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Archive for the ‘Weight Loss’ Category

Surviving Mommyhood

Sunday, February 28th, 2010

Mother of four, Rebekah V., with Team 0600

Rebekah joined the IC to lose her post-baby weight and to just get in shape after a significant hiatus from exercise… well, do four children really count as a hiatus? Coming from someone who loves watching Star Wars as much as she loves reading Pride and Prejudice, is it any surprise that Rebekah fits right in around here?

Immediately following her first intro session, Jessica made a quick prediction about Rebekah… Jess said, “She has the right attitude to reach all of her fitness goals and then some. I think she’ll be very successful.” Now that Rebekah has proven Jessica right by losing close to 10 pounds, Rebekah’s got more big goals to think about this month in hopes of winning the latest IC Challenge. In the meantime, please feel free to give her a High 5 next time you see her walking back to her car with an endorphin glow!

Thank you for the inspiration Rebekah!

Posted in Before & After, Community Highlights, Group Workouts, Parents, People, Postpartum Comeback, Success Stories, Weight Loss | 7 Comments »

Retail Therapy Redefined

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010

3 months into IC Boot Camp / One year later

To kick off our next Fat Loss Challenge of 2010, we are featuring the incredible transformation of Karen King to get you motivated. In a candid interview with Maya, she opens up about what it took to lose 40 pounds without going on a strict diet or beating herself up over numbers on the scale. How did she do it and make front page news on Athleta?

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Back by popular demand, here are the NEW IC Challenges for 2010:

-60 Day Fat Loss Challenge: member with greatest percentage lost receives six months of Bootcamp!

-Performance Challenge: member with greatest number of repetitions of squats, push-ups, and sit-ups receives one month of Flex Access!

Registration details will be announced in class this week. IC Challenges start on February 1st!

Posted in Before & After, Community Highlights, Group Workouts, Parents, People, Success Stories, Weight Loss, Working Smart | 13 Comments »

Redefine

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

karenking

We received this wonderful and inspiring passage from Karen King this morning. Karen is another IC Supermom, Boot Camp die-hard, and weight loss winner. Thank you for sharing Karen!

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“I have recently re-learned one of life’s fun little lessons: success is 10% talent and 90% perseverance. And of course, success is a moving target.

Being a big, tall girl in a family of petite women, I am not what you’d call best friends with weights, scales, and measurements. So, when I joined the Ice Chamber just about exactly a year ago, I suffered through the original weigh-in, etc., then did my very best to ignore the stats of 196 lbs., 35.2 BF, and 28.9 BMI. I set my sight on “improving my diet” (read changing my diet as little as possible!), “just feeling better and stronger” … and maybe squeezing into those size 14 jeans that were too tight.

Well, after a year, I’m still no better friends with the old scale (I am blissfully ignorant of how much I weigh), but I do feel MUCH better and stronger. And, guess what? Those size 14 jeans, fit, then were loose, then were just plain too big. I went shopping a few weeks ago. I bought and comfortably wear a size 6!

I am very grateful to you all for your encouragement and skill. And I’m grateful to the whole 10 AM and now 9 AM crews for inspiring me, challenging me, and the occasional high five.

Now let’s redefine success again!”

Posted in Community Highlights, Parents, People, Success Stories, Weight Loss | 12 Comments »

Dedicated to Excellence

Saturday, September 26th, 2009

quinpress

Quinn is another amazing Flex member who comes to class with a full spirit and tons of supportive energy. Not surprisingly, he is achieving nearly every one of his personal fitness goals: an increase in lean muscle mass and a decrease in body fat, but most importantly a greater sense of health and wellness. Today, we salute you Quinn!

Posted in People, Success Stories, Weight Loss, Working Smart | 8 Comments »

The Incredible Shrinking Man

Thursday, August 20th, 2009

Bart has lost so much weight that we’ve frankly given up on tracking it!

In addition to the healthy new body, Bart’s performance has shot through the roof. When he started 10 months ago, he could barely do push-ups. Today, he was seen pumping out multiple sets of bicycle pull-ups.

Here he is seen with Team 1000 cohort Andrea, who is also responsible for keep Bart moving at “cheetah pace” during every workout. Keep up the great work. We are very proud.

Posted in Community Highlights, People, Weight Loss | 11 Comments »

More Weight Loss Winners

Monday, August 10th, 2009

The people of the IC are the real stars and heroes that continue to inspire and motivate our community. It was wonderful to catch up with you guys this morning. I have missed hearing your incredible stories of triumph! It’s not that I have forgotten about my peeps — trust me on that one, I have just been very busy behind the scenes. Btw, no, I’m not pregnant, despite the ease in which my body weight fluctuates. Luckily, I have already put my emotional eating issues on the table for you to devour so I can continue being my authentic self around you. One thing I know for certain is that coping with an emotional relationship with food is dynamic (sometimes great, sometimes horrible) and is dependent upon far more than exercise. But, and this is a big butt (hello), exercise always pulls me through my worst days. It reminds me how great my body is to me and how lucky I am to be in it. Today, this message was most clearly sent by two Ice Chamber members, Ruth Pardee and Amanda Tung.

ruth

We last heard from Ruth a couple of months ago when we published our version of college girls gone wild… Ha, I knew you’d look. Remember how determined she was to meet her weight loss goals this summer at the IC? Well, with the support of her parents, IC celebs Stephanie and Craig, Ruth ended up losing 30 pounds in time for her Fall semester at Vassar (sadly, her last day with us is Wednesday). Congratulations on meeting your weight loss goal Ruth! What a source of inspiration you have been to your fellow 6 am bootcampers! You will be greatly missed.

amanda

Amanda joined the IC in March 2009. She’s still new at this in many respects, but you’d never know it based on her stats! In that short amount of time, she has lost 20 pounds and what I appreciate most about talking to Amanda this morning is her no-nonsense honesty. “I was very inspired by your postpartum comeback video,” she told me, “but my story isn’t about pregnancy… I went through a bad breakup.” Say no more Amanda. We salute you!

We would also like to send a special thank you to Danielle for providing unwavering support and guidance to everyone at the IC, but particularly to Ruth and Amanda this summer.

-Maya

Posted in Community Highlights, Success Stories, Weight Loss, Working Smart | 4 Comments »

Quiet Relief

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

cd1

After connecting with the 10′amers yesterday, I was able to catch-up with several IC veterans I haven’t seen in recent weeks. First off, from outward appearances you guys have really reshaped your physiques since I last saw you! Even those of you who complained to me about not meeting your weight loss goals should know with absolute certainty that your hard work at the IC is obviously paying off. Jessica and I conversed in private afterward about how cool it is to see your developing triceps, deltoids, and of course best of all, the ‘toosh’ lifts. …and don’t get us started on your athletic achievements, which are nothing short of amazing. Push-ups and pull-ups galore! Nearly every person I spoke to yesterday had the most delicious glow of health beaming off of their face.

The reason I chose this picture however, is because I learned during some of those brief conversations between classes that lots of folks are going through challenging times these days. A few of us are nursing loved ones through their final breaths of life or are already in mourning, others are desperate to conceive new life, some are painfully ending relationships, and nearly everyone is nervous about the financial current swirling the globe.

I know from my own experience that being an ideal weight, size, and shape are big reasons we all work out and care about our health as fanatically as we do, but I also want to remind us of moments like the one captured here, when simply cultivating a brief moment of inner quiet and sharing a collective intention of peace can be just as vital to our wellbeing as improving the image staring back at us in the mirror.

-Maya

Posted in Deep Thoughts, Weight Loss | 5 Comments »

More Than Fat Loss

Monday, March 30th, 2009

Click Image to Enlarge

Our Body Change Challenge was our most self-directed event to date. It was also one of our most successful because it helped illuminate the diversity of the “it” factor here at the IC. How can five people (Tracy Lenihan was too ill to take the recent photo) on five different diet plans achieve such amazing results in the same amount of time (60 days)? Each one of these winners prioritized performance & nutrition on their own terms and discovered what worked best for their needs along the way. We welcome you to initiate a dialogue with any of them about their path to success because supporting and learning from each other is part of the magic of this community. In the meantime, check out this awesome “after” photo…

Click Image to Enlarge

What have you gained in this process?

Jason: “While dropping a whopping 18 lbs. (to date mind you!), I have greatly increased my physical strength, learned good eating habits, and most importantly, gained confidence in myself. (CHEESY, but true).”

Tracy: “I have a great sense of accomplishment. I feel so much better about my body, and happier to ‘be in it.’ Also, I have a deeper desire and commitment to exercising and challenging myself physically.”

Mary: “It’s very important for me to reach my goals with regard to weight and fitness, but now my focus is to be consistent in my attendance. I’m glad to have this healthy outlet to relieve stress and feel better emotionally.”

Craig: “I’m back in the saddle.”

Posted in Before & After, Challenges, Community Highlights, Parents, People, Success Stories, Weight Loss | 7 Comments »

Knowing

Tuesday, March 24th, 2009

Core work

Saturday Core group getting busy: band circle intervals mixed with DB clean and press.
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total weight lost

TOTAL amount of pounds shed at the IC by 61 people in 60 days: 310.5 lbs

Average % Decrease in Body Fat: 5.72

Average Weight Lost (lbs.): 5.09

Posted in Abs, Exercises & Movements, Weight Loss | 1 Comment »

Clothes Tell the Story

Monday, March 16th, 2009

Earlier this week I asked you what an ideal weight for myself might be, you were noncommittal and tried to focus me on other things instead. Do I feel good? Do I have lots of energy? Specifically, one of the things I remember you said was “If your clothes fit…” Let me finish that thought for you now.

No. They don’t.

Yesterday I started going through my closet and removing the things that were too big. This picture (in which Kaia kindly posed to establish perspective) is what I took out. And actually this isn’t everything. I had to keep a few things so I’d still have something to wear (I may work at UC Berkeley but even they draw the line at nakedness sometimes…) I am not a shopper or a clothes horse (athletic apparel accepted)– this stack represents a pretty good snapshot of what was in my closet. Now it’s full of empty hangers.

I was probably within range of my current weight in college 15 years ago, but I question whether I looked or felt this good. Sometimes I don’t even think I was this strong. My problem then was that I tended to balance out being a Division I athlete with my general all-around lazy attitude towards everything, an attitude that surfaced whenever I could get away with it– from eating and drinking habits, to dogging it in workouts. Now? Maybe I’ve learned a few things.

So I get what you were trying to say. My weight will never tell the whole story. But I think my clothes are starting to.

-Mel Dixon

Posted in Deep Thoughts, Parents, People, Postpartum Comeback, Weight Loss, Working Smart | 6 Comments »