I have referenced this paleo challenge that I’m in the middle of, so I thought I owed you all a post to explain what it’s all about. Lurong Living is hosting a challenge across the country centered around eating a paleo diet. There are several thousand other people competing in this challenge, and dozens of CrossFit affiliates have registered full teams (at least 20 members) of participants. I am a proud member of the Flower City CrossFit team.
It is a 9 week-long challenge, and today is Day 1 of the 8th week. There are prizes for the individual winners (which I am in no way a possible winner), and the grand prize is a $50,000 “gym makeover” package for the winning CrossFit affiliate. Even with these prizes, the main goal is to better one’s own health and make fitness improvements.
The Rules
You can earn points during the challenge in four main categories:
- Diet
- Performance
- Improvement
- Bonus
For the diet portion you start each week with 35 points. Every time you “cheat” and eat a non-paleo food it costs you five points for that meal (if your entire meal is a whole bunch of cheats it still only counts as 5 points – you can’t lose more than 5 points for the same meal). You can earn negative points for the week (8 cheats or more), so cheating is strongly discouraged. If you make it through the whole week without cheating at all, you earn 5 bonus points for the week.
To earn points for performance they sent out weekly WODs that all of the competitors had the option of completing. You were given points in accordance to how your score measured up to the rest of the competitors.
Improvement points will be awarded at the end of the challenge for two different components: performance improvement and measurement improvement. At the beginning of the challenge everyone did three benchmark WODs, and at the end of the challenge everyone is doing them again. Each competitor’s improvement in score will be ranked against the rest of the field and given points accordingly. The same for measurements: at the beginning of the challenge 5 different measurements were taken (waist, hips, chest, thigh, and arm), and at the end of the challenge they will be taken again. The improvement in inches will be ranked against everyone else and given a score.
Bonus points are awarded a myriad of different ways, such as setting goals, uploading a video testimonial, completing weekly WODs, and others.
My Experience
This challenge has been difficult. My scores for the performance section have not been impressive, and so I have made it my goal to not cheat at all during this challenge to bring in the entire 40 points every week for my diet. So far I have been successful, but it has not been easy. With that being said – I feel great!
Meg and I did a paleo challenge on a much smaller scale in May. It was only our gym and there was no accountability on cheats. It was how we were introduced to paleo, and I’m glad we were, but there were no consequences if I cheated. I didn’t cheat every day during that challenge, but probably twice a week I would have a beer, or maybe a cookie, or something else not allowed. I still lost weight and inches during that challenge (I think 15 pounds and 3 inches if I remember correctly), and felt good during it.
This is different though. It is over 7 weeks and I haven’t had a single cheat, so I haven’t had anything with refined sugar, grains, dairy, or beans. I’ve also decided to cut out alcohol during the entire challenge (one glass of red wine per day is allowed according to the challenge, but I have decided not to drink that either). And I feel so much better today than I did at Week 7 of the previous challenge. Not only that, but today I have already lost 16 pounds, which is 1 pound more than I lost previously during the full 8 weeks. I haven’t gotten my measurements done yet, but my suspicion is that it will be greater than the previous challenge.
This challenge has benefited me not only from a diet/weight loss standpoint, but also from a performance standpoint. The weekly WODs have been challenging, but a few of them have pushed me to try to do things I haven’t tried before. The biggest example is a 30″ box jump. One of the challenges called for these, and I was definitely intimidated by it, but with the help of a trainer I slowly worked my way up to a 30″ box jump and was able to do all 30 burpee box jumps at 30″ for the WOD.
The goals I set for the challenge have also helped me – I think they were one of the main factors that prompted me to start setting monthly goals. These goals pushed me to be able to get my first unassisted pull up last week.
The Verdict
Do I crave pizza and ice cream? Not as often as during the 8 week challenge, but yes, occasionally. Have I missed out on opportunities to eat good food and enjoy it with others? Yes, absolutely. Am I happy I did (and am doing) it? Yes. I don’t want to live like this 52 weeks out of the year, but for 9 weeks it has been great. I’m not saying everyone should do a paleo challenge, but if you have the opportunity to do a challenge like this for a period of time I would say try it. You’ll find that you’re capable of doing more than you think, and even if you won’t live the rest of your life like you are on the challenge, it may teach you quite a bit. I know it has for me.
What do you want to work on? Have you thought about challenging yourself for a period of time to focus on it? Do you know anyone that might join you?
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