Weight Loss-One Story Told

We had a 6 week weight loss contest at work right after the New Year. Each contestant had to pony-up $20, and one winner, going by percentage lost, at the end, would get the entire amount.  There ended up being 26 participants, so the winner took away $520.

Last week everyone still in the game weighed in.  The 1st place winner, I will call her FN, lost an amazing 27 pounds, which equaled a weight loss of 14%. Second place went to HC, who did almost as well with a  20 pound loss and 12.5% weight loss, while 3rd place put in some respectable numbers as well, 11 pounds and 8%, although neither of the last two got any of the money.

It is always fascinating to me what plans/diets people use to successfully lose weight. Second place, HC, lost her weight by following Weight Watchers low carb plan.  FC, on the other hand, kind of came up with her own plan based on some information I had shared with her, which made it even more fascinating to me. Thankfully, she agreed to be interviewed.

Basically, FN ate 3 meals daily, no snacks.  Kind of like Whole 30-on-super-steroids-type of diet. But she got great results and ate healthy food.

Breakfast: Almond milk protein powder shake from Garden of Life (she had this every day for the entire 6 weeks for breakfast)

Lunch: Meat- chicken, fish, or beef; and cabbage soup for the first 4 weeks, then she got sick of the cabbage soup so just had vegetables with the meat after that.

Dinner: Meat and vegetables, or meat and more cabbage soup.

During Week 4 each day FN added one small apple to her lunch.  Interestingly, much to her chagrin, she did not lose any weight at all, stating, “I almost gave up and just quit”.  But instead, she decided to learn from it and adjust what she was eating. So for the final two weeks for lunch and dinner FN ate tilapia, asparagus, and broccoli.

As for the other elements:

Foodwise-During the 6 weeks FN did not drink any alcohol or sodas, no sugar of any kind, no processed foods, no fruit (except for the apple week), and no eggs, nuts/seeds (except for the almond milk daily), legumes, chocolate, coffee, dairy, or grains. As for fats, she ate some avocado and coconut oil.  She says that she started eating her meals very slowly early on.

Water-3 liters of water daily

Exercise-FN formally exercised 3 times in the entire 6 weeks: once on a treadmill for 25 minutes, and 2 cardio/aerobic workouts lasting 20 and 25 minutes.  However, she wore a pedometer and logged in 9,000-10,000 steps on most days.

When asked how she feels now, FN glowingly says much better than before the six weeks, a lot more energy, and better moods.  She plans to add in more exercise and continue eating much the same way with a goal of losing 25 more pounds. After that, she says with her beautiful smile, “I will buy new clothes with that money!”

Anyway, the most surprising thing to me about all of this was the fact that FN’s weight loss stalled apparently just because she added in one small piece of fruit daily.  I think sometimes we don’t get better weight loss results because we try to add in a little sugar, or a little wine, or a few French fries. It looks like hardcore might just get better results.

Thanks, FN, for sharing your success story! And congratulations.