Meet our 2019 Lean and Mean winner Laura Hansen Somers. Laura lost 15 pounds and dropped 27 percent of her initial body fat!
Why did you join the Lean and Mean Challenge?
Many reasons:
I had initially wanted to do it with my husband to motivate him. We’ve developed a very sedentary lifestyle over the last two years and the weight was packing on.
We have a trip to Thailand coming up and I wanted to be in better bathing suit shape and a bunch of ladies I know were doing it, so we had a little friendly competition among girlfriends.
What did your exercise program consist of?
I did spin twice a week, Ashtanga yoga twice a week, and two sessions with my trainer Andrew Senior each week. I also made a conscious effort to walk whenever I could and use my elliptical if I felt energetic or had extra socializing that week involving eating or drinking.
What has been the most rewarding aspect of doing the Lean and Mean for you?
I developed an appreciation and understanding of what it takes to lose approximately a pound per week. What gets measured gets managed, so I weighed myself weekly, tracked my calories and then self- monitored.
I was conscious of calories in, calories out. For example:
- If I eat this, will I still be within my overall calories for the day?
- Are these QUALITY calories?
- What else is coming up in the day that I’m going to want to eat?
What has been your biggest challenge?
My motivation started to drop off about halfway through. I went into the competition with a bit of sleep deprivation and anemia, and both of those zapped my energy. The anemia improved with supplements (doctor supervised) but I was still pretty tired.
How did you approach nutrition during the Lean and Mean?
I didn’t radically change anything with my nutrition, but I did add more protein, especially at breakfast. I used a food tracking app for about three weeks to gauge how many calories I was consuming, where most of my calories were coming from, and when I typically was eating. Once I knew that, I just self-monitored. I also made sure my lattes were always skim milk.
What are your goals now?
My goal is to maintain a routine of being active on a daily basis.
Any other comments?
My trainer, Andrew, was very compassionate. He was very good at coming up with a workout each session that worked with what my body did and didn’t want to do that day. He made my workouts fun, and I got to try a few new things in the gym.
