The rhythm of life changes when summer comes. The girls are out of school, so my daily routine goes out of the window.
With a working spouse, I’m hanging out with the girls all summer. While this is wonderful and I appreciate it tremendously, it also leaves little me-time. I wake up around 5:30 am, but so do the kids. They go to bed at 8; I go to bed at 9. There just isn’t much time.
We’re also on the road more which disrupts the routine:
And the diet goes out of the window sometimes:
If I was a better person with more willpower, I’d just eat broccoli and salads consistently. I’d resist the siren calls of sweet things and deep-fried cheese curds. However, I’m not that person; at least not when I’m traveling.
At the beginning of summer, I was all the way down to 149 pounds. On 8/1, I was at 161.6. How does one ride a bicycle 400 miles in a week and gain weight?
Now that I’m back home, it’s time to right the ship…
Experiments
It’s always interesting to push your limits. We find out who we really are when we explore life outside of our comfort zones. For the month of August, I’ll practice extreme discipline with regard to food and exercise. This will be an experiment to see what I can accomplish in one month.
I plan to:
- Exercise every day: Some days will be cycling and others will be P90x style, strength workouts. (No need to hear from you Shannon!)
- Practice time-restricted eating: Consume food between noon and 6 pm only.
- Stick to a keto (no-carb) diet: I farted around with ketosis earlier this year and had very good results. I’ll have more to say about this later.
- Severely limit alcohol consumption.
I want to see how much I can change in 31 days. To track my progress, I’ll monitor the following:
Daily
- Weight
- BMI
- Body fat % (measuring with a bioimpedance scale)
- Resting HR
One Per Week
- Measure stomach, chest, and bicep
- Pushup max
- Pullup max
Here is where I’m starting (8/1):
And in the interest of transparency, I must include embarrassing pictures. It’s one thing to tell you I’m doing something. It’s quite another to actually show you. Sorry.
One Month
One month isn’t a very long time to create big changes, but it is long enough to maintain rigorous discipline. I’m guessing that I can shed between 8 and 10 pounds. More than that, I’ll get back on track.
I’ll post my progress and thoughts every Saturday in the month of August.
Wish me luck.
CROSSSSSSSFFFFFFIIIIIITTTTTTT!!!!!!!! Sounds like Shannon is a Karen!
Oh man do I hear you on the “biked 400 miles gained 12 pounds” diet…ever since I went from running 10 miles a week to 30 I’ve stalled out with an extra 10 pounds. Sure, I *could* swap potato chips out for kale but I just don’t seem to have gotten around to it. Wishing you good luck, and sending love to all of the Crossfitters out there.
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Good luck! I like the pull-up and push-up max metrics. I got back into lifting back in November and at the beginning, my pull-up count was all the way down to one. I could always easily do 10 in high school so this was concerning! Since then, I am back up to about 10 again, and it was nice to see the progression over the months.
Take Care,
Max
I’m in with you for the August challenge. I’ve noticed the same regression as the summer has went on. One bit of advice: long-distance exercise tends to lead to body fat retention, versus the shorter, intense bouts of exercise (sprints, weight training), which leads to leaning out. The reasons are in both the energy requirements for the different types of exercise and our evolution as a species. The best example of this is can be observed by looking at sprinters (lean/muscular) versus marathoners (skinny arms and legs/bloated abdomens).
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This is awesome! My fiance Adam has had amazing results with intermittent fasting, or, as you say, time-restricted eating. We’ll be curious to see how it all pans out for you, although I guess it will be hard to differentiate the individual impact of IF vs your new fitness routine. If you’re strapped on time, squeezing in a 25 minute HIIT workout is always a good option. Good luck, and have fun!
Elise
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Gogogogogogo! I need to drag my arse to the gym. But its like high 90s with high humidity here in Houston. Seems comment section is for haterz. I guess that is how you know a blog has “made it” though. The haterz start crawling out of the woodwork.
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It’s crazy how similar your weight, max pull-ups, and max push-ups are to mine. Like seriously pretty much the exact same. How tall are you? I’m 5’8″. Are you sure we’re not brothers?
This is kind of ironic after Shannon’s response, but I’m heading back to CrossFit myself after an 8-month break. After doing it for the previous 6 years and having some time off to plan my own workouts I realized how much I enjoy it. Still curious to see if I still enjoy it now that I’m no longer working.
Looks like some great next steps. Good luck!
I’m about 5’11”.
I’m curious too to see how you like going back to Crossfit. I may actually join just to see what the hell it’s all about.
I will to drag my arse to the gym. Good luck, and have fun!
Elise
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This article really resonated with me because I’ve always believed that stepping out of our comfort zones is where the magic happens. Your commitment to practicing extreme discipline for the month of August is truly inspiring! Thanks for sharing your experiences and I’ll be following your journey closely.