Day 16

Yesterday Ryan S. from Fire Fitness posted a great article called The Cost of Getting Lean from Precision Nutrition.  The article lays out in very understandable terms what is involved in getting to varying levels of body fat.  The post was well-timed, as I just went through a mental trade-off process of sorts myself.  The two items on the opposite sides of the scale - nutrition and health - had teetered for a long time, but I reached a point where I felt strongly that health should count for more.

The article mentions considering 'how to get the body you really want while living the life you really enjoy.'  Recall that the goal for this 100 Days is to get down to 6-8% body fat.  When all is said and done, however, my goal is not to maintain that because in order to get there I'm giving up some things that I don't want to give up permanently.  Arbitrarily I'd like to maintain a 10-12% level.  The article posted above breaks down what it takes to maintain that level pretty clearly:

1. Planning and attention to diet
• Getting the right things in during most/all meals
• Eating slowly
• Limiting processed carbs & caloric beverages to 1-2 per week
2. 3-4 hard exercise sessions a week and 45-60 minutes of exercise on off days
3. 7-8 hours of sleep per night
4. De-stress daily for 20 minutes

#1 is the biggest area of change for me, and the planning component is huge.  Beyond that, I actually feel like I came into 100 Days in good shape.  If anything else, I could add some cardio for off-days.

The last thing I'll call out from the article is its emphasis on the long-term.  'Even small adjustments can - over time - add up to noticeable improvements.' It seems like we've grown to expect exercise or nutrition regimens to 'fix' us in 30 days or less.  A long-term focus was one of the reasons I chose to do 100 Days.  Also, I'm hoping that by pushing hard for these 100 days, small adjustments that keep me in line with the items above will come more naturally and easily.