Meet Dexter!

Meghan, from the 6pm crew, is back this week after her six week break when Dexter was born.

Here’s what Meghan had to say about how training at Get Fit NH Bootcamp kept her healthy during her pregnancy, made for an easier delivery, and kept her at an ideal weight throughout her pregnancy (and apparently afterward 🙂

“Not only has bootcamp helped me to maintain a healthy weight throughout pregnancy but it also enable me to have a quick and easy delivery. I have no stretch marks, I fit into my pre-pregnancy jeans (yes, many of us are groaning right now – Coach Nancy) And I have a happy healthy baby! Thank-you Dean and Nancy”

Congratulations Meghan and Mike, and welcome Dexter!

S3 Success Stories – Cancer Survivor Carol H.

This lady is a true inspiration to everyone who meets her. To see what Carol has achieved since she has been training at Get Fit NH Bootcamp goes well beyond weight loss. To see her gain strength, learn how to balance again, and even win the calf-raises during ladders last week (with 1 and less than 1/2 a calf muscle) is humbling and mind-blowing. Carol is much, much more than a survivor! – Coach Dean

I want to climb a mountain again. For now I will settle for being able to walk to the lacrosse field without limping.

Three years ago I was diagnosed with sarcoma-cancer that threatened to take my leg and my life. I am very fortunate to be working with a wonderful team of doctors who now call me a survivor.  My treatment is complete, and I am now learning the new “normal”. I am finding that the journey involves both physical and psychological challenges.

The physical challenges include long term disabilities related to physical losses, as well as more tangible issues such as chronic pain, fatigue, lymphadema, and nerve damage. Psychologically, cancer is a lonely place and it is difficult to learn the way back.

Last fall I made the decision to reclaim my body, and weight control is an important part of what I needed to do. I had so many issues it was almost overwhelming. So I decided I needed to do one healthy thing and find the best physical solution to manage my symptoms. Cancer survivors are generally expected to live with fatigue, insomnia, and stress.

I find that lack of physical conditioning has a profound effect on how I feel. Before I can accept what cannot be changed I want to heal as well as I can-it is a journey that in so many ways is just now beginning.

When I joined Bootcamp, the activities presented huge challenges for me. At the same time I found the support of the women in my class to be a great strength-the emotional  strength they provide continues to be greater than any of my perceived physical limitations! The S3 Contest came at a perfect time for me: I was in the habit of attending class, I enjoy the socialization, I was having fun, variety is incorporated, I had been meeting some goals…..Now time to actually measure the progress!

I found that documenting my weight and measurements was helpful. Keeping my nutrition log on my kitchen counter was key in managing my eating habits and encouraging myself to choose foods wisely. So I started out to improve my overall health, and now have lost weight, increased my cardiovascular fitness, improved my posture, and have made friends along the way.

My stamina is so much better and I am enjoying life. I have the knowledge, tools, and support to take care of myself. I do have scars that serve to remind me that there is no normal yet, but I am walking to my boys’ lacrosse game without a limp!

– Carol H.

Sizzlin’ Summer Slimdown Winner Jeff Huckins Tells His Story

For those of you who don’t know Jeff, you are really missing out! This guy gets in here and makes it happen every single day! In the story below he references that his weigh in November of 2010 was over 375 pounds. Here we are in mid-May 2011, and at last weigh in Jeff was 286.4. Do the math, that is nearly 90 pounds lost  since that time – that’s Making It Happen! Read Jeff’s story below for his “super secret” strategy 🙂  Great work Jeff! – Coaches Dean & Nancy

Well let’s see here, where do I start? For those of you who do not know me my name is Jeff and I am one of the crazy people who drag themselves into the Concord gym at 5:00 in the morning.

I have fought with my weight my whole life and by November of last year tipped the scale at 375 plus pounds. I knew something had to be done to lose the weight and improve my overall health but also felt as though I had tried, and failed at, everything.

In the preceding year I watched three of my overweight coworkers lose dramatic amounts of weight. Two of them had bypass surgery and took the weight off at an amazing rate. This “easy” option intrigued me and I had many very candid conversations with both people. I even went so far as to attend a seminar at CMC with one of them and get my doctor’s blessing to take the next step.

This option comes with many risks, no guarantee of success, and quite frankly scared the %$*# out of me.  This being said, I was still seriously considering it.

Over the last year, I had also been watching my good friend Karl very closely and started to notice several changes. Even before his weight loss became obvious his lifestyle changes stood out to me. Here he was still eating a good amount of food, although very different types then before and losing weight at a steady rate month after month.

I also would see him leaving work in shorts and a tank top wearing shoes that made him look like he had monkey feet. Dean may know the type of shoes I am talking about. I started talking with Karl more and more about what he was doing and he convinced me with his words and actions that this was for me.

The next thing I am about to say is perhaps one of the more difficult things I have ever had to admit. So here it goes “Karl was right.” There I said it. If you’re reading this Karl take a minute to enjoy it because you are not likely to hear me utter those words again. On a serious note, thank-you for steering me towards boot camp.

It was November and I had made up my mind to give boot camp a try before I move any closer to the surgical option. I figured if nothing else it would help me lose the required amount of weight mandated before I could qualify to go under the knife.

I was on Dean and Nancy’s waiting list for around two months when I got the call to come give boot camp a try for a couple of weeks. I enrolled in the program full time starting the first of January.

I showed up to boot camp on the first morning expecting that it would be like a fat farm or an episode of the biggest loser. Boy was I wrong. The first member I met was Dennis, a tall thin man in incredible shape. In the name of conversation, I asked “what are you doing here?” He answered by saying that this is how he stays in shape during the triathlon off-season.

I remember thinking to myself, “Boy am I in trouble!” and I was right.

I remember watching as the rest of the members walked in, most only slightly overweight if even at all. I was and still am by far the largest person in our class. By the end of the first “active warm-up” I was ready to start cooling down. I did what I could on that first day and left feeling pretty discouraged by the end of class. Everyone was patting my back and telling me I did a great job, and that I started one of the most difficult days that they had ever seen, it will get easier.

Looking back, I greatly appreciate the positive commentary even though the truth may have been being stretched just a little bit. In the past few months I have seen several new people start the program and amazingly, just like me, they have all started on one of the most challenging days ever.

The truth is every day is challenging for me, and everyone in every class. There is no finish line, if you can do ten push-ups today, try for eleven tomorrow. The first two weeks were definitely the most difficult for me. I remember wishing that my truck had an automatic transmission because shifting was so painful. I hurt in places that I didn’t know I had muscles.

Since that first morning my overall health has improved dramatically. I feel that I have made positive and meaningful changes in my life that I can live with long term. I try to follow the PPW (Protein, Produce & Water every 3 hours) concept 95% of the time; however I do allow myself to indulge also. In the past I have been way too strict on myself, causing me to fall off the wagon completely and regain all the weight I would lose along with a few bonus pounds.  Now, if I have cake and ice cream at a birthday party this afternoon I enjoy it and eat a healthy dinner.

As far as exercise goes, I am hooked on boot camp. On the days that we do not have class I  seek out other ways to fill the void. I spent the winter months on snowshoes and am now starting to do some running. I have worked up to the point where I can jog five miles fairly comfortably. I feel that I am a positive person for the most part. I love life and hope that these changes will give me a few extra years of it.

The most important factor for success is anyone’s life is their support structure. Mine is huge and solid as a rock. My wife is a constant source of encouragement. Although I know she would still be there for me if I weighed 500 Lbs., I also know she is pleased to see my overall health improving. Karl’s and Jill’s continuing success and his constant ribbing keep me motivated. Dennis has been so supportive and has encouraged me from day one. The poor man has sacrificed himself as my band-buddy.

Considering the size difference he is incredibly hard to drag across the floor. I am looking forward to doing a 5K with him by the end of the summer. Dean and CJ do an incredible job keeping the workouts fresh and fun. They really do believe in what they are doing and are great at it. I have never met Nancy in person, but according to what I have heard she is a lot like Dean only better at everything she does. (Sorry Dean, but that’s the word on the street)

The entire 5AM class in concord is AWESOME. Thanks for the encouragement and sorry to anyone who has slipped in one of my puddles of sweat. Finally, I would like to thank the five pounds of simulated fat that occasionally shows up for a work out, gets tossed around the room, and motivates us all.

Thanks to everyone, Jeff

S3 Reaches beyond Bootcamp – The Wolfe Family Story

I know it’s the weekend, but this inspirational letter was just too good to keep to ourselves! Thank-you so much to Paulette, Matt and the whole family for taking the time to share not only your results, but so clearly telling us what got you there. Please, please, please take the time to read and absorb what this letter has to share, and then take action. I know it will get to you like it did us! – Coaches Nancy and Dean

Coach Nancy,

I wanted to let you know how thankful I am for you, Get Fit NH Boot Camp and for the S3 contest. S3 couldn’t have come at a better time for our family.  It was just the tool we needed to get our family’s health headed in a better direction.  It was never about the points or the prizes of the contest for us – it was about helping us improve our family’s health.

Our daughter has been under the care of a doctor for nearly a year for her weight and we had tried everything we could think of to get her to improve her eating and exercise more, but nothing seemed to work. As the number on the scale climbed higher, her confidence and motivation plummeted.  Her next doctor appointment was just days before her 13th birthday and I was expecting to go to that appointment, throw up my hands and ask the doctor where to send her for help because I couldn’t help her myself.

I felt just like any parent would feel – it broke my heart to see my child struggle with this and to watch her health and happiness decline as her weight increased.

Then we learned about Get Fit’s S3 Contest. The timing couldn’t have been better!  I had gained some weight last summer and hadn’t been able to drop those pounds and Matt was getting frustrated because, although he wasn’t gaining weight, he wasn’t losing any either.  We felt we had nothing to lose by following the S3 food plan.

Our family has a couple of mottos: “Go Big or Go Home” and “If You’re In, You’re All In”, so when we decided to commit to S3, we decided to go “All In” as a family.

Our new eating plan was certainly met with resistance from our 9 year old son (our “Carb King”) and my diabetic elderly mother (who lives with us and lives vicariously – sugar wise – through my children). But, I was surprised that our daughter was excited to start the plan.

We needed the structure that the S3 plan provided –it took the pressure off of us as her parents – we weren’t the bad guys anymore, we were just following the program.

The week before S3 started, I studied the eating plan (panicked more than a little as I focused on all the foods that weren’t on the plan) I peppered Nancy with questions that all began with “So, we can’t have . . . ?”).

But, once I stopped over-thinking the eating plan and started focusing on the foods that were approved instead of the foods that weren’t, things got so much easier for us.

My friend, Deb and I attended Nancy’s workshop on Meal Management and I began to feel like I could actually do this meal planning and food prep thing.  PPW and eating every 2-3 hours became automatic after a while and we felt like it took the emotion out of eating.  As an emotional eater, this was a HUGE help to me!

We kept track of our measurements as well as tracking our weight throughout the entire 8 weeks of S3, and the three of us lost a combined 42 pounds and over 24 inches overall. By tracking our measurements, I could see that even if I didn’t have a good weigh in, I was still losing inches. That definitely kept me motivated.

The success we all were experiencing began to perpetuate itself. The more weight (and inches) we lost, the better we felt and the more we wanted to stick to the program.  Matt and I certainly experienced success, but it was all secondary to how proud we were of our daughter.  We watched her literally transform before our eyes (both physically and emotionally) in just two short months!

We’re so proud of how well she’s done and all that she’s accomplished and her doctor is as well! And, even our “Carb King” son now enjoys lettuce wraps and more veggies than ever!

A few things that helped us succeed with S3:

We did it as a family: Our family made the commitment to the program, so it made meal prep easier because ¾ of our household was eating the same things.  Our son ate what we were eating almost half the time.

We were “All In”: We tried to stay on plan all the time.  There were no “cheat days” or “cheat meals”.  Although not every single thing we ate was 100% compliant all the time, it was easier for us to stay on track if we aimed for 100% compliance.

We made Meal and Food Prep a priority: S3 was definitely an exercise in organization.  If we had sufficient amounts of compliant food in the house and it was washed and prepped, then we knew had a better chance of success and we were less stressed over what we were going to eat and when.

We kept our food logs: We did our food logs every week.  We only did the required 3 days per week, but we kept our food logs in mind the other four days.  We didn’t want to eat anything that we would feel guilty about writing down and having Nancy see.

We ate at home: We found that eating out was too stressful (Nancy talks about not having control over your food when you eat out) and too expensive.  For example, salads taste better (and are way cheaper) when they’re made at home.

We followed the PPW principle: We tried to make sure that every meal contained protein, produce and we drank lots of water.

We had Great Support: We had the support of each other, of our trainer (thank you, Nancy!) and our friends (thank you, Gretch and Deb!).  Having people around us that were not only encouraging but were working toward the same goals we were was great motivation.

We didn’t stop when S3 ended: We’ve continued to stay on the S3 eating plan even though the contest is over because we have more work to do, more weight to lose and a lifetime of health and happiness to enjoy.

– Matt and Paulette Wolfe

There is no good reason you can’t Make This Happen too  – Get Some!

Rock N’ Race Shirts and Meeting Spot Details

Don’t forget! This Thursday May 19, 2011 is the 9th annual Rock N’ Race 5K run/walk to benefit the Payson Cancer Center at Concord Hospital. You guys are amazing, as the “Get Fit NH & Beat Cancer” team is 71 members strong and has raised $3620 so far – Wow!

Did you know you are participating in the biggest 5k north of New York City? Amazing!

Clock Tower at Bicentennial Square, Concord NH

Here’s the deal for T-shirt and bib pickup: The awesome Mary Davidson of 8:30am Concord will be delivering the whole teams shirts when she comes to class Wednesday morning. Coach Erin and I will be separating them out and bringing the ones that belong to Epsom clients to the Epsom gym by early afternoon. You can pick yours up at the appropriate location after 4:00pm Wednesday.

For those who are not able to pick them up Wednesday, not a problem.  Coach Erin will be at the Get Fit NH Bootcamp Concord after 4:00pm on Thursday as well.  Coaches CJ and Erin will be at the Clock Tower near Eagle Square at 5:30pm Thursday, the day of the race, to distribute the rest of the shirts and get a “Get Fit NH & Beat Cancer” team photo – Thanks!

If you have any questions drop us a line or give us a call.

I am proud of all you all and I know you will have a blast!

Make It Happen,

Coach Dean

Sizzlin’ Summer Slimdown Grand Prize Winners

Earlier in the week we announced our Sizzlin’ Summer Slimdown class contest winner (The Cranking 6:15am Epsom), who is busy designing their own custom class “T”.

In addition we announced the “Perfect People” who all achieved perfect scores – stay tuned for a bonus “Perfect People” cookout for all these superstars in the next few weeks!

Today, however was THE BIG DAY. The day you were all waiting for. The day we unveiled the Grand Prize winner of S3!

Jeff Huckins is an amazing guy. He started training with Get Fit NH Bootcamp after he saw the amazing transformation his co-worker Karl Edelmann achieved last year. He is well on his way to reaching the 100 pounds mark, and more likely well beyond, considering he has lost nearly 80 pounds since January.

The bottom line is Jeff is rock solid consistent. He has not missed one day of training since he has been with us. He has a tremendous positive attitude, I don’t think I have ever seen him have a rotten day. Jeff has made the nutritional changes he knows he needs to – no excuses.

His results over the last 8 weeks are a testament to his consistency – 37.6 pounds! We are working on getting an exclusive interview with him in the very near future!

We also wanted to recognize two ladies who also did an amazing job! In fact we couldn’t let them go unrewarded for all their hard work, so we came up with some additional prizes! 3rd place Abby went home with $50 cold hard cash, and runner-up Carol has $100 in her pocket for her incredible achievement. Check out their incredible results in the picture!

Check out the video of all the festivities!

Three Rules for Easy Eating On The Go

I’m just about to head down to the South for my son Jeff’s wedding. I’ve been planning this trip for weeks (Ask the 5am, they’ve helped me pick my dress). I’ve organized all the kids clothing for that special day, the care of our animals, and hotel stays.

And believe it or not, one more big item I’ve planned for is my eating.

Now you may think I am crazy or wonder – “How do you plan for eating when you don’t know what is available?”

It’s not as hard as you may think!

I’ve been planning the meals I can control, so if the meals I am unable to control are a bit loose by PPW (Protein, Produce and Water) standards it minimizes the damage.  Not that I plan on eating cupcakes, cookies, fudge, and other sweets for 4 days straight, but we will be eating in restaurants where I can’t control quite as much as I can at home.

Here are my three rules to easy eating while on vacation. (Thank you Michael Pollan for the fantastic ideas in your book “Food Rules”- great read for anyone!)

1. Eat foods that you can visualize in their raw state. If I’m not able to identify where a particular food came from, I’m going to avoid it. At restaurants that means avoiding foods covered in goop and sauces. Where does that cheese like substance come from anyway? Fried food? Not happening. I don’t know what is in the coating or what they fry it in (not to mention the fat and calories). That leaves me with very few choices, so I’ll probably starve, right? No way! Think of all the grilled items, vegetables, fruits, fish, eggs and more I can have. There are thousands of varieties of vegetables and fruit alone. Open your mind and mouth to new possibilities!
2. Eat foods that spoil quickly. If a food like substance can stay on the shelf for years it is probably very low in nutrients. If a rodent will not even go after it, do we really want to put it in our mouth?
3. Eat foods your grandmother (great-grandmother?) would recognize. I love my grandmother; she was a wonderful cook. But I’m sure if she looked at a Go-Gurt  she’d have no idea what to do with it. What about Spam, Velveeta, or powdered drink mixes? She did her cooking with items readily found in her area, that she grew herself, or my grandfather fished or hunted. She didn’t have a whole lot shipped from other countries, or items found out of season in her area. I’m going to imagine sitting at her table each time I eat.

So that’s my plan. I’m going to eat fresh foods that are easy to recognize (before and after they are cooked) that my grandmother would enjoy.

That’s not so hard, is it?

Ask me how I did when I get back!

Make It Happen,

Coach Nancy

What S3 has done for Judy

S3 has taught me some incredible things!!!

I now have a plan that works for the times I’m tired, surprises that mess up metabolism, can’t sleep because I’m hungry, etc. so I don’t go crazy/binge. I’m thinking a lot more like the thin person I used to be. Even when it’s a cheat meal I don’t eat anywhere near as much as before. I also hear/feel the little signs that 2 1/2 – 3 hours have passed so that I don’t totally forget to eat/keep my metabolism in order.

So thank you thank you thank you!!! Because of you, I’m well on my way to being a healthy weight again only I’ll be much stronger too – an added bene! Today I could do the step-ups without having to hold onto the wall at all to help step-up; I could do the front raises with 10lb weights the whole time (the 5lb just-in-case DB’s just sat!).

Judy Swain – Get Fit NH Bootcamp Epsom 6:15am

Last Call For The Rock ‘N Race!

Online registration closes on Wednesday May 11 at Midnight!

We are 71 strong and have raised over $3400 – Amazing!

Last chance to register: Click Here

Sizzlin’ Summer Slimdown Class Contest Winners

The 6:15 Make it Happen Crew

Guess Who! 🙂

The 6:15am Epsom class absolutely cranked this contest! It was possible to score 220 points each, and this class averaged 175 points – that is amazing and a testament to sticking together and making it happen!

Can’t wait to see the “T” design they come up with – they have big shoes too fill, last years winning shirt was the bomb!

Congrats Guys – Keep Up The Great Work!