Sweet friends,
After an incredible and blessed holiday season, the 2018 Holiday Extravaganza has finally come to an end! Hearing your stories and sharing your excitement with you has been so inspirational. Way to stay strong throughout the holidays and live transformed!
Congratulations to everyone who entered the challenge! We are so proud of you for staying accountable. We are so excited to announce this year’s holiday extravaganza winners! Here are the final results:
Paige Colquitt
Catherine Warner
Krista McLean
Katie Dillard
Allison Abernathy
Fran Hann
Lisa Shirreffs
Eliz Johnson
Kathy Cousart
Pam Matthews
Check out our first place spotlight below for inspiration to help you stay motivated to live transformed in body, mind and spirit. We are so blessed by Paige’s words and motivated by her transformation. Our prayer is that this ignites a spark in you to live transformed and accomplish your goals in 2019!
First Place Winner - Paige Colquitt
“I love competition… not so much competing against others, but competing against myself. I love trying to beat my own score or trying to do better with my goals from one week to the next. So when Caroline mentioned the Holiday Extravaganza, I was all in! I knew losing some pounds would be great, but I was actually more concerned with just feeling better. Some days I ate pretty well, but on the days I didn’t, I felt downright yucky. I felt bloated, was experiencing some digestive issues, and felt some joint pain. I knew certain foods I was putting in my body were causing this. Cleaning up my act with food choices became my priority during the holidays. I knew if I could improve my nutrition during the hardest eating time of the year, I could set myself up for success when 2019 rolled around.
My name is Paige Colquitt and I’m a retired kindergarten teacher. I love to read, hike, bike, paddle board, garden, volunteer, and I especially love to cook. With the cooking, I’ve tended in the past to focus on creating lots of ‘southern dishes,’ because those are the recipes I grew up eating. I knew I needed to change that. Since coming to TransFit over a year and a half ago, I do feel as if I have gotten better with creating and eating healthier meals and snacks. Being consistent, however, has been an obstacle. I would eat salads during the week, but I would scarf down pizza or fried pork chops on the weekend. Or I would do great with my water intake for four days straight, then hardly pick up the water bottle the next four days. It’s like I had all the pieces of the puzzle (knowing what I needed to do) but the pieces weren’t fitting together to complete the entire puzzle.
This past fall during our Bible Study, Pam Adams recommended a book to me entitled Made to Crave by Lysa TerKeurst. The premise of the book is to crave God, not food, and therefore, allow God to have control over this area of your life. After reading the book (I highly recommend it!), I realized that is what I needed to do because it certainly wasn’t working with me being in charge. Reading this book has changed my perspective on food. Now before I eat something, I ask, “God, is this something you want me to put in my mouth?” I’m not perfect by any means, but putting God above food has been a huge paradigm shift for me.”
“Caroline mentions a word often that I’ve actually adopted as my word for 2019 … INTENTIONALITY. I’ve intentionally started looking on Pinterest for clean-eating recipes. I’ve intentionally planned my meals ahead for the week by writing them down, making sure my fridge is stocked with the ingredients, and making it a point to stick to my meal plans each day, unless some emergency of some sort comes up. My breakfasts have consisted of smoothies (cinnamon almond is my favorite), Greek yogurt with berries and walnuts, and egg muffins. Salads with lots of fresh veggies and a protein are a must now for lunch. And dinner is usually a slice of lean meat with lots of vegetables (broccoli and brussels sprouts are my favorites). I’ve loved trying out new recipes on Pinterest like Italian Beef Soup or One Pan Turkey Meatballs with veggies. Sweet potatoes have become one of my favorites now … for breakfast, in my salad, or as a snack! I’ve limited my simple carbs to just fruits and even introduced ghee and almond butter into my diet. Saying goodbye to peanut butter has been hard! I intentionally make it a point to carry my water bottle with me everywhere now, getting in at least 80 ounces of water each day. My body feels so much better now, and I’m sleeping more soundly too!
My husband and I visited New Orleans during the holidays so I knew that would be the true test of my eating. You can’t think of New Orleans without thinking of all that good food! I just gave it to God and took it one day at a time. I brought my own snacks (Lara Bars and almonds) and enjoyed the food, just making sure I ate small portions. I think all the walking in the city helped too! Again, just trying to be intentional with my choices helped a lot.
Something else that was very beneficial was the weight check-in with Caroline each Monday morning after class. She was (and is) such a great encourager whether I met my goal each week or not. She continued to remind me that it’s not just about the weight, it’s about seeing myself the way God sees me. She also reminded me that transformation is a process that occurs over time. That has stuck with me a lot because it is so true. It does not happen overnight.
I love the Transformer classes! I’m an early bird so I normally attend the 5:30 a.m. class. It gets my day off to a fantastic start. On the other days, I get in my cardio swimming laps at Ramsey. Swimming is such a wonderful all-over workout! Caroline’s exercises in the back of her Bible Study book are awesome too. Those came in handy when I was in New Orleans.
It has not been a perfect last couple of weeks but I have tried to put more consistency and intentionality in what I do when it comes to food. Allowing God to be in the driver’s seat has been a game changer as well. I look forward to continuing this journey of good health, exercise, and nutrition! And I’m so thankful for TransFit and the change it has instilled in my life!” -Paige
WOW, Paige! We are so inspired by your journey! Living transformed is an ongoing process and Paige shows us exactly how capable we all are of meeting our goals this year one day at a time!
For more inspiration, check out our YouTube channel and app for free recipes and workouts!
Another Winner - Krista McLean
“The Holiday Extravaganza came at just the right time! I felt yucky and my clothes were just not fitting the way they should anymore! So, I decided to enter the challenge and really go for it! First step was to cut out the Dr. Pepper! Once I did that the rest of the sugar was easy to avoid. I cut out almost all sugar, pasta, bread (except for the occasional splurge) and began training for a half marathon. All of that, especially the changes in my diet are what worked for me! I feel so much better and my pants fit again!” -Krista
While we take in these words of encouragement and inspiration, remember it’s not too late to purchase our January Jump Start packages! We would love to have you join us in our journey towards a healthy lifestyle this year. This can be purchased on our FREE APP or on the website by clicking the button below!
We encourage you to fill out our 2019 goals sheet to help you stay accountable this year! Fill this sheet out and hang it somewhere as a daily reminder that you can do it! You can download and print the sheet HERE or ask us to give you one when you come into the studio!
Don’t forget about our awesome events going on in January!
Bible Study starts Thursday January 24th! It will be on held on Thursdays from 12 - 1 pm. The cost of the book is $20 and you can sign up on our app!
Middle School Girls Sessions will begin this Wednesday, January 16th from 4:15 - 5:15 pm! These sessions are for 4th - 7th grade girls. You can sign your girls up for sessions on our app!
Keep praying over your dreams and goals for 2019 and remember we are here to serve you! If you have any questions or want to schedule a on-on-one counseling session, please email us at transfitathens@gmail.com.
Blessings,
Team TransFit
