January “Biggest Loser” Challenge

Details

• First weigh in - Jan 1; last weigh-in - Jan 28

• Cost: $20 (venmo: Mahony-Brogan)

• Get a jumpstart on 2024 and start building better habits with this month-long “Biggest Loser” challenge; Join up and get instant access to a bunch of resources to dial in your workouts and nutrition; stay motivated and accountable with friendly competition!

• 2 winners chosen:

  • Most weight lost as a percentage of total bodyweight

  • Most workouts

  • Winners get $50 gift card, and a jumpstart on 2024!

• Directions (more info below):

  • Choose your diet for the next month

  • Plan out your exercise schedule (30 minutes of activity per day)

  • Commit to the plan

  • Check in with your results for more accountability!

Resources

Nutrition

• Calorie Calculator

• General Nutrition Guidelines

• 150g Protein (1500 Calories) Sample Meal Plan

• Jumpstart Diet

• Intermittent Fasting Guide

• Evolve 50 Recommended Recipes

• High Protein Recipe Guide

• Low Carb Recipe Guide

• 5-Ingredient Recipe List

• Gluten Free Recipe Guide

• 5 Habits of Mindful Eating

• Shopping Guide

• Low Cal Smoothie Guide

• How To Build a Perfect Meal

• My Personal Meal Prep Guide

• Meal Planner

• Macros Made Simple

• Transform Your Snacking Habit

• Great, good, not so good food list

Exercise

• 3-Day Strength Program (Full Gym)

• At-Home No Equipment Strength Program

• @LiftwithCee At-Home DB Workouts Youtube

• At-Home DB Circuit

• At-Home DB + Bands Program

• Core Challenge

• Cardio Guide

Directions

Exercise

For the exercise portion of this contest, you will have a lot of flexibility in what you do. I’ve included a bunch of different resources in the exercise section, but the goal is at least 30 continuous minutes per day. This could include:

• Strength training (goal = 3 days/wk)

• Moderate-to-Intense cardio (goal = 1-2 days/wk)

• Light cardio (goal = 1-2 days/wk)

• Other physical activity

  • Walk around the neighborhood

  • Working around the house (must be a continuous 30min+)

  • Mobility circuit/Yoga

  • Sports/Games - rock climbing, pickleball, etc.

If you’re unsure if something counts as physical activity, please ask beforehand and I’ll let you know. The goal is just to be more active. That being said, if you’re already pretty active, I want you to try to increase that activity either in duration, intensity, or frequency.

The most “ideal” schedule would be 3 days per week of strength training (full body), 2 days per week of structured cardio, and then 2 days of general physical activity, yoga, mobility, etc.

Whatever you decide, focus on something that is attainable and something you think you could realistically stick with after 30 days.

Tip - make sure to plan out and “schedule” your workouts ahead of time. If it’s left up to chance or whenever you “find time”, its unlikely to get done. Prepare ahead of time.

Nutrition

Nutrition is going to be a crucial factor in your success, but the good news is there are plenty of options to choose from. You just need to choose one and stick with it!

The main options are:

1. Calorie count - must be around a 500 calorie deficit to lose 1lb per week.

2. Meal prep

3. Jumpstart diet (or some other predesigned diet)

Calorie Counting

For calorie counting, start by figuring out your estimated calorie deficits with the calorie counter I linked below. Once you know what that number is, your goal is to stay within the range needed to loase 1-2lbs per week. The main benefit with calorie counting is that you can be more flexible with your diet. The main drawback is it’s hard to hit the correct macro ratio (ratio of carbs to fats to proteins) without some planning ahead.

Generally speaking, total calorie deficit is more important than macro ratio for weightloss. That being said, you will have a much easier time sticking to a diet high in protein and limited processed carbs. If you were to look at macros, that would mean at least 40% of your calories from protein:

• For a 1500 calorie diet, that is 600 calories from protein, or 150g of protein

In most cases, you want about 1g of protein per lb ideal bodyweight. I’ve included “Macros Made Simple” if you want to know more about macros.

Meal Prepping

The main benefit of meal prepping is that you can measure out pre-determined portions and you already know whats going into your body without having to track every single calorie or spend precious attention thinking about what to eat.

I’ve included a bunch of meal prep resources. You can do it however you like, but my advice would be to keep the meal prep simple - choose a lean protein, choose a veggie and/or fruit, and mix up the seasonings as needed to add variety. Stick with easy to prep food choices, i.e. frozen veggies you can microwave in a couple minutes. You could easily make 10-12 meals in under 2 hours.

In case you want to be a little fancier with it, I’ve included a bunch of different recipe guides. I’ve also included a “boring” 1500 calorie sample meal plan to show you how I would go about getting enough protein in. If you do it right, you can lose weight and gain muscle while feeling like you’re eating “too much” food.

Follow Classic Diet

At the end of the day, whatever strategies help you to eat less, will also work for this challenge. If you’ve done intermittent fasting in the past and it worked well for you, I’d encourage you to do it again. The Jumpstart Diet, which I’ve included below, has been super effective for dozens of my clients. That’s always a good place to start.

The positives about following a classic diet is that you don’t have to put a lot of thought into meal planning. However, you’ll still need to prep and make sure you have stuff ready so that you’re not stuck making bad decisions in the moment.

Accountability

For this challenge, I will be checking in with each of you a couple times per week and also keeping track of everyone’s weight and workouts. That being said, it will be up to you to clock your weights and workouts and send them too me. We are going by the honor system, but if you have a fitness watch, just send me a screenshot of your workouts each day.

If you need extra help or accountability, please reach out to me!