Rules are Not Made to be Broken!

The 90 Day Challenge

Eat 1500 calories or less every day

Exercise 4 hours per week

That's pretty simple, but just so the ol' monkey mind doesn't start playing with things there are some "sub-rules."

Eat 1500 calories every single day. There are no "special" days because every day is special. My birthday will fall 2 months into the challenge. It's a special day of course! But the rules still apply. I will select a restaurant that will have foods that I can figure the calories. Which leads to the next sub-rule.

If I can't figure the calories for a food, I don't eat it! Recently I got a small container of egg salad from the deli. There is no listing for egg salad in my calorie book. Who knows how much mayonnaise they used or whether they used the full fat or light variety. Bottom line: Don't eat it.

All foods must be part of my NAFP. For most people this includes sugar, wheat products, fake sweeteners, and alcohol. For me personally I will include sugar, wheat products, aspartame, alcohol, fried foods, and hard cheeses. I can eat a little cheese on a salad with no problem, but I cannot eat a mozzarella cheese stick or a piece of cheddar and stop. I wish I could, but I can't. Fried things are the same way. Bake a potato and I'm okay. Fry it and well...there's a reason Lay's potato chips say "You can't eat just one."

The exercise I do has to get me sweating or get my heart rate up. I don't typically sweat a lot, but I know the difference between a good workout and a stroll along the beach. An active yoga class can count as one of the hours per week. The other three hours must be spent walking at a good pace or up some hills or be spent on the eliptical machine.

Exercise should be in increments of at least 30 minutes. A 15 minute walk doesn't count no matter how much I managed to sweat.

Donna mentioned in our group meeting today that she is struggling with the idea of adding some weight lifting in to her challenge. Her challenge with that is that she doesn't really enjoy it. I have to say, I agree. My muscle tone has improved dramatically since I've been doing yoga (downward-facing dog and plank pose are to thank!) but the thought of doing bicep curls just seems BOR-ING! But there is no challenge too great for us! I told Donna that I would make the sacrifice and meet her at the gym either before or after group or after church (there is a gym location near our group location and our church) for each of the 13 weeks in this challenge. Am I an SBF or what??