Whole Life Challenge and Meal Plans

You all probably have garnered that I’m insane by now, but in the event that you haven’t, this should confirm it for you

Anyone out there heard of the Whole Life Challenge?  Well, if you haven’t, you’ve got to hear about it!  They should really start paying me for this marketing…I’m far to excited about it to NOT be paid   Here is the dealio:

Object of the Game:  To lead a healthier all around lifestyle!

Rules: Every day during the Challenge, you begin with 5 nutrition points. For any infraction of the rules you lose a point.  You can’t go negative though!

No Grains or Starchy Carbohydrates. No wheat, rice, corn, barley, quinoa, even white potatoes and soy. And of course the more obvious… no bread, pasta, bagels, cereal, pastry, baked potatoes, and French fries are against the rules. For vegetarians, the exceptions to this rule are wild rice, quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat, and fermented soy.

No Sugar or Sweeteners. No white sugar, brown sugar, cane juice, agave syrup, honey, coconut nectar, or any caloric or non-caloric, artificial sweetener. Organic or not, sugar and sweeteners in all forms are off limits

No Dairy.No milk, cheese, yogurt, etc. The only exception to the dairy rule is butter.

No Alcohol, Soda, or Fruit Juice. Wine, spirits and beer will all cost you a point, and so will Coke, Sprite, Mountain Dew (diet or not). Add to that, a big no for any fruit juice. Vegetable juice and fruit puree are OK.

No Artificial ingredients or Processed Foods.This includes just about everything that gets put in food that you wouldn’t find in your own kitchen. From guar gum to red dye #5, if it’s used to“process” food, it’ll cost you a point.

Workout Rules.Did you work out yesterday for at least 10 minutes? If so, great, score yourself a “YES” and earn 2 points. What, exactly, counts as a workout? Anything that is at least 10 minutes in duration and that you would classify as a true workout or as ‘active recovery’ (light jog, yoga, easy bike ride, etc.)

Mobilizing Rules.Spend 10 minutes mobilizing (stretching) joints and muscles every day to earn your 2 points. This can be done all at once or broken up into chunks over the course of your day. You can stretch your muscles or use any kind of “mobilization” tool like a lacrosse ball, foam roller, etc. to relax and release tension. There is no set routine for this. Use this time to mobilize where you need it most!

Supplement Rules.Score yourself a “YES” and earn 1 point each day for taking a supplement of your choice, but choose one and stick with it for the full 8 weeks. Some supplements we love are omega-3s (fish oil), Vitamin D, probiotics, and anti-oxidant boosters.

Basically, if you follow the rules, you can earn points or keep points.  If you break the rules, you lose points.  You do a baseline workout at the beginning of the 55 day challenge and then at the end to see how much progress you made in addition to how your body changed (waist and hip measurements).  I’m so excited!

Leading up to the challenge, I’ve been kicking my butt in WODs in and outside of the CF box.  I lead group fitness for my office every Wednesday or so and yesterday they asked for a good one, so I made up a good one!

WOD:

In 4 stations–

20 Burpees

20 Box jumps

20 Thrusters

5 Knees to Elbows

Then, I run a mile speed test and everyone else does 85-90% their max on cardio until I finish the mile.  We ended up doing 2 miles and 3 circuits.  I did NOT realize how tough this would be!

And as punishment, the WOD at CCF this morning was equally tortuous:

12 min AMRAP

75 Thrusters (45 lbs)

50 Burpees

25 Pull-Ups

HA!!! Learned my lesson   Now, onto the Meal Planning!

Have any of you heard of the Wellness Mama?  Well, I discovered her through Tina’s CF Box’s Nutrition tab…great find!  It is a one stop shop for Paleo Meal Plans and shopping lists!

This is the meal plan we are following for next week:

Monday: Stuffed Chicken Breast with loaded cauliflower and salad

Tuesday: Tacos served on Romaine Lettuce with salsa or chopped tomatoes, onions (optional) and sour cream, cheese and hot sauce (all optional). – Can also just eat as big taco salad

Wednesday: Honey Glazed Pork Chops with stir fry veggies (Just add honey to recipe)

Thursday: Butter Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

Friday: Bacon Rolled Salmon Patties with Asparagus and Squash

Saturday: Sausage Stuffed Winter Squash With Salad

Sunday: Leftover Chicken Vegetable Soup (Or other leftovers of choice)

But for other delicious meal plans, just visit: Wellness Mama!  She also just started a meal planning service, so you can check that out as well   So far, we’lve been very happy with her recipes!

Enter, Chicken Stir Fry with a lovely quartered avocado on top!  Hubby even commented on how much he liked this one!

Do you Meal Plan?  I do religiously!  Do you believe in Karma?  I do NOW (see above WOD example) as well!  And here is your feel good moment for the day:

xoxo

Alyssa

p.s. Happy Valentine’s Day!  Dinner will be featured tomorrow