6-week Zone Challenge 2009

[Jerry Hill]

Full Details soon...

It All Starts Here:
CrossFit Journal 21 Print out - read - and discuss!

Expected:
2 Perfect weeks - We can make tweaks after 2-weeks. You must weigh and measure your food for the first 2 weeks - I have found a 0% success rate for those who "wing it". Those who make it through the 2 perfect weeks go on to achieve their goals and live a life of nutritional/body composition/energy bliss - You decide, is 2-weeks of your life worth it?


Plan/log Each Meal, I will give you a 6-week "done for you" chart to fill in.
You can print this out or save on your computer and fill out.
Score each day- 5 possible points if you eat 3 meals, 2 snacks within your block RX.

See Attached File on the bottom: CFOT 6-week food journal
See Attached File on the bottom: Robb Wolf Shopping Guide

Drink your water!
I have found that those who drink less water gain more weight.
I have found that those who drink more water lose more weight!
How much?
Experts say 10 x 10oz per day
That also could be 5 x 20oz which breaks down perfect with our 5 meals - DO IT!
Anything extra is a bonus.
How important is this?
Give yourself 5 points if you are perfect = 20oz with each meal
(4 if you missed one water-meal, etc...)

Hop on the scale today.
Record your start weight.
Hop on the scale each day.
Record your weight loss.
I hate the scale, I hate measuring progress through weight loss.
This is a 6-week challenge to take you to the next level - we will specialize, we will focus on the scale for the next 6-weeks.
After this we can get back to Nutrition for performance - After all, performance/living your life to your full capacity is what it's really all about isn't it?
Yes, you should lose a lot of weight quickly - How much?
2-4 pounds a week - some of you who are dialing in for the first time will lose more - some of you who have "zoned" before will lose a bit less - it's all progress!
Weight loss fluctuates so for official documentation record and post your weight loss weekly.

Take a "Before" Picture.
Reveal as much skin as you feel comfortable with - tank top and shorts?
You can keep this private.
This is powerful - do it!
Take a new picture every 4 weeks.
Have the SAME set of clothes on and the same backdrop.
In 6-weeks you will see a difference - in 6 months you will be flat-out amazed.

POST Some of your meals!
I am a simple guy.
Eggs and fruit
Cold Chickin', almonds, fruit
Cooked meat with tomatoes and veggies.
For those that need variety please post a sample meal/snack.
Give yourself 1 point a day for every day you post a meal/snack - only 1 point a day, but feel free to share more a day!

POST YOUR Resources (for meals, motivation, information...)
Surf the web and post your findings.
Robb Wolf is the Man, check his FAQ
CrossFit Balboa is all about Paleo

Bonus - give yourself 1-point for every worthy link you put up.
For the Robb Wolf Site you could link a ton - I chose the FAQ to link you to so you could explore your problem area. Down the road I could point you to a link that talks about the "Athletes Zone". So be specific in your link.
The CrossFit Balboa link was very general, because in general the info is great! However it might have helped more if I linked specific blog posts that I thought of as super-duper important.
Make sense?
Why points for this?
Education - Community - Sharing.
If you surf the web to improve your knowledge and then help guide others, you will be successful, motivated, and long-term dedicated!



More Details soon...

[Christine]

Well, after 5+ weeks of zoning, I finally did it. I spilled my tea all over my food log. Add that to Karolin (nearly 3) deciding it needed more art, and it really looks great!

I'm way behind on reporting here
Week 4 down 3.4 lbs 51pts
Week 5 up .4 lbs 51pts

Yes that is an up for last week and it would scare me a bit, except for I have an idea why. There aren't any real cheats in the food log, just bad situations that you get out of best that you can. In other words I can look at the log and realize if I am trying hard to zone and something gets in the way, well at least my weight is nearly stable.

Good example... two doctor appts in week 5 put me out of the house for lunch. My cover for this is a McDonalds Southwest Chicken salad which is probably not a 3 block adventure and which I have to admit I ate while driving :-( And one of those appointments was for a bambino, so you know what that means... des pommes de terre frites. (Sounds so much better en Francais, n'est pas?) Nevertheless, the little matchsticks of death are 5 to a block, so my salad was rounded out with 2 blocks of the worst of carbs. The other problem I ran into was timing. More than once my schedule has put me away from decent food when I need to eat so I ended up going way more than 5 hours. I know Harold will tsk, tsk me for this, but I wished I had a zone bar in my purse to cover me until I could get home. Add to this the likelihood that my stress is up if I am eating/driving and you can imagine what my metabolism was thinking.

The other item I notice is that while my weight may be up because of the day that I am marking the end of each week, I am still on a downward trend of about .17 lbs /day, the average weight over the week is still dropping and the highest weight for the week (which seems to come on Tuesday - go figure) is still less than the previous week.

And lastly, I have to admit that last week was only the second week of the challenge where I didn't get in a long slow cardio workout in addition to CF (the other week was the first). Week 4 with the 3.4 lb loss was 3 CF workouts and 2 long (40-60 min) workouts on an elliptical. Any week where I can get in 4 metcon workouts and 2 stength days makes a difference.

Many thanks to the dh, who diligently packs that 4 block lunch and 2 2 block snacks every night. He's really in it for me and is truly keeping me motivated, although we laugh about that extra block he gets. He can put a 1/2 oz of chocolate AND strawberries on a comparatively huge dollop of ricotta with 6 almonds. I try not to think about it too much. I firmly believe that our egaltarian approach to portions over 20 years of marriage has padded my waistline!

Bonus... caught my teenage daughter using my block chart to build her lunch this weekend!

[Christine]

Some books worth reading

Toxic Fat... Dr. Sears latest book. It is relatively short and talks quite a bit to the biochemistry behind the current epidemic of obesity. He makes a good effort at not being redundant with his other books, but I did particularly like that he included enough information about how to Zone by thinking, eyeballing or blocking that someone who read this one book could get started.

The Genotype Diet - Peter D'Adamo
The latest book by the homeopath who wrote Eat Right for Your Type. I recommend this as something to use in companion with Zone. Whereas Zone addresses wellness on a macro level by using balanced proportions in diet, Eat Right for Your Type and Genotype really get into the particular foods that react with different blood chemistry producing differentt results. I mention this mostly because Zone menus often recommend things like oats and cauliflower that are not recommended for blood type O.

Quit Digging Your Grave with Your Knife and Fork - Mike Huckabee
Regardless of your political views, this is a good motivational book if you need to hear just one more success story. It's been a while since I read this to remember specifics other than it got me laughing out loud.

[Christine]

Okay, one last time
Christine - Week 6 down 2.2lbs 53pts

My total for the 6 weeks is down 9.6lbs (10.6 since New Years Eve) which is enough to really feel a difference in some of my clothes. 3" off my waist and 1" off my hips. Not sure anywhere else, I just have those measurements from the Zone block calculations. According to Dr. Sears, I am at 30% Bf, which is getting more in line with what my impedence scale says at 29.1% I am also at the weight I was in Nov 07 when things started to fall apart and my weight seemed to be managed by a bunch of little gremlins who came in every night while I slept. It was really helpful to see a friend, I hadn't seen since before Thanksgiving, who flat out said "Gee, what happened to you!"

More importantly I am still at it. I premeditated my Valentines Day cheating and last night was swordfish, asparagus, butternut squash and sweet potato bisque, and chardonnay. A white Russian cocktail and Godiva dark chocolate raspberry cordials. Today I'm back at it hard on the Zone after a celebratory piece of pannetone with my fully loaded coffee. Lent is coming... my next premeditated cheat will probably Easter.

Anyone can do something for 6 weeks, the true challenge is going forward. It is pretty instinctive now to weigh my food and have most of my favorite block counts in my head, which makes it easier. As for logging, I will probably stop logging the details and just give myself a + or - for each meal snack and note anything out of whack.

I also intend to refine what I am eating with The Blood Type Diet to refine some more undesirable foods out of my diet. Hopefully I will also be able to keep my husband going on it with me. THAT is the one single factor that has made this possible...

I will probably keep adding some Zone notes to my WOD blog, if anyone cares to follow how I keep this up. Next target is back within USMC ht/wt standards or about another 12 lbs by our 20th anniversary on 1 July (I've already bought the dress) After that it is another 11 to hit my magic number for which I've given myself a deadline of my birthday in December.

[Erin]

This is my first post to CFOT and I first have to say you are all so impressive when it comes to your dedication to both fitness and nutrition! Dedication to fitness has never been an issue for me, but nutrition is a whole different story. Today's Fran workout was my 5th CF workout--felt great to muscle out some whimpy pullups on the green band. It was also day 1 officially trying to Zone.

I started last week with a pretty good attempt to cut out processed foods and all that bread, cereal, pasta, rice, crackers, ice cream, etc I had been eating. Problem is, I can make through the afternoon, then my stomach just growls and churns the rest of the night! At 3-4pm I get a WICKED headache and I feel like I totally need a nap. I don't drink soda, eat candy (except for an occasional chocolate bite), or drink afternoon coffee. I eat my "evening snack" in the late afternoon since I work pretty late. Are the headaches and feeling normal when you start? I'm a weakling when it comes to saying no to a hungry stomach! Any advice is appreciated!

[Harold]

Erin

There is a balance between over eating and fueling your body, I think. Make sure the number of blocks you are bringing in is enough to support the lifestyle you lead. Make adjustments as needed to stay in the Zone by increasing (or decreasing) blocks as needed.

How many blocks are you eating and how often?

[Erin]

Thanks Harold! I tried a bit more sugar/carbs today and felt better...might have to just adjust the sugar levels gradually instead of going cold turkey. Zoning isn't worth feeling sick for is what I've learned the last two weeks.

shooting for 13 blocks...but probably more like 11 or 12. I try to eat every 3-4hours or so.

[Christine]

Erin,
Join the Zone Challenge Group here under groups. We can use some new zoners in the group.

Definitely want to try easing more into the zone. You are giving your body a wild workout with adding both CF intense workouts and kickstarting your metabolism with Zone. And you are right you don't want to make yourself sick.