How Cora and Kirk Burchak Lost 115 Pounds on the XWeighted.com National Challenge

When Cora (corabee) and Kirk (kirk) Burchak decided to start the XWeighted.com National Challenge back in January, they hoped that they’d lose some weight. Little did they know that they’d lose a combined total of 115 pounds! Cora managed to drop 55 pounds and Kirk lost 60 pounds, which meant that both met their XWeighted.com goal and are eligible for the Grand Prize.

We spoke to Cora about how she and her husband did so amazingly well...

Before the challenge started, we weren’t doing any kind of physical activity at all. Now we are eating healthily and getting lots of exercise. We try to eat clean as much as possible, eat lots of whole grains and fruits and vegetables, and try to only shop the outside of the grocery store, avoiding the packaged foods. Now we are running and biking, which has been great for both of us.

I feel amazing and I get really good reactions from people when they see me. People that haven’t seen me for a while are all like, “Oh my God, what are you doing!” They always want to know what my secret is, but it is just that I’m eating healthy and exercising.

I feel so much better. I have more energy now all the time, even when I’m just going about my day. I have no problem climbing stairs, whereas before use to avoid the stairs at all costs. When I did have to climb stairs, after 1 or 2 flights I’d find myself huffing and puffing and having to control my breathing - now I sprint up flights of stairs no problem.

I have way more energy to play with my kids. Last week we took the kids out to ride on their bikes, me and my husband jogged beside them. That would just not been possible before we did this. We are both very active now.

Doing it together makes a huge difference, and I think that’s been the reason we’ve been so successful. I don’t think I could’ve done this if I’d had to prepare two different sets of meals. We’ve been eating healthy as a family. The kids sometimes get bigger portions than ours, but we all eat the same meals (the couple has an 8 year old son and 5 year old daughter).

Every year, I would always say all I need to lose weight but never actually did. I think that having this challenge was helpful for both of us, because it came up and we thought, “Hey lets do this, we’ll do it together”. Having to weigh in every week kept us accountable. It meant that we couldn’t just go off the plan for a couple of weeks, weighing in weekly kept us honest.

I have been very active with the X-Blogs and in many groups.  My husband read them all, but never really commented on them. I found them really useful, especially on days when I wasn’t feeling particularly motivated, I found it very useful. You can relate to the things that we’re all going through as we try to lose weight and get healthy.