2016 Nutrition Challenge Wrap-up + Winners!!

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!  

What Makes a Successful Athlete?

Are you a successful athlete? What makes a successful athlete?

1.  A successful athlete is Coachable.

Coachable athletes are humble.  They’re willing and eager to receive feedback. They know that they have more to learn and they know that they need guidance along the way.  They trust that their Coach has their best interests at heart and they listen closely to feedback on ways in which they could be performing better in the gym.

As athletes, we’re always growing, always pushing, always looking to improve and be more efficient.  Coachable athletes get this and it makes them better athletes.  They are constantly learning and gaining new information, and then they employ that information in their training.

As athletes, we are the sum total of the coaching we’ve received. We each have a team of people behind us that have contributed to our athletic career. Coachable athletes recognize the care and investment that they’ve received, and they look to grow that investment all the time.

On the flipside, proud athletes often make little progress. They don’t think they need coaching which results in blindspots in their training. And, inevitably, they get stuck.

2.  A successful athlete is Driven.

Driven athletes constantly want more.  They want more knowledge, more time in the gym, more opportunities, more personal records, more.  They recognize that these gains take hard work and they discipline themselves to the task.

As athletes, we’re inspired by other athletes that are driven.  We love to see an athlete dedicate themselves to improving.  And, when they reach their goal, we eat it up!  We love to see hard work paying off.

Driven athletes have purpose every time they step foot in the gym.  They often take detailed notes as to what they’re doing and how it compares to what they’ve done in the past.  They test, retest, succeed, fail - and learn from their failures.  They set tangible goals and they dream big. They are often thinking in the midst of even the hardest of WODs. “What was my goal here?  Can I do more?  Can I hang on for a few more reps? Can I make this movement more efficient somehow?  What other experiences have I had in workouts that can help me here?”

Driven athletes inspire us!  Driven athletes make other athletes better.  Other athletes learn from their dedication and look to imitate their successes.  Driven athletes breed driven athletes.

3.  A successful athlete is Encouraging.

Successful athletes appreciate others.  They recognize that the community they enjoy is built on caring for and supporting others. They recognize that the support and encouragement they’ve received is fundamental to their success - and they look to give that same support and encouragement to others.

The success of CrossFit is rooted in our ability to be a community of people that cares for each other.  Encouragement is infectious.  When we receive it, we immediately desire to give it.  When we recognize how important the support and investment of others has been to us athletes, we long to pass that on!

We remember those people that gave us encouragement when we felt like giving up.  We remember those times when someone followed up with us, kept us accountable, sent us an atta-boy/girl.  Those little moments of encouragement and support got us through tough WODs, self-doubt, laziness, etc. They made us feel like we belong.  They made the gym feel like a second home.

When we stop to think about the people that are in our corner, we appreciate the value of looking to pour into the lives of others.  Encouraging athletes breed encouraging athletes and a community that is vibrant and full of life.

4.  A successful athlete is Positive.

Positive athletes come into the gym with a mindset of wanting to get better, and choose to stay positive even when confronted with difficulties. They never complain, whine, or make excuses.  Instead, they expect hard work, difficulty, and inevitably, they expect their success.  

Positive athletes recognize the importance of facing their weaknesses - movements that humble them or worse - movements they can’t do.  When an athlete runs into a movement they can’t do, they have two options:

1 - Leave.  This program is too hard.  This isn’t for me.

2 - Stay.  I want this.  I’m pissed that I can’t do this.  So, I’m going to stay and work hard at it.

Positive athletes stay motivated when things get frustrating.  They find the positives in the midst of difficulty. They believe they will overcome.

Positivity, just like encouragement and drive is contagious.  We all have someone that comes to mind when we think of a positive influence in the gym! We look to position ourselves near them, and we’re encouraged by their positive outlook.

-Coach Joe