Best Shape of My Life

“Best Shape of My Life” Nutrition Challenge

During the week following the winter holidays, we get so many requests for a nutrition challenge that this year we decided to beat you to the punch.  We’re improving on the already hugely successful “Best Shape of My Life” challenge that we completed in 2011.  We saw decreased triglycerides, improved cholesterol levels, decreased body fat, increased lean body mass, improved fasting glucose levels, and performance improvements.

So what is the “Best Shape of My Life”challenge and how can a Verve athlete get involved?  The month long (that’s right, four weeks this year) challenge is based on points won or lost during the challenge. Points are earned by eating Paleo and Zone meals, with bonus points for meal frequency, workout frequency, adequate water and sleep, and eating mountains of vegetables. Points were lost for cheat meals, not having post-workout meals, not supplementing with fish oil, drinking alcohol and working out less than three times a week.

To begin the challenge, a participant buys in with $100, $60 of which goes to pay for blood testing before and after the challenge.  This year, you have the option to opt out of the blood work if money is a little tight (we HIGHLY recommend doing the blood work to benchmark your bio-markers, such as your triglycerides, cholesterol, fasting glucose).Participants will test their performance on the workout “Chelsea” and retest again at the end of the challenge.

This year, we’ve listened to your voices and we’ve created a week-by-week shopping list and corresponding menu, including recipes and instructions.  We’ve also made tracking your daily points easier with a spreadsheet that accepts your inputs and totals your point values for the day and for the challenge.  There’s even wrist bands that you receive when you achieve a certain number of points!

If you need more incentive in addition to a long and fruitful life, prizes are awarded for the men and women with the best changes in body composition, best improvement in performance and best overall finish. Depending upon participant’s point totals at the end of the challenge, they can win back their money (minus blood work).

Things you need to know:

Best Shape of My Life Challenge begins January 9th and is completed on February 5th

Preliminary blood work is to be completed:
@ CrossFit Verve on January 7th beginning at 8am (5 min incremental appointments)
@ CrossFit Verve on January 11th beginning at 5am (5 min incremental appointments)
Sign-up at the gym on Wednesday beginning at 5am 

Nutrition workshop @ CrossFit Verve:
Begins at noon and will cover basic nutrition topics, as well as advance topics for those who have been compliant with a Paleo/Zone diet
Will also cover point system used in challenge