interviews with members who improved their body comp 3.3-4.3% in a month

Listen to the interviews in the YouTube podcast above.

We hosted a body composition challenge in January. To participate, you had to get 1 body comp assessment (BodyMetrix) before January, train 12 sessions at Allegiate in the month, and then get a second body comp test. 

We interviewed our 3 winners to learn what they did to win the competition. So if you’re thinking about improving your body comp – see how these members did it.

You improved your body comp between 3.3% and 4.3%. How’d You Do It?

MEGAN: Number one was being consistent. For me it was the team workouts. And I took conditioning as well! And then I thought…if I'm doing this, this consistently, I might as well go all in. I stepped up my nutrition and my sleep. And for me - sleep has been the hardest thing to improve. I’m constantly telling myself, “Okay, Megan, wind down.” And I got great tips in terms of supplements, for example, Magnesium.

CODI: The biggest change that I made was in the amount of vegetables I ate on a daily basis. So many servings! Before that, I ate maybe two or three servings daily. So when I found out the servings you recommended (8-10 servings a day) that was jarring! But I said, okay, Codi, let's do this. 

JUSTIN: I didn’t drink all of January. I cooked almost all of my meals. It's just the habits. I didn't restrict carbohydrates or fats in any way. I was very sensible about it. One thing that was really important for me was I went to bed and woke up at the same time.

We noticed sleep as a big factor for all the winners

MEGAN: In previous months, my bedtime was technically 10 pm…but in reality when you wind down at 10, you're still on your phone for another hour and a half…that becomes two… You get it. So I started being consistent. At 8 pm, I stopped looking at my phone. I turned off the TV earlier than before. I didn't realize how negatively the inconsistent sleep had impacted me until I finally got a week of great sleep! My energy level throughout the day was elevated. I didn’t need coffee. I wasn’t in a haze for like half the morning. I was ready to conquer everything!

CODI: I wanted to focus on prioritizing sleep and trying to stay off my phone in the evenings. I prioritize sleep anyway because I hit the 5:30 a.m. classes. So I became religious about putting my phone down at 7:30 p.m., getting in bed by 8 p.m., and trying to be asleep by 8:30/9:00. It really improves the quality of workouts. I felt stronger. 

JUSTIN: I was in bed between 10 and 11 pm every night and was up around 7 a.m. every morning. So I got at least eight hours of sleep or nine on a good night.

NUTRITION - What’d you eat?

MEGAN: I thought about what I was putting in my body, and made sure healthier foods were around me. I wasn’t starving myself: I actually ate more during the month of January than ever because I didn’t want to let my body feel hungry. I decided I was going to prep my meals. It became about buying the right foods in bulk. Making sure I had healthy proteins, fruits, and vegetables. I cut them up and portioned them out. Plus I like cooking! So having that all ready to go in my fridge and for lunches, ready for me to take to work: that really helped.

CODI: The first place I started was with protein shakes. Instead of just putting my usual vegan protein in, I added five handfuls of spinach in there and then blended it up! That was super easy. But I don’t enjoy cooking, so I had to find recipes that had a ton of vegetables that were also easy for me to make. It’s something I'll stick with moving forward, even after this challenge. I am very grateful for that! 

JUSTIN: I cooked like ninety percent of my meals. I didn't count my vegetable intake but I had vegetables every meal. I didn’t count my protein intake but I had protein at every meal. First and foremost: choose foods and meals that you actually enjoy eating.

HOW’D YOU LEARN about which HABITS TO FOLLOW? 

MEGAN: I had seen the Allegiate habit videos when I first started. I dove into the app and then in class it married with everything. I went into it and saw that it did make sense, and loved that there was a game plan for the month.

CODI: The habits video in the Allegiate app!

JUSTIN: A lot of the habits are things people intuitively know. But you just actually make a point to follow them. Allegiate reinforcing the habits helped: drink half of your body weight in ounces of water, get 8 hours of sleep, protein at every meal – all that stuff.

Do you think you’ll be able to sustain the changes you made? 

MEGAN: Number one was being consistent. For me it was the team workouts. And I took conditioning as well! And then I thought…if I'm doing this, this consistently, I might as well go all in. One of the things that I learned was how much IS sustainable. The challenge was a really good motivator for me to make small tweaks in my lifestyle, but feel big benefits in how it's changed me day-to-day. The nutrition may be harder in the future. Vacations and parties and weddings are going to come eventually. But I know now I have creative solutions. If I have a rogue week, I'm not going to feel guilty about it. I can pick it right back up once life settles down again.

CODI: Oh, I absolutely will sustain it moving forward. The sleep was a big one for me. I realized, in terms of my mood and my workouts, the sleep really improved that. And, the veggies: I haven't stopped that! It’s such an easy change to make.

JUSTIN: In January, I was definitely more intense than normal. I was more focused and disciplined.  But there was no real radical change outside of that. I found something that for myself was super easy and sustainable to do for a month. And if I really wanted to I could probably do forever.

How do you think about goals going forward? Do you have them? What’s next? 

MEGAN: There are certain movements in class that I feel confident in. Going forward, I want to get stronger and more capable at the stuff I need to work on. One of the things I'm trying to do is be comfortable with being uncomfortable, getting better at the stuff I’m not as good at. 

CODI: I'm not the type of person who really cares about a number on the scale, but this challenge helped me think about it in terms of gaining muscle vs. losing fat. For some reason thinking about it that way was easier for me to wrap my head around. So I tried to lift more weights and get stronger, instead of losing weight or fat.  

JUSTIN: I'm at the point right now where I don't have specific fitness goals, like in terms of strength or body comp. The most important thing to me is just feeling good. Whether it be diet or sleep or exercise. Stuff that is healthy and sustainable. Stuff that improves my mood and improves my focus – for when I’m at work or doing any kind of mental tasks. My goals are more about the lifestyle and what makes me feel good. 

Now that you’ve done it, what advice do you have for someone wanting to improve their body composition?

MEGAN: I think it's about creating a plan and making sure that you’re setting achievable goals. The goals week-over-week should be small enough that they're attainable. Sleep. Nutrition. Weekly habits that I could do. It wasn't a laundry list. It was, okay, step one, I'm just going to focus on sleep. And once you achieve that small thing you've won, you feel good! And you're motivated to do the next thing!

CODI: Consistency and discipline are how you form new habits, and that's something that you can carry on, day-to-day for months and years. You're not always going to be motivated to get up at 5 a.m. and workout or eat another handful of kale. But with enough discipline, it makes it worth it.

JUSTIN: I think number one, oddly enough, is to go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day. And get 8 hours of sleep. You’re going to feel better. And everything else is going to follow from there. After that, just be mindful of what you're eating. Make an effort to go to the grocery store or go to the farmers market. But everyone's different. I really enjoy cooking. Some people hate it. Find something that's sustainable.

If you're interested in hearing the full phone interviews, checkout this video on our YouTube channel: How to improve your body composition between 3.3% and 4.3% in 1 month