Transformation Challenge

After praying and much soul searching I decided to join the Transformation Challenge by Bill Phillips. He is widely known for his book Body for Life. I have been reading his book Transformation and I love it!!  He keeps things practical, yet encourages individuality.  I signed up for his social community and the Challenge. This Challenge is 18 weeks and focuses on Transforming inside and out. The outpouring of support and positivity has been incredible from the people on that site! I have never received such welcome messages just from signing up on the site. The Challenge also involves completing  an assignment each week. The assignment goes along with the chapter of the same number. So week 1 goes with Chap 1 and so on. Bill Phillips does encourage reading through the book then focusing on each chapter and assignment together. I am very excited . I also feel that this will help me in banishing negativity from my life.

I also have decided on a Nutrition Plan. I am a huge fan of Tom Venuto. I pick his Burn the Fat Feed The Muscle Fat Burning plan. It uses a 40/ 40/ 20  approach. This means 40% Protein, 40% Carbs and 20% Fat to make up my total daily caloric intake. I used one of the calculators he has on his Inner Circle to determine my daily caloric goals  along with my goal amount of Protein, Carbs and Fats.  I feel like this is a more natural approach for me and my overall goal to get Fit.


I have also changed up my workout plan. I took advice from what I read on Tom Venuto's site, Bill Phillips and Bodybuilding.com. My goal is to workout 6 days a week. I will have cardio 6 days. I will do strength training 3 days a week. 1. Upper Body day, 1. Lower Body Day and 1 Total Body Day will be my breakdown for strength training. I will alternate medium to High Intensity cardio days  at this point depending on my mood. Bill Phillips reccomends doing HIIT or High Intensity Interval Training on days when not strength training. I like that idea. I will also have at least 1 day a week where I will focus on Yoga or extended stretch. Flexibilty training is also important.

Needless to say, my brain has been in overdrive this week. There is a lot of information out there with supporting research. The trick is finding what works for my body, personality , goals and peace of mind. 

Changing the Nutrition Plan

The time has come to change my nutrition plan. I was really having low energy, and other symptoms of my body screaming for a change. I am still losing weight, but it had slowed down, and I am not convinced I was burning just fat, but also some muscle. Getting sick last week and not having any energy really opened my eyes. I had read that going low carb is really not reccommended for more than 6 weeks at a time. I will keep that in mind for next time! I haven't decided what nutrition plan I am going to use yet, but I have some ideas. I am tracking my calories and keeping it in a healthy range, that is still below maintenance for my weight, so I should still lose, but have more energy, This way my body can continue to recover from being sick and it will also hopefully help my hormones not feel so far out of whack. I am excited for the opportunity to grow and explore what is the best thing to do for my body in this journey to get fit. I did break into the 250's this past week! I am closing in on that 55 lbs lost milestone!!I lost 20 of those lbs on the lower carb eating plan , so I know it works .