30 Day Challenge First Place

The moment you have all been waiting for......the first place winner of our 30 day clean eating challenge and a $100 gift card is Deborah. 

I am a wife, mother, employee, manager, board member, volunteer, and friend... needless to say I am very busy! I know everyone thinks that, but my 10 hour plus work days add a lot to my schedule. So taking time out of my day to concentrate on myself has always been the first thing I sacrifice. So no surprise that over the years my weight and suit size has slowly crept up. When I graduated from college and went to work at Enterprise I was a size 8, which I thought was great since I am so tall (almost 5 10). I am embarrassed to say that allowed myself to creep up to a size 16, which contributed to me feeling very bad about myself. I have tried every "program" in the world.... to no avail. Last August, after a very stressful summer, I started running with my neighbor, Shannon, at 5:30 am 3 days a week and started working out with Dawn from NewDawn Fitness 3 days a week and I took Sundays off. It was very hard to get up at 530am, specially after a night of drinking wine. But what I realized is that if you work out at 530am, the excuses that lead me to skip PM work outs went away. Shannon was going to be waiting on the corner at 530am, I had no choice, I had to get up and work out.


Then Dawn started talking to us about clean eating and "the challenge". To be honest when she said no diet coke and no wine....I stopped listening. There is no way I could live without DC in the day and wine at night, but then their was Shannon thinking about doing it. So we both jumped in head first, and it SUCKED! At the same time a guy at work challenged me to a weight loss contest and if you know me at all you know that I am very competitive! Now I had Shannon, Paul O., and Dawn in my corner to get this done... All very motivational.


At the end of the first challenge I lost over 20 pounds and felt great about my progress. Though I had a long road ahead of me. I made it through the holidays only gaining back 5 pounds which was a success. I went into the second challenge halfheartedly, I drank every weekend. I still lost weight, but felt like I cheated the process. So I call that the .5 challenge.


So that brings me to challenge #3.... I asked my 10 year old daughter if she wanted to do it with me and she agreed easily, which was very motivational for me. I had to be strict since I was going to role model this for her. To my surprise the night before the challenge my husband said he was in and most shocking my son said he was in as well. This is the boy that really only eats sugar and carbs. So challenge #3 stared with a bang! Since we were all doing it together it was really easy. There is nothing like the support of family! The inches and weight responses very well to this challenge! I am proud to say that I am now down 34 pounds and in a size 12.


I still have work to do on my journey, I am not sure I am shooting for that size 8, but I think I would look damn good in a size 10!

Thank you to everyone who have helped me in my journey..... I think I have learned that this is a process that is going to take some time. It took me 19 years to gain the weight and hopefully it will only take me a year to get healthy, but I am in this for the long haul.




Deborah has had an amazing transformation.  She is the most determined person and comes to every class ready to give it everything she has and motivates people in ways she doesn't even realize!  She has steadily increased the amount of weight she uses for the lifts we do in class and she crushes the metcons.  Her competitive spirit is contagious and she has a healthy aura about her that is hard to miss.  Most importantly, she truly gets the point of the challenge and realizes how important it is to maintain a healthy lifestyle.  She manages to stay the course despite her endless list of responsibilities. She also brought her family on board which is no easy task!!!  I tip my hat to Deborah and know that this is just the beginning to a wonderful journey!  Congrats Deborah! 


Measurements:
Before                     After
Bicep: 10.5              10.0
Neck: 13                 12.5
Chest: 39.5              38.5
Hips: 42                   40
Waist: 36                 34
Thigh: 22.5              20.5

Before                                                                       After

30 Day Challenge 2nd Place

We went in a different direction with our second place finisher because we think it is important to understand that what we are sharing is a healthy way of life, not some quick weight loss plan. Grab a cup of coffee for this reflection because it's long, but it does a phenomenal  job of chronicling the journey that most of us have been on in our transition to cleaner eating.

Here is our second place winner of the $50 gift card, Shannon

After working out three times a week for over a year with a "boot camp" fitness instructor, I was disappointed to learn he was moving out of the neighborhood and no longer offering the class. Although the logistics of the class were tough - 7 to 8 pm, my so called "witching hour" with homework, dinner, baths and bedtime for the girls, I somehow managed to make it work. There was a sense of group cohesion, which made it fun and increased the accountability factor. Although I found the work outs extremely hard and I was making progress, I was never completely happy with my results. With it all ending, I was sure I'd slip back into my bad habits.

Then I talked to my friend, Deborah about joining Dawn's class. Although the idea of getting up at 5:15 am to exercise was daunting, it couldn't be THAT much harder than the 7-8 pm program. Especially since I consider myself way more of a "morning person" anyway. The school year was about to start - always kind of a fresh start for my family, and we both decided to give it a shot. We also planned and committed to a running program on our "off" days, thinking this was part of the reason we didn't feel as successful as we had hoped for. Of course, there were numerous conversations about changing our eating, too! I could never stick to any diet plan for more than a day, and always ended up feeling like a failure. Needless to say, there are a lot less excuses to bail on early morning work outs. It's a great start to the day.

The first day of the class felt a little weird. The group clearly had the cohesion I so enjoyed with the boot camp. I looked forward to gaining that feeling again, but realized it would take some time. Dawn casually mentioned a meeting that night about another "clean eating challenge." I thought it couldn't hurt to check it out. Nothing else I had tried worked. Deb couldn't go so I promised to fill her in. I went to the meeting and was shocked at the info presented. How could bacon and eggs be healthier than a nice bowl of oatmeal with fruit? How could protein packed Greek yogurt not be good for you? I went home perplexed, but willing to give it a try. I admit, though, I joked with my husband about "having" to do it because I'd be too embarrassed to face the neighbors and their questions about my progress! I thought " oh sh*t, what have I gotten myself into?" Peer pressure can be a powerful thing. I convinced Deb to join the challenge, too. This was September, 2011.

It was very difficult to figure out what to eat because the plan was so different than my normal eating. Deb and I were huge supporters of one another, which has really been the key. We shared recipes and exchanged dishes. That was such a treat on many days - coming home and not having to figure out what I was eating. I would return the favor on another day. It was really hard to prepare family meals, but I slowly learned to make adjustments. For example, making my own taco seasoning and eating a taco salad, less the cheese and shells, of course! Although I loved the idea of incorporating the program in our family meals, it just seemed too difficult at this stage. I had a "too many changes at one time" attitude. Another thing I learned a lot about was reading nutrition labels. I was shocked at how many foods I thought were healthy actually were not. This first challenge was extremely hard, especially social functions. I really missed my margaritas and blue moons! I managed to make it thru the neighborhood BUNKO, a crab feast with college friends, numerous out to dinner nights, a work trip to California, and even a very good friends birthday celebration the very last night of the challenge - all without a single "cheat." In the beginning, I had promised myself I would not weigh myself until the very end. I was very pleased to have lost 10 pounds. This was more than I'd ever been able to lose before, even when I was running 4-5 miles 5 times a week for about six months. This was another valuable lesson. Dawn had informed Deb and I that we were "running too much" and recommended interval runs instead. I was still skeptical, but again thought about how what I was doing was not necessarily working.

My husband decided he also liked my progress and did his own challenge in October. I did what I called a modified version, trying to follow during the week but ease up on the weekends. I had already given up a lot, I thought! It was easier since we were doing it together and I had developed some go to meal ideas. Meal planning and packing my lunch helped a lot. I also had an emergency snack stash in my car. Brushing my teeth right after dinner curbed evening cravings. Then came the hardest part of the year - Thanksgiving thru the New Year. I did not feel as though I was depriving myself and my weight only fluctuated a few pounds. All the while, I am feeling much more energized, less stressed, and more balanced. I have forgotten about my typical late afternoon slump and feeling bloated a lot. Now I was at about a 15 pound loss and improved measurements. Getting lots of compliments from friends we only see every New Years made me feel great. Although I was pleased with my physical results, I was more proud of my will power to stick to it.

The January 2012 challenge was not as successful. A weekend away 40 th birthday celebration for Porter, a trip to New York, and a work trip to Sarasota. I had made a conscious decision to cheat during Porter's weekend. Deb and I had planned to complete the first week, cheat during the weekend and then get back on track and extend the challenge to get the full 30 days. That didn't happen. I think the first allowance kind of let me off the hook for the rest of the month. I felt annoyed and disappointed in myself. I decided not to beat myself up and vowed to do better the next time.

The very first day of the April, 2012 challenge was my daughter Caroline's 10th birthday. I did feel a little sad about not having a cupcake with her. I still struggle in explaining the challenge to the girls. I don't want them to be too extreme with anything. It's hard to answer questions like "but I thought milk and yogurt are good for your bones?" As I continue this lifestyle change, I am hopeful I will be better able to articulate the benefits to the girls. They are drinking more almond milk, so that's a start. Funny enough, my family went out to celebrate Caroline's birthday the Saturday before the start date. I found myself drinking two margaritas, not because I really wanted them, but because I feared I'd regret it if I didn't. I was determined to do the entire 30 days without any cheats. It was so much easier this go around. I had my go to meals and tried a few new things. I have to admit not having as many social functions also helped a lot. I did not find myself counting down as I had before. It seemed a lot more habitual.

So at this point, over nine months later, I am fluctuating between a 18 - 22 pound weight loss (since September) and my measurements have improved. I find myself less concerned with the numbers and more interested in tightening and toning all over. It has been a worthwhile journey and I'm proud of my progress. I'd be lying if I said I didn't like the physical benefits, but I honestly do recognize the mental and health benefits, as well.


Measurements:


                Before                    After
Bicep -    9                            9
Chest -    31                          30.5
Hips -     36                           35
Thigh -   17                           16.5
Neck -   12                           11.5
Waist -   26                           25.5

What we really liked about Shannon's results were that they demonstrate that it is not always about losing.  There are many people out there who don't need to lose much weight, but still need to get healthy.  Shannon is in the process of reshaping her body and values the health benefits that follow, it is not just about losing weight.  There were several other things in Shannons reflection that jumped out at us as key things in helping to ensure success.

• Shannon did not completely understand the concept, but was willing to give it a try for 30 days.  So many times we have conversations with people who just don't quite grasp the whole concept and instead of wading in and figuring it out, use this as an excuse to sit back and continue their unsuccessful ways.
• Shannon was successful in linking up with a motivated friend for help and accountability.  This is huge, left to our own devices, few of us have the drive and motivation to be on 100% of the time.  A word of caution though, pick your friend wisely, they can pull you down as fast as they can pick you up.
• We loved the little tips sprinkled throughout.  They will help future challenge participants, my favorite being brushing your teeth right after dinner.  Genius!  
• Again, as we saw with Cindy yesterday, there was a shift in focus from the numbers to how the body feels.  This cannot be overstated, we see it time and again, when you stop letting a number on the scale rule your life and focus, instead, on how the food you are providing your body for nourishment makes you feel, and begin to make nutritional decisions based on that, positive changes result.
• Shannon highlighted the problem with going half-way in on a challenge, during her "cheat challenge."  It's not that you have a cheat food and all your efforts are lost.  It's more the psychological effect of that cheat food and the resulting binge that usually follows. 
• Finally, we love the projection into the future!  Shannon's focus was on fixing herself first, letting the results speak for themselves and then bringing others along, especially the family.  This is how we have been able to grow our own little piece of the clean eating world.

 We know, you just want to see the pictures.  Here you go!

 Before                                                         After

Spring 30 Day Challenge Winners

We know everyone has been anxiously awaiting the results of our spring clean eating challenge and we have them, but first we have to set the stage and build up the appropriate level of anticipation.

First off, lets look at the numbers.  We are never sure how many people actually attempt the challenge, but we know for sure there were more than 30 people who did some variation of the challenge.  Of those 30 people 10 people submitted photos and measurements at the start of the challenge and 6 completed all of the necessary work to be considered for the prizes.  Out of those six we had an extremely tough time picking our top three.  We will share each of those with you over the course of the next few blogs, and highlight the things that stood out to us as the trans-formative moments in each.

The one thing that we want to point out at the outset is that full commitment to the whole process makes a huge difference in ways more than just weight loss.  We hope that these stories will inspire those who have not tried it or have fallen off of a challenge in the past and give you motivation to commit to a future challenge and make permanent change in your health and fitness.

We also want to thank everyone who joined in, both those willing to share their experience and those who just followed along.  We really enjoy sharing our knowledge of healthy living and are excited about the positive changes many of you have shared with us as a result of being involved in the challenge.

We will first share with you our third place winner of the $25 gift card Cindy

Here is Cindy's experience in her own word and pictures.

Wow, the 30 day challenge is over and I can say that I made it without cheating. I had tried doing this before but didn't make it and quickly reverted to some really bad habits. I have come on a very long journey over the past year. I came to that point in my life where I had to change my body. I have never considered my self to be an ideal weight and even after dieting and getting down to a respectable weight I have viewed myself as fat and being largely out of touch with my body have quickly gained the weight back and then some. I decided this has to change. I have lost 70 pounds. Scared that I was going to quickly gain it back and vowing not to let that happen I decided to really find out the root of my problems and work to really eat healthy. After having not eaten processed foods and then falling off the wagon I quickly realized how awful I felt. After starting this time it took just a few days until my body started not feeling so bloated, so heavy again. I like the challenge in that it is so restrictive. I actually do better with very definite, 'you can have this. you can't have that". I ate a lot of the same foods over and over mostly because I am just very busy with work and kids and life. I didn't mind that though. The only thing I missed (but can't say that I craved) was cheese. I love good cheese! The rewards far outweigh the suffering. I have lost inches. And although we weren't really weighing ourselves I lost 10 pounds. I found clothes getting more and more loose on me. What a great feeling. The best of all is that digestively I just didn't feel weighed down and restricted. Hard to explain, but something everyone who eats this way knows about. Will I go back to my old ways of eating? I pray not. Will I occasionally have a bowl of ice cream? Yes. In fact, I already did and have to admit I immediately felt weird. First of all, I craved more and more. I became sleepy and my intestines were not happy. It is great to really reflect so that I don't go back to my old ways. I feel great and hope to keep up with this healthy eating for a lifetime.


                             Before                   After
neck                      13.5                       13.25
chest                      41.5                        40
arms                      13.5                        13
waist                      38                           34.5  Wow!
hips                        44.5                        41.5  Wow!
thigh                       24                           23.5

That is a total loss of just under 10 inches!  Mostly from the waist and hips.  What we really liked about Cindy's experience is how her relationship with her own body changed.  Placing the focus on how she feels after eating bad food has made a big difference.  Our bodies want to be healthy and feel good, we just need to give them the right fuel so that can happen.  Great job Cindy, keep at it and things will only get better.  We will be in touch to get you your gift card.

   Before pictures on the left, after on the right, remember this was only 30 day's!

Another Warrior Dash

Just when we thought the Warrior Dash couldn't get any better.........

With another Warrior Dash under our belts, I am excited to reflect on yesterday's festivities!  The day started off with a fun van ride down to Budd Creeks with our friends the Jackson's, Loftis', D'Attilio's, and Mike.  We got there with a half hour to spare since the parking situation was INSANE.  The sun was shining and the music was blaring which pumped us up at the starting line. The race was definitely harder than last year!  The course was completely different and consisted of hill after hill and climbing wall after climbing wall which Jennifer, who struggled last year, flew over with ease! We all stayed together and cheered each other on especially on the uphills.  The giant water slide was so fast that I had to pray that I didn't break a bone or land flat on my face.  Luckily, there were no casualties even though Paul took my legs right out from under me on the slide! At that point, it was very refreshing to be completely drenched in ice cold water:)  We got away without getting too muddy until we reached the very end!  We had to trudge through the biggest mud pit and there was nothing to hold on to or push off with.  We were just wading through neck deep mud trying to reach the other side.  People were trying to swim and kick their way through to no avail.  We were slipping and sliding trying to get out of the mud pit and were very happy to reach the finish line.  Then the real fun started!  We got to listen to music, catch some rays, and chow down on some turkey legs.  A good time with good people!  Everyone rocked the race.  Thanks guys, we had a blast and can't wait to do it again next year!  Way to represent Clarksburg!

-Dawn

Me, Chase, Deborah, and Jennifer before we got muddy.

The whole crew after the enormous mud pit:)

Paul, Mike, and Jeremy in their costumes. 

Thursday May 17, 2012-Workout

Complete 5x5 hanging power cleans
Record your max weight

Then, complete the following partner workout
15 minute AMRAP of:
20 hand release push-ups
20 back squats
Every minute on the minute, stop and do partner sit-ups
Record the number of rounds completed.


Then, complete 50 medicine ball taps.

Jen LOVES medicine ball taps, but not as much as she loves burpees:)

Individual workout if needed:

15 minute AMRAP of:
10 back squats
10 hand release push-ups
10 sit-ups
Record the number of rounds completed.

The End of the 30 Day Challenge

 

Today is the last day of the challenge, now what?  Great question and I think most of you already know the answer, but we will tease it out in a little more detail with this post.  First things first, Congratulations!  Whether this is your first time attempting the challenge, your first time completing the challenge after several attempts(yeah Lindsay!), or just a reset for some of you grizzled challenge veterans, you should be proud.  We said at the outset, that the change in behavior is, by far, the hardest aspect of this challenge and you have taken steps to not only improve your health, but also to set a goal and achieve it.  Be sure to fully appreciate the difficulty of what you have accomplished and embrace the power you have in controlling what happens in your life.  The last 30 days of self denial and self discipline, will have lasting effects on several areas of your life, not just your physical health.  Remember, at the outset, we also said this would be life changing.

"The first and best victory is to conquer self."

— Plato
Greek Philosopher

Before we jump into how to come off of the challenge in a way that will make the last 30 days as productive as possible, we first want those who are competing in the contest for the gift cards to finish up their homework.  If you are not competing, the following exercises would be a great way for you to reflect on what you have gone through and strengthen the results of the challenge.  In order to be considered for the prizes, you must do the following.  Here is a link to the first blog explaining in more detail the measurements and writing requirements.

1. Put pen to paper, or fingers to keys.  Write up a brief reflection of your experience.  Again, we have found through our own experience that self-reflection is a powerful learning tool, it helps you to appreciate all that you have accomplished and reinforce what has been learned.  Be honest, if the experience has not been as profound as we billed it to be, let us know that as well, you will not be punished.
2. Break out the tape measure again and hit all of the measurements you did at the beginning of the challenge.  Be sure to measure the same spot and in the same way as before (ie flexed or relaxed). Make sure you do this before your first post challenge binge as the inflammatory response is quick and could negatively effect your results.  What the hell, we will even let you jump on the scale and check your weight since you have not weighed yourself since this started ;).
   
3. Get the camera out and take those after pictures.  If possible, use the same clothes as in the before pics.
4. Send it all in to us by Sunday May 20th.  We will review all responses and announce a winner by Wednesday of next week and if the participants are willing, we will share results. 

 Now for how to come off of a challenge.

We know that most of you have in your mind already what post challenge indulgence you are going to partake in, possibly at midnight on Wednesday.  We have found from previous challenges that making the mindset shift that you can actually survive without bread, sugar, dairy, and alcohol seems enough for some and they go whole hog back into the way they were eating before.  Within days they feel like crap, are mad at themselves, and begin a series of emotional, crappy eating until the next challenge.  Don't let that happen this time.  Use the effort of the last 30 days to find out what foods really bother you.

Introduce each of the eliminated foods one at a time and pay close attention to how you react to them.  Pay attention to everything, how your stomach feels, your mental clarity, your mood, your bowel movements, your energy levels, your complexion, etc.  Food effects everyone in different ways and coming off of this 30 day cleanse gives you a unique opportunity to isolate each of the eliminated foods and see how you react to them.

We want to thank everyone who joined us on this challenge.  It is our goal to spread the word on clean eating to as many people as possible and we had our largest group yet participating in this challenge.  We will continue with posts over the next few weeks to recap others experiences with the challenge.

We have a lot in store for the coming weeks.  We are heading to the Warrior Dash this weekend with a group of friends.  We are planning a Memorial Day weekend workout in our neighborhood and trying to get as many people to come out and participate as possible. We will also start to include a series of corrective exercises for common movement problems and focus more on the training aspect of what we do in the blog. 

Get Fired Up, Then Relax

We came across a couple of things we wanted to share with you this weekend.  The first is a passionate post from one of our favorites Sara Fragoso from Everyday Paleo.  She takes a deeper look at the paleo diet from the eyes of her kids.  It's a great read and some interesting comments.

After you read that and get all fired up, we have a post from the blog Zen Habits to calm you down.  It was forwarded to me by a good friend and colleague who has a way of slowing me down and putting things into perspective.  I have a tendency to get spun out chasing after "it"  without knowing what "it" is.  This post is a great reminder to slow things down and be mindful of where you are now and all you have. 

Hope you have a great weekend.  We have heard about and seen for ourselves some very impressive transformations this time around and there is stiff competition for the gift cards.  We will have a few posts up this week to help you finish up this challenge on a high note and transition to the real world when it is over.

Don't take away my fruit!

This is going to be a tough one for some of you and I might as well just come out with it, fruit can be bad.  There, I said it. I waited until later in the challenge to throw this one out there because the thought of giving up fruit, at the beginning, when you are already feeling like everything you used to eat that tasted good was gone, would be just too much.  But you are strong now and in control of your cravings(i hope) and can now take a rational look at the role excess fruit consumption can play in your health and fat loss efforts.

The Natural Sugar
I am talking about fructose of course.  Every time I suggest to someone that fruit is loaded with sugar, the response is, "but it's natural sugar."  Pure sugar is natural as well and while fruit does have an added benefit of fiber and nutrients that pure sugar does not, its effects on your blood sugar are the same, and in some cases even worse.

Here is an overly simplistic biology lesson to help us understand the mechanism by which fructose becomes harmful.  Before we do that, please understand that I am not saying fruit is unhealthy.  I am saying excess consumption of fructose is what causes the problems.

Glycogen is the stored form of sugar in your body and is stored in three places; your muscles, your liver, and your fat cells.  Your muscles and liver have very limited capacity to store glycogen and are usually only depleted post workout or early morning fasted states.  This leaves your fat cells to store the rest.  Fructose can only be metabolized by the liver and once the liver stores are full, the excess fructose is converted into triglycerides and released into the blood stream to eventually be stored as fat.  So that "natural, healthy sugar" can get stored as fat faster than table sugar.  Not good.

To further complicate matters this all happens outside of the normal blood sugar, insulin loop. Meaning that when you consume fructose, insulin is not secreted in response, as is the case with regular sugar. This is important because the secretion of insulin causes the secretion of the hormone leptin, which tells you that you are getting full.  This helps explain why you can eat the whole bag of grapes, pineapple, watermelon, etc.  and not feel full.

Again, under normal circumstances, we eat available fruit in moderation when it is fresh and in season, and there are no problems.  But we have created a situation that is far from normal. Between the processed foods, sodas, and other drinks, loaded with high fructose corn syrup and the year round fruit, dried fruit and fruit juices, also loaded with fructose we have an over consumption problem.  Studies show that the average person consumes nearly 45lbs of fructose a year and that number jumps to 60lbs for adolescents 12 to 18 years old.  These are the prime soda, energy drink, Gatorade years.  This has lead to an epidemic of insulin resistance, obesity and type 2 diabetes.

This over consumption combined with the inherent belief that if it's fruit that it is good for you sets us up for a situation where our best efforts to change our eating habits and lose weight can be ruined by eating fruit.  So long story short, if you are not getting the results you want to see, your fruit consumption should be the first place to look. Moderate fruit consumption can be a healthy option for individuals with an otherwise healthy metabolism, but most of us do not fit in this category because of years and years of poor nutrition.  Limiting our fruit consumption will go a long way to helping us lose those extra pounds and get healthy.

Belly fat-is it really the end of the world?

Being a woman, I completely sympathize with all of my clients who want to know how to get rid of the fat off of their mid sections and get toned!  This wasn't always the case.  I have always been thin(very inflammed, but thin) and never gave my stomach a second thought.  My belly fat journey started off with a surgery to remove a grapefruit sized fibroid from my uterus before I became pregnant with Kylie. I had several small ones that the Dr. told me would eventually grow as well, but the large one was painful and would stick out of the lower part of my abdomen.  The surgery was much like a c-section and  left me in pain for several months afterwards with a huge scar on the upper part of my abdomen. I began working out 6 weeks after the surgery, but didn't have a clue how to train severely week and severed abs. The most disturbing part was I didn't do my research and found out too late that surgery was not necessary!  I didn't know then that my fibroids would completely disappear after changing my eating habits. After 1 30 day clean eating challenge, I had no more fibroids and no longer had to have a sonogram every 6 months! 

A year after the surgery, I became pregnant with Kylie and was told that I had to have a c-section because of my prior surgery. I was still pretty satisfied with my stomach after giving birth to Kylie, but it was definitely harder to bounce back.  The birth of Will was the straw that broke the camel's back.  I started Crossfit after Will was born and attacked my stomach with a vengeance.  Everything from glute ham sit-ups to leg throws.  Then everything came to a screeching halt when a surgeon told me I had an umbilical hernia and severe diastasis.  I had surgery to repair the hernia, but didn't know how to deal with the diastasis.  Diastasis is when your rectus abdominus is split severely and in my case, only a tummy tuck could repair it which was not an option for me.  Any number of sit-ups would cause my stomach to bulge and make me look 3 months pregnant.  In my mind, it didn't seem fair. I trained so hard and was eating really well.  Why wasn't my stomach cooperating with the rest of my body?  I soon learned after scouring the internet that many women suffer from diastasis and there was no easy fix.  I was angry and depressed.

I finally decided to face the facts and try my best to keep my stomach from getting worse and I stopped obsessing over something out of my control. I will never have six pack abs and I am FINALLY okay with that.  I am embarrased to say that it took me a long time to come to peace with this small fact, but I have learned so much along the way and I truly believe that things happen for a reason.  One important thing I learned in my "belly journey" was how to control my abs by making that mind body connection. Julie Tupper's book Lose Your Mummy Tummy was such a great help. You will always hear me tell my client's "pull your belly button to your spine" as a cue when we are working out.  Many people do not know how to do this without sucking their stomachs in and holding their breath.  It is such an important technique to learn so you strengthen your stomach muscles as well as protect yourself from injury.

Obviously, eating habits are a huge factor in the loss of belly fat as well as stress control and lots of sleep!  I know we are all on our own "belly journeys," but one thing remains true: it takes patience!!!!!  For most women, stomach fat  is stubborn.  It is the first place we store fat and the last to let it go.  We have so many lifestyle factors that can also be holding us back. I am not going to lie and say that I enjoy my diastasis bulge after a hard training session, but I take steps to keep it at bay and know how to take control of it instead of it taking control of me. We come in all shapes and sizes and  we need to embrace what makes us unique and beautiful:)

I want to leave you with two great inspirational stories from www.robbwolf.com and www.everydaypaleo.com.  Click here to read Tiffany's story and here to read Lisa's story.

Have a great week!!!!!!!!

-Dawn 

What is Ketosis?

We had a great question about ketosis this week.  One of the challenge members specifically wanted to know if "this diet" puts your body into ketosis.  First, I would argue that if you are still thinking in terms of "this diet" we still have work to do, but it is still a great question.  The answer to just about all great questions is often times, maybe, and that applies here as well.

First, let's figure out what ketosis is because there is much confusion.  In normal operations you eat food and hopefully get a little of each of the macro-nutrients of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins.  In overly simple terms, your body needs each of these for several functions, carbohydrates for energy, proteins to build muscle, and fats to help absorb vitamins, etc.  The standard American diet relies heavily on carbohydrates and when there is always a supply of energy there in the form of carbs and no need to use it as in a sedentary lifestyle, those excess carbs are stored as fat on your body.

When you change the way you eat and cut out the over abundance of carbohydrates in your meals, your body is forced to switch to its second source of fuel for energy and that is fat.  In the process of breaking down fat to be used as energy, ketones are produced as well.  Your body can use most of these ketones as energy and the rest are eliminated as waste through urine or your breathing.  An early indicator that you are in ketosis is bad breath.  Another more common way to monitor ketosis is the use of keytone sticks to measure the ketones in your urine.  The use of ketogenic diets is fairly new in the medical field, but research into its use in children with epilepsy, as well as alzheimer patients, has proved promising and led to studies in other areas, including:

• Parkinson’s disease
• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
• Traumatic brain injury
• Cancer
• Autism
• Depression
• Migraine headaches
• Narcolepsy
• Ischemia

Many low carb diets purposely put people into ketosis for the fat burning benefits, which brings me back to the initial question.  Does this, "way of living" not "diet" put your body into ketosis?  Maybe.  However, we do not consider this way of eating to be low carb and it is not the goal of our recommended way of eating to put someone into ketosis.  We do not think it is a bad thing and are sure we hop in and out of ketosis on a regular basis, but if you are constantly in ketosis during the challenge we would say that you are not eating enough vegetables, roots, and tubers.  Cutting out all of the processed food stuffs that you have been relying on for calories in the past leaves a huge calorie deficit and you need to eat a ton of vegetables to make up that deficit.  We have been conditioned to think of weight loss and "dieting" (there is that term again) as a deprivation thing where we cut back and it is so contrary to conventional wisdom to think that we can eat as much as we want as long as the food is of good quality.  This line of thinking always leads people to not eat enough on these challenges and will eventually put the body into ketosis.  We worry about the behavior in this case more than the result, because the behavior is harder to fix than taking your body out of ketosis. 

Again, great question and we hope we were able to clear up the issue a bit.  It is hard to do when you live in that grey area we talked about before, because there is no one right answer.

We also wanted to let you know that this is the weekend for many of the farmers markets in the state to open.  Our favorite one up in Frederick will be open this weekend and you can find one close to here.  Farmers markets are great for sourcing local, often organic, produce as well as many other fresh nutritious items.  We get meat, eggs, and really good coffee at ours.  Have a great weekend.

Thursday May 3, 2012-Workout

5x5 Floor press(if you have a bench and rack, you can do bench press)

Shannon getting cheered on by her group while she does floor press!

Then, complete 3 rounds of:
10 thrusters
400 meter run
15 body rows
Record your weight.

Bashira hitting a good overhead position during thrusters.  She could tighten her core a little more and pull her ribs down so she is a little less hyper extended in the lower back.  She has really been working on that and it is starting to pay off!

Then,
50 hanging knee raises followed by 50 scissor kicks

Tues. May 1, 2012-Workout

Complete 3x10 reverse flys

Then, 

Complete 10 minute AMRAP of:

20 one arm snatch(alternating arms-10,10)

10 bar burpees(complete a burpee and then jump over barbell with bumper plates on it and that is one rep)

Record the number of rounds completed