The new year often brings with it a desire for a fresh start, particularly when it comes to health and fitness. Millions of people are motivated to improve their diet, hit the gym, and shed a few pounds after the holiday season. If you're one of them, a January weight loss challenge can be a great way to kickstart your journey. Challenges are a great way to attract new clients while improving their health in a fun, engaging, and inclusive way.
Why Participate in a January Weight Loss Challenge?
A weight loss challenge can be just the thing you need to get your butt in gear. It’s a way to hold yourself accountable, build healthy habits, and make lifestyle changes. People are looking to make some major health changes this time of year, and challenges provide an opportunity to start fresh.
Benefits of Participating
- Accountability: Joining a challenge helps you stay on track with your goals.
- Motivation: The competitive aspect and community support can keep you motivated.
- Habit Building: Challenges encourage the development of healthy habits.
- Community: Many challenges involve teams or groups, fostering a sense of community.
- Fun: Challenges can make the process of losing weight more enjoyable.
Types of January Weight Loss Challenges
There are various types of challenges you can participate in, each with its own focus and approach. Here are a few examples:
Percentage of Body Weight Loss Challenge
The idea behind this one is pretty simple. We suggest tracking the percentage of body weight participants lose rather than their total weight loss. Otherwise, heavier participants will have clear advantage over those who are smaller to begin with. The focus is on losing a percentage of body weight, which levels the playing field for participants of different sizes.
Steps Challenge
It’s simple math - the more you move, the better. Steps challenges are a great way to encourage people to move more throughout the day. These challenges encourage participants to increase their daily step count, promoting overall physical activity.
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Workout Challenges
CrossFit workouts are custom-made for lifestyle challenges. Encouraging teams of people to face off a few times per week is a great workout challenge for building community. These challenges involve completing specific workouts or exercises, often in a team setting.
100-Day Weight Loss Challenge
This weight loss challenge includes 100 days of action items that will improve your health and wellness. Invite a friend or family member to join you for more accountability and fun. If you’re competitive, you could bet on who will complete the most challenges. This challenge includes 100 days of action items that will improve your health and wellness.
Dry January
Dry January was founded by Emily Robinson in 2013. The rules of this challenge are simple: abstain from drinking alcohol during the month of January. Just some of the benefits of reducing your alcohol consumption include lowering your risk of various serious illnesses (including liver damage and several cancers), weight loss, better sleep, more energy, and clearer skin. Why not swap out your usual cocktail or glass of wine for a fruit juice, mocktail, alcohol-free beer, or flavored sparkling water? This challenge involves abstaining from alcohol for the entire month of January, offering numerous health benefits.
Veganuary
But however you usually eat, almost everyone could benefit from introducing more plant-based foods into their diet. Veganuary is a charity based in England and Wales, but welcomed participants from more than 220 countries and territories for its 2022 campaign. You may not decide to remain vegan at the end of the challenge, but you’re sure to discover some great new plant-based favorites. Participants follow a vegan diet for the month of January, exploring plant-based eating.
Yoga With Adriene Flow 30-Day Challenge
Adriene Michler has been offering free yoga videos on Youtube for ten years and is followed by a community of over 11 million subscribers. For the last few years, Mishler has created 30-day yoga journeys during the month of January. 2023’s journey is known as “Center” and practices range from 17 to 35 minutes in length. Yoga offers numerous amazing health benefits. It strengthens and tones muscles, increases flexibility, and contributes to better cardiovascular health. This challenge involves following a 30-day yoga program with daily practices.
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RED January
RED originally stood for “Run Every Day”, but RED January is now a broader movement that encourages participants simply to move their bodies every day during the month of January. Being physically active is one of the absolute best things you can do for your body and mind. You can then download your RED January calendar, choose your activity or activities, and join the community to connect with others who are seeking better physical and mental health this month. This challenge encourages participants to be physically active every day in January.
Wall Pilates 28-day Wall Pilates Challenge
Following on from the hugely popular Wall Pilates 28-day Wall Pilates Challenge by Rachel’s Fit Pilates in June 2023, this is a brand new challenge for 2024. It’s suitable for beginners and people of all fitness levels, and can be a useful tool as part of a weight loss program. This 28-day challenge consists of 10-30 minute sessions, with one or two optional rest days per week. The exercises are simple but challenging, and sessions span full body, core, abs, lower body, wall Pilates and cardio Pilates. Most workouts don’t require any equipment, but some involve a pair of dumbbells or optional ankle weights. There’s a downloadable calendar so you can plan ahead and see what’s in store. This challenge involves completing wall Pilates exercises for 28 days.
Coach’s 30-Day Exercise Challenges
We have five 30-day fitness challenges you can try at any time of the year, but they make for a great way to motivate yourself through January, if only because you get a day off at the end since January is 31 days long. There’s a squat challenge which culminates in doing 250 squats in one sitting, a plank challenge which works its way up to a three-minute plank, a press-up challenge which builds the strength to knock out 100 press-ups, and a burpee challenge which is a great one to start with because it scales to any ability-established by a max rep test on day one. If focusing on one move for a month leaves you cold, work on your core with our 30-day abs challenge. These challenges focus on specific exercises like squats, planks, press-ups, burpees, or core work.
The Workout Challenge
The best workout challenges are those that support a great cause. This one is all about stopping the trafficking of girls in Nepal and the Philippines. As well as saving girls from this form of slavery, rehabilitation is also provided for those who are rescued, along with prevention strategies for vulnerable communities. The Workout Challenge involves completing 5000 reps between January 3rd and January 31st. As these are all bodyweight exercises, you can do the challenge at home whenever you want, which is a huge advantage. The goal is to do 50 reps of each exercise every day for 25 days. That gives you four days off throughout the month. You can do the exercises in any order and at any time of the day. The only requirement is to complete 1250 reps of each of the four exercises before January rolls into February. You can either donate your own pledge when you sign up for the challenge or fundraise among your family and friends to support the cause underlying the challenge. To sign up for the Workout Challenge, go here. This challenge involves completing 5000 reps of bodyweight exercises to support a charitable cause.
Intermittent Fasting, Steps, and Workout Challenge
It is not uncommon for gym goers to pack on some unwanted pounds during the Xmas holidays. The intermittent fasting part of the challenge involves stopping eating at 7 pm each night and then fasting for 16 hours until 11 am the following morning. You do this between Monday and Friday. On the weekends you eat normally. At 7 pm on Sunday, you begin the following week’s fast. During your 8-hour eating window, you will have 3 servings of lean protein, 2 servings of vegetables, and one serving of fruit. Cut out as many sugars as you can, replacing them with oats, beans, and nuts. To make sure that you get your 8000 steps in each day, you’ll need a Fitness watch or an app that counts your steps. You will need to average four 20-minute workouts per week. These can be made up of any type of workout that you like, including with weights, cardio, or body weight. This challenge combines intermittent fasting with daily step goals and regular workouts.
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Pull-Up Challenge
If you’re worried that you have lost upper body strength during your vacation, a pull-up challenge is a great way to get it back. Pull-ups are sometimes referred to as the upper-body squat. They work nearly every muscle of your upper body and are one of the fattest ways to build strength through the back, arms, and shoulders. The goal of this challenge is to complete 1000 pull-ups during the month of January. You do not have to do your daily pull-ups at the same time of the day. So, to get your daily total of 30 on Day 7, you could do three sets of 10 spread out over several hours. So long as you achieve each daily target before midnight, you’ll be good to go! This challenge focuses on building upper body strength by completing 1000 pull-ups in January.
100-Mile Challenge
Here’s a challenge that will help you to build a base level of cardiovascular fitness to carry through the first few months of your training while also helping to burn off those excess Xmas calories. The 100-mile challenge involves running, biking, or hiking a hundred miles between Sunday January 1st, and Wednesday, February 1st. You can focus on just one of these disciplines or mix it up between all three. You will achieve your hundred-mile goal by completing 25 miles per week. Break that down further to a daily target of 3.6 miles. If you don’t want to train every day, you could cut it back to three days per week, on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday (there are five Sundays in January). Set your daily target at 7.1 miles and you’ll hit the hundred-mile goal on Tuesday, January 31st. This challenge involves completing 100 miles of running, biking, or hiking during January.
How to Choose the Right Challenge
With so many options available, it's important to choose a challenge that aligns with your goals and preferences. Here are some factors to consider:
- Your Goals: What do you hope to achieve with the challenge? Are you focused on weight loss, building strength, improving overall fitness, or something else?
- Your Interests: Choose a challenge that involves activities you enjoy. This will make it more likely that you'll stick with it.
- Your Fitness Level: Select a challenge that is appropriate for your current fitness level. Don't try to do too much too soon.
- Your Schedule: Make sure the challenge fits into your daily routine.
- Support System: Consider whether you want to participate in a challenge with a group or on your own.
Setting Yourself Up for Success
Before you start any weight loss challenges, there are a couple of things to do. First, make a list of what you’re hoping to get out of it. Next, write down some of your current health metrics. This could be your current weight, blood sugar numbers, blood pressure, amount of exercise per week, stress level (rate yourself 1-5), overall health (rate yourself 1-5), or anything else you choose. You’ll compare your numbers before and after the challenge.
- Define Your Goals: Before starting a challenge, clarify what you hope to achieve.
- Track Your Progress: Monitor your weight, measurements, and other relevant metrics.
- Find a Buddy: Partnering with a friend or family member can provide extra motivation and support.
- Stay Positive: Focus on your progress and celebrate your achievements along the way.
- Don't Give Up: It’s pretty common to start off strong and then start tapering off towards the end. Finding ways to stay motivated will be essential for this weight loss challenge.
Beyond Weight Loss: Focusing on Overall Health
Newsflash: your health goals don’t have to involve losing weight! There is so much more to your health than the number on your scales, or the size you wear. This might be about how you feel - for example, you might want to feel physically strong enough to run around after your kids, or feel energised when you get up in the morning. It's important to remember that health is more than just a number on a scale. Consider focusing on overall well-being, including:
- Energy Levels: Aim to feel more energized throughout the day.
- Strength and Endurance: Build physical strength and improve your ability to perform daily activities.
- Mental Well-being: Reduce stress and improve your mood.
- Self-Acceptance: Focus on loving and accepting your body as it is.
Ditching the Diet Mentality
About that new year’s weight loss challenge that you were planning on doing… it won’t work. Diets never work long-term, that’s a statistical fact. That’s because diets don’t work - including those ‘diets in disguise’. Diets don’t work when you start them in March, in September and they don’t work when you start them on January 1st, either. Because, they’re not serving you, and they’re just distracting you from setting goals that actually matter. Let’s vow to make this the year we stop making weight loss or diet-related New Year’s resolutions. Instead of focusing on restrictive diets, consider adopting a more sustainable approach to healthy eating:
- Focus on Nourishment: Choose whole, unprocessed foods that nourish your body.
- Listen to Your Body: Pay attention to your hunger and fullness cues.
- Practice Self-Compassion: Be kind to yourself and avoid self-criticism.
- Embrace Body Love: Focus on appreciating and accepting your body.
Maintaining Your Progress After the Challenge
Now that you’ve completed the weight loss challenge don’t just stop; this might undo all of your hard work. Go through each of those steps again until it becomes a new habit. If you struggle to make changes on your own and really want to improve your habits, join me in my 12-week program, The Mastery of Habits for Weight Loss. It is your key to success in losing weight and keeping it off for good. The key to long-term success is to maintain the healthy habits you've developed during the challenge.
- Continue Tracking Your Progress: Monitor your weight and other metrics to stay accountable.
- Stay Active: Make physical activity a regular part of your routine.
- Eat a Balanced Diet: Continue to focus on whole, unprocessed foods.
- Seek Support: Stay connected with your support system.
- Be Patient and Persistent: Remember that setbacks are normal, and don't give up on your goals.
Trying Something New
January is the month when a lot of us pull up our socks, put on our workout shoes and resolve to get fit after a season of indulgence. If you’ve yet to decide how you’re going to get fit, you may be interested to know that you may be more likely to succeed if your New Year’s resolution is to try something new instead of trying to quit something. That was the conclusion of a 2020 study in PLoS One, which indicated that approach-oriented goals (doing something new) are more successful than avoidance-oriented goals (stopping something), with a 58.9% and 47.1% success rate, respectively. Trying one of the many January fitness challenges going is a great way to start adding regular exercise to your routine, and we’ve scoured the internet to find four great free options. Consider setting approach-oriented goals (doing something new) are more successful than avoidance-oriented goals (stopping something), with a 58.9% and 47.1% success rate, respectively.
Examples of Workout Challenges
Here are some examples of workout challenges:
Roxanne Russell Fitin4 Challenge
Russell is a trainer and fitness model, and one of my go-tos when I need a new strength workout. Her Fitin4 challenge gets you to work out for 30 minutes a day for four weeks. I like that she’s programmed 14 workouts, which you then repeat for the final two weeks. This challenge involves working out for 30 minutes a day for four weeks, following a program of 14 workouts that are repeated for the final two weeks.
Fiit’s Start Strong challenge
Fiit’s Start Strong challenge is a little different to the set schedules of other challenges and dangles more freebies in front of you as an incentive. Complete 25 or 50 workout classes on the Fiit workout app before February 29 and you’ll be entered into a draw to win a set of dumbbells, a kettlebell and a year’s Fiit membership. Sign up for workout ideas, training advice, reviews of the latest gear and more. Fiit has a wide range of classes-from 10-minute stretching sessions to hardcore metcons-so you’re sure to find something to suit and they all count to your tally. If you’re new to the service, there’s also a 30-day trial in January so you can try the full experience, which includes training plans. Sign up to Fiit to get started.-LM This challenge involves completing 25 or 50 workout classes on the Fiit workout app before February 29 to be entered into a draw to win fitness equipment and a Fiit membership.