What a truly amazing challenge! While most New Year’s Resolutions don’t work, our CrossFit PPG athletes kicked-off the New Year with a goal to be even more fit this year. With the knowledge, the accountability and the community support, the challenge was quite a success.

CrossFit’s Founder and CEO Greg Glassman starts off his famous ‘World Class Fitness in 100 Words’ by saying, “Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat.” That’s exactly what this challenge was all about!

The athletes in the challenge were already regularly participating in the CrossFit PPG workouts, but when they added proper nutrition, their overall fitness improved greatly. The average weight-loss per athlete was 10 pounds and it averaged out to a 4% drop in body fat per athlete.

Jeff-webCongratulations to the Winners

Grand Prize Winner: $205 Prize

Congratulations to our Nutrition Challenge Winner: JEFF THOMAS! Jeff lost a total of 17 pounds and 8% body fat. Jeff is proof that paying attention to what we put into our bodies, combined with a regular, high-intensity workout program, allows us to change the way that we look and feel.

Jeff says, “The best part has been going down 3 belt sizes since starting CrossFit. I can see that changing how I fuel my body can improve the quality of my life – it’s important to be mindful, but still live and enjoy life!”

Runner-ups: $25 Prize

Congratulations to the Shaws – JJ, as the top female in the challenge and Steve, as the male with the second highest percent of body weight lost during the challenge.

“I really enjoyed the challenge… It was great accountability for me.” -Steve

Honorable Mention

Congratulations to Jim McNally for losing 14 pounds and to Nick Bissell for losing 13 pounds during the challenge.

One of the best parts of this challenge is that the good eating habits did not end when the challenge ended. It’s become a new lifestyle.

Nick lost 13 pounds by the end of the challenge, but he continued eating well and is now down 17 pounds. He says, “It was a great kick start. I enjoyed the challenge and have changed my eating habits. Success!”

Here’s what others had to say about the challenge:

“I loved the way it made me feel… Making small changes to my diet really improved my energy levels and my workouts!” – Ashlyn

“This is my second time doing the challenge, and it was even better this time. I learned how to eat the right foods and the correct amount of food in order to fuel my body for better performance.” – Alex

“What a great opportunity we all had to take on a challenge to be strict with what we put in our bodies… I learned several strategies that enabled my body to adapt to the new eating habits. One strategy and probably the most important was preparation. If you prepare ahead of time, you will not come to a “starvation” mode, where your energy dips… Another strategy, just as important, was to eat on a schedule each day… The third tactic I learned came after the challenge was over. I was finally free to eat cookies and pizza and fries and pizza and cookies, and cheese dip and I did this for four days leading up to and through the night of the super bowl. I woke up at 3 am Monday morning with a painful stomach ache to the point of nausea, a feeling I do not ever want to have, when it is caused by me. So, I learned a very valuable lesson during the five week challenge: Eat- nuts and seeds, vegetables, some fruit, lean meats and no sugar and a sweet potato and you won’t starve, get a stomach ache or cry, you will perform better, feel better and thus live better ;). It is not a challenge, it is a lifestyle.” – Scott

Making a Difference

At CrossFit PPG, we absolutely love making a positive difference in the lives of others. We are blessed to be able to do this with our athletes within the gym. We are also blessed to be able to make a difference in this world. With this challenge, we promised 100% of the proceed would be redistributed back out with 90% going to the winners and 10% going to a charity that helps prevent childhood obesity and fight poverty.

From this challenge, we were able to contribute to 250 nutritious meals to hungry children through the No Kid Hungry Campaign. They help families in need cook healthy food on a budget.

It’s not a challenge. It’s a lifestyle.

Great job to everyone who participated in the challenge. It was rewarding to see you learning even more about nutrition and applying it to your lives. Keep up the outstanding work, make it a lifestyle, and be on the lookout for the next challenge ;).