The 2016 Sizzlin’ Summer Slimdown Winner are…

Kellen and Carolyn Sawyer!!! They deserve a GIANT congratulations as they took the winning spot by 23 points! Together they lost almost 50 pounds and almost 17 inches between their waist and hips- wowza! It was so special to see such a dedicated couple take home all $4500. Hard work pays off in more ways than just cash- something tells me they’ll need some of that cash to go buys some new summer clothes. Congratulations guys! From the bottom of my heart I am truly so proud of both of you. I got the chills as I was announcing working my way up to the number one spot and Carolyn, your face almost made me cry! You guys rock! Be proud of yourselves, because the rest of the Get Fit NH family is SO proud of you!

Here are all of the stats from this year’s S3 transformation contest

168 participants/84 teams
1,309.6 pounds GONE – That is the size of a polar bear!
263.96 inches off the waist- That is taller than a giraffe!
159.08 inches off the hips- That is taller than an African Elephant!

Here are the top 10 teams and their points- congrats to all of the rockstars who completed S3! Keep building those habits!

10.) Team Argyle: Mae Lynn and Charlie Arlinghaus
9.) Small but Mighty: Elizabeth Moulton and Audrey Langevin
8.) The Best Set: Doreen Mathison and Gretchen Wolfe
7.) Powder Puff Girls: Lisa Baron and Lauren Oulette
6.) Lucy and Ethel: Carolyn Amrol and Tracey Paquette
5.) DT: Dawn Cillo and Terri George
4.) K2 Crushing the S3: Kim Piper and Kim Therrian
3.) 5:30 Friends: Marie Carmen and Julie Nassif
2.) 6:45 Friends: Michelle Graziano and Amanda Currier
1.) In it to Win it! Kellen and Carolyn Sawyer

We are getting down to the last hours to sign up for S3 2.0! Let’s make it happen!
Coach Meagan

Shining the Spotlight on Shannon!

Shining the Spotlight on Shannon is not hard. She has made her way into the hearts of so many at all the different training times in Epsom. If you’ve trained with her once, you know her. Her smile is contagious and her work ethic is supreme. She has that “Make It Happen” attitude. She has had struggles; the kind that many would let derail them totally. Shannon just kept on smiling and trekking on. Shannon is getting married soon. Her soon-to-be husband is serving our country in the military. Shannon will be moving to be with him. I am going to miss her more than she realizes. She has not only inspired those she trains with,  she has also inspired her coach. Thank you, Shannon!

“Throughout my whole life, I’ve always suffered with weight and the ability to eat healthy. One day, I decided to take charge of my life, however, not in the healthiest of ways. I chose to not eat, seeing that was the reason of my weight problems/esteem issues. In my twisted mind, I thought I was doing an amazing job along with losing about 55 pounds in about four months. I should’ve been happy, but I was striving to always lose more or wasn’t happy how different areas of my body looked. As life got in the way, and as most people told me, you’ll gain it all back and I did. That brought on new discouragement. In the next few years, I battled with eating habits and becoming obsessed with everything I did/didn’t eat and doing 2-3 hour work outs at the gym. It would get so bad, no one wanted to eat around me due to my criticizing every ounce of food that I’d ingest and couldn’t keep up with my crazy gym obsession. I was going down a scary path and didn’t know how to pull myself out of this turmoil.

That’s when my now-fiancé came into play. He pulled me out of this vicious cycle I’ve put myself through for years and put me back on focus, to the point, I weighed almost 200 pounds. I started falling into the same patterns. This time though, I wanted to change, this is when I decided to speak with my doctor, and to my surprise  I’d been suffering from depression and anxiety. It explained all the negativity about weight, my micromanaging  myself, and my food intake. After some hard work, I started to feel like myself and found that I enjoyed working out. However, I wasn’t looking to spend 3 hours at the gym, where you see girls wearing makeup and doing their hair BEFORE working out. I sat down determined to find a different way to get myself healthy and back into shape. That’s when I found Get Fit NH. 

As I filled out the forms, I was half excited and half anxious, as probably any new comer feels. I walked into my first class scared out of my mind. Everyone was so welcoming and I felt like I actually got support from others along with my coach (Thank you Nancy). I can tell you the first two weeks, I couldn’t wait to go home and call my fiancé, who was on deployment, about how amazing this place truly is. I was sore everyday, and shy, at first (I know some of you have a hard time believing that now). I was a sponge, absorbing everything insight, including how to eat properly. I also found out that a lot of my own workouts were either done incorrectly, or harming myself.

I now proudly announce I’ve been with Get Fit NH for two and half years. I was taught how to get proper nutrition and how to safely work out without causing more harm to myself. I don’t get proud of myself very often, however, I am proud of myself for pushing through the mental and physical struggles and eventually overcoming them. Even when I fell on my knee while at home at the beginning of this year, I didn’t let my injury keep me from the gym. I hobbled my way through the gym with crutches and refused to let people help me as I dragged weights on the floor, until Nancy gave me the stare down. I may struggle with a little weight gain here or there, however I proudly can say, that I am okay with it. As a kid, my father always said to me, “Can’t means won’t”, and I never truly understood that meaning until I’m staring at the pull up bar, or starting a 5K.

I can’t thank all the coaches enough, ones in Concord and in Epsom for helping me to push myself and especially Nancy, who has always held me accountable on showing up and making sure I push myself each work out. Also, thank you to all my fellow boot campers. You all are true inspirations and I have been so blessed and honored to have met all of you. I sadly won’t be able to get my three-year shirt, because I will be moving in the middle of August to finally be with my husband after five years of a long distance relationship. Leaving Get Fit NH will be very difficult but I will definitely take the lessons that I’ve learned at Get Fit NH and keep applying them to my life. Thank you Get Fit NH for all you’ve done for me, you will never understand how much it truly means to me.”

Good luck, Shannon, and congratulations to you and Mike!

-Coach Nancy

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Take A Week Off From Training? Are You Nuts?

Give Yourself a Bigger Margin For Error

How many of you out there are perfect? **One or two people jokingly raise their hand**.

How many of you slip up from time to time? How many of you may not think about how you bend over to tie your shoe or pick up that piece of paper every time? No one who answered honestly can say they do everything correctly every time. No one expects perfection. We don’t, and you shouldn’t. The idea is to give yourself the biggest margin for error possible.

Now, are we telling you it’s okay to pick things up incorrectly compromising your back or knees? Of course not. Are we telling you it’s okay to have the ice cream, cake, and bread? No. However, you need to realize that no one is perfect. We realize that, and we don’t expect perfection from you. Giving yourself the biggest margin for error simply means doing everything you can so that those couple times that you do slip up, it doesn’t cause a huge negative outcome. I’m going to give two practical examples, one from a nutrition side, and one from a functional movement side.

First, the nutrition side. We talk about 90/10, right? Eating correctly 90% of the time and 10% being things you normally shouldn’t be eating. Just as a practical example, think about eating 21 meals a week (3 meals a day). That means that two to three of those meals (about 10%) may include things that you normally wouldn’t eat. The idea is that if you eat correctly the majority of the time, those small little slip ups won’t really cause a problem. Again, you’re setting yourself up for a greater margin of error. If you eat fantastic for a week, then you go to a barbeque somewhere and eat a couple things you shouldn’t have, it’s okay because you gave yourself a large margin of error by eating so well the rest of the week. That one meal isn’t going to haunt you too much. Let’s say in that same week, you had 2 or 3 slip-ups already and you get to that barbeque on Sunday… your margin for error is much, much smaller because you already had those slip ups earlier in the week. Essentially, the food that you eat at the barbeque in the second scenario is more likely to cause you to gain fat because it is combined with the other 2 or 3 slip-ups.

Now to the functional movement side of it. Do you have tightness in different places? Back, hips, shoulders? Some of you are saying “check, check, check”. Is overall flexibility a problem for some also? Yes. How does that feed into our everyday life? If you have tightness in certain muscle groups, it only takes that one time when you bend at the waist to pick something up and boom, there goes your back. Or in training it only takes doing that swing wrong one time out of a thousand and boom, back pain. The more flexible and mobile those muscles and joints are, the more margin for error you have to move incorrectly and not have it result in major injury. How can you get that bigger margin for error and significantly decrease the possibility of injury? Get here on time, and take the warmups and the cool downs seriously. I see way too many people are just going through the motions on the warmups or blowing parts of them off entirely. You don’t want to get hurt and spend your time and money dealing with back issues, right? That’s where the warm ups and cool downs come into play. They help you maintain flexibility and mobility to give yourself the biggest margin for error for that one time you don’t do something correctly.

Give yourself the biggest margin for error possible. Eat well as much as you can so those couple slip ups every once in a while don’t hurt you. Take the warm-ups and cool downs seriously and don’t blow them off. The rest will come easy breezy.

Make it Happen!
-Coach Adam

Sizzlin’ Summer Slimdown: I’m Not Done Yet

I am not done yet.

I am happy with my progress, but I have more to do. It is not easy; something worth having rarely is.

Some people may wonder what is left to do, after all I am the coach, right?

But I have the same struggles you do. I have goals yet unrealized. I live with aches and pains like everyone else. I get frustrated because to make progress I have to eat less than seems “fair”.

I am older than some of you and younger than others. I’ll be 50 in a couple months. I cannot express how much it thrills, inspires and motivates me to see clients who are in their fifties, sixties and even seventies continue to fight the good fight – to continue to seek improvement when so many of their (our) peers have long given up.

I never really thought about my mortality much before this year. Arrogance? Ignorance? 50 doesn’t bother me per se, but it has made me think.

I am going to die someday, and I am not afraid to do so. Something better awaits.

But while I am here the words of Dylan Thomas are embedded in my brain:

“Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

Who’s with me?

Spotlight Shines on 2 Athlete Academy Stars

Ladies and gentleman- for the first time ever, I come to you with a spotlight from my Athlete Academy. Two weeks ago Athlete Academy finished up another successful session. However, the following week held something else that made it even better.

After the end of Athlete Academy, Concord High won the state meet for track and field! Two of my athletes, Jacob Nichol (pictured to the right) and Sam Orzechowski, both were a part of that team. They were two of my hardest working students and they both made a consistent effort to be here (8am on a Saturday for highschoolers is not exactly easy, I’ve been there…) as well as lift heavy and push themselves every time.  I am extremely proud of the both of them and look forward to continuing to work with them over the summer! Great job Jacob and Sam! See you in a couple weeks!

-Coach Adam

S3 2016 2.0 Signup Is Open!

S3 2.0 STARTS MONDAY JUNE 27th!

Say what!?!

That's right. If you want to continue the path you are on or if you are ready to take charge of your fat loss journey then you better not miss this one. We are providing another 6 week opportunity for great results!

Yes, there are a couple weeks before the end of S3 and the beginning of 2.0, but that doesn't mean you should stop doing all that good work. In fact this will be a great test to see how those habits are sticking, right? 🙂

What do I get during this 6 week S3 2.0?

• An updated manual with new recipes to add to your ever growing collection
• Accountability utilizing Habit Catalyst. We know there was A LOT of information to soak in from those lessons, so why not have another 6 weeks to read them AND answer your daily habit?
• ​Accountability and INCREDIBLE support on our S3 Facebook page
• More Focused nutrition COACHING

Dates To Remember:

June 22nd: S3 2.0 Signup Cutoff

June 27th: Start Date

July 15th: Halfway Scans Due by 7:45 PM

August 5th: S3 2.0 Ends

August 9th: Final Scans Due by 7:45 PM

August 12th: S3 2.0 Winner Announced!

All of this for just $39. That is $1 per day to change your life. Not a bad deal.

And you won't believe this, BUT we are also offering a "second chance" prize! Winner takes the cash- $250 for most inches percentage lost.

Life does not give you many second chances- this is yours!

Coach Meagan

Registration Is Closed. Thank-You!

Spotlight Couples Edition

I am excited to continue the Couple’s Edition chapter of spotlights. I think it is so special when couples train at the same place. It is even more impressive when they train next to each other and at the same training time! I think it is wonderful to have training at Get Fit NH in common. This week’s Get Fit NH couple in the spotlight is Adam and Deb Rosenthal! They have been around a long time and making it happen at 5 AM! I have had the opportunity to watch them grow, challenge each other and get better. 5 AM certainly would not be the same without them. Here is what they have to say:

“Deb has been training at GFNH for seven years and Adam for six years. About eight months after Deb started we attended together a GFNH demonstration workout one weekday evening at the Red River Theatre in Concord where Coach Nancy demonstrated exercises with bands and invited me down on stage to try a few exercises… Halfway through round one of front band squats with a purple band I said to myself ” I can make it happen too.”
We like training at 5 AM Concord because we can ride in together and reduce our carbon footprint. It also encourages us to keep similar sleep and eating schedules where we hold each other accountable to our dietary intakes. We both enjoy the addition of MyZone and encourage each other to push ourselves and compete with other classmates on a daily basis. We both love to “Mep It Happen!” Deb has become a better runner lowering her 5K, 5 mile, 10K and 13.1 mile times and I have consistently lowered my times for various distances on the Concept 2 rowing and ski ergometers. We enjoy pushing each other to be the best we can be while enjoying good health as we age.”

Having accountability at home is so important. I am so proud of these two for making it happen for 6 and 7 years! What an impressive accomplishment! Thank you so much for being a part of the Get Fit Family and great job holding each other accountable during the other 165!
Keep on MEP’n
Coach Meagan

ATTENTION ALL- S3 2.0 IS COMING

This blog is only for students looking to lose fat, feel better and look better and for current S3 students as well as students who missed this year’s S3 sign up… (ok, I guess that’s quite a few people, isn’t it?) 🙂

If you are currently participating in S3 then congratulations on making it happen this far. The halfway scans were impressive. As your coach, it is refreshing and encouraging to have 178 students making a commitment to change their ways. You should be proud of yourself for working on improving critical habits that will make you a happier and healthier person. If you missed S3 this year then you will want to continue reading to see how you can get in on the results too!

What happens when the excitement of the contest is over? When you are no longer accountable to your partner anymore? When $2000 is no longer on the line? Then what?

We’ve got you covered. We’ve got S3 2.0 coming right up! Who is S3 2.0 for? GREAT QUESTION!

– Any student who MISSED the first round of S3
– Any student who wants to continuing burning fat
– Any student who needs to be held accountable
– Any student who is interested in feeling better
– Any student who is interested in looking better
– Any student who is interested in fitting into summer clothes better
– Any student who is interested in fat loss
– Any student who wants to drop inches

Are any of those YOU? If you are currently doing S3 and know you need to keep going then this is your opportunity to stay on track. If you missed S3 this year then this is your opportunity to get on board! You will get a fresh manual with updated recipes and the accountability will be endless using our Facebook group and since building 6 habits in 6 weeks, and reading and understanding all those lessons was a lot, you will get re-entry into the 6 week S3 Habit Catalyst again!

Ok, ok I have dropped enough secrets for one blog! Be on the lookout for the registration blog and listen to your coaches- chances are they will be shouting it out in training!!!

Who is in????
Coach Meagan

We’re taking the spotlight to Texas

One of the hardest things about being a coach is saying goodbye. Whether that means choosing to leave and not train with us anymore or moving to Texas! It does not get easier. We truly pour our hearts into this career and to each and every one of you. It would be a lie if we said it doesn’t sting each time someone tells us they are leaving for any reason.

Ronald and Donna Weilnau have been faithful students for years. We have known of their retirement plans for a long time. I cannot believe June 2016 is really here and they are really packed up and headed to retirement In Texas. We are so excited for their future and being near their family, but we are so sad to see them leave the Get Fit Family. I asked them to kick off our first success story Couple’s Edition before they go. Here is what they have to say.

1.) Who started training first?

Donna: I started first. It took Ronald 2 1/2 years to get on board.

2.) What prompted spouse (Ronald) to give it a try?

Donna: Ron decided to join the year we did Reach the Beach. While he was
waiting at the gym for us to return he decided that it didn’t look as
intimidating as he thought it would be. Also I believe that night I had
told you I wished he would join. So he fulfilled that wish finally.

Ronald: Also she never pressured me, I was finally ready to try.

3.) What results have you each experienced since training with us?

Donna: For me it was the realization that I wasn’t doing my body any good
and that something had to change. Since I started training I have lost
weight, not all that I need to lose but I’ll get there and I’ve gone down
two sizes. I am stronger and have more energy.

Ronald: I finally found success to my long time struggle to lose weight. I
also found true enjoyment in training that lead me to my TFW training. Plus
I found I like a lot more vegetables.

4.) How has training together affected your home life?

Donna: Since we don’t train at the same time we have had to make some
adjustments. When Ron first started I would retire long before him. Since
I train at 5AM and he trains at 5:30 in the afternoon he could stay up
later. In the evenings I had to learn to eat alone as he wouldn’t return
home until 7. It sometimes meant two different meals. For the most part
we have adjusted.

Ronald: Less time is spent in front of the TV and computer. More energy to
do physical activites. Also meals are easier since I now that I eat more
like Donna has for many years, PPW. Plus with me joining Donna is eating better and
does not have to include cookies on the grocery list for me anymore!

5.) Any additional comments and encouragement you would like to share with
other students.

Donna: My advice to others would be to not give up. Practice doesn’t
always make perfect but then no one is perfect and no one expects
perfection. Life is a constant struggle. You can’t beat yourself up if
you have a bad day or even a bad week. Put it behind you and start again.

Ronald: Nutrition has been a big part of my weight loss success. Also
listen to the coaches when they say pick up something heavy, I know I am
getting results by doing so and seeing strength I never had before.

A “Thank You” to all of the Get Fit NH coaches and fellow students for
helping us to “Make It Happen”. We will miss our Get Fit NH family as we
move to our next chapter of life in Texas and continue with our fitness
goals.

Thank you,
Ronald and Donna.

I am so proud of these two for supporting each other over the years. They have both made significant progress and it has been honor to witness their growth. Good luck to you both and thank you for choosing to train with us. You will forever be a part of the Get Fit NH Family.

Coach Meagan