2016 brought the Xbox Fitness Challenge.
2017 brought the P90x3 Challenge.
You didn’t think we were getting all the way through 2018 without another (probably futile) attempt by me to get into shape, did you? Since 90 days of 30 minute workouts didn’t work, I figured maybe I would try 21 days of 30 minute workouts. For 2018, I’ll be trying out Beachbody’s 21 Day Fix workout (and yes, I know this dramatic announcement is entirely ruined by the name of this post).
The Exercise Plan
21 Day Fix is a 3 week program that involves a different exercise every day of the week. I started on September 9th, which puts the end date on September 29th. The plan is to do the doubles option, which involves doing two exercises during the 3rd week of the program. There’s not much more to say beyond that.
The Diet Plan
In the past, I have felt like the biggest failing for my fitness challenges has been not sticking to a rigorous enough diet. This is where I plan to really try to improve through a simple four-step process:
- Using MyFitnessPal to obsessively track my daily caloric intake and macro-nutrient balance. I have a nearly 1,000 day streak going in MyFitnessPal in terms of logging my meals, so logging should be the easy part. The key is to use that information to shape my diet. If I have a big breakfast, then I know I need to take it easier for lunch and dinner.
- Making simple, cheap, and (relatively) nutritious meals at home to avoid eating out whenever possible. I find one of the biggest stumbling blocks for me in terms of diet is when I get outside my routine for whatever reason and end up having to eat out. On a road trip and need to grab a quick bite? A Taco Bell stop suddenly drops 1,000 calories into my diet. The more I can eat at home and control what I eat, the better off my diet will be. To that end, I plan to stock up on simple things I can make at home:
- Iced coffee with a splash of milk – To replace sugary, high-caloric coffees gotten at fast food establishments
- Eggs – Cheap, versatile, high in protein
- Tuna Salad Sandwiches – Also cheap, easy to prepare, and not too bad in terms of protein to carb ratio
- Soylent – Also cheap, easy to prepare, and can be supplemented with protein powder to give it an acceptable protein to carb ratio
- Salmon – Frozen salmon filets take a little bit of prep time, but are pretty easy to make on a George Foreman Grill and are hard to beat in terms of healthiness
- Lightly salted mixed nuts – For the occasional snack
- Protein shakes – Might be time to make that Vitamix earn its keep again
- While it might be hard to do over the weekend, I’m hoping to incorporate intermittent fasting when possible and restrict my eating to 8 hour windows. I saw some success with this when I previously tried it and want to get back to it.
- Cut back on alcohol. My hope is that if I can cut back on calories enough, maybe less alcohol will go a longer way. More bang for my buck!
The Starting Metrics
As of right before the start of the challenge (9/9/2018), here are my vitals according to my scale:
Weight: 184.6
Body Fat: 18.1
Muscle Mass: 39.2
And one very embarrassing picture that I post because I desperately hope to have an improved “after” picture to show in a few weeks:
I thought a big part of the 21-Day Fix was Beachbody’s diet plan to reset/fix your system.
The items you listed above for your diet plan- are those highlights of the specific items you are using that match the plan?
The diet plan makes use of different sized, specially colored containers for indicating how much of certain types of food you should be eating. I’m not going that far. I’m focused primarily on getting to a caloric deficit and also shifting the ratio of protein to carbs a little higher than I have in the past.
We have a set of those containers. I think you can also find them on amazon for cheap. Used them for a bit to get an idea of portion sizes, but then transferred the meals into Bento boxes for use later.
I didn’t want to get too restrictive to the point where I gave up halfway through. I figured prepping the majority of my food at home and obsessively tracking my calories would be a good enough proxy, but I guess we’ll find out.
Hey!
As you enter your week of doubles, I’m wondering how you’re feeling about the last 2 weeks?
Feeling pretty good, thanks! It hasn’t been getting much easier, like I would’ve hoped, though. Every time I start a workout, I have hopes for making it through without modifying or using a heavier weight, but every time I find myself completely gassed and begging for it to end with a few minutes left still. I also wish I was doing a better job eating less calories than I burn, which I suspect is my main problem. The scale hasn’t budged yet, but I’m cautiously optimistic that it might after a week of doubles. I’m also dreading my first double today. Wish me luck!