Friday, September 27, 2013

October Fitness Challenge

I have hosted several fitness challenges on Facebook and they have went relatively well.  After my September Fitness Challenge, I felt like I needed to up the requirements to make it more challenging and to be truly a challenge.

In the past, the challenges have been working out 5 days a week for 30 minutes.  After asking several participants for suggestions, I have decided to make October's Fitness Challenge a little more difficult but also helping everyone maintain a healthy lifestyle.

The requirements will be as follows:

- Working Out - a participant is still required to workout 5 days a week for 30 minutes.  

I've had several people ask if they could do total hours instead of daily workouts due to their schedules.  I have given this a lot of thought and researched the benefits of daily exercise.

Daily exercise obviously helps you lose weight and controls or prevents disease (such as stroke, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease to name a few).  Daily exercise also improves your mood, gives you energy, and is better for your well being.

According to Mayo Clinic, "Exercise and physical activity are a great way to feel better, gain health benefits and have fun. As a general goal, aim for at least 30 minutes of physical activity every day."

For this reason, the challenge is sticking to 30 minutes 5 days a week.  I believe everyone deserves rest days so I'm giving you 2 days off.

- Nutrition - since this is my first time adding nutrition to the challenge I am going to make it pretty simple but will make it more challenging for future challenges, if this goes well.

Nutrition requirements

*Drink Water.  The water requirements for each person vary.  So for this challenge, you will follow this formula:  body weight x .5 ounces of water. 

So if you weigh 140 pounds you will need to drink 70 ounces of water or divide that by 8 and you will need to drink 9 cups of water. 

*Dairy.  Eat 3 servings of dairy daily.  If you are intolerant, you do not have to fulfill this requirement.

*Vegetables and Fruit.  Eat 6 servings of fruit and vegetables daily.  A serving of fruit and vegetables is 1 cup.  

*Don't Skip Meals.

*Eat healthy 6 Days a week.  Cut out fried foods and eat healthy items 6 days a week.  Like exercise, I believe we can have off days when eating.  But don't throw away all of your hardwork for one day.  

These are the current October Fitness Challenge requirements:  workout 5 days a week for 30 minutes, drink the required water amount, and eat the required amounts.

If you decide to be part of the challenge, you will track everything via Facebook.  The challenge is based upon the honest policy so please be honest.  You can also post before and after photos and measurements (optional).  I will also try to share healthy recipes to help you eat well.

I'm hoping this challenge will be more challenging and help everyone get fit.

If you meet the workout and nutrition requirements, you will be entered to win a $25 gift card (any store)!

Interested in getting fit or staying fit?  Leave a comment below or email me at fitnessbyalicia2013@gmail.com


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