What a difference a year makes!

One year on Editor Gary Skentelbery completes his third Six Week BPM challenge

FOR much of my adult life my weight has been an issue – mainly due to eating the wrong foods at the wrong time and not getting enough exercise.

Getting in late at night after a long day at work – the last thing i wanted to do was go the gym! In fact to be honest the gym has never really been my favourite place.

Then I discovered the Six Week BPM Challenge based at the Park Royal Hotel in Stretton – and my life changed – hopefully forever!

Now one year on, I have completed my third Six Week Challenge, lost around 34 lbs of body weight, mainly body fat and overall improved my posture and fitness.

So what exactly is the BPM Six week challenge?

Created by Josh Screawn and Josh Sudlow, both experience PTs, it is the proven science of heart-rate training, in a group fitness environment where you will be encouraged by like-minded people working towards your own goals.

As well as working from an effective exercise and nutrition program designed by BPM coaches, you learn new ways to exercise safely and how to train towards your specific goal. You will also be introduced to a new approach to nutrition, so you can finally stop feeling like you’re on a never ending diet.

Utilising a heartrate monitor your coach (I was lucky or unlucky enough to have Josh 2) will assess your current fitness levels, the efficiency in which you recover, how hard you are working which allows him to give you accurate feedback of when to push you or ease off going from the data provided.

The challenge involves 1 to 1 personal training sessions while the circuit training classes are designed to suit individual fitness levels and are programmed to progress each week.

Previously every diet and exercise regime I have tried in the past has only ever given me a short term weight loss. As soon as I returned to my normal routines the weight gradually crept back on.

Weight issues are generally brought on by your lifestyle, so it was important for me to make some lifestyle changes to ensure I got the best results, with the aim of keeping the weight off permanently, without the need of any silly dieting.

In the grand scheme of things six weeks is not a long time – and although significant weight loss can be achieved quiet quickly, it also needs to be done carefully.

Whatever you do don’t cut fat out of your diet completely. There are healthy fats which your body needs, especially if you arer exercising.

Cutting fat out completely in the past cost me my gallbladder at a very young age! If you stop eating fat your gallbladder stops functiong properly and you end up with very painful gallstones!

Getting back to the Six Week Challenge I can remember my first PT session left me short of breath, on my knees – and apparently I was quite vocal. My first circuit training, which had filled me with fear, actually turned out to be fun – so much so by the half way stage of the challenge I was keen to do both circuit training sessions at the weekend.

The results opf the first challenge were outstanding. In just six short weeks I shed nearly 20lb in body fat, nearly a stone in overall weight, while improving my hydration and resting pulse, which was 67 bpm when I started and can nowbe as low as 54 bpm.

On the Second Challenge I lost a further 7lb and then a similar amount on my third one – and as you can see from the before and after pictures – quite a transformation!

The key to my success – stepping up my exercise and most importantly watching those all-important calories – as when I had a blast at the weekends – Josh found out pretty quickly when I got on the scales!

It’s not rocket science, if you put in too many calories and don’t burn them off – you will bulge!

The old saying “you are what you eat” is pretty much spot on for most of us! But you can and should still enjoy your food and drink as life is for living!

What thes Challenges have done for me is focus me on the importance of exercise to stay fit and healthy and more importantly not to exceed my calories too much!

But the most satisfying thing is if you do some moderate exercise a few times a week – you can have a pretty high calorie goal and eat pretty much what you want in moderation.

It has helped my change my lifestyle – and hopefully i will enjoy the benefits for a long time to come!