And the Winner is……

Get Fit NH also awarded the individual with the biggest percentage of inches lost from their hips and waist. 

Katie chose Team Mental Toughness- Extra Effort. With her team behind her she won the Grand Prize of over $2400. I'll let Katie tell you more of her story. 

"In April of 2017 I began my weight loss journey. The boot camp I go to runs a weight loss challenge every spring. I hadn’t been going regularly, but decided to finally get serious about losing weight. I started off at almost 180 lbs - always tired, in pain, and depressed. I struggled to keep up with my young son. During the 8 week challenge, I lost 25 lbs. I continued to lose over the summer and by October I had lost almost 45 lbs. Then my mom got cancer, and things got stressful and the pounds started packing back on. I stopped going to boot camp and gained 15-20 lbs back over the winter. I was sad and frustrated because I had been so close to my goal.

Fast forward to this April. I was really looking forward to the weight loss challenge because I was set on reaching my goal, and hopefully winning the grand prize. It wasn’t always easy, but I stayed focused with the help of my family and coach. I ate clean, got back into hiking, ran up and down my driveway too many times, and push mowed my lawn with my old jalopy mower (the one that caught on fire last summer, lol).

During the challenge, I lost 19 lbs and several inches off my waist and hips (the inches were what counted in the contest). I’m down almost 50 lbs from last year and only 6 lbs away from my goal weight. This past Saturday was the reveal party to announce the winner... I knew I did well, but I had no idea how well others had done (there were over 200 people participating). To make this long story short, I did it - I won!

I’d really like to thank my amazing and patient husband Jon who was there to listen to me stress, help me out, and who was happy to stay home with Jonathan while I was off hiking or exercising (even on Father’s Day). He even ate veggie wraps that tasted like lawn.

Also a huge shout out and thank you to my coach, Nancy Carlson of Get Fit NH. You make training personal and fun, and you’re always there to push me harder or email me when I don’t show up. You changed my way of thinking and taught me how to eat right and not diet, which is huge. And, you are a huge inspiration to me. During training I always think, what weight would Nancy pick up?You’re old enough to be my mother and you’re still stronger than me  (and you have a great sense of humor, lol).

So in closing, here are some before and after photos, my coach and I, and a photo of my first purchase with my prize money - a new push mower!"