HAPPY HOLIDAYS and MERRY NEW YEAR!!

Most of the ProMotion staff: Front - George, Wendy and Nicole. Middle - Sarah and Vanessa. Rear - Tom, John and Chris. Laura was off, devising devilish new strategies for No Knees Knockout!

Some key info to take you into the New Year as STRONG as you can be!!

1. Remember ALL those tips and tricks and tactics we reviewed and reviewed and REVIEWED for the Thanksgiving Holiday - they ALL APPLY to this long, extended, two-week festival of friends, family, and over-indulgence. To put it simply: DON"T!

2. Starting right off on January 4th, the complete slate of BHL group exercise classes will be held, in the time slots that you know them. All classes EXCEPT yoga will be in the Fitness Center - Yoga classes will be held in the new "Rec Room".

3. (Yes, there are some classes this week - leading into Christmas - and next week - leading into New Year's).

4. Look for some improvements to the exercise class schedule going forward. For instance - we MAY be adding another 7:30 am "SweatFest" on Tuesdays.

5. The very BEST WAY to make sure your favorite class keeps its place in the schedule is to SHOW UP regularly and bring friends! Attendance counts!

6. Regular circuit classes (with John) on the 21st and 23rd. No circuit classes on the 28th and 29th.

7. Was the BHL Celebration Party fun or WHAT!?!?!?

8. Hard copies of your photos are available from John in the Fitness Center. Also, official "BHL" certificates of completion are available too - we've handed a lot of them out, but still have several. Placed on your desk at work, they might serve as a reminder of your hard work and encourage you not to BLOW IT!

9. The Mini Marathon is full and registration for the 13.1 mile race is closed (the 5k is still open). HOWEVER - if you want to run the long one, LET US KNOW! Wendy and I have always been able to get anyone who wanted it a registration! We also have some exciting training programs to make available to you if you are interested. They are a little unorthodox, but effective!

10. We're looking for special fitness and wellness stories from the Holidays to share with the ProMotion Fitness community. Pass them along to Wendy or John, and you just might find yourself published on the World Wide Web (or at least this little blog). Remember, fitness and wellness doesn't always involve sweat, but it DOES always involve breath.....

namaste,

John and Wendy

2624 POUNDS (the devil is in the details)

In case anyone is wondering, that poundage above represents an average of 5.06% weight loss during the 12-weeks of the program at RCI. 

We've already shared that the Overall Winner was Matt Mays, and he was followed by Keith Miller, Christy Mathis and Mary Worden. Rounding out the Top Ten overall were:

James Lewis (work-mate and buddy of Matt "Yellow Team winner, Lisa Adomatis)
Mary Benson (who gave Keith and Christy a real run for the "Red Team" win)
Jacob Roach (who with his wife, Cindy, won the "Buddies" competition!)
Tanya Fields (she returned as a circuit class regular during the program)
Kelly Jones (who discovered she could work SO HARD!)
Danny Dunn (able to stay in the top ten the entire contest!)

In addition to the "Buddies Team" mentioned above, we had "Red", "Orange", "Yellow", "Green" and "Field" teams. Lastly, there was also a chance for one of the participants eliminated along the way to keep after it and win, too!

Field Team Winner: LuAnne Moore

Green Team Winner: Heidi Jungbauer

Eliminated Team Winner: Jeff Thomas 

Red Team Top Ten:
Keith Miller
Christy Mathis
Mary Benson
Jacob Roach
Danny Dunn
Tia Kersey
Gregg Humerickhouse
Ileana Gonzalez
Chad Kestner
Linda Watson

Orange Team Top Ten:
Mary Worden
James Lewis
Tanya Fields
Kelly Jones
Hassen Hammoud
David Olson
Lori White
Doug Charles
Sam Hutchings
Michael Downs

Yellow Team Top Ten
Lisa Adomatis
Linda Rice
Corey Pritt
Kristy Robbins
Julie Wolfe
Mary Ellen Diemer
Sue Goodwin
Tammy Brown
Stacey Clore
Craig Spaid

In the "Team Competition", the Yellow Team won, with an average of 5.45% weight loss. Orange was 2nd at 5.13%, Field third with 4.46% and the Red Team finished with an average of 4.4%. 

And lastly, we had the "Doug Charles Challenge" - everyone who beat Doug in % weight loss earned  "lunch on Doug"! In addition to the top ten overall, Doug will be buying lunch for:
Hassen Hammoud
David Olson
Lisa Adomatis
Lori White
Linda Rice
Corey Pritt
Kristy Robbins

2624 POUNDS!!

That's right - two thousand, six hundred and twenty-four pounds lost in 12 weeks of RCI/ProMotion Fitness' "Biggest/Healthiest Loser"!! So much to share - so many inspiring stories - where to start....

We'll start at the end (alpha/omega, as it were) - below is Coach Nicole and Overall Winner, Matt Mays! Matt lost an incredible 21.47% during the 12 weeks of the contest, 61 pounds. At the very first weigh in, in a moment to ourselves, Matt quietly and confidently confided that he was going to win this contest. He didn't disappoint - and he put in all the hard work and discipline that it took. He used all of the coaches, attended every meeting, and followed the plan to the letter. The plan WORKS. And  "work works!" and "big work works BIG"!

 

Here is Keith Miller - second place finisher and winner of the "Red Team". Keith withstood a lot of questions and disgruntlement along the way, with several proclaiming that he was "too fit" to participate in the contest. Well - his results show us that even those that are maybe more fit than others can STILL have a ways to go to optimizing their health and well-being. Keith lost 19.51% of his body weight.

 

Next, we have Christy Mathis, third place overall and first female! Christy was also a "Red Team" member and put in plenty of hard work, too! Let her tell you about how many dress sizes she dropped, and her upcoming bikini shopping outing.

 

Christy is also standing in front of the 2624 POUNDS of food that RCI collected and donated to Gleanor's Food Bank - one pound of food for every pound lost by the participants in the "Biggest/Healthiest Loser" program. Christy, as well as several others (Matt, Mary Worden, Linda Rice, Mary Ellen Diemer and many more) brought in her own "weight-loss-in-food" to add to the pile of nourishment and nutrition going to Gleanor's.

Next, we have Mary Worden, winner of the "Orange Team" and fourth place overall. Mary really took advantage of the added slate of group exercise classes.

 

Next up, we have a shot of the entire ProMotion Fitness coaching staff. You just won't find a better group than this one, to do what was done in the BHL program. Heart and soul, passion and energy: They brought it every day.

 

Out front is ProMotion's "heart and soul" (and co-owner), Coach Wendy. Behind her, left to right, are Coach Vanessa, Coach laura, Coach Tom, Coach Chris, George (who is now qualified to make a living guessing weights at the State Fair), and Coach Nicole.

In the photo below, we have Matt receiving his winner's check from the inspiration and master-mind behind RCI's effort to make a BIG DIFFERENCE in the health and well-being of the workforce at RCI - Mark Koning. 

 

And we'll leave you for now with this final shot - Matt and his wife at the awards party. The "Biggest/Healthiest Loser" program changes lives - it's not just a weight loss contest. With this one - we make a difference...