week #8

That’s right folks, only 4 weeks left of this monumental challenge.

• make sure you book a time THIS WEEK to get a follow up assessment completed. By Friday please.
• please report your results to myself during the week. Im going to tabulate the points thus far and send them back to you all based on what I know – based on what you’ve supplied me with.
• We’re going to share the results (sans) names on Friday to motivate you down the home stretch of this journey).
• I’d like you to take the time and think about how 8 weeks have changed the way you think. Mentally because as I can see, and most of you can feel, it’s more than just losing pounds here. Share that with myself, leave out specific names and we’re going to share that with the rest of the group to motivate us down the home stretch.

myself? Yes, I know a few of you are wondering if I could go and entire month with 0 bread, 0 alcohol and 0 sweets (and yes I indulge guilty pleasures like everyone else). With exectly 7 days to go I am batting 0, 0 and 0. And yes I have been to weddings, fishing trips, out with friends and hockey games – not pent up in my own house. (also raised about $1000 for charity with bets I’ve made with others) which is a great way to remain accountable.

This weeks theme. INCREMENTAL GAINS.

    Some of you are noting that the weight is coming off a little slower than it originally did and that’s because  as your body adapts to the fitness load, your results will start to plateau. Fear not, you are still benefiting eg: converting fat mass to lean muscle mass, burning more calories at rest, flushing your system more regularly, and stimulating your muscles accordingly – however you will continue to need to tweak things until you reach your ideal weight.

Ideal weight can be defined as the weight you want to achieve or the appropriate weight for your body frame and type. This can be more accurately determined by a conversation with your doctor and yourself but what I’d prefer to see you not do is continue to focus on the ‘weight’. Remember fat mass is less dense than lean muscle mass and some of you who are exercising regularly and religiously will be putting on some lean muscle mass. To give you perspective, it took myself adding more hours of output into my week to drop 10 pounds (safely) over the past month and a half. This was with the 0 / 0 / 0 challenge as well as increasing my weekly output from 4 & 5 hours of exercise to 8 & 9 hours of exercise. And yes I know it’s a lot, but it’s all relative for the ideal weight I want to be at for an event or juts for myself. So apply it to yourself and understand there’s little difference in theory.

You can look forward to incremental weight loss / gains over the next 4 weeks, which is why it’s important to focus on those accompanying measurements like waist, arms, hips, skinfolds and fat mass vs lean muscle mass for those who took the full gamut of measurements. End of story is that they all add up and they all point to a tangible / healthier lifestyle. And that’s the #1 name of the game. Don’t forget your homework please and here’s to the 3rd month in the 1st step towards a life long habit!!