Jerry Hill's CrossFit Oldtown Alexandria VA

Take the Zone Challenge!

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Members: 12
Latest Activity: Jul 5

The 6-week Zone Challenge

It All Starts Here: CrossFit Journal 21

Print out and read

Then discuss with a Coach or CFOT Teammate!

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.

Click Here: 6-week done for you CFOT Food Journal

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.

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 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.

Lets get started today!

Discussion Forum

In the Zone! Zone Progress Stories 3 Replies

Started by Christine. Last reply by Christine May 18.

Starting the Zone 2 Replies

Started by Christine. Last reply by Christine Mar 26.

More Zone Tips

Started by Jerry Hill Mar 22.

Comment Wall

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Comment by Christine on May 18, 2009 at 12:18pm: Very silly

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023746&id=1443638603&l=5a2c53416a

Comment by Brian Wild on March 24, 2009 at 10:39am: Good stuff, thanks!

Like Stuart I am not a big salad fan, and if there is an alternative to one, I will always take the alternative. But I do love veggies of every other kind.

Comment by Stuart Roy on March 24, 2009 at 10:01am: Lunch can be a bit difficult. Go for the meat/fish/chicken without sauce on it. Bobby Van's is a good business lunch venue and they have a great sesame encrusted tuna lunch dish that is about 6 blocks protein. Just leave a little on the plate. You'll just have to guess at the portion. Carbs are hard for me since I don't like salad or raw veggies. So you're on your own there. But I think you like salad so there you go. It isn't neccesary to get all your carb blocks anyway. Just eat a couple more fat blocks with some extra almonds/pecans/walnuts.

However, breakfast is easy. I usually have scrambled eggs or a 2-3 boiled eggs (1 block protein per egg) from the deli next to our office with bacon (1-2 protein blocks) and a small serving of grits (about 2 carb blocks and ok, grits are not ideal but whatever) and an orange (2 blocks carb). Post workout you may want to add in a couple of additional carb blocks, its the only time that is ok to do. I always finish it off by adding in my own fat with pecans which I keep in my desk drawer.

Sr

Comment by Christine on March 24, 2009 at 9:45am: Brian,
My husband is the champion of brown bag zoning. Granted he eats his breakfast at home, but I will ask him about ideas for doing the desk thing. As for eating out at business lunches, go for the salad.... the bigger the better... with grilled chicken or other meat. Eyeball the meat and remember that is impossible to put more than 1 block of greens on a dinner plate. Mentally total the tomatoes and onions etc. Most salad veggies are pretty light in the block department. If and only if you don't think you have enough blocks of carbs, opt for that bread stick... but it probably but it probably is 2 blocks!

Comment by Brian Wild on March 24, 2009 at 9:29am: I am one of those new "zoners" and am on week 2.5 of it. Thanks to Stuart for giving me some basics, and lots of reading material to get me started.

As far as how it is going? I think I have a pretty good grasp of what it is I am supposed to be eating and what not. I will say the first week or so, I felt more tired than normal, not sure if that was just portion control kicking in, or the actual change in diet.

My two biggest hurdles are:

1). Breakfast. Before crossfit I never ate breakfast. Just did coffee till lunch and then ate a huge lunch. I now crave breakfast when I get done with CF in the mornings, but I haven't found an easy zone breakfast for me to get at my local deli in my building, or eat at my desk.

2). My second hurdle is the work lunch. and on that it is mostly portion control and changing my habits. I would also like to find some zone friendly restaurants downtown that I can go to business lunches on and order off the menu.

Comment by Jerry Hill on March 22, 2009 at 5:11pm: STUART!!!
Incredible transformation...and great resources my friend.
Thanks.
There a few new zoners at CFOT, they ask in class and I hope to see them posting here so we can continue to help them progress.

Comment by Stuart Roy on March 18, 2009 at 2:32pm: For what its worth: I started the Zone less than a year ago and have lost a total of over 35 lbs. I continue to Zone now but for sustained energy level and general health, not necessarily for additional weight loss.

Below are some links that should be helpful in getting started and knowledgeable about the Zone without needing to do too much extra work.

1. The link to the CrossFit Journal issue on the Zone and it has a nifty, indispensable chart that is the bible for CrossFitting Zoneheads. (As Christine points out there are a couple of typos in it)

http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/cfjissue21_May04.pdf

2. If you want to know more about the theory behind the Zone without reading a long, boring book Gary Taubes has a great piece that ran in the New York Times Magazine. It is not Zone-specific but is about lower carb eating and getting rid of processed crap. I’ve found it informative and intelligent.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F04E2D61F3EF934A35754C0A9649C8B63

3. Here is a link to the zone website’s body fat calculator which will tell you fairly accurately how many blocks you should be eating in a day. All you have to do is enter some pretty basic numbers.

http://www.drsears.com/ZoneResources/BodyFatCalculator/tabid/414/Default.aspx

4. Here are two websites that have some good Zone recipes on them. I’ve gotten an idea or two from them but don’t read them often.

http://cfscceat.blogspot.com/

http://eatmovethrive.blogspot.com/

5. This guy, Robb Wolf, is the CrossFit nutrition guru. I find his stuff fascinating but just starting out it will overwhelm you if you’re not careful. He likes to tinker with the Zone and move carb blocks around into post-workout meal, dial the fat up and down, etc. I’d say to stay pretty basic until you are used to it and comfortable.

http://robbwolf.com/

Hope this is helpful.

Comment by Jerry Hill on March 2, 2009 at 4:14pm: Awesome, first 3 in the group are all experienced "Zoners"!

Christine and Melanie, thanks for your initial input.

There is a lot of great info on our previous 6-week challenge, perhaps I'll be able to pull out some links and post it here.

I wanted to create this group as on ongoing community that invites new members to embrace the zone. Our greatest success stories come from "Zoners" the more we get on board the better off we all are!

Comment by Christine on March 2, 2009 at 2:53pm: Just a note for anyone starting the Zone.

I've found some "typo's" in the Cross Fit 21 food chart. While it would be nice to eat 1/2 a honeydew and call it a block of carbs, it is supposed to be 1/2 cup. And the cantaloupe is a 1/4 melon, but that is meant to be 1 cup cubed.

Comment by Melanie on March 2, 2009 at 2:06pm: I started zoning awhile ago. I was leary at first since I did not want to lose any weight but get toned. When I weighed myself I had about 20% body fat. I am very surprised. I have been zoning for about 6months and the difference is amazing. Although, I dropped about 5 pounds the real difference was body fat for me. Either way great results.