Yesterday marked the end of a six week weight loss challenge at my gym. I committed to three workouts a week at the gym, eating much healthier, and finding other (hopefully fun) ways to weave physical activity into my days. I wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of results, but I felt like two pounds a week would be doable, so I set that as my goal.

And while I run the risk of sounding hugely immodest – I crushed it!

Six weeks later, I’m 18 pounds down and lost almost 13% of my body weight. I will share more on the specific things I did to get there, but I wanted to take a moment and say that the biggest thing that propelled me was the support of folks around me. I was really open with the fact that I was trying to do this (heck, I blog about it for anyone on the internet to see), and pretty much everyone around me was really encouraging. Here are some highlights:

  • First, my partner in crime, Kellen the Inspiring, was a great fitness buddy. She motivated me to stick with it, drank water with me at social functions, and got my butt into hip hop dance classes once a week. Having a buddy for the whole program was invaluable.
  • While visiting Miami for work, a trip that threatened to take me off track, Mauricio Magnifico helped schedule our meetings in a way that I could also hit the gym for classes. This made me feel like having a couple cocktails at the beach was fine. And who wants to go to Miami without having a cocktail on the beach? That’s certainly not what this blog is about.
  • Jim the Grillzmaster knows I love roller skating (yep, roller skating), so he surprised me with a trip to a rink one evening. I probably burned 800 calories during the session and had a smile on my face the whole time.
  • Mark the Organizer offered frequent suggestions about ways to mix up my fitness routine, shared stories about his own weightloss, and made a point to check in with me often to see how things were going.
  • Cheryl the Uplifting made healthy dinners with me, Dana the Vibrant made a fun weight loss side bet, Drew the Cheerleader got me on a spin bike and made me feel awesome, Kristen the Badass joined me for some pampering combined with motivating fitness talk, Gavian the Co-conspirator got me out on a long post-dinner walk, Seeester Amy told me she was proud of me for not drinking at her birthday, all the people I grabbed a meal with who shared healthy options, everyone who followed this blog, twitter or facebook page and said nice things…and many others.

Kellen

Celebrating fitness success with Kellen the Inspiring.

And there was one moment that happened early that really stuck with me. About a week into my challenge, I was going to meet up with some great friends who I hadn’t seen in a long time, and I knew there would be drinking. I had vowed no drinking for the first two weeks, but I was pondering bending that rule for this occasion. Jordan the Closer happened to catch me online for a quick chat before I headed out. It is relevant to note that I met Jordan during a night of parties and club hopping at a conference in NYC, and that pretty much every time we are in the same city and hanging out, there is drinking involved. When I mentioned to him that I was meeting old friends and thinking of taking a one night hiatus from my fitness plan, I expected him to think that was a great idea. I was wrong.

Instead, he replied “Stick with the program – the payoff is always better.”

Probably because of the context of our friendship, his words really struck me. That night, I told my friends I wasn’t drinking, they were all fine with it, and I walked away having eaten veggies and chicken and drinking only water and Diet Coke. I reread Jordan’s statement the next morning and logged it in my brain as my mantra for the rest of the challenge.

I definitely wouldn’t have had as much success without the support of the folks around me. So first, thanks to everyone who encouraged me in the many ways that you all did. You are amazing and it was invaluable to have your help this past month and a half. And second, I encourage anyone looking to focus on their fitness to be vocal about it. I think you’ll find, like I did, that the response will be overwhelmingly positive. The people around you can’t support you if you don’t give them the opportunity, so share your plans and goals with them, and help them help you.