We have 4 days until the challenge is over! Wow! How many of you can’t believe how time flew!? I truly appreciate those who attended the paleo meeting on Saturday; there were so many things you could have chosen to do instead. Some of you had obligations with work and/or family, so I want you to review or look back at comments from this post to see what progress and advice people may have for you!
Weekly challenge winner this week was Heather R! She won a $50 scotty’s gift certificate for her southern inspired Jambalya. Andy W.’s chicken and Chadd’s bacon cookies were also a big hit!
End of Challenge Needs!
- Wednesday will be Cindy! Try to attend classes this day! You can also accomplish it during open gym at 4:15pm on either Tuesday or Thursday. In addition, Friday classes will be a Cindy Make-up Day.
- We will also take your Body Fat% measurements, sign ups will be at the gym!
- With your journal, you will submit your before/after picture (hard copy or digital), your before/after measurements of your thighs, hips, waist, arms, etc.), your before/after body fat %, and your before/after Cindy scores.
- Between Wednesday and Saturday, you need to drop off your entire journal and requirements at the gym.
- We will determine winners by Wednesday, March 7.
Review Questions for This week:
1. If it’s your first time doing the challenge, what do you have to say to someone who didn’t do the challenge to encourage them to do it next time?
2. If it’s your second time doing the challenge, why/how did you benefit from doing it again?
Hoosier CrossFit 6-Week Challenge 
February 26th, 2012 at 1:49 pm
This is my second time doing challenge and I have decided to stick with it indefinitely! Taking it a week at a time. I feel so much healthier. My moods are more stable…Ya this is me stable…imagine me unstable! Ha! I haven’t reached all my goals but I will continue to work on them. I adapted Heathers zone paleo last 1.5 weeks and that has helped. My last challenge was full of paleo treats and work around. This time I have been so much better. I have made a stong effort to add more veggies into every meal and was successfully every day for the last 2 weeks.
February 26th, 2012 at 3:31 pm
This is my second challenge, and I am really excited about taking all the measurements again, as well as completing Cindy again. When we did Cindy at the beginning of the challenge I did all of my pushups from my toes. I had some doubts about how I would do because I had not done toe pushups all the way through a workout before. I totally surprised myself. Now that those doubts are gone, I’m excited to push myself more on Wednesday!
Overall this challenge has been a much better experience than my first challenge. I had a better attitude going into it, and I did it the right way this time. I’ve kept baked goods to a minimum (my new favorite treat is dates stuffed with nuts) and eaten so many veggies! I planned better, and I’m feeling the results I’d hoped for. I’m always in a good mood. It’s so much easier to laugh off things that would normally irritate me. I’ve been feeling really good in the gym, and I’ve also been feeling good about how I look. I’ve had several comments about looking thinner, and I’ve had a couple moments where I’ve noticed muscle definition that I’ve never seen on my body before (which I love!!). I’m most excited about my evolving relationship with food. I’m moving toward more of a “food is fuel” mentality, versus eating because of any and every possible emotional reason. I find it so much easier to resist the mindless eating, and even with that, I’m not wanting to eat the same things. The other day I caught myself craving kale chips. Seriously?! Who am I?! I don’t want to fall into old habits, like mindlessly eating, even if it is with healthy foods, but it was hilarious to me that I was wanting to scarf down some leafy green veggies! I’m really happy with how this challenge has gone for me.
February 26th, 2012 at 5:36 pm
This is my third challenge and I can honestly say I finally have paleo down!! It takes awhile to figure out what works for you and your lifestyle and I have figured out what works for me. I took on paleo-zone this time around and have found it VERY beneficial for me. I have had some HUGE PR’s in the gym, I have been happier than ever, I’ve been getting good sleep, and any kind of fat/weight/inch loss will be determined soon! After adapting paleo for almost a year now I never realized how many vegetables I should actually be eating and when I was introduced to zone I was shocked at how much meat I eat and how few veggies I eat- so I flip flopped the two. So maybe next paleo challenge as a “veteran” you could try paleo zone and see what happens for you.
Paleo, in general, for me IS my lifestyle. I don’t plan on straying away from it… ever. It has become my way of life- my way of thinking when it comes to food and food choices. It is not easy to do it every day throughout the year and we all have our slip ups- but the benefits outweigh the risks and that to me is TOTALLY worth it.
Side note: You know when I first heard about paleo I thought I was going to drop weight and get super skinny like I wanted to be (Well I did it wrong first, so I’m talking about my 2nd paleo challenge here) and I didn’t. As a female I couldn’t help but wonder why I wasn’t the super skinny girl I mean I workout enough 😉 and eat right. So I came to the conclusion going into this challenge, that if I do zone and stay in the gym my body should be where it wants to be at- and I think it’s there.
A few more things: I plan on keeping with zone paleo- it just works for me. I am excited to have my fat “pinched again” that is fun ha! Oh and I’m excited for Cindy (kind of) I’m more excited to see how my performance is after a month of zone. I hope you all plan on some how incorporating paleo into your lifestyle- and if you ever need support I am a pretty good paleo support buddy (just ask my references Jen H. or Pam)
February 26th, 2012 at 9:57 pm
This is my 2nd challenge. This time around, I’ve had different results in terms of weight. It’s really stalled out these last couple of weeks, which is totally fine. Where I’ve seen significant improvements is in the gym. My strength has really improved, and running, although I still suck at it, has also improved. My largest benefit, though, has come strictly through my participation. After the holidays, I just wasn’t able to get myself back into Paleo on my own. This challenge has really held me accountable for this month, allowing me to get into a Paleo groove. Moving forward, I’d love to give the whole Zone thing a try to see if I can lose more of this gut. So, there ya go. My shortest post of the month. Have a great week!!
February 28th, 2012 at 8:40 am
Good to hear Sam!!! 🙂
February 26th, 2012 at 10:04 pm
This challenge was easier for me than the first for sure. Mostly because we had already learned so many great recipes to fix and had a good system on planning meals and snacks ahead of time. I have been better about my making my snack more veggies and less treats this time as well. I plan to stay with paleo after the challenge is over. It has become so natural to eat this way now. I do still need to work on my portion sizes though.
February 26th, 2012 at 10:32 pm
This time around has been easier for me. I haven’t tried as many new foods this go around but have been good about keeping vegetables in about every meal. It seems “normal” now to just eat this way. I think I could’ve been better about my journaling this time. I do feel like I have more energy and I’m not as sore as I use to be after a week of wods. I’m in better shape than I have been in a long time and plan to stick to the paleo lifestyle after the challenge.
February 26th, 2012 at 10:53 pm
the biggest change I made this time around was adding tons more vegetables and I am so glad I did. I’ve always loved vegetables but now I crave them more than ever! I used to be a total fruit monster and I really cut down on my fruit (esp dried) which helped so much with nighttime cravings. what I love most about the challenge is trying new foods and exchanging recipes. let’s keep that up you guys! great job everyone!
February 26th, 2012 at 10:57 pm
This was my first challenge. I am sure I will continue to live like I am on the challenge when I can help it, like grocery shopping etc. I prepare 99% of our dinners and lunches so it will be good there, I am thinking that I am going to have one cheat meal a week, knowing that I usually know what social events we have in advance so I can plan ahead. I’ve found that planning ahead is what has made the challenge so successful for me. To encourage others, I am going to continue to brag about the delicious recipes I now have in my arsenal and invite others to taste-test. I also am going to talk about how I choose to do this and I am not a slave to calorie counting or weighing myself with strangers each week.
February 27th, 2012 at 12:04 am
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February 27th, 2012 at 1:11 am
it’s my first challenge and the majority of it fell during my 4 weeks of on-ramp. I believe this was helpful for me bc both were and are such new experiences for me. I truly approached both as a challenge and reasoned that I could do anything for one month!
well I completed on-ramp on 2/18 and will complete the paleo challenge this week BUT I’m so inspired by both experiences that I’ll be sticking with both of them!
I’d tell anyone considering the paleo challenge to get prepared by reading the philosophy of paleo and have your shopping done in time to begin the lifestyle and then give the 30 days your very best effort and see how you honestly feel. if the lifestyle fits your life then start living it. I am! 🙂
February 27th, 2012 at 11:48 am
This was my first and it will NOT be my last. Its crazy on how much healthier i feel and look. Now don’t get me wrong sticking to it is tough and at times i hated it. I’m a food junkie but as i got it to it i found that it got easier especially when i would make enough at dinner the night before to make lunch easier. The hardest thing for me during this month was having school because that made it hard sometimes to cook decent meals. It does work tho and when im able to cook the good meals i find it fun exploring the new foods and ways of cooking them. I loved the challenge and im going to do it again every time and im really going to try and stay eating paleo up in till my deployment. It has me feeling way to good about my self and full of energy to just stop.
February 27th, 2012 at 4:45 pm
As a first-time paleo challenger, I would tell others that as long as you commit to the lifestyle and resolve to not allow yourself to give into bad food temptations, that it really isn’t THAT hard. Maybe it’s easier said than done, but that’s what I did. I tried to change the way I thought about food this month; putting the “restricted” foods like grains, dairy and sugar into a category that simply wasn’t an option. (almost like I had a severe allergy to all those foods, so it wasn’t even a question of whether I WANTED them or not, because I simply couldn’t have them) This sounds a little depressing now that I’m writing it, but my experience with food this month has been the exact opposite! I’ve had fun searching for recipes, eating new types of foods, and discovering what little food habits I never even knew I had. I also love that I haven’t felt guilty after eating a meal all month!
Since I began the paleo challenge when I still had one week left of On-Ramp, it’s hard to tell what kind of difference the lifestyle has had on my performance in the gym. I did just jump in to 4-5 workouts a week and have loved it so far, so maybe that’s a testament to the Paleo thing working for me. Yeah, I’ll just blame it on Paleo. 😉
Going forward, my goal is to remain paleo for all home prepared meals ( whether Drake likes it or not) and allow myself more flexibility when I’m out at restaurants or at a party. I hope to continue to abstain from the free pizza/cookies/crap food that’s always shoved in my face during meetings, and I hope to continue to incorporate veggies into every meal.
I personally feel that I’ve eaten better (as in great tasting meals) this past month than I have in quite a while. If someone were skeptical about joining in on the next challenge, I’d assure them that eating Paleo doesn’t have to be a sacrifice.
February 27th, 2012 at 7:10 pm
This officially being my first challenge, I would have to say to others JUST TRY IT! When the challenge was going on last October I told myself I would try the whole paleo thing to see what it was cracked up to be. But I was still doing dairy, sweet treats, and of course grains for at least one meal a day. You can’t truly experience how beneficial paleo is until you TRY IT. At the beginning of the challenge I was worried about what I was going to eat. Now, it seems so simple. As long as I have some type of meat and veggies in the house, I have a meal! If I can feel this big of a change physically and emotionally in 30 days, I’m excited to see what a long-term paleo lifestyle could bring. That being said, I hope to stay completely paleo in the house and like Jennylynn said maybe have the night outs as my time to “cheat” (cough cough Irish Lion). Things I still want to work on after the challenge: 1. MORE VEGGIES 2. less snacking on the fruit and nuts and 3. portion control
March 2nd, 2012 at 10:13 am
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