Hello team Gutbusters.

I will be your coach again for this month. Amy ( @GoBlue1981. ) is captain, Sandra ( @smc92079. ) is continuing as co-captain. My role here is to help motivate, encourage and help Amy keep this team as the best performing team in The Biggest Loser challenge.

I am also the primary moderator for the TBL challenge. I rely heavily on the support of the team captains to make this successful as it is too much for one person to do alone.

Amy ( @GoBlue1981. ) has been a great captain for the last month and I am glad she is continuing for this month. Captain is a big job and requires a daily time commitment of about 30 minutes reading and responding to the thread and entering weights into the spreadsheet. The motivational role a captain plays cannot be underestimated in the success of all members of the team.

As coach, I am running an optional mini-challenge within the Gutbusters team again this month.

Now an introduction:

I am a happily married 49yo father of one. I live in Melbourne Australia. I am passionate about helping people. Late August last year I passed my minimum goal weight (70kg - down from 91.5kg) and am now trying to maintain without bouncing back too far. I achieved the reduction in 4 months (so 40+ lbs in 4 months).

As I am now actively trying to NOT lose weight. At BMI 22.4 and less than 11% body fat, it would be crazy (if not dangerous) for me to try lose more weight.

(Why would someone not losing weight want to run a weight loss challenge? Because it helps so many people and I feel I have so much to share. I learned so much losing weight that I seems a shame to not have it benefit others.).

About the mini-challenge.

First and foremost is that participation in this challenge is optional. It's up to you as to whether you want to try this. (If you take the attitude that "this is not what I signed up for", that is up to you).

I used the principles of this challenge to win July (6.29% - down 10.8 lbs) and August (6.44% - down 10.4 lbs). Following this challenge does work.

The challenge is based on another challenge on MFP called UAC (ultimate accountability challenge). The way UAC works is that the aim is to follow 5 basic rules.

1. Track EVERYTHING you eat that has calories on MFP.
2. Stay inside your allocated daily budget.
3. Do at least 20 minutes of activity a day (anything: walk, run, cycle, swim, gardening, housework, yoga, gym, etc.. As long as it gets you active and off the couch)
4. 1 pass day permitted per week (went over calories, could not track, not enough exercise, intentional pass)
5. Check in daily (tracking yes/no, calories yes/no, exercise yes/no).

End of the week. those who have managed to keep to plan for 6 out of 7 days are recognised in the thread as being part of the weekly "winners circle".


Using this strategy of consistent tracking and minimal exercise I have set a lifestyle plan that should keep me in my target weight range. (has for the last month )

I liked this strategy as:

• No dietary restrictions. (fine for vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, paleo, carnivore, etc...)
• Works with whatever strategy you may want to follow. (keto, 5:2, 16:8, atkins, etc..).
• You set your own daily budget (MFP helps with this).
• You choose you own exercise and intensity (no step limit, no exercises you cannot or should not do, 20 mins of gardening counts as much as a 10mile run).
• Is not weight based (as weight fluctuates day by day).
• Can continue beyond weight loss.

Daily check in keeps you in touch with those doing similar. Longer term weight management is hard to do on your own.

It also has frequent resets (as in a circle each week).

It works on an honor system. Being honest with yourself and others is a key to making things work.

Consistency and new habits have been shown the only long term successful way to change weight. We all want the progress made here to last a lifetime.

You will find out more from me as the weeks go on. I have done A LOT of research into weight loss, diets, health and strength. I will happily share what I have learned with the group.

My commitment to this group is to post my daily results for this accountability tracking (and help out where I can).


I also post a daily strength challenge.

The daily strength challenge is additional to the 20 mins exercise in the mini-challenge. It is designed to:

• build lean muscle (not bulk).
• be quick (5 mins).
• use no equipment (bodyweight only) and minimal space.
• no impact so gentle on joints.
• cycle through arms, legs and core with enough recovery time to get best results.

Building lean muscle is one of the best ways to lose weight as lean muscle burns energy while at rest (sleep and lose weight ).

I will start cross posting my daily status posts into this thread.


So Welcome April Gutbusters.

biche896 wrote: »

This is my first time in this challenge and I'm super excited to be part of this.

My weigh in was 65.4kgs or 144.2lbs. My goal for end of April is 60kgs or 132.3lbs. Since mid Jan, I've dropped 5kgs already and although in the last week I went a bit off track with my eating, I'm ready to continue my weight loss journey.

In regards to exercise, I'm pretty good with it. I lift about 5 days a week, do c25k 3 times a week and walk 10k steps pretty much every day.

Food wise though ...still finding better ways to discipline myself and ensure I only eat within my macros!

@biche896. Welcome. and best of luck.

I can see you are working very hard. Clean eating along with exercise is the way to drop weight (as you know).

60kg is a little ambitious for the month (that is 8% from the numbers given). 62.2kg by end April is more achievable as that is 5% (and even that will be VERY difficult).

Just a note of caution. Please do not try drop below healthy BMI (22.5). It is possible to go too low. Also, with the amount of exercise you are doing, you will have a decent amount of lean muscle, so you would already be heavier than size would imply.

BMI 22.5 at 60kg means your height would be 5"4 (or 162cm). Unless you have a specific slim build, low BMI's should be avoided. You NEED to carry a certain amount of fat to remain healthy. (women essential bf% is 10-13% : men essential bf% is 2-5%)

I am at BMI 21.7 and am considered athletic and dangerously close to underweight (<10% BF). I have to take care not to lose more weight.

biche896 wrote: »

Thanks @craigo3154 . I'm looking forward to doing the mini UAC challenge and daily workouts. Will be starting from today.

I"m actually 162cm so at 60kgs I'll still be in my healthy BMI and weight range. Doctor told me I could afford to go down to 55kgs but historically my body has only managed to get down to 60kgs with a healthy lifestyle, so i'm sticking to 60kgs.

But my body fat is currently at 30.5%! So technically still overweight..I'm not quite sure how that works??? I do know I hold a lot of fat around my stomach.. I cant spot reduce so I"m just hoping with time the fat will go away.

@biche896. Fantastic to hear. Look forward to hearing more from you.

BF% of 30.5 is actually the high end of acceptable for your height (assuming average build). 60kg should put you to the low end of acceptable, pushing towards fitness category. 55kg would put you at the top end of athletic (and would be a huge struggle to maintain).

It is correct you cannot spot reduce. However, as you lose body fat it will reduce the waist. Best (and quickest fat) to reduce is the visceral fat (around the organs). This tends to go reduce first as it is the closest to the organs that initiate the fat to energy chemistry (it is also the quickest to return). Next to reduce is the subcutaneous fat.

Measuring is by far the best way to track progress (hips, waist, chest). Excess water tends to accumulate more in the extremities (where you would not measure) and is the main cause of weight (scale) fluctuations.

The strength work you are doing is great, but the biggest words of wisdom are that "you cannot out exercise a bad diet". Get the diet right and usually the weight takes care of itself. (For me, I must have a slight gluten intolerance, as when I substantially reduced my intake of wheat based products, the weight just fell off and stayed off - found this through daily weighing, logging and experimentation - correlating what I ate with how I felt and how the weight moved gave me the answers right for me).

Welcome and I hope you have a great month.

March 28
Exercised?: Yes. 5km in 38mins (hills)
Calories?: Yes
Tracked?: Yes

Good pace walk today. Was warm and felt exhausted afterwards.

Not much else to report today.




Daily Strength challenge

Challenge for March 28 is dips ()

3 sets

• First set till the point where you can do no more, wait 2 mins
• Second set of 60% of the number you did in the first set (half, then another 10%), wait 2 mins
• Third set of 50% of the number you did in the first set (half)

March 30
Exercised?: Yes. 6km in 50mins (hills)
Calories?: Yes
Tracked?: Yes

OK pace walk today. Stopped midway to do more flying.

Rebuilt a quad today that had been crashed and had a bent frame. Took most of the day to arrange the components, assemble and test. Things did not want to fit.




Daily Strength challenge

Challenge for March 30 is sit-ups or crunches (abs day - be sure to use a mat or towel for cushioning - )

2 sets

• First set till the point where you can do no more, wait 2 mins
• Second set of 50% of the number you did in the first set (half)