I suppose it’s time I sit down and bang out this blog post, as it seems it doesn’t plan to write itself. And, I am really proud of all I was able to accomplish in the ten weeks of the FitLifeSF Challenge. It’s just that… well… I’m not so sure there’s much worth writing about because, in hindsight, it was pretty simple, really.

It was pretty clear late last year that I was ready for a major change. In fact, over my birthday weekend, Rob took a photo on his iPhone of me sitting across from him at The Bridgetender in Tahoe… and I was so unhappy with the person I saw looking back that I ran out of the restaurant in tears. Now, I might have a mighty big slice of vanity living here inside this head, but I know that’s not all that was happening there. I had just gotten to a point where I was stuck, unhappy, I had backslid on where I was in December 2008. I felt like I had accomplished nothing in 2009. I had another stress fracture. I had no direction. Really, just not-great times.

So, on January 3 when I started the Challenge, I made up my mind to do a complete 180. Ten weeks. All-in. No excuses. All the choices I needed to make I made on or before January 3. And, these were not just choices related to eating and exercises, they were related to mindset and motivation and, really, not letting another year go by with nothing accomplished.

To fast forward to the end of the story, I’ll give you the results: In ten weeks, I was able to go from 141.4 pounds and 24.6% bodyfat to 125.4 lbs and 20.5% bodyfat. During the program, I also studied for and received my certifications as a Personal Trainer and Fitness Nutrition Coach. I interviewed for a job I really wanted– but didn’t get– and was gifted through the process with more clarity than ever on what direction I’d like my life to go career-wise. I even enrolled in CCSF to take some classes to that end next semester.  Looking back at this post, I hit or exceeded all my SMART goals!

Maybe it’s just me, but even more than the weight of my spare tire, I see the weight on my soul when I look at the before and after photos…

1/3/2010 - 3/10/2010

But… enough about the crappy-feeling Smurf that started the Challenge… let’s talk about the steps I took to get to a much better place, shall we?

Eating Program: Note that I didn’t say “diet.” I hate that word. Now, I’ll tell it like it is– Sure, I was in the gym 6 days a week, but I absolutely believe that the results I got were because I finally, once-and-for-all, cut the crap from my… well… diet.

To put together my eating program, I did some simple math. I used the Harris-Benedict equation to figure out my BMR, then added 10% (for something called Thermic Effect of Food), then multiplied by 1.2 because most of us who are not construction workers qualify as “sedentary” and I got my basic daily calorie needs, or Resting Metabolic Rate.  (If you want me to figure yours out, drop me a note with your age, gender, height and weight.) For me, that’s 1858 calories.

I wanted to shoot for a 1.5-pound-per-week loss (750 calorie per-day deficit.) I knew I would be working out, and I assumed I’d burn at least 250 calories per day from that, so I’d need to cut 500 calories per day from my diet. Which put me at a sweet spot of about 1400 calories per day.  Some days I was closer to 1300. But 1300-1400 calories was the goal.

And then… I hit it.  Without fail.

I weighed and measured everything.  I ordered foods in restaurants that didn’t have many “mystery ingredients.” I made sure that every bite I put into my mouth, with the exception of a Skinny Cow Caramel Cone or two, had a reason for being there (and even that was there to ensure that I’d not end the day too low on calories some days.) Not that details trump math, but I stuck to a sensible nutrient balance that worked out to about 50% carbs, 30% protein and 20% fat.

I also committed to cutting out all booze for the ten weeks because, frankly, booze does nothing good for you.  It jumps the line in the metabolism of fat; It puts on bloat; It loosens your resolve to stick to the program– if you are struggling with losing weight and having more than a glass or two of wine per week, I’d argue that cutting out booze is an essential step.

Those who know Rob and me know what a big part of our social life going out for cocktails is, and, yeah, there were times where it was a pain in the butt, but in hindsight, there is not a single night I look back on saying, “Man, I really wish I’d had a cocktail that night!”

We did have to make some changes– for example, a few times there would be a suggestion of a new restaurant we might want to try, but I opted to put that off until after the Challenge period, since I wanted to try the restaurants out when I had a little more freedom.  And, you know what?  All of the restaurants are still there.  And all my favorite bars are still serving booze. And I didn’t miss out on a single thing by sticking to this commitment for the whole 10 weeks. In fact, I was somewhat reluctant to reintroduce booze into my eating at the end because I felt so great having cut it out.  Taking ten weeks off definitely changed my view on booze in a lot of ways.

So, fat gain and loss being, at the end of the day, simple math– I ended up with a 1.6-pound-per-week loss, showing that there were times I exercised a little more or ate a little less, but it all mathed out at the end.  (It bears noting that I had a few weeks when the scale showed a loss of only .2 of a pound and one week where it showed a GAIN of 3.2 pounds in a week, so it’s a great reminder never to get discouraged by waterweight fluctuations. Track and commit, week-after-week, and you’ll see it all comes together in the end.)

If anyone is interested in specifically what kinds of foods I was eating, I tracked everything I ate on The Daily Plate, username Smurfcore.

Fitness Program- “Eat for weight loss; Exercise for fitness,” “Eat for how you look; Exercise for how you feel.” And any of a million other catchy phrases are fitting here…

I did a lot of exercising during the 10 weeks.  My goals were several-fold: Keep from losing lean body mass. Give myself somewhere to be and something to do every day (Keep in mind that I am currently unemployed, so this was huge for me- while doing something like P90X at home would have garnered the same results, it was important for me that I leave the house and get out in the world.)  Rebuild fitness so that I could resume running following November’s fibular stress fracture.  And, yes, support weight loss through additional calorie burn.

My fitness program looked like this:

Monday: 1 hour cardio, including 20 minutes of high-intensity interval training

Tuesday: LIFT class at 24 Hour Fitness (don’t skimp on the weights!)

Wednesday: 1 hour cardio, incl 20 mins HIIT

Thursday: 60 minutes spinning, 60 minutes Lift Class

Friday: 60 minutes cardio

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: 60 minutes Turbo Kick, 60 minutes Lift

With the exception of Thursdays and Sundays when I chose to spend more time in the gym because I had the time to spare, you’ll see that I was really only working out an hour a day.  If you are working out more than that and not getting the results you want, get in touch and we can do some troubleshooting.

I also walked down the hill to the grocery and back up (we live on a pretty nutty hill) every day and otherwise really tried to up the amount of walking I was doing– again, as much for being out and active for the mental benefits as anything.

Also, every fourth week, I replaced my usual workouts with Bikram yoga and then increased intensity on the fifth week for the next cycle.

Motivation and Other Stuff: Many of you know that I am a huge fan of the STICKERCHART.  I really think it is a great tool– it gives you a visual representation of how far you’ve come and how manageable a distance you have yet to go. Just do the work and get the sticker and know that, if you have more stickered than sticker-free days, you are well on your way. I think this is the only perfect stickerchart I’ve ever had… isn’t it pretty?!

I was also hugely motivated by knowing there were other people doing the Challenge with me. I’d highly recommend finding a group of like-minded folks to compare notes and inspire each other.

And, I can’t say enough how much getting in that mindset that “I’ve already made every decision I have to make about this” helped.  There wasn’t a single day that I wavered on whether I wanted to go to the gym, or a single time a waitress came by that I contemplated ordering a wine or fried calamari (or having some of Rob’s)… there was no choice to make. It wasn’t even an option.

It was also hugely empowering, in so many ways, to realize that, at the end of the day, I DO have 100% control over things like how I choose to fuel myself, how I feel about myself physically, and my outlook.  Sure, it would have been great if I’d gotten that job I wanted– then I could talk about how I totally erased an entire year’s worth of yuck and bad juju in only 10 weeks. But, you know what, I think the greater lesson is in realizing that I accomplished just that, whether I got the job or not.

What’s Next? I am pleased to report that I’m up to 20 MPW running and, so far, the body is holding up.  I’ve switched up my routine some to include one day of heavier (7-10 rep max) weights to try to build or keep lean mass, while tweaking with my calories in/out to see if I can sneak down closer to the 118-120 pound range.  It really does feel WAY better to be running on a lighter frame, and hope this might be the solution to my multiple stress fractures.  I’ve bought a BodyBugg to try to help me keep my balance in check– moreso to make sure I am at the higher end of calorie intake to still realize a .5-pound/week loss, as I want to make sure I’m getting enough to fuel my increasing running workouts.

I’m still committed to “feet on the floor” at a reasonable hour every day, spending time learning to sew, and just really staying on top of my outlook to make sure I don’t backslide again.

If there is anything in your life that you want to change, I think 10 weeks is a perfectly wonderful period of time to make some really great, sustainable changes and develop new habits.  Get in touch so that we can help and encourage you– If you want, I’ll even make you a stickerchart!