Fitness Month Rules

For the month of fitness I came up with a few rules. For today’s article, I wanted to discuss the reasons why these rules are important for me. Some rules others have considered crazy and outlandish, yet others generally have said they are good idea.

No coffee - only Milk or Water:
I decided I wanted to go 30 days with no coffee. Coffee dehydrates and makes me dependant on caffeine for energy. During this next month I want to rely solely on my own motivation and workouts for increasing my metabolism. Sure I could go with decaffeinated coffee, but what would be the point? I love my coffee, but I love my body also and think I can do 30 days of no coffee. With less coffee intake it leaves room for more water. As a change of pace, I’ll also be trying to drink more milk. Rumor is, it does a body good.

No Alcohol:
This shouldn’t be a hard one to understand. For the most part, I don’t see any value of including alcohol in my fitness plans for the next month. Alcohol has so many empty calories which only take away from eating anything healthy. Once again, I want to increase my water intake. Going dry for 30 days has an added bonus of knowing I can do it.

30 minutes of exercise daily:
Routine, normal activity during the day like walking is not going to do it for me. If I want to boost my metabolism, I need to increase my activities. My goal is to work two areas, strength training and cardio. I actually love to run and know I need work more on strength training. An increase in both helps burn those extra calories. Sure muscle may weigh more than fat, but it also helps burns more calories.

Breakfast - Fruit, oatmeal, English muffin, etc...
I haven’t done a terrible job in this area. For the most part I love fruits and oatmeal. Still, I know how easy it is to think breakfast is doughnuts or pop-tarts. So many empty calories and hardly going to leave me feeling satisfied. Some might suggest including cereal in the plan, but for me that’s not an option. Cereal is a trigger food for me, it doesn’t matter if it’s Lucky Charm’s or Cheerio’s, if it’s in the house it’s going to be eaten.

Lunch – including sandwiches, fruit:
Again, not really a big problem for me. I like sandwiches and there are many great options for preparing a healthy sandwich as opposed to one not so healthy, loaded with all sorts of condiments. There are actually many good whole grain breads which taste as good as the bleached white breads.

Dinner: lean meat, serving of vegetables:
This is where I normally have the biggest problems. Lately my dinners have consisted of pizza, TV dinners, pizza, fast food, cereal or pizza. I need to prove to myself I can eat healthier. It really doesn’t take much longer to grill up a piece of chicken or steak and steam some vegetables. It’ll also give me a chance to really start looking through recipes for dinners to prepare including meat and vegetables.

10:00 bedtime - up at 6:00 for exercise:
When I’m not watching carefully, I can be up to all hours of the night. It’s not uncommon for me to be up till after 12, yet still be up around 6 or 7. It’s no secret sleep is important, especially true for weight loss. When a person doesn’t get enough sleep they are fatigued, the body doesn’t function as it should, and the risk of late night snacking is increased. Late night snacking has certainly been a problem of mine in the past.

No fast food - Exception (Subway):
Is there really anything good when going for take-out? Not really. Most foods are prepared with lots of fattening ingredients like being fried or use of high caloric sauces. The exception I made is Subway because the sandwiches are tasty and many are low in calories. Additionally, a lot of the breads used are whole-grain, another bonus.

Snacking will be limited to popcorn, dairy, serving of nuts or WW snacks:
I’ve got a serious problem when it comes to snacking. It’s so easy to grab a bag of chips, a bowl of cereal (dry or with milk), candy or something else to satisfy these attacks. Still, popcorn can be purchased low in calories, nuts have good fats, dairy is good for the body and with my weight watcher snacks, I can keep close track of the calories I take in. A person needs a bit of something sweet to keep from going insane, at least I certainly do.

One vitamin a day: With all the exercise I plan on taking part in, a vitamin a day is going to come in helpful. It’ll make sure, no matter what I’m eating, I’m still getting the nutrients I should be for the day.

Can I do this 30 day fitness challenge? I’ll discuss more in detail my continued thoughts on the fitness month in my next article, and what my biggest inspirations will be.

Thoughts or suggestions? Feel free to leave a comment.