Saturday, June 4, 2016

**Week 4 Nutrition Challenge: Get at least 7 hours of sleep!**

This Challenge will go From Monday-Friday with Saturday and Sunday off! You will be able to earn 10 points each day for completing this challenge.

Note: You will be able to continue to earn an additional 5 points per day if you continue to avoid fried foods. :)

So, you might bethinking what sleep has to do with a "nutrition" challenge? Let me explain.

Elephants only need 3-4 hours of sleep at night, while mice sleep 14 hours. Humans are somewhere in the middle, but research shows if you are averaging 6 hours of sleep or less, you will have a higher risk of heart disease, diabetes, and may be more likely to eat more...and gain more weight.

Why would people who sleep less weigh more? It kind of seems counter intuitive. You would think those who sleep less would burn more calories since they are awake longer; however, it seems to be more linked with what happens to your body when you deprive it of sleep as opposed to the physical activity you get.

What happens involves two hormones: Leptin, which is released by fat cells, signals the brain to stop eating. Ghrelin, (prounounced GRELL-in), which is made in the stomach, is a signal to keep eating. These two hormones influence whether you go for a second helping or push yourself away from the table.

When you are sleep-deprived, your body has lower levels of leptin and higher levels of ghrelin. To make matters worse, when you don't get enough sleep, you typically crave and are more likely to reach for sugary or starchy items to give you quick energy and keep you awake, things like: chips, candy, bread, ice cream, and cereal. Compounding the problem, the brain interprets a drop in leptin as a sign of starvation. So it responds by not only boosting hunger, but also by burning fewer calories. This means you will put on more weight even if you don't eat more food!

Have I made my case? Ideally I would like you to get 8 hours of sleep each night, but to award yourself an extra ten points each day, you need to get at least 7 hours of sleep every night this week. I would imagine with all the exercise and physical activity you are getting in on this challenge, sleeping should be easy because your bodies are exhausted.

The tracker will ask "Did you get 7 hours of sleep last night?" Which means, Sunday night's sleep officially counts. Thursday night's sleep will be the last sleep you track on Friday.

Q: But what if my kids (or anything) wake me up in the middle of the night?

A: Make sure you are going to bed at a decent hour and if you are awakened before you want to be, do your best to get back to sleep as soon as possible. It's more about the time you go to bed and the time you wake up.

Q: But what if all this blasted water I am drinking
makes me wake up multiple times at night?

A: Do your best to try to get your water in earlier in the day so you aren't downing your last 32 ounces an hour before bed. If you are waking up, try to just do your business and get back to bed as soon as possible. Again, the challenge will be based on the time you go to bed and the time you wake up. Hopefully you will be able to sleep through the middle, but if not,then at least you made the effort to do your part.

Sunday, May 22, 2016

Week 1: Daily Tasks!

Eating every 3 to 4 hours. This allows you to eat smaller portions and keeps hunger away. It also allows your blood sugar to remain stable which prevents fat storage. If you keep your meals and snacks 3 to 4 hours apart the entire day, then you may click this box on the tracker and get a point for the day. If you find you are not hungry 4 hours later, that likely means you ate too much at the previous meal. If you are hungry before 3 hours, feel free to eat. Honor your hunger, but also listen to your body and stop when you are satisfied...not when you are "full." If you are too busy and don't have time to stop work or other activity to eat, put something easy to grab and eat in your pocket, i.e. nuts, trail mix, protein bar (Brands we like: Kind, Lara, Quest, Perfect, Good2Go, Rx, Square)

Eat AT LEAST 5 fruits and veggies each day. This doesn't mean 5 fruits AND 5 veggies, although that would be awesome. It's the combined total of the two, then you earn another point. So, what counts as a serving? So happy you asked.

1 small piece of fruit the size of a baseball or tennis ball
1/2 banana unless it is very small, then it can count as 1 serving
1 cup of melon or berries
1/2 cup of most other fruit
1/4 cup of dried fruit
3/4 cup fruit juice (although it's always better to eat your calories than drink them)
1 cup raw leafy veggies
1/2 cup other raw or cooked veggies
6 oz. V8 (preferably low sodium)

Drink your water. You need to drink half your body weight in ounces unless you weigh more than 160 lbs, then you need to drink at least 80 ounces, but you are welcome to drink more. For example: If you weigh 120 lbs, you divide that by 2 = 60 ounces of water. Make it convenient. Carry a water bottle with you, keep one in the car, on your desk, near your work station, etc. If it's readily available, you will drink. If you drink half your weight or at least 80 ounces of water each day, that's another point.

Stop eating 3 hours before bed. It's not that your liver decides that everything turns to fat at 9 pm, rather, this is the time when your guard comes down and bad choices can easily be rationalized. Most people are not cooking up a plate of steamed broccoli at 10:30pm...it's usually higher calorie, higher sugar, higher fat items that are the worst thing you could eat right before you go to bed. It's better for you to go to bed feeling like you could eat something, but instead, burn fat while you sleep, wake up ready for a good breakfast. If you stop eating 3 hours before bed, then you get another point for that day. **If you are already at a lean body fat percent and simply trying to gain muscle and not lose any fat, then you are exempt from this task. If you do eat, try to give your body just enough to fuel your muscles for the night, but not too much that it will want to store it as fat.

No treats. A sweet is a treat which includes brownies, cakes, cookies, candy, donuts, ice cream, regular soda, slurpees, or anything sweet that you would consider a treat. Even a "healthy" version of a treat, is still a treat. For example, if I make brownies with applesauce instead of oil...still a treat.

Contact each of your team members each day. You can do this by talking to them at work, shooting a text or an email. Keep everyone accountable and use your team if you need help, motivation, or to be talked out of eating that candy bar. :) Each day you do this, you get another point.

Exercise. There are 6 exercise days up for grabs...rest on Sunday. You will down to the nearest time completion. You want to total the minutes you spent actually exercising...not driving to gym, changing clothes, chatting with friends, etc...actual work! It can be anything where you are moving your body, from walking, to lifting weights, hiking, running, yoga, biking, etc. You can go to the gym or do it at home. Please note: The time spent towards the weekly TEAM Fitness challenges, DO NOT count towards this total amount.

60 minutes of exercise = 4 points
45 minutes of exercise = 3 points
30 minutes of exercise = 2 points
15 minutes of exercise = 1 point

So, in summary, you have the opportunity to earn 10 points daily from these daily tasks.

Monday, April 18, 2016

Monday, March 14, 2016

Sunday, March 13, 2016

So, you've been getting points for going without soda for quite some time and now you're ready to take it up a notch. This week, we are taking out alcohol and any artificial sweeteners/sugars added into drinks. So, this means:

NO Alcohol

NO Sweetened Coffee Drinks

NO Sweetened Teas

No Crystal Light

So, what can you drink? So glad you asked.

Water (of course)

Black coffee

Unsweetened Teas

Milk

Unsweetened Nut Milks

100% juice (but go easy on this if fat loss is your goal)

La Croix Sparkling Water

Bai Drinks/Bubbles

Stevia is a natural form of a sweetener that doesn't contain calories. It is also much better for you than other artificial sweeteners. I recommend this brand for it's taste and lack of aftertaste:

You can get them on Amazon or locally they are at Sprouts, Whole Foods, Good Earth, Complete Nutrition.

If you crave soda, give this a whirl:

1 tall glass

fill with ice

a squirt of coconut stevia

a squeeze of lime

add sparkling water

mix.

It's bubbly, it's just sweet enough, and it's delicious!

Dennis Park from Corporate was willing to get together with 9 crazy friends to complete a 100-mile relay race and recover in an ice-cold lake!

Dennis was also willing to wear some pretty awesome cheetah stretch pants "to make me run faster and keep me warm. We found them on the clearance rack at Walmart for $3 when getting last-minute supplies the night before the race." He is also offering them up to anyone who may want them since he will never wear them again. :) I don't know Dennis...you look pretty good in them!

Jason Frampton from Corporate sent this picture in saying "You might think it's lame, but it's really just subtle, so you have to think." I personally love all the titles to all his alarms!

Arial Peterson from Honda in Orem sent in a few awesome pictures. What is she willing to do to win the NutriFit Challenge? Lock away all her treats until April.

She's willing to run a marathon during her Netflix marathon!

And she's willing to replace her soda with water in her Swig mug and drink some green smoothies to get in all her fruits and veggies (which I can tell she is really enjoying.) Way to go Arial!