laura richardlaura richard
I have attatched images to read this format easier as this knowledge is extremely important BEFORE you get yourself in the challenge or sign a legally binding contract that could a) ruin your credit score b) hurt your financial goals 3) exploit your insecurities
1) The 6-Week Challenge is Unrealistic:
Goal: Lose 6% body fat in 6 weeks.
Why it's problematic: This requires losing 3-5 pounds every week, but doctors recommend a healthy fat loss of 1-2 pounds per week.
Calorie Deficit: To lose 3 pounds a week, you’d need a 1,500-calorie deficit daily, meaning you’d eat just 500-1,000 calories a day, which is unhealthy.
Muscle Gain: It’s impossible to gain muscle while on such a large calorie deficit. Healthy muscle gain for men is 1-2 pounds per month, and for women, 0.5-1 pound. The challenge contradicts these healthy standards.
Conclusion: The challenge is designed for most people to fail, allowing the gym to profit without delivering healthy results.
2) Lack of Support for Mental Health:
My experience: During my consultation, Terri made a body-shaming comment, saying, "Oh, you seem fine, but your body fat is so high at 55%."
Body Shaming and Exploiting Insecurities: Instead of offering support, the consultation felt like criticism. Terri seemed more focused on making money than helping with my health.
Management's Role: While the management is primarily responsible for setting these harmful practices, the staff’s behavior, as seen in this consultation, is equally unacceptable and unforgivable.
3) Machine Inaccuracy:
InBody Machine: The InBody machine inaccurately measures body fat, often overestimating it by 5-10% because it counts anything in your digestive system as body fat. Its accuracy is about 50%.
DEXA Scan: For a more accurate reading (98-99%), I recommend doing a DEXA scan, which costs about $30.
Manipulating InBody Results: If you want to skew the results, drinking water or eating carbs can increase the weight in your stomach. Drinking 1L of water adds about 2.2 lbs, which can increase your body fat reading by 1%. But this is just exploiting the machine's inaccuracy.
4) Harmful Physical Goals:
What they expect: The challenge sets unrealistic goals like losing 6% body fat, 25 pounds, or gaining 6 pounds of muscle in 6 weeks.
Why it’s harmful:
Losing 25 pounds in 6 weeks requires a 2,000-calorie daily deficit, which leaves you eating almost nothing (0-500 calories per day).
For me, losing 6% body fat would mean dropping 21 pounds, which requires a daily 1,700-calorie deficit. Since my maintenance intake is 1,700 calories, this is impossible without serious harm.
Refund policy: If this extreme challenge lands you in the hospital, they will only refund 50%, even for medical reasons.
5) No Scientific Backing for the Challenge:
Fact: There’s no scientific support for such extreme weight loss goals in a short time without harm to your body. The challenge promotes unhealthy and dangerous standards.
6) Unqualified Staff:
Nutrition Coach: Their nutrition coach is a university student with no formal qualifications in nutrition.
Training: Their personal training sessions only involve instructors fixing your form in classes. For the $900 fee, you’d get better value from top professionals in Edmonton.
7) No Cancellation Policy:
Refunds: If you sign up and pay for the challenge, they won’t refund you if you cancel before it starts. Once you pay, you're locked in, with no compensation for backing out.
Positive:
Fun Classes: The classes are enjoyable, but they are overpriced for what you get.
Jess MayhewJess Mayhew
Hubby and I attended the Sherwood Park location for over 6 months before it sadly closed this past weekend. Though we never attended Windermere, I've heard such great things about the atmosphere, the staff, and the students who attend. One of my favourite moments was when a "friends and family" class was offered for students to bring their people in to see what kickboxing was all about. We brought our 8 year old, as well as others. He loved it and gained such a great relationship from the coach.
So many of the coaches at Sherwood Park were amazing, tailoring the workouts when they noticed we were struggling, pushing us through when they believed we could give more. With a shoulder injury, all of my kickboxing and strength classes had to be modified and not once did I hear grumbling about how I couldn't do it but always a "no problem Jess! Let's make it work for you!" All while still assisting other students. Ive seen first hand sub coaches from the windermere location, and always they came with the same can do attitude.
My husband and I took part in their 6 week challenge and both saw a decrease in our body fat and increase in our strength. This was especially important for me as my right arm has such a deficit after my car accident. We learned lifelong habits to improve our eating and are still making healthier choices for our family.
I highly recommend the Windermere location and look forward to when another Fit Theroem opens in Sherwood Park.
Dana ZadlerDana Zadler
I’ve been going here for well over a year and can’t say enough good things. I started with the 6 week challenge and stayed on afterwards. It wasn’t easy, but it was worth it! You definitely get out what you put in.
I don’t like going to typical gyms because I get bored. I never get bored here…I love that I can show up, punch and kick out my frustrations, chat with the coaches and friends I’ve made and leave feeling energized. No two classes are ever the same. There are so many great people at this studio, you don’t have to look far. Teri’s an amazing manager, so down to earth and honest. And every coach (Sarah, Garnett, Sean, Sofia, Jen to name a few) will make you feel comfortable and welcome.
I have recently joined my second challenge and I can confirm that the accountability works! Anyone saying this is a scam clearly didn’t want to put in the effort to make the necessary changes. Do it for yourself, because we all deserve to be strong and healthy and the best version of ourselves.
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