Les Mills 21-Day Challenge Days 1-4

As promised, here is my update from the last 4 days of the Les Mills 21 Day Nutritional Challenge. I strongly believe there will be a transition period for most people of 1 to 5 days…. meaning I messed up "a little" here and there until today and am now getting used to the eating plan. Moving forward, my posts will be quick, to the point and brutally honest.

I will be tracking ALL of my food at www.myfitnesspal.com, and I suggest anyone else trying the program use myfitnesspal as well. It's free and very resourceful.

For anyone who knows me I have some vices. My vices are in no particular order: CHEESE, meat, mayonnaise and wine. As an adult, I have never been one to crave or like sugar too much. Later, I will describe a moment yesterday when I craved sugar like a monkey trying to avoid a scratch. Also, most meals I prepare take at least 45 minutes. I love to cook, and I love to have red wine while cooking. I can say with this program there is hardly any cooking time involved. One can make a healthy meal in less than 10-20 minutes, so there is really no time for wine while cooking.

OVERALL UPDATE

I can tell you that I am pleasantly surprised by the progress in just 4 days. Most certainly water weight and bloating have gone down, and I can tell! I feel much better overall, and my clothes fit better. Given that my dietician wants me to balance out my carbs, proteins and fats in myfitnesspal each day, I am leery about being under so many calories and carbs each day. But, I am willing to believe Les Mills did their research, and I trust 21 days will be safe and effective

DAILY UPDATES

Monday

Exercise: Taught 45 minutes of freestyle cycling and 30 minutes of CXWORX

Food: I had a pre-arranged lunch scheduled before I decided to do the 21-day challenge. No big deal, I just made healthier choices by getting halibut and replacing potatoes with vegetables. I did have a 55-house salad with blue cheese and bacon, and a coke. Bad Angie! After that meal all the rest were on target per the plan. I was not really hungry at all on this day, and felt like I was eating too much honestly. All of the vegetables made me feel full. I actually only ate 4 of the 5 required meals.

- Under my calories needed by 853 calories

- Under my carbs needed by 129 g

- Over my fat needed by 40 g (the 55 house salad did me in)

- Under my protein needed by 29 g

- Under my fiber needed by 4 g

- Over my sugar needed by 36 g (my supplements took me over)

Bad Influences Encountered: As stated above, I had lunch plans. Unfortunately, I gave into a small indulgence on this first day and had a not-so-good side salad. Oh well. Tuesday was another new fresh day.

Tuesday

Exercise: Taught 45 minutes of RPM

Food: Stuck to the program 90%, broke down in the evening and had the 3 remaining pieces of cheese in my fridge with crackers. OOPS, but I got my cheese withdraw out of my system and said goodbye to it for now. It will be there again in the future. I don't need my yummy cheese now. :) On this day, I did feel hungry.

- Under my calories needed by 845 calories

- Under my carbs needed by 131 g

- Over my fat needed by 16 g (Ribeye steak did me in, need more lean meat)

- Over my protein needed by 16

- Over my fiber needed by 13 g

- Over my sugar needed by 11 g (my supplements took me over)

Bad Influences Encountered: A friend needed a sub for a Euchre tournament. I knew there would be drinking and bad food all around me, but I went anyway. I turned down drinks being bought for me and ignored the bad food. One woman sitting right across from me was eating buttery popcorn that looked so good, but I managed to stay in control and had none. YAY

Wednesday

Exercise: Taught 30 minutes of CXWORX

Food: I stuck to the program 100%..... up until 9:00 pm. I went downstairs to get some water, and I had this almost uncontrollable urge to eat sugar. The plan says to eat a hand full of almonds or walnuts... so I did. No, that did not help at all. I opened the fridge, and my eyes went right to the jar of grape jelly! Yes... I did it! That's how desperate I was.. I took a spoon and ate straight up jelly right out of the jar. If that wasn't enough, my "Inner Fat" kid, who loved sugar up until the age of 14, wanted to eat half of the jar. I thought "Angie, maybe you just need some carbs," so I got a piece of brownberry 12 grain bread, put it in the toaster, cut it in half, threw one half out, and put jelly on the other half. There! I was satisfied. In less than two minutes, the bloating starting... I won't give any more details. Was it the jelly? Was it the bread? I have no clue.... Then it was like a frenzy... I wanted more sugar. There was a carton of assorted hard candy sitting on the counter, so I opened it and ate 6 pieces of it in less than 15 minutes. Yes, I didn't even suck on them... I CHEWED them up! Each piece was about the size of a nickel. After that, I was done and learned that if you just try a little taste of something during this program, you could be thrown into a tailspin.

- Under my calories needed by 338 calories

- Under my carbs needed by 21 g

- Over my fat needed by 14 g (I put dressing on my salad, yep)

- Over my protein needed by 43

- Over my fiber needed by 11 g

- Over my sugar needed by 77g (jelly and hard candy did me in hard)

Weight: down 2 pounds

Waist Size: the same

Thursday:

Exercise: Took 1 hour of BodyPump with Karen

Food: I am SO getting used to this plan now. Today was not so bad, except one of my meals was an Isalean Cinnamon Raisin crunch bar, and I had about five crackers. 

- Under my calories needed by 926 calories

- Under my carbs needed by 133 g

- Over my fat needed by 8 g

- Under my protein needed by 5

- Under my fiber needed by 1 g

- Over my sugar needed by 10 g

Weight: down 5 pounds

Waist Size: the same

Bad Influences Encountered: I met some friends at Yogi’s to watch the OSU basketball game. Again, I knew drinking and food would be involved. Luckily, I had one more meal left. I turned down the offer for beer and PIZZA. Toward the end of the game, I excused myself and went home to make grilled chicken and mixed vegetables.

Make sure you check out the commonly asked questions at: www.lesmills.com/research

If you need specialized nutritional guidance or help contact Flow Studio's Health and Wellness Coach (Teresa Harlow) at teresa.harlow@youcanwellness.com or (740) 972-1116.

Visit www.flowwithus.com for more information on Flow Studio's Elite Group Fitness Classes.