Hey Challenge Participants!!
First of all, a huge congratulations for participating and completing the 2016 Nutrition Challenge! It was more intense, longer lasting, and stricter than previous years and you all embraced the challenges of the last 8 weeks! Now that we’ve had some time to analyze all the results, we can say with confidence that this was our most effective challenge to date - more fat was lost, more lean mass was gained, more PR’s were obtained in the gym, and more (hopefully) permanent lifestyle changes were formed than ever before!
In your final pop quiz, we asked you guys to reflect on the challenge and tell us what your best experience was during the Challenge. The responses were overwhelmingly positive - we wanted to share some of what your community experienced throughout the last 8 weeks! The changes below are incredible! Please note how many of you guys correlated what you ate to how you felt/performed/recovered in the gym! Science works!
Best experience was with the other people doing the challenge. Either in person or on the Facebook page, the support was amazing and I like to think we all helped each other through it.
Best experience was having people in class mention that I looked like I had more meat on the bones along with hitting a number of new PR's during barbell club.
Losing the “Dad weight” that I had started thinking was just me now. I’m 39 and in the best shape of my life.
How I felt! The two main areas were, one, having more energy, especially in mid-afternoon not feeling tired. Two, performing better in workouts, in part due to good fuel in my system and more so do to a loss of weight. Being 8 to 10lbs lighter to perform T2B, Pull Ups, Squats, etc. helped me hit a number of PR’s.
The weigh-in was really eye-opening. Seeing the breakdown of lean muscle v. fat really helped me not dread the number on the scale, or put as much importance on it.
Best part: how I felt! In the WODs and in everyday life. Light, happy, energized, focused. I also didn't mind seeing the weight drop before my eyes and feeling my pants not fit anymore.
Last week, I put on a shirt that used to be tight and it was flowy and almost too big. THAT rules.
Best experience was just feeling better. I felt as though I was able to get through the workouts without taking long breaks, definitely felt like my cardiovascular endurance kicked up a notch during the challenge.
My favorite experience was the motivation/structure the challenge provided me. It forced me to stay focused on a goal and kept my eye on a 'prize' (Results!) It makes me proud to say I haven't weighed this little since high school!
Best experience has been seeing the #gainz during CrossFit. I feel strong and I'm able to lift more weight and do body weight movements faster. It's motivation to keep eating right.
The way that I felt throughout the challenge was definitely the best thing about this challenge. I PR'd six lifts during the challenge, and I was able to up my workouts to six days/week instead of four. My body just recovered SO much faster when I started rewarding it with post-workout protein and carbs. It really was unbelievable!!
Breaking habits with food and alcohol. Re-claiming my life. Sounds cliché but it is true. I lost weight. Fit into clothes I haven't worn in years!
Alright, now for the results!!!! As stated at the beginning of the challenge, the results were calculated to give us % of fat lost OR % of lean mass gained per person during the challenge.
COLLECTIVE RESULTS
We had 83 people sign up for the challenge. 59 of those people completed it by dunking the second time. Of those 59 who completed the challenge, 29 people are eligible for prizes as they turned in all scorecards as well as completed all 4 pop quizzes. Together as a group, we made some SIGNIFICANT changes to our body compositions!!
We lost #371 of fat!
We gained #47 of lean muscle!
96.7% of participants lost some amount of fat
68.3% of participants gained lean mass
66.7% of participants lost fat AND gained lean mass at the same time!
FAT LOSS CATEGORY
Male Winner
Chris Shier is our clear winner for this category! He went from 11.4% body fat in September to 7.0% body fat in November! Chris lost 9lbs of body fat, from an already lean frame!
Female Winner
Kristina Detwiler is our winner, for the second year in a row! She went from 21% body fat to 15% in the 8 weeks! Kristina lost 9.9lbs of fat! Congrats, lady!
Male Runner-Up
Congrats to Isaac Spinell! He went from 20.4% body fat to 15.6% in the 8 weeks! He lost 10.5lbs of body fat! Isaac joined Ballard CrossFit just 2 months before the challenge started, and has made huge strides in a short amount of time!
Female Runner-Up
Brianna Johnson is our runner up for most fat lost! She went from 22.5% body fat to 16%, and lost 10.7lbs of body fat!! Impressive work for this lady, starting the challenge just 4 weeks out from having a baby!
LEAN MASS GAINED CATEGORY
Male Winner
Garrett Butler is our winner for the most lean mass gained! He put on an additional 3.8lbs of muscle during the 8 weeks! Keep up the good work, Garrett!
Female Winner
Emma Butler is our clear winner for this category. She gained 7lbs of lean mass! Additionally, she lost 4lbs of fat! Nice work, Emma! (These two are doing something right in their home meal prep - husband and wife winners for mass gained! Love it!)
Male Runner-Up
Winning his second prize of the Nutrition Challenge, Chris Shier is our runner up! He put on 3.4lbs of lean mass (in addition to all the fat loss!)
Female Runner-Up
Brianna Johnson, again! The runner up in both categories! Impressively, she added 4.7lbs of lean mass!
BEFORE / AFTER CATEGORY
Winner
Larissa MacCartney is the winner for biggest visual change in before and after pics! Larissa lost 13.4lbs of fat and gained 2.4lbs of lean mass, and the changes to her body composition are dramatic!
Runner Up
Anne Kelso is our runner up for this category! She lost more fat than anyone in the gym (21.6lbs of fat!) and we can for sure see it in the pictures! Amazing work, Anne! Keep it up!