more proud of the results from this round. I knew I had to push myself even further because I had less to lose than the first and second rounds of The Biggest Winner. I gave these past twelve weeks my very best, and that included being accountable to myself, and to work on some strategies for myself. I have been working on progress, and not perfection.

This round of The Biggest Winner I created a plan on paper for myself and I stuck to it. I have post it notes with reminders, I constantly walk around with my “WHY” in my head. I think of it when I feel like giving up. The key is never to give up. The key is to keep on GOING!

The three parts of my plan were EATING RIGHT, EXERCISE & MENTAL.

Eating Right: The eating plan you suggested for me (and for many others — the 18 day plan) was the start of something awesome for me. It was simple, and it worked. It took any guesswork out of what I needed to do.

Exercising: Exercising was the second part that was 6x per week at bootcamp. I upped my weights; I lifted as heavy as I possibly could. I tried to do all the “befit” things on the board. I rode the bike after some workouts. I did a lot more of just MOVING my body. Going for a few small runs here and there. Walking when I can. Just trying to be more active all the time.

Mental: I knew this contest would go through many eating type events as the contest ended two days after Christmas. The events I would have to work through were my birthday, Thanksgiving, more birthdays and of course the big one, Christmas. Christmas was the hardest for me. Typically a time when you can “let go and enjoy” but this Christmas it was all strategy. The Biggest Winner is challenging, and it is like when I ran my first marathon in May, and when giving birth. You put in all of this work, but when it comes down to it, the last push is where it counts. To finish strong. I kept telling myself, no problem. There will always be another holiday to have something extra etc. I told myself it is just one day. It is just one meal. Only six more hours etc. There will be other events. That really helped me. I also went for a run on Christmas day, when bootcamp was closed. It just cleared my head, and allowed me to keep working and thinking about my future goals. When a challenge ends, it is not over. There are always things I can be working on, and striving for.

Another huge part of my success was having my husband (Cliff) doing this challenge right along with me! To be able to go through the process together. He kept me going and encouraged me, when I felt weak. I did the very same for him. Team Empey all the way! I am super proud of Cliff.

Another wonderful part of these last twelve weeks of the challenge was cheering on my friends at bootcamp. It was so great! As I always joke, I pretty much live at bootcamp. Whether I am working in the child-minding, or whether I was working out. I love saying hi to everybody who walks into bootcamp, and to cheer on my friends. (Like my family!!) This was actually what pushed me harder!! All the high fives, and cheering each other on. The best feeling for me! Their positive energy would give me energy! A fun side note: When I am working in the child-minding, it is like a sort of “confessional booth” ha ha. Sometimes it is a hello, a high five or a hug. Shared recipes. Whatever is needed at the time. I loved being a support to those who needed it. 🙂

As for 2015, a brand new year ahead I will be putting my focus in on performance goals and getting stronger. Not so much the scale.

Congratulations to all who made their 10% and to those who won. It was so close!! Like the compound effect Josh (you) talk about. The small things add up, to the big things. They all make a difference. Truly they do. Thank you.”

Kathy – 11.1%

Men:

Troy – 14.3%

Here’s a few words from Troy:
“I remember my wife and I returning from a family vacation from Mexico in March 2014 and feeling like it was time to get back in shape. There was just too much food, drinks and lying by the pool getting more out of shape and feeling guilty about it. After years of prioritizing our young family, careers and embracing a sedentary lifestyle, the effects started to become overwhelming.

When I attended the first boot camp class, I remembered thinking this was crazy. I have not been active for the last 6 years due to marriage and having a young family. To say that I found it challenging was a huge understatement. I can remember it like it was yesterday, the warm up literally wiped me out. That said, I immediately made friends with some of the people there and will never forget when Maxine complimented me after I felt I did a horrible job keeping up with the class. Other members would say just keep it up and it will get easier. I thought to myself these guys are nuts… but nevertheless I did keep it up. Another memory I had was when I first started to choose weights for renegade rows and looked beside me and saw Karen (the trainer) lifting more than me. LOL. For a guy, there are few words to describe that feeling. In short I can say I did not feel like I could conquer the world at all, but I did keep going. After a few months in and still pushing just to keep up or finish a circuit I remember Josh telling my (while I was keeled over hands on knees gasping that I should choose if I want results or excuses). I remember being challenged but never feeling like I had to prove anything to anyone but myself.

6 months passed I consistently attended 3 or 4 times per week. I gained significant core strength and lost 25lbs overall. This was a great feeling and my energy levels were higher than ever. Josh spoke to me and said that I should join the biggest winner contest, I remembered feeling instantly hesitant. After thinking it over I committed to the challenge. I am a competitive guy so once I committed, I was all in. I remember telling my wife that if I could lose just 10% of my weight I would be more than happy. The biggest point of contention for me was giving up all of the foods I was used to. But, if you are committing to something then you better put 2 feet in. I remember mentoring a University class and telling them that their biggest limiting factor is their own mind. How could I commit to making better lifestyle choices without committing to making the changes necessary to achieve them. In a business book I recently read an acronym was used. It was “KFC”, not the fried chicken place. It stood for “know what you want to achieve, find out what you need to change to get there, and change what you need to in order to achieve it”. Simply said, you need to be fully committed to reach your potential and you are the only one who limits that potential.
I changed what I ate completely, cut out all empty calories, tripled my lean proteins and halved my carbs while maintaining a balanced diet. I did not eat anything from a can, box or package and stuck to real whole food that were alive, tons of greens and fresh lean proteins. Honestly, I did not have to limit what I ate because I started coming 5 days a week at 6am. Also I drank 4 liters of water a day. I think my body went into shock because the weight started to fly off faster then I put it all on. My energy levels have not been this high since I was 20 years old and in top physical shape from martial arts. I have made some awesome friends at the Bootcamp Effect and am committed to pay this forward.
If you feel like you are ready for a positive change and want to commit, I implore you to do so. When you do it make sure you define your “why” and make sure that it pulls at your heart strings because change is hard at first, but once you are in, make sure you are all in. Please feel free to ask me about the journey of losing my weight because if I could do it so can you. In total I have lost 65 lbs over the last 9 months and want to thank the Bootcamp team and all my friends for the support and encouragement.
Look forward to seeing you at the next 6am class!”

Derek – 12.5%

Cliff – 11.8%

To find out more about The Bootcamp Effect and The Biggest Winner Challenge click on the link below:
www.thebootcampeffect.com/the-biggest-winner

Committed to your results,
Josh Saunders
The Bootcamp Effect