Archive for the ‘End of Winter Clean Up 2011’ Category

Karen Vento’s Clean Up Story

Wednesday, May 11th, 2011
Karen - June 2010

Karen - June 2010

Karen's new body!

Karen's new body!

Karen was our Your Best Body Challenge winner for Fitness Transformation last year. She won the honor by improving her fitness level by 72%. She also lost 10 pounds to boot.

This year she distinguished herself by winning 1st Place for Lifestyle Transformation in our End of Winter Clean Up. As the result of her dedication, Karen lost a little over 7 pounds and a total of 5 1/2 inches.  Most importantly she cleaned up her eating habits.

In her own words, Karen learned “a new way to eat which has amazing results”. One of the most notable results is that she has her flat stomach back from her early twenties.

Karen’s biggest challenges were giving up sweetener in her coffee and diet soda. She managed to eliminate both from her diet and says she doesn’t think about using either now. Unsweetened iced tea and water are her beverages of choice.

Karen says  “eating clean now seems to be a regular routine for me and I hope to stick with it at least 85% or more of the time”. She like many others learned that eating clean really isn’t that hard.

Congratulations on your success, Karen!




Franzi Petermann’s Clean Up story

Thursday, April 21st, 2011

Franzi at the start of the Clean Up

Franzi at the start of the Clean Up

Franzi - week 4 of the Clean Up

Franzi – week 4 of the Clean Up

Franzi Petermann is a dedicated weekday boot camper and dragon boater who took 2nd Place for Body Transformation in the 2011 End of Winter Clean Up. During the four week challenge she lost 4 pounds and a total of 7-1/4 inches! Franzi committed to the Clean Up and it shows. Just look at those abs!

Here’s Franzi’s success story:

I really enjoyed the Clean Up experience even though it was tough sticking to the plan at times. While it was no issue for me to cut out sweets and candy bars, I did miss pasta and the occasional glass of wine quite a bit. It was very motivating going to the store that weekend before. Buying lots of healthy food – some new that I had never tried before – was exciting and I couldn’t wait to get started. Planning ahead for the day (snacks and lunch) was probably my biggest challenge. I managed to do okay on that for the first week and then just winged it most of the time by grabbing something protein plus a piece of fruit from the fridge. The food diary was definitely not a favorite of mine and I stopped writing everything down after about half way through. It was helpful, though, to go back and look over the first week and see where I did well and what wasn’t so good. Also, having to write everything down made me think twice about if I really wanted to eat that food at that particular time…

Breakfast was challenging as I grew up on rolls with butter, jam, cold cuts and cheese. And I do love my Kashi cereal. However, I discovered that I like steel cut oats (and so does my husband now) and I am crazy about Ezekiel bread. I will definitely keep those in my diet. But I will also allow myself a nice whole wheat roll every now and then as a special treat on the weekend – we call it German breakfast day.

After about two weeks, I noticed that my clothes fit much better, more comfortable; especially my skinny jeans. There was an overall “skinny” feeling after about two weeks. I just felt so much better in my own body. While I didn’t lose a lot weight – about 4 pounds – I was extremely excited to find out that I had lost about an inch all around. That is awesome!

My husband joined me – partially – in my effort and we tried out lots of new recipes, some of which have become new favorites. We cooked much more instead of eating out and took more responsibility for what we ate. A nice side benefit was the much lower credit bill. :-)

Congratulations to Franzi on her success. Look for more Clean Up success stories next week.




2011 Clean Up Winners

Wednesday, April 20th, 2011

For 4 weeks in February and March, 26 Performance Fitness clients, boot campers and “friends” participated in the End of Winter Clean Up. A nutrition challenge in which they ate real food (in other words minimally processed food) and eschewed sugar, artificial sweetener, alcohol and refined carbohydrates, like white bread.

There were tears (I’m not exaggerating) and irritability for some. For others the Clean Up was the beginning of a new way of life in terms of nutrition. And for everyone, whether the 4 week challenge was loved or hated, the Clean Up was eye opening, helping each individual to gain insight into his or her nutrition habits and (hopefully) change some of those habits.

We awarded four winners. Two prizes were awarded for best lifestyle transformation. These went to the two people who really grasped the concept of the Clean Up and had the biggest challenge and success in terms of changing their mindset and the way they ate. The other two prizes were for body transformation. These went to the two people who lost the most inches.

And our winners are…

  • Franzi Petermann (2nd Place for Body Transformation)
  • Marti Keegan (2nd Place for Lifestyle Transformation)
  • Marisa Guerin (1st Place for Body Transformation)
  • Karen Vento (1st Place for Lifestyle Transformation)

Congratulations, ladies!

Check back here to read their success stories.




Success!

Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011

It’s so gratifying when I see my clients get results.

It’s validation – living proof that this stuff (exercise, clean eating) works as long as you’re willing to commit to it and persevere through the “pain”.

It’s also a big middle finger to all the haters – those people who think that real people can’t  change their bodies. That unless you can afford a private chef and a personal trainer everyday, it can’t be done.

Well, the two women below are living proof that it can be done. Neither one of them has a private chef or a personal trainer. They just put in the hard work, whether it’s getting up before the crack of dawn for boot camp or dragging themselves to a kettlebell class after a long workday or saying no to the nacho chili cheese chips. They get “it” and because they do, they get results.

So – props, big ups, much respect and praise to two of the frankly, many, women who get it – Pam Handfield and Alicia Kopp.

Pam has lost 77 pounds so far!

Pam has lost 77 pounds so far!

Pam started doing Pilates with Performance Fitness in 2009, but her real “ah ha” moment and the start of her body transformation was last spring when she joined the Your Best Body Challenge (YBBC). The YBBC introduced Pam to boot camp workouts and she became a Saturday boot camp regular. She had her first kettlebell experience this fall at boot camp and she was hooked. She’s been doing our Thursday night kettlebell class ever since.

Pam is a kettlebell dynamo. She’s got beautiful form with the bell, and a “don’t quit” attitude. She may not be the first one done a workout but she doesn’t let that stop her or get her down. She always finishes strong.

Since last spring’s YBBC Pam has lost 77 pounds, 10 of them over the last 3 weeks during the End of Winter Clean Up nutrition program. Pam rocks!

Alicia shows off her guns.

Alicia shows off her guns.

Alicia is one of my favorite people in the world! Not only does she dedicate herself to her fitness goals (OK, sometimes she does sleep through 6 a.m. boot camp, and I heard that she had pancakes at Cracker Barrel on Sunday) but she’s a vibrant, kind and generous woman. I’m blessed to know her.

Back in July, Alicia was featured in the blog as one of the winners for our YBBC. She decreased her body fat by 13% during the challenge and was given the award for Best Body Transformation.

What I admire about Alicia is that even though she achieved her goals she didn’t become stagnant. She continues challenging herself – a triathlon in June, a half marathon in November and the End of Winter Clean Up in February/March (her least favorite challenge, I can tell you). She added one more challenge this winter by including kettlebells and yoga in her routine. She looks amazing (look at those guns!)! She too, rocks!




Clean eating works!

Saturday, March 12th, 2011

We’re almost at the end of week 2 of the End of Winter Clean Up. Check out the success our members have had so far:

  • Marisa G. is feeling great on the Clean Up program. She lost 4 pounds during the first 4 days! Granted much of this is water weight but it goes to show the amount of bloating that occurs when we eat a Western diet filled with refined grains and sugar. Better yet she’s not hungry and she’s overcoming her sugar demons!
  • Marti K., who has experienced the Clean Up before, is singing the praises of clean eating and is glad to be back on track. She’s down 5 pounds.
  • Alicia K. is starting to see her 6 pack.
  • Lynn J., another Clean Upper glad to be back on track, is losing her belly bloat and has new found energy after an initial energy slump during the first few days of the program.
  • Maggie Br. – is down 4.7 pounds!
  • Karen V. is down 7 pounds! Woo Hoo!

Speaking of clean eating – check out this New York Times article on the virtues of coconut oil.