Week 7 Recap

The holidays are over, and the Largest Loser contestants are back to the program in full swing. Despite food-intensive holiday celebrations, coupled with no weigh-in accountability last week , each team can proudly say that they continued to lose weight. For Week 7, the blue team topped the weight loss percentage at 1.2%, followed by the green team at 1.1%, the yellow/shadow team was down this week 0.7%, the red team down 0.58% and orange/warrior team down 0.57%. Congratulations on self-monitoring, despite not having official workouts and lectures last weekend. You were given some "real world" experience in making sound choices.

This week, the Losers came back to an adrenaline-infused Sunday as they prepared for their very own "Tough Mudder" challenge! First, they had their nutritional lecture with ACE Certified Health Coach Pam Hutchinson. New Loser contestants and returning Loser contestants discussed personal challenges and how to overcome them. One new contestant mentioned that setting high expectations at the beginning of the  program added stress in achieving her goals. Social situations and breaks in routine are also setups for added challenges. Pam provided some great suggestions, such as reading the book "I Deserve This Chocolate" and remembering three things: refocus, recommit, and reconnect.

After the lecture, all teams except for the non-competing Shadow Team  met outside for the  long-awaited, Tough Mudder style challenge. Each team had to successfully  hurdle obstacles on a hill, roll tree stumps, push small tires individually and then carry a massive tire collectively. The mighty blue team prevailed, completing their mission in a lightning-quick ten minutes!

Great job to everybody who gave it their all in this season's final fitness competition!

Green Team 

After two weeks of holiday and gym closings, the Green Machine still managed a close second in the rankings.

While we all struggled to eat clean, through the Passover and Easter menus, we all still managed to lose, or stay steady.

For many of us, this holiday brought a new way of thinking through traditional meals: exchanging some items healthier choices or simply making smaller portions of the favorites.

We were each very successful in overcoming the challenges brought by two weeks of no structure.

Biggest challenges involved chocolate and passover wine...

For the upcoming week, we will keep moving forward, with the final goal in sight. We'll log our food, get our 10,000 steps in and stay the course.

Eat clean, be lean, GO GREEN!! 

Yellow Team

Shadow Team - Week of April 20th.

A sense of realism took the spotlight the night of April 23rd as several of us realized that the goals we set in early March were not going to be realized.   A group discussion provided support for each other and reinforced that these two months were just the beginning of a journey toward better health, both physically and mentally.  Implementing even half of what we have been introduced to from the trainers and lectures will not only provide us with more energy but better overall health. 

With age everything becomes more difficult, especially losing weight.  Infirmities inhibit certain movement and it's incumbent upon us to find ways around those limitations.  The payoff is a longer healthier life! 

The evening was punctuated with the following quote:  "I wish I could love it, but I hate every minute"!

Orange Team

Our final week and a bit of a rough weigh in for our team. As we discussed on Sunday, the holidays, stress and a break in our routine caused some of us have a lapse. However, we are following Pam's three Rs and we are back on track. 
A big shout out to our most consistent "losers"- Dawn and Erica. They have each lost about 30 pounds and look amazing! 
As part of our final blog, we would like to thank everyone who makes this program possible, Susan, all of the trainers and all of our guest speakers. The past ten weeks prepared us for the journey we are about to continue on our own, either to continue losing or maintaining a healthy weight. We appreciate all that you do! Thank you to all involved at the JCC Fitness Center. Good luck to everyone in this final week.