Wow. Has it really only been less than 5 weeks since we started the Health Challenge? That is so hard for me to believe. Granted, I started a couple of weeks before everyone else, but really even I’ve only been doing this for about 6-7 weeks. So let’s review the results so far shall we?

• In less than 5 weeks since I officially started I’ve lost 15 pounds. That is 8.6% of my body weight.
• If we include the 2 weeks prior, I’ve lost 21 pounds. That is 10.8% of my body weight
• I’ve lost 3.5% of body fat.
• I’ve gone from doing 30 curls and 35 pushups in one day to 50 plus 300!
• I’ve lost at least 2 inches off of my waist and people have really been commenting that my appearance is dramatically different.

Now, it’s also important to note that I have not spent a single penny on diet aids (no pills, plans, books or anything else), I’ve not stepped a foot inside a gym, and in fact, the only weights I’ve used have been two 30 pound dumbbells. The only thing I have used since I started, is a whole bucket-load of discipline. And this should absolutely prove that you can do it too. You just have to want it!

I’m back with another Health Challenge update for you guys. It’s been about two weeks since the last update, and when I last came to you I weighed 183 (down from a high of 195). Those of you who are checking in on the Health Challenge page have seen me documenting the changes occurring as a result of the Challenge, most recently, the fact that I dropped below 180 today for the first time in a long time.

Here is the current summary of activity and results. I did workout on the days in between, but didn’t document except on days when I took a measurement.

As you can see, my body fat percentage has decreased by approximately 2% in these three weeks. I actually lost about an additional 1% in the previous couple of weeks, and I’m looking forward to breaking the 20% barrier and being down in the teens once again. Ideally, I would like to be at 10%, so we’ll see how close I can get in our remaining 2 months. That is going to be tough to do given the relatively slow progress in the last month, but I guess I’d be happy to even hit 15% at this point.
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For those of you who are keeping up with my Health Challenge, here’s my first update. I’ll try and give these updates weekly about how it’s going for me personally as well as some tips and things that might help you guys along.

Some of you know may know that I personally started the Health Challenge a few weeks before challenging the rest of you. My rationale was simple. I wanted to be able to set a good example. I wasn’t going to ask you to do anything that I wouldn’t or couldn’t do first.

Well, those of you who know me remember that I used to drink about 6 Cokes per day. And that doesn’t include all of the other candy I would eat. I was literally consuming almost a pound of sugar a day! Plus, I was eating whatever else I felt like, whenever I felt like it.
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On my Health Challenge, I asked you guys to try and cut the amount of food you are consuming by about half. Some of you probably thought I was crazy! But let me explain why this is such an important part of getting in shape.

It takes 3,500 calories worth of activity to burn one pound of fat in the human body. Now, the average person’s caloric intake should be around 2,000 calories or less per day, meaning that there are almost two day’s worth of food energy stored in a single pound of fat.

More important than simply looking at the storage, if we start talking about how much energy you actually burn in a given day, you’ll quickly see why unless you modify your eating habits, all the exercise in the world won’t help you!
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Hey folks, next week I’ve committed myself to starting a new Health Challenge. Well, technically I stole that name from Jack Finlayson, our CEO at Layered Tech. You see, every year Jack runs a Health Challenge for the folks at work. It works about like this…

• First of all, participants are all on the honor system. You can choose to participate or not, but if you are disqualified then you have to admit it and you aren’t eligible for the prizes that come at the end.
• There are some exercise requirements.
• There are some dietary requirements.
• It lasts for about 12 weeks.

At the end of the challenge, whoever has shown the most notable improvement wins! So, starting this coming Sunday, April 12, 2009, I’m going to be kicking off my own little health challenge right here for readers of my blog. Complete with glory and prizes! You’ve got the rest of this week to prepare, but then the progress begins next week!

Personally, I am starting out at 188.8 pounds and 22.5% bodyfat. My number one goal is to lose inches off my waist which is 34″. Ideally I would like to have a 31″ waist.
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A new study due out in June is going to show that North Americans are suffering from a huge Vitamin D deficiency and that it may be contributing to cancer rates as well as a number of other diseases.

The data suggests that hiding from the sun, or constantly wearing sunscreen could actually bring on really harmful forms of cancer such as breast, prostate, etc. as opposed to the relatively mild risk associated with skin cancer.
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Close to 107 million U.S. adults have cholesterol levels of 200 mg/dL or higher, a level that the American Heart Association says increases the risk of heart disease and stroke.

What follows is a listing of the most potent foods to add to your diet if you want to fight high cholesterol and drive your levels down using your diet as a primary tool.
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Years ago, while watching a cooking show, I heard a nutritionist state that if they were forced to eat only one food for the rest of their life they would choose Scallops. The assertion was that as a source of important nutrients, they simply couldn’t be beaten.

I’m not sure how thouroughly researched that claim was, but it stuck with me because I simply love to eat scallops! Recently I decided that I need to incorporate more seafood into my diet and I went looking for some nutritional information on my old favorite. Here now is everything you ever wanted to know about the king of the mollusks!
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How about that alliteration huh? :-) Seriously, cheesy though it may be, I found 44 pretty cool facts about food. Just be thankful I didn’t drag it out even longer (think Peter Piper picked a peck…).
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Below is an excellent little video that shows exactly how much sugar is in a can of coke. And before you watch it, if you do a little math, here are some staggering figures:

• There are 12 ounces (340 grams) in a can of coke.
• There are 39 grams (1.38 ounces) of sugar in a can.
• 340 grams / 39 grams = Coke is over 10% pure sugar!
• If you typically drink the equivalent of 6 cans a day you are consuming over 8 ounces or 1/2 pound of pure sugar per day.

• 24 oz. at lunch
• 2 cans during the day
• 24 oz. at dinner

• Sweet Tea has almost the same amount of sugar
• Sweetened Coffee counts too. A heaping tablespoon of sugar is about 20 grams.

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According to the September 2006 issue of Men’s Health magazine, researchers at UCLA discovered that small dietary modifications can make a big difference with regards to weight loss, which we all know contributes to overall health.

“In the study, normal-weight people reported eating, on average, two servings of fruit and 12 grams of fiber a day; those who were overweight had just one serving and 9 grams.

Credit that extra 3 grams of fiber – the amount in one apple or orange – as the difference maker.

Fiber slows digestion and enhances satiety, says study author Beth Gillham, Ph.D., R.D.”

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Ok folks, those that know me know that I don’t eat salad. However, that doesn’t mean that I don’t know how to prepare a tasty and healthy one for my freeloaders friends who come over for dinner. :-)

So, here is a handy little guide to getting the most antioxident bang for the buck when constructing those salads.
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