“Whole Foods” approaches include The Whole30 and Paleo. “Portion Control” approaches include Zone and Macro/Flexible Nutrition. Based on your goals, your research and your discussion with a coach, you can determine what YOUR nutrition challenge will look like for the next 30 days. It could be a combination of eating whole foods and in the right amounts, or eating an elimination diet to determine what foods work best with your body, or eating whatever you want but in the right amounts. It’s YOUR journey! And it’s one that we hope you can sustain long past the end of the challenge. THE QUICK AND DIRTY GUIDE TO NUTRITION: 1) The Whole30 and Paleo Approach (Recommended for members who have yet to do a nutrition challenge): How to make it stick or ease some of the restrictions after the challenge? Simply reintroduce the “No” foods (one each week) to see which might give you an adverse reaction. Helpful resources: Whole30 recipes, shopping list and book, “It Starts With Food”. Paleo Recipes: PaleOMG, WellFed, AgainstAllGrain. 2) The Zone and Macro/Flexible Nutrition Approach Based on the approach you choose, you will identify 3 habits or lifestyle choices that you currently do that are NOT helping you achieve your fitness goals (healthy, lean, strong, happy, energized, etc) or you will choose new ones that WILL help you on your journey. After choosing these 3, you will make specific, measurable goals/changes on how you will break those habits. You will post these changes to the comments sections under this post (see examples below). Even though this challenge is individualized, you’re not alone! At the front desk there are 4 sign up sheets. You will sign up for a team based on what class time you typically attend: Morning (5:30a and 6:30a), Midday (8:30a, 9:30a and 12:30p), Night (5:30p and 6:30p) and Floaters (do not consistently come to one class time or another). Example of a YOUR Habits/Changes Post: Habits Changes Other Examples Habits: Changes: Every day your team will get points based on each individual meeting their “changes” for the month (1 point for each of the 3 changes) and a bonus point for coming to CrossFit or working out at home/hotel/etc. for the day (1 point). Each person has the opportunity to earn 4 points. Points will be added up in each class and a compliance percentage will be calculated. The team with the most “compliance” percentage points at the end of the 30 days wins. Penalties for not complying? You let your TEAM down! You will record your scores on the whiteboard at the back of the gym and can only be recorded the day after, so no premature posting! We have a little surprise for the winning class/team… but hopefully EVERYONE wins by eating better, feeling better and getting your buns into the gym more consistently. That’s it! On to better eating!!!WHEN
WHY
WHAT
1. Simply start by having a protein, fat and a carbohydrate at every meal/snack
2. “Eyeball” serving sizes for macronutrients at every meal/snack. Great chart on EYEBALLING PORTIONS
3. Weigh and Measure at each meal. MEAL IDEAS (pg. 6-10)THE CHALLENGE
1. Having a glass of wine (or two) Friday-Sunday
2. Late night mindless eating
3. Deciding what to eat on a whim (whatever’s around)
1. Having 1-2 glasses of wine or drink 1x/week
2. Substitute the mindless snacking with a prepared/portioned out snack (1 piece of dark chocolate or 1/4c banana “ice cream”) OR having a hot tea, soda water or lemon water.
3. Prep food 2x/week (sun and wed) so fridge is full. If away from house more than 4 hours, bring meals/snacks with me
– Only having vegetables at dinner and no other time during the day
– Eating ice cream 2-3x/week
– Eating out 2x/day. Or eating out more than 2x/week
– Eating too many processed/sugar laden foods throughout the week
– Eating dairy everyday
– Not eating breakfast
– Only eating 2x/day
– Eating whole foods but killing the nuts
– Etc..
– I will adopt a paleo lifestyle for the next 30 days to eat vegetables in place of grains or in addition to the protein I’m eating at each meal
– I will eat ice cream 1x/week
– I will eat out 1x/week and it will be planned
– I will do the Whole30 for this challenge to eliminate processed/sugar laden foods.
– I will keep the cream in my coffee but will eliminate dairy for 30 days to see how I feel
– I will eat breakfast everyday for the next 30 days
– I will eat 3-4x/day. Never going more than 5 hours without eating
– I will eyeball (or weigh and measure) my portions for the next 30 days
– I will not eat after dinnerTHE WINNER
WHAT TO DO NEXT
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Habits—-eating dairy, only eating 2x a day(breakfast/Dinner, sugar(candy, ice cream)
Changes—-I plan to cut out dairy, eat on a more consitant basis and cut out all sugar from diet.
Okay… here you go. My 3 points.
Habits:
1) Snacking late night
2) Sugar after meals
3) Alcohol 3x/week
This is gonna be tough but I’m in… these challenges work and psyched to do it with you bunch of crazies. Besides… I want that prize!
1) No eating after 9pm
2) No sugar, grains or dairy except for just 1 cheat meal per week
3) 2-3 Drinks 1 time per week
Go FLOATERS!
At this point I am a pretty good macro estimator:) I’m in on this one for the mid-day team.
Habits:
1. Not drinking enough water
2. Snacking instead of eating a meal because I didn’t plan ahead.
3. Junk food is creeping back into my life…
Changes:
1. Drink 3 large shaker bottles of water per day
2. Food prep all upcoming dinners on Monday and Thursday. This will be a new concept for me but one I have been wanting to try. Hopefully will benefit my whole household.
3. No grains except oatmeal. This pretty much cuts out most junk food. I am allowing one dessert/treat per week- something good and actually worth eating!
Team Floater!
Habits
1. Wine/Drinks 3x/week
2. Processed Food/Grains/Sugars every to every other day
3. Dairy everyday
Changes
1. 1-2 drinks on Saturday (if desired)
2. Whole30 approach – no grains, no sugars (even honey and maple syrup)
3. Whole30 – no dairy
We can do this!!
Habits
1. Beer with dinner most nights, often another one later to wind down
2. Snacking on bad stuff (baked goods, sweets) before bedtime or during workday — esp. around holidays — when colleagues bring things in to leave out for everyone
3. Eating too much during weeknight family dinners
Changes
1. 2-4 drinks per weekend. No alcohol during workweek
2. Snack on small portions of nuts/fruits instead of carbs. And no late-night snacking
3. Portion control and balance at dinner — 1 fist-size serving of protein, 1 serving of healthy fat, 1 serving of good carbs (veggies)
Oh yeah. I miss my 8:30 am summer crew. But I’m 5:30 pm now!
Habits…my diet sucks. Too much crap, barely any veggies
Changes:
1) no more diet soda
2) no cookies or other mindless sweets snacking
3) more veggies. Add them daily to my lunch.
5:30 AM!!
Habits
1. Too many dessert indulgences/week
2. Eating too much at dinner
3. Mindless picking while making lunches/snacks in the afternoon
Changes
1. Maximum 2 dessert indulgences/week
2. Portion control at dinner – 1 serving protein, fat, carbs. Usually veggies for carbs but if a good carbs (potatoes, sweet potato fries) – only 1 serving.
3. No mindless picking in the afternoon.
A few edits after some coach consultation.
1. Maximum 1 dessert indulgence/week. Have dessert on nights I don’t have drinks.
2. Portion control at dinner – 1 serving protein, fat, carbs. Usually veggies for carbs but if a good carbs (potatoes, sweet potato fries) – only 1 serving. Use eating SLOWLY (20 minutes) as a way to help with this too!
3. No mindless picking in the afternoon.s
5:30 AM
Ada —
Habits: eating dairy 1-2x/day; too many desserts and I have started to let bread creep back in too often.
Changes: no dairy 6 days/week; no white/brown sugar 6 days/week; no white flour 6 days/week.
Pete —
Habits: eating dairy 1-2x/day; too many sweets and alcohol
Changes: no dairy 6 days/week; no white sugar or white flour 6 days/week; no alcohol 6 days/week.
Team Floater:
Habits-
1. Eat everything and anything because I workout… Oof
2. Eat a bag of pretzels a day and no, not a snack size a regular size!
3. CHEESE
Changes-
1. Portion control: protein, carb and fat for each meal (I literally might starve)
2. No dairy or sugar
3. Alcohol: 1 or 2 drinks weekends only but they will be Yeti sized 🙂
Paleo approach. Day 1 done and I didn’t die 🙂
Team Floater
Habits-
1. I struggle to drink even 30 Oz water a day
2. Sometimes I don’t have time to eat until 60-90 min after I workout
3. Portion size and daily calories- I eat way too much because of large portions and mindless picking
Changes
1. 60-64 Oz water a day (can I count decaf tea?)
2. Protein shake or hard boiled egg within 30 min of working oit at daybreak or at home.
3. Try to stick to 3 meals and 2 or 3 snacks (real snacks not picking) a day and control portions. I do tend to Eat real food, mostly the perimeter of the grocery store except the steel cut oats I sometimes have in the AM. I just eat way too much of it. I’ll use the My fitness pal to help track.
I will have at least 2 cheat days- rosh Hashanah (depending on what my sister serves) and girls night in boston for Madonna 🙂
Actually I will change #2 to within 30 min of working out or within waking on a rest day.
I’m in for Team Night!
Bad Habits
1. snacking/grazing at the vending machine and candy bowls at work
2. water? i don’t need no stinking water.
3. late-night eating? my favorite.
Positive Changes
1. pack a macro-balanced snack to eat at work every day (on weekends, limit at-home snack sessions to 2)
2. minimum of 48 oz water a day (this will be the hardest, hands-down)
3. kitchen is closed from 8:30pm-6:30am
Going to be doing a flexible eating plan, shooting for protein, carbs, and fat in every meal/snack. Also going to be trying to reduce intake of processed foods.
Team Floater –
Bad Habits
1. mindless eating (and drinking) after dinner while catching up on all of my tv shows
2. not enough water
3. poor portion control – and I tend to not be able to reel myself back in once I eat trigger food (sugar/grains)
Positive changes
1. No eating after dinner (closing the kitchen like Megan)
2. Macro/flexible approach – prepare lunch for work 4 days per week – leave one day for healthy/balanced meal out – try to have healthy protein and carb choices available for quick meals when I don’t have time to plan ahead
3. Drink a lot more water – 60 oz OK?
Team Floater
Habits:
1) Mindless eating mid day or after dinner ( starting eating candy, Snyder mustard/ onion nibbles are going to kill me along with the chocolate chip ice cream.
2) On my days off and weekends I don’t eat all day then gorge at dinner on everything in sight.
3) When I go out for dinner I make bad choices
Positive Changes
1) stick to my allotted protein, carbs, fats for the day
2) drink 60 oz of water per day
3) stop the mindless eating.
5:30am Macro/Flexible Approach
Habits
1) Been doing the Macros for a bit but have lost my focus.
2) Lack of sleep
3) Like others not drinking enough water.
Positive Changes
1) Hitting numbers on daily basis within 5 of each category
2) 7 plus hours of sleep per night. Probably should go for more but this would be a big difference.
3) Drinking of 5 shaker bottles of water per day.
A few extras to further jump start .
4) No alcohol for first three weeks. Limited to 2x per night of quality tequila during work trip last week of challenge. (Sorry have to be realistic as I will be in New Orleans)
5) Run a minimum of 13 miles every weekend. And do a one mile or dog walk per day.
Team 5:30AM!
Habits
1. A glass or 2 of wine w/ dinner nightly.
2. Not drinking enough water.
3. Grabbing a handful of goldfish here an there (which turns into a few handfuls)
Changes
1. 1 or 2 drinks 2x/week
2. Drink 4 shaker bottles of water daily.
3. No sugar/dairy (except for coffee)/no grains.
Morning Flexible
1) Water
2) Portion control at lunch/eating 2x/day
3) Sweet off salad bar (yogurt covered pretzels, m&ms, or bar mix) or candy off pls desks (mints, mini candy bars et all)
Also big is just blowing up all the hard work all week on the weekend.
1) 3 lg shakers of water/day
2) no extra stuff added even if free (I always fall for free! Meetings, stuff in the kitchen at work, etc and it’s always bad stuff!). Start packing lunch or at least meat to go in salad 2x/wk. lunch does not have to last from 11:30 – 4. Actual meals and time out for them to realize I’m actually eating and getting full.
3) aside from a little self control, prepare for the 2 pm low with a healthier snack and also just drink water. Usually just thirsty and going for candy instead.
5:30am Team
1. Dairy – I love cheese. It’s an issue
2. Portions – I really don’t pay attention to calories or fat, I eat pretty clean, but I eat as much as I want
3. Alcohol – I have kids, nuff said
Changes:
1. No dairy outside of my am chai and post-wod protein shake
2. Portions – I will eat Mel’s portion description, planning for 3 meals/day, plus a mid-afternoon snack (which is totally different for me)
3. Alcohol – None during week, 2-3 drinks max on weekend
Team 6:30AM!
1. Sugar-multiple sweets throughout the week, pretty much whenever I can get my hands on some chocolate!
2. Alcohol-glass of wine 1-2 nights a week and weekends
3. Do not always choose the best snacks throughout the day, grab what is available
Changes
1. Cut out sugar during the week, 1 paleo sweet on the weekend
2.1 or 2 drinks 2x/week
3. Plan healthier snacks for the week so I don’t get stuck grabbing unhealthy options
Team 5:30 AM!
Habits:
1- I don’t control my portions at all. I eat until I’m full. Then I finish up what my kids don’t eat because I hate waste.
2- Not enough sleep because I can’t settle down early enough.
3- I do not drink enough water.
3 challenges:
1- cut out all dairy, grains, and processed sugars — so want to try whole 30 approach
2- drink more water.
3- don’t indulge on my kids leftover pizza and pasta
— need help with portions not sure how to approach
Morning Team!
Habits:
1) too many desserts/sweets
2) unhealthy afternoon snacks (carb/sugar heavy)
3) unhealthy weekend eating (pancakes, desserts, less structured/planned eating)
Changes:
1) sweets 1x/week
2) plan a healthy afternoon snack the night before
3) plan weekend eating just like I do during the week
Not sure why, but it makes me feel better to see so many other people struggle with eating too many sweets. Here’s to breaking the habit together!!!
Note: I stole a lot of this from Scott. Lots of the same issues.
5:30am Macro/Flexible Approach
Habits
1) Been doing the Macros for a bit but have lost my focus. Good during the week but the weekends have become messy (especially rest days).
2) Even during the week when I am hitting my numbers I am not doing it the “right” way. I don’t do well with grains and dairy and my vegetable intake has slowed.
3) Lack of sleep.
Positive Changes
1) Hitting numbers on daily basis within 5 of each category every day (especially on rest days)
2) Non-gluten grains 1-2 meals / week. Dairy 1-2 meals per week.
3) 7 plus hours of sleep per night. Probably should go for more but this would be a big difference.
A few extras to further jump start .
4) Drinking of 5 shaker bottles of water per day.
5) More cardio. I can hardly run any more but I can still row, get on the bike or swim
6) Keep on the hatch cycle. It is making a difference across all movements
I don’t want to walk into this challenge and be all like “I’m already 4 months into a fitness challenge… so catch up, people… ” but… I mean… sort of.
Habits:
1) I don’t drink enough water. At my age, it turns my day into a constant run to the bathroom.
2) I like full fat ice cream. What of it? A fat is a fat… #itfym
3) Unplanned/mindless snacking at the office. Even if it does “fit my macros,” peanut butter-filled pretzels are gross.
Changes:
1) 4-5 17oz bottles of water a day. I have this really cool “Swell” bottle. I will probably use that. Or maybe Solo cups… I don’t know… maybe something else. But water.
2) Fine. Ice cream, I’ma quit you. That includes products labeled as ice cream (only). If its a frozen protein drink (like halo top), that’s still fair game. I mean, come on…
3) Salt. I really like salt. Like, really. I use bland foods simply as conduits for salt. But, just to see what happens, I’m not going to add salt to anything. This one hurts.
Morning team
Habits:
1) Almost-daily afternoon visits to the work candy bowl
2) I also don’t drink enough water… currently drink <1 glass at work
3) Too much alcohol, especially beer on the weekends
Changes:
1) No candy bowl visits for the month (this is a tough one) – switch out candy snacking, replace with nuts/vegetables
2) Finish 4 (12-16oz) tall glasses before leaving work
3) Limit to 1-2 glasses of wine a week, 1-3 beers on weekends
habits:
Drinks: only on saturdays 2-3 drinks, instead of getting white girl wasted
Less Diary: Keeping diary to help get my protein but, coffee with a little milk, no cheese with eggs or fish
Grains: substitute granola with fruit, lettuce for wraps
“white girl wasted” AMAZING, your a riot!!!! Hahahaha. Def. the quote of the week and it’s only Monday!
habbits:
1. wine every night
2. popcorn and ice cream more than once a week
3. late night eating and too much cheese
changes:
1. wine ok on the weekends
2. no sugar and grains
3. no dairy
Joining mid-day team / Whole 30
Habits – hard to pick just 3
1. Grazing instead of eating meals
2. Eating something sweet daily
3. Don’t usually eat fruits or vegetables (embarrassing)
Change
1. Eat vegetables with 2 meals per day
2. Eat 1 sweet per week plus 1 for my birthday. 1 glass wine Fri and Sat
3. Plan out meals 2x per week
Bad Habits:
1.) Crushing all food anywhere in sight after dinner when still hungry (very mindless).
2.) Getting to bed after 10:30 too often
3.) Drinking too much caffeine and not enough water / healthy foods throughout the day
Challenge Goals
1.) I’m going to make an effort to zone my meals & snacks: to do this I need to plan shopping, and prepping meals for the week on Sundays a lot better.
2.) after dinner I need to stop the mindless eating and just go to bed… (because I’m actually tired… i’m just addicted to Netflix)
3.) If I drink alcohol… make sure its zoned out during the week… and I’m allowing myself to have a few drinks one night on the weekend.
Night Team!
Habits
1. Wine/Drinks
2. Processed Food/Grains/Sugars
3. Eating at night
Changes
1. No More Alcohol
2. Paleo approach – no grains, no sugars, no processed foods
3. No food 2 hours before bed… tough one for the night crew
Midday team:
Here goes:
Habits:
1. Finishing my sons leftovers (chicken nuggets, Oreos, candy, etc.)
2. Wine 3x/week
3. Dairy, especially good cheese almost every night
Changes:
1. Stop finishing my sons leftovers
2. Paleo approach…no more cheese
3. Wine 1x per week
Midday Team:
Habits
1. Wine/Drinks everyday of the week
2. Not enough water
3. Processed foods (i.e. goldfish,pirates booty, tortilla chips) & cheese
Changes
1. 1-3 drinks – 2x a week
2. 3 Shaker bottles of water a day
3. Whole30 approach with an approximate Zone balance (carb, fat, protein at each meal) – No grains, no sugar, no dairy
UGH
Habits:
1. Mindless eating late at night.
2. Poor portion control at dinner.
3. Not enough raw veggies.
Changes:
1. No mindless eating past 8 pm
2. Portion control at dinner
3. Eat more raw veggies for snacks.
Tough to pick only three out of all my bad eating habits this summer….
1. Eating more than one plate of food at any sitting with no regard to nutrient value
2. Too much alcohol Friday night through Sunday
3. Excessive snacking late night
Changes
1. Paleo, managing my quantities with one cheat meal a week
2. 2-3 drinks one weekend day
3. No snacking or eating after 9pm
Team Nights
Habits
1. Not enough water
2. Not planning meals, eating on the fly
3. Weekend Eating derails everything from the work week
Changes
1. Drink 65oz Day
2. Whole30 – plan meals Sunday and Thursday (include weekend planning)
3. Eating consistent on the weekends, with planning
[…] Challenge started yesterday! Remember to record your points on the back whiteboard. Click HERE for […]
Team Nights
1. Have gone from tasting sweets to having a sweet.
2. Sandwiches have crept back in too.
3. Not allowing for any down time at work- constant on the go.
Changes
1. Taste only if I have too and no eating sugar for energy.
2. Don’t eat the bread
3. Taking a break and sitting for the moment that I want the sweet to pick me up
Doing Whole 30
OK I’m in and I must say I am so happy to see how everyone eats… There are something I cannot give up such as cheese (Erica don’t give it up). Before Kate left I did her 8 week flexible diet plan and it was great. I lost roughly 10lbs, felt way better and my lifts went up. Since then I have fallen back on my eating habits eating chips and ice cream during the week and of course weekends.
Goal:
1) No booze during the week
2) No junk food during the week
3) Ignore 1 & 2 on weekends, maybe a need another for number 3
Habits
1- Oreos, fruit snacks, chips and other mindless snacking.
2- Bread has crept back in. I had all but stopped eating the bread they give you at restaurants and such. Need to get back to that. And OMG sandwiches and burgers.
3- Dessert after dinner almost every night. WTF.
Changes
1- Eating whole foods. I am going to portion control myself by eating slower. Give myself a chance to feel full instead of eating like someone’s going to take it away from me.
2- No bread except for 1 slice of ezekiel in the mornings for breakfast.
3- No dairy except for greek yogurt once a day.
**Outside of summer my drinking is fairly minimal so I’m going to leave that one alone.
Team 8:30/9:30
Habits:
1. Eating what’s easy and available instead of planning ahead and having fresh food in the house.
2. Dessert every night and after most meals
3. Lots of bread/pasta/chips and not enough vegetables in my diet lately
Changes:
1. Meal plan and buy more fresh vegetables that are already cut up to make healthy choices easier
2. No eating after 8pm so I can actually fall asleep (no more sweets at night)
3. Limit dairy to greek yogurt & cut down to having bread/pasta/chips occasionally
I actually eat pretty well, and don’t really crave or eat sweets/deserts…however, the following are the habits that have created my gut:
1) IPA, wine, occasional martini, maybe occasional single malt scotch.
2) evening foraging….and the closely related eating/stealing food from kids plates.
3) eating while on business travel. Too many meals out…need to lower caloric intake while on the road since it’s often.
4) more water
Plan…
1) no alcohol during the week
2) no foraging – no food past dinner and no food off a plate that’s not mine
3) drink at least 80 ounces of water a day
Also will focus on portions overall and focus on theme from “omnivores dilemma”-eat food (meaning whole), mostly plants, not too much…!
Night Team!
Habits:
1) Snacking late night
2) Only eat 2 meals a day
3) Alcohol during the week
Changes:
1) No eating after dinner (My dinner is around 8:30pm)
2) Eat 3 meals aday or snack healthy during the day
3) 2-3 Drinks on Weekends (If that)
5:30am
Habits
1. Wine weekend nights
2. Love those mini candy bars!
3. Also love the prepared food section at Sudbury Farms, visit it too often!
Changes
1. Wine 1 or 2 glasses one weekend night only.
2. Prep/plan meals 2x a week, Sunday and Wednesday.
3.Zone approach, protein, fat, carbohydrate, as well as portion size
5:30 am – hope to be back soon!
Habits
1. I LOVE bread!
2. Not snacking at regular intervals during the day
3. Not regulating my portion size
Changes
1. Back to Paleo for me.( 1 cheat meal a week)
2. Portion size
3. Healthy snacks back on a regular schedule!