Thursday, July 2, 2009

Reviewing the Results

With hearing so many reports of BodPod results that have been disappointing, I keep thinking about what I might have done differently than everyone else. Two things stand out as possibilities - 1) I did 3 CrossFit Endurance Running WODs per week; 2) I ate A LOT and often, every 2-4 hours and included protein (and lots of it) at each of my snacks and meals.

I was rarely ever hungry and made sure that I ate really well in the hours leading up to my workouts, except in the mornings where I didn't eat before doing the CFE WODs. I did find that going in to the Challenge I ended up working out CF or CFE or both 21 days in a row and was feeling very overtrained, so I started giving myself my full day of rest at least one day a week.

I don't know how much of an impact the CFE WODs had for giving me the results that I had, but it is definitely something to consider. CFE WODs are similar to CF WODs in that they are short and intense.

Whatever the differences are, it is well worth digging to see what items can be tweaked for each person to see how they react. Each of us is different, and we each have to fine-tune food and workouts to find what works best for us.

Like I said before, it isn't all just about the body fat lost or weight lost. Every person was successful in that they learned something new about themselves....everyone improved WOD times, weights, reps, and sets. everyone challenged themselves by limiting their diets and pushing themselves harder than ever. That means more than a percentage.

Everyone, Know that you did succeed!!!!

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Hugo Challenge Follow Up

So, the Challenge was absolutely a success for me. I dropped 6 lbs. - gaining nearly 2.5 lbs of muscle, and losing nearly 8.5 pounds of fat. This brought my overall body fat down from 20.4% to 14.4%. Far more than I ever imagined would happened. In fact, I thought I might have only lost 2 pounds if I was lucky, and had hoped for at least a 1-2% body fat loss. So, needless to say I am thrilled.

There are others in this Challenge who haven't had such big changes with weight or body fat. The common thread that I have seen in all of these where I've looked at their food journal has been a lack of protein with each snack and even with some meals. I've also seen that they may have even skipped meals or snacks.

The common school of thought holds that if you eat less food you will lose weight. Unfortunately this is a huge misconception. Especially when working out intensely like we do with CrossFit. The body needs protein to build and repair muscles. During a CrossFit (or any other intense workout) you break down muscles. The way to repair them is to take in protein immediately following your workout (preferably within 20 minutes), and also to take in protein all day long with each meal and snack (preferably 3 meals and 2 snacks).

Eating properly is often hard to do, and each person needs to find the right combination for them. This is all a process and all along the way there will be both success and "failures". But, a failure is NOT a failure if you learn something from it. When you feel as if you have failed, take a moment to wallow in your emotions, then snap out of it, review what you did, find out what went wrong, learn something from it, and try again!

There can be no failures when you take this attitude because without "failing" there would be no successes. And, I can tell you, I've had MANY "failures" along my road to this most recent success. I've made so many mistakes, tried so many different methods, pills, diets, and more. Yet, along the way I've learned so many things and have come so far. I'm grateful for it all because without those experiences I would not be where I am today.

Stay strong, stick with it, learn, and keep learning, and keep growing!! This is what it is all about!