The Fit Happens series is finally done. After 181 days and several post-contest interviews, we've reached our conclusion.
The last post-contest interview is of the third-person variety. Yours truly was fortunate enough to be crowned the Fit Happens champion, losing over 32 pounds (almost 14% of my body weight) in the six-month contest.
Here, I answered the same questions that I asked the other three gentlemen. I offer a different perspective in what surprised me the most about the contest and what I have done in the first month outside of the contest to motivate myself to keep in shape and hopefully lose more weight in the process.
1. What are your overall
impressions of Fit Happens? This contest did wonders for me. It was
exactly what I needed at exactly the right time. It helped that I won,
but more importantly, the best thing it did for me was get me to work
out again.
2. What
have you changed about your exercise regimen and/or diet during the
contest? After stopping my workout and weight loss in 2010, I had not
worked out consistently since then - so it has changed completely. I
wish I could say my diet has changed dramatically - it hasn't. That's
my next major hurdle in weight loss.
3. What
challenges were the toughest during the past six months? My biggest
challenge was actually in the last month, when Jen and I moved to a new
place. Our last place had a gym in the basement of the building, so I
focused more on running in the neighborhood in June than previous
months. Outside of that, I would say the occasional overeating was the
biggest challenge.
4. Did you
reach the goals you set forth at the beginning? Yeah, but I adjusted my
goals once April hit and did not reach those new goals (reaching and
maintaining a weight under 200). I can't complain with losing the amount
of weight I lost in 6 months though.
5. How much did being in the contest motivate you to lose weight? Could you have done it w/o the contest?
As mentioned above, it was the biggest motivation. When I heard about
this contest in late December, I liked the money aspect of the weight
loss but in the back of my mind knew that I needed something like this
to get me back into working out. I may have eventually started working
out again (like I randomly started getting into shape in November 2008),
but this definitely kick-started the process.
6. Will
you continue your weight loss journey? Yes. I am still looking to lose
about 20-25 more pounds to get back to my adult-low from a few years
back.
7. How
will you keep yourself motivated with the contest ending? Back at the
end of April, I installed a running app on my phone that I have used to
track outdoor runs. I've been using one of my friends (who installed the
same Nike app after me) as a measuring stick and a motivational source
to run about 4-5 times a week. In fact, I've set a goal of running about
35 miles this month (the first full month out of the contest).
8. Did
anything or anyone surprise you during this contest? How so? As much as
others have said I surprised them the most, I didn't look at it that
way. I knew I could lose a lot of weight once I motivated myself and
made changes (I lost 20 pounds w/in 2.5 months of working out back in
2008, so I knew I could again). So short answer long, I would say that
there were not any major surprises with anyone or anything. I expected
all of us to have our ups and downs (which we did). I may have had less,
but we all had our issues at some point.
9. How
much more weight do you want or need to lose to get to your ideal
weight? I would like to first get down below 200 and keep it that way
consistently. Once I've established that, I'd like to focus on getting
to about 175-180 pounds. At that weight, I am very light on my feet and
will be very efficient in my neighborhood runs.
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