Fit By Christmas: The Final Weigh In

It has been 10 weeks of blood, sweat and turkey burgers but the time has come to see how our three participants of #FitByChristmas have fared.

Back in October, we met Emma from Cork, Kate from Tipp and Mark from Donegal who all wanted to make a change for Christmas and get themselves back into a shape that they were comfortable and happy with.

EMMA O'KEEFFE IS OUR NEW MUM FROM CORK

She got in touch with the show after she found herself struggling to lose the baby weight. When we met, she was 6 months postpartum and sick of looking at all of the new mothers who had snapped back into shape after their new arrival.

For Emma, it was never about putting the effort in but finding the time to do it.

Emma's initial measurements were:

• WEIGHT: 71.7 kg
• NECK: 31.5 cm
• ARM: 31.5 cm
• CHEST: 31.5 cm
• ABDOMEN: 81 cm
• WAIST: 84 cm
• HIPS CM: 99 cm
• QUAD CM: 57 cm

Over the past few weeks, Emma has become our 'food stylist' and has started running for the first time in her life and LOVES it.

Here's her measurements now:

• WEIGHT: 65.8 kg (-5.9kg)
• NECK: 31.5 cm (-2cm)
• ARM: 31.5 cm (-3cm)
• CHEST: 31.5 cm (-6cm)
• ABDOMEN: 81 cm (-10cm)
• WAIST: 84 cm (-6cm)
• HIPS CM: 99 cm (-9cm)
• QUAD CM: 57 cm (-7cm)

MARK FITZPATRICK IS OUR EMT FROM DONEGAL

When we first met Mark, he was struggling to keep up with his busy life as an EMT. Having lost around 5 stone back in 2008, he was starting to feel himself creeping back up to where he was and he knew he needed to make a change.

Trying to find the time to exercise and avoiding getting a donut with his coffee when he was on the road were the biggest challenges for Mark.

Mark's measurements back when we first met him were:

• WEIGHT: 105.8 kg
• NECK CM: 40.5 cm
• ARM CM: 33 cm
• CHEST CM: 116 cm
• ABDOMEN CM: 104 cm
• WAIST CM: 113 cm
• HIPS CM: 106 cm
• QUAD CM: 57 cm

Since then, he's started 'finding more time in the day' to fit in exercise and he's ditched the donuts for fruit and yogurt.

And here's how he's getting on now:

• WEIGHT: 100.8 kg (5kg)
• NECK: 38 cm (-2.5cm)
• ARM: 31 cm (-2cm)
• CHEST: 115 cm (-1cm)
• ABDOMEN: 99 cm (-5cm)
• WAIST: 106 cm (-7cm)
• HIPS: 102.5 cm (-3.5cm)
• QUAD: 53 cm (-4cm)

KATE ACHESON FROM TIPPERARY BUT LIVING IN DUBLIN IS OUR BUSY BUSINESS WOMAN

Kate is a freelance project manager and she's travelling all the time, in the course of our few weeks with her, she was in four countries and seven counties. When we first met Kate, she was struggling to fit her exercise and diet into her life.

Her biggest challenge was a lack of a set routine-and she was falling down on things like sausage rolls, pasta carbonara, chocolate, Salt and Vinegar crisps, you know, the good things!

Kate's measurements were:

• WEIGHT: 96.3 kg
• NECK 32.5 cm
• ARM: 34.5 cm
• ABDOMEN: 90.5 cm
• CHEST: 112.5 cm
• WAIST: 105 cm
• HIPS: 106.5 cm
• QUAD: 57.5 cm

And here's where Kate is at now:

• WEIGHT: 89.8 cm (-6.5kg)
• NECK: 32 cm (-5 cm)
• ARM: 32 cm (-2.5 cm)
• ABDOMEN: 87 cm (-3 cm)
• CHEST: 109.5 cm (-3 cm)
• WAIST: 86 cm (-19 cm)
• HIPS: 99 cm (-7.5cm)
• QUAD: 56 cm (-1.5cm)

The lads did an AMAZING job, and look at them all!

Our man Ronan from Toned Fit and Viking Built has been working with the lads over the past few weeks offering them workouts and diet tips, support and help.

He said he's impressed by their sustainable weight loss since October.

Ronan says:

I’m 100% honest when I say that it was a real pleasure to train the three guys. Remote training for such a usually hands on coach is a pretty challenging and daunting task. There was a large learning curve for me as much as there was for Emma, Kate and Mark.

Whether it was the material, threat of national exposure or fear of me I’ll never know but one thing they all did, from day 1, was listen, apply and offer feedback on their training, mood, health and wellness.

Communication is massive in this game. If coaches don’t know what you’re thinking or feeling then we’re going in blind. We can only address what we physically see and hear. With the sight severely limited it was even more important the communication was on the top of the list.

10 weeks is a relatively short time for someone to make a big change in their life. It is however doable and I learned very early on that there were a lot of individual obstacles for each of the participants.

And if you're reading this, thinking there's no point starting until January, take our gangs advise and DON'T WAIT. Ronan even said you can have Christmas dinner, and enjoy it. The secret is enjoying the small moments and putting the big work in before and after.

If you want to take on your own 'Fit By' challenge be it for a wedding, holiday, Easter or even next Christmas, check out the #FitByChristmas page.