90 Day Turn it Around Challenge

Every once in a while, someone will see you working out and ask you about diets and muscle gain or something they just aren’t sure about and even what to ask, but just to start a conversation. I had such a moment at the gym, well many times actually, but this one time made me think more about lifestyle changes and ease of entry to turn yourself around. At my gym in my condo community, during the week I might see a person or two, but am typically alone except for the cleaning person who comes in sometimes. To get right into the point of the article, yesterday the cleaning person came in, and I have seen her a few times and she started chatting about her weight and thyroid issues and challenges of eating right. It’s kind of funny how people start the conversation though about weight, and it isn’t rocket science, eat less, eat better, eat timely, and it all balances out. But it is hard, really hard to do that, to eat right and curb the snacks, and overeating and all those things that drive weight. Hey, I am challenged time and time again as well as you. We like to eat.

So to move on, she asked me about how to diet and what extremes she had to go to lose 18 pounds, and what she had to give up, etc.. So it really got me thinking about the real basics of losing weight, and I am not talking about some fancy diet you’re NOT going to stick with, but real lifestyle type changes you can actually make effective in your daily living routine. These don’t take compromise and certainly are no harder than your current pour a bowl of sugary boxed breakfast cereal.

If you are ready to get started today, look ahead toward your next 90 days: where do you want to be 90 days (or 3 months or 12 weeks) from now? Mark it off on your calendar. Use this as a bookend to create the new habit, but remember, it doesn’t end there.

Habits are a lifelong process and not an event!

Oatmeal Protein Powder Breakfast

30 Day Breakfast Challenge  – Oatmeal and Protein Powder:

Quaker Oats: 1/2 Cup 150 Calories Quality Protein Powder 150 Calories low carbs 2 Gram.

Well, let’s start with the first 30 days. Breakfast is and will be the easiest meal to start your lifestyle turnaround. Simply a 1/2 cup to full cup of oatmeal, mix in a scoop or 2 of vanilla protein powder, add water and in 2 minutes you have a healthy tasty breakfast. If you want to modify with fruits of sorts that’s fine just don’t go overboard. For instance 1/2 banana rather than the whole damn thing. We may add some brown sugar or milk on occasion.

OK, so there ya go. There’s my first 30-day challenge to a new lifestyle. Oh, and by the way, I do the Oatmeal and Protein Powder 5 days a week, Monday through Friday. On weekends we may have Eggs and Sausage or even a Bagel and Peanut Butter.

60 Day Diner Challenge – Chicken and Vegetables

So now that we’ve mastered 30 days at practicing a better breakfast habit let’s move into the diner. You may ask why didn’t I go into chronological order and go to lunch next? We’ll lunch to me is least important in the mix of habits. We all have challenges to even eating lunch so let’s go to where we can make the most effective changes.

Chicken you say? Who can have a steady diet of chicken? Well if you want to get healthier and cook healthier the easiest meat to start with is chicken. You can fry it, steam it, boil it, oven it, I mean what can’t you do with chicken? If you’re trying to lose weight, then the chicken breast is the best cut for you. It is the leanest part of the chicken, which means it has the fewest calories but the most protein. The USDA recommends limiting portion sizes of foods like chicken to between two and six and a half ounces of protein per day.

I won’t get into recipes here today but watch for our videos soon. I think you get the point with diner. Portion it, and serve with healthy vegetables, not covered in cheese please.

90 Day Lunch Challenge – Chicken | Tuna Fish | Beef Sandwiches

So here we are at lunch. To me, lunch can be anything from Protein Shakes to my go-to chicken sandwich or really anything you don’t overindulge in like a giant sub sandwich. We usually have leftovers from the night before with additional ingredients. Always try and portion control even at lunch. We have a few chips or cheese curls with our sandwich, but not the whole bag.

Finally, this article isn’t meant to do your cooking, just help you think about the value of better eating and some of what we do to stay fit and healthy.

• Forming a habit takes discipline, but reminding yourself of the ultimate reason WHY you’re making this change will help you stick to it.
• Work toward forming habits that can fit into your life in the long run, not just a limited amount of time. Focus on developing a lifestyle that will yield the results you desire.
• Begin with incremental improvements to your routine. You don’t have to do it all at once. If you manage your expectations, you can celebrate all of the small results you achieve along the way.
• Walk a Mile A Day. See how this can start to change your life. A Mile may turn to 2 or 3 or more.
• Don’t get down on yourself for making a mistake or two here and there. Be willing to course correct. You don’t have to be perfect to have a measurable impact on forming long-term habits.
• Most importantly, live 1 day at a time. That’s how you build long-lasting lifestyle changes