 Lance Thompson - Front
 Lance Thompson - Back
 Wayne Cottam - Front
 Wayne Cottam - Back
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Round Two Winners; Lance Thompson and Wayne Cottam
Round Two 2009 Winner: Lance Thompson (Manukau, Auckland)
Category: Fatloss
Gym: Trust Fitness Centre, Trust Stadium Waitakere
Weight Loss: 9.7kgs
Body Fat Loss: 18%
Body For Life Lifestyle Pack: Fatloss Pack
Products Used: Myoplex bars, Everlean capsules, Whey Protein, Muscle Armour, Myoplex Shakes
Please note there were no entries in the SIZE AND STRENGTH category.
My Inner Transformation – the Body for Life Journey
Sitting in my car – where I seemed to spend half my life – eating another mince and cheese pie (washed down with a coke) it hit me. Not the pie, but the idea that this lifestyle of fast food and soft drinks was just ‘how it was’ and nothing could really change it. What a bizarre thought! The idea that inanimate objects could control how I looked, how I felt, and how quickly I could ascend a flight of stairs was crazy! But it was me.
My mind drifted back to a rather dusty book filing a space on my bookcase – Bill Phillips and his crazy idea. Maybe, just be, it would work on me.
Make a decision! I make decisions every day in my job and yet deciding to do something for myself (other than buy another pie!) was making my mind do somersaults. What if I fail? What if I succeed? Finally, with my half-eaten pie going cold in my hand I made the call that would change my life forever – I’m going to do this thing.
My job involves working in a non-for-profit organisation leading a team of 1,1100 volunteers who work with prisoners, their families, victims of crime and those people who have had their lives decimated by crime in some way. It focuses on bringing healing and restoration into traumatic and lost situations. So, now I was about to start to try to bring healing into my own life. I hated the way I looked and how I felt.
Within the first week I was so tempted to quit – filled with excuses of why it wouldn’t work for me. But resistance became persistence and I started seeing little results. My belt buckle moved in one notch! I didn’t feel like I was dying after walking up our steep driveway. It works! It wasn’t rocket science, there’s no magic formula, but the idea that never being hungry could make me lose weight blew my mind!
My first weights workout had me bench-pressing 40kgs at intensity 10, my last workout I was benching 135kgs! Doing even one pull-up was only a dream at the outset!
And then others began to notice I looked different! Wow.
As I stood in my lounge-room and had the ‘after’ photos done I felt better than I had since I was a schoolboy. Not because of how I looked or that I was fitter than I was 12 weeks earlier – but because I had stuck to the decision I had made. I believe life is defined by the decisions you make – and how you choose to make decisions is the one thing each of us control for ourselves.
My outlook on life has changed dramatically since beginning this challenge. Instead of an acceptance of mediocrity and a fear of failure, I approach things with an excitement and determination that believes all things can be achieved, if we dare to dream – and dream big. To me, the BFL challenge is much more than a body-building competition; it is a metaphor for a successful life. In 12 weeks you can experience and overcome setbacks and disappointments, delight in achievements, push hard for goals, focus on developing discipline in the ‘small’ things , build a spirit of excellence and learn to give back to others.
Lance Thompson (August 2009)
Round Two 2009 Winner: Wayne Cottam
Category: Lean and Toned/Lean and Strong
Gym: Tony Martins Sports Connection
Weight Loss: 5.7kgs
Body Fat Loss: 15.8%
Body For Life Lifestyle Pack: Lean and Strong Pack
Products Used: Myoplex carb control bars, Thermodynamix capsules, 100% Whey Protein, Myoplex Original Shakes, Phosphagen
Please note there were no entries in the SIZE AND STRENGTH category.
My Inner Transformation – the Body for Life Journey
For the last few years now I have wanted to get myself fitter and healthier, but the same old things just kept on happening. I would say to myself “ok its summer in 10 weeks” so I would start to go for a run every night, but after a few days I would be tired and think, I’ll go out tomorrow. It would go on like this for about two or three weeks and work would get busy so it would be an excuse for me to say “yeah I’ll go out tomorrow” but it never happened.
After many years of procrastinating I brought the Body for Life book and started to read it. After only getting half way through, I began to get lazy again, and never finished it. Early 2009 my wife and I were having a clean out and I found the book again, I was determined to finish it. A few days after I had finished the book I was more inspired to do something about my weight, so I went to the body for life website. In doing this I found out that there was only a few days left for me to be able to start my challenge, this was it, no more turning away. I made the decision to do it.
The first week of my challenge was fairly easy as it was something new and exciting. I was enjoying it, until the day came to have my first photo taken and body fat test done. The results were depressing (78kg and 24% body fat) and as for the photo, I could not believe that I had not noticed how overweight and unfit I was now. This was the wakeup call I had been waiting for.
I set myself some goals to reduce my body fat by 10% and eat 6 healthy meals a day over the next 6 weeks, so for the next couple of weeks I was more determined than ever to achieve my goals. I was at the gym every day and I now had a proper meal plan to go by, instead of missing out on meals, and my beers were now replaced by water and protein shakes. Before I knew it the 6 weeks were up, I could not believe the change, more energy, more motivation and more determined. I had achieved my first 2 goals and was now half way through.
The next few weeks flew past and the comments stared to come back from friends and family about how good I was looking and what a difference from the last time they saw me (before my challenge).
After 10 weeks I had realized that the end was near and I was starting to think what I will do at the end of my challenge. It didn’t take me long to realize that I would just keep on going with healthy eating and exercise daily. I now have a better outlook on life, my own wellbeing and others.
At the end of my challenge my results were unbelievable:
Weight lost: 5.7kg
Body fat: from 24% to 8%
Total fat lost: 11.9kg
Lean muscle gained: 6.5kg
So I would like to thank ‘body for life’, my wife (Sue), 2 children (Matthew and Rachel) and my trainer Tony and the team at Real Nutrition for changing my life around.
Just remember “motivation is what gets you started, but its habit that keeps you going’
Wayne Cottam
