I turned 40 43 days ago. I commemorated this momentous occasion by throwing out the amazing birthday ice cream cake my girlfriend made for me. Why? Because I was searching for a a way to motivate myself to be better. Eat better. Sleep better. Look better (difficult, I know). Feel better. I challenged myself to eat no processed sugar for 40 days, while practicing yoga daily.
My Best Self
The best my body ever felt was after I completed yoga teacher training. For 4 months I was doing 3 to 10 hours of weekly yoga; it significantly transformed my body. It was, in effect, a reset: Aches and pains disappeared. I moved like someone who is comfortable in his body.
But, in any event, wear, tear and marathons added up over the years. For instance, the last time I ran (pre challenge) I stopped about 2 miles in; it felt like both my achilles tendons were about to pop off. I ran out, but walked home
It was clear after that: I needed a reset.
Growing old sucks. Accept it, or do something.
You already know what I did. Starting stats:
- 191 lbs
- 13.7% body fat
- Lean body mass: 164.79
I used calipers and the Jackson/Pollock 4 site body fat calculator at http://www.linear-software.com/online.html.
(A point often overlooked is that 0% body fat is impossible. Men need a minimum of 5% to cover/protect organs and function. Women need a minimum of 12%. These aren’t optimal ranges, they’re just the lowest you can go before we should have a talk. You can look at what’s considered a healthy percentage on the website linked above. Meanwhile, Have a look at this great chart that explains what you can expect to give up to get to each body fat percentage.)
Too thin is a thing. Once, in my youth, I was 5% body fat. I was also running 70-90 miles a week and looked skinny jacked. Two observations:
- I dont need to run that far any longer.
- 13% body fat looks better.
Back to day 1. I went to work.
Realistically, I think cut out somewhere between 90 and 95% of processed sugar from my diet. Who knows how much exactly. Sugar is everywhere. I’m sure I had some here and there accidentally, but for the most part I behaved. If you’re inspired to cut out processed sugar my suggestion is hunt for elephants, not mice. I.e. You’re gonna consume some inadvertently. You can realistically cut out about 90%+. Dont sweat it if you occasionally consume a gram or 2.
The other challenge
Meanwhile, I did 30-75 minutes of yoga day.
I also walked a ton. Once my achilles tendons felt better I began running.
When I was hungry I ate; Thirsty, I drank. Though I had to be more thoughtful in my choices it was surprisingly easy.
Social Media
I posted daily on social media. I’ve started several of these self challenges privately and then crashed and burned. At any rate, daily posting enhances discipline.
Day 35/40: there has been a decent amount of ‘work’ to get my body here, but it has never felt like work.
If I can get here anyone can.
And that’s the truth. When I began taking yoga I was terrible. I persevered by staying consistent. You can read all about it here.
Once upon a time I was self conscious about posting daily updates… more on that later.
My final #’s.
- 189 lbs.
- Body fat= 11.3%
- Lean body mass= 169
Tgough I “only” lost 2 lbs my body fat dropped 2.4%. 2.4% of 191 = 4.584 lbs of fat. So what does 5 lbs of body fat look like?
My lean body mass increased by 4.2 lbs. Muscle gains, WHAT? (For any ladies reading this… yoga WILL NOT MAKE YOU BIG. To gain this kind of muscle you would need to take steroids. Or supplement. A LOT. But because I’m a man, and my body produces testosterone, I gained muscle.)
The caliper measurements indicated most of my fat loss was at the waist (HOORAY!).
I’d love to say this is a typical result; that if you cut out processed sugar you’ll slim your waist, but every body is different. You may lose inches in your chest and legs. Weight loss, all things considered, is a riddle. No one can guarantee how much weight you’ll lose, where on your body you’ll lose it, nor in what amount of time.
What about the benefits that you can’t measure with a scale or a caliper
This wasn’t my first time doing daily yoga. This time though poses got deeper, I could hold them longer. My sleep improved. I fell to sleep quicker, and slept deeper. My energy level increased. My anxiety went waaaaay down. In addition I’m running pain free. All things considered I felt comfortable in my body again. Was that the yoga or the cleaner eating?
At the risk of sounding trite this challenge was fun. How so?
I’ve always said if you want to get to know a place go for a run there. I’d add practice yoga at a local studio to that. I had great classes at the Yoga Barn in Vt, Health Yoga life (home base!), Prana yoga in NJ and the Om center in Ct.
The friendly antagonism from my family on Halloween (‘Uncle Stephen, want some of my candy? Oh wait…’), my nephews birthday (‘oh my God Uncle Stephen, this is the best cake ever. Mmmmmm’) and Thanksgiving (‘let’s take a photo of Stephen in front of a big mound of pie and ice cream.’) was… fun. Funny. Endearing. It was not always easy to say no.
It’s important to remember that If you succumb to temptation then that is fine. We’re hunting elephants after all. 39 great days and one bad one is, all things considered, an AMAZING RESULT.
It felt good to be on a mission. It gave me a sense of purpose and made me feel vital.
I was flattered by the encouraging comments on social media and in person. The likes and the ‘you got this’ comments make a difference. I saw two former co workers on the T on day 40 and they hugged me in congratulations. Most amazing were the two dozen people who told me they started their own challenge.
Post Everyday
My advice on your challenge: post every day. Keeps you accountable.
As has been noted I had reservations about thus. I didn’t want to seem preachy or condescending. I wanted to, in the words of Ghandi: ‘Be the change you want to see in the world’.
In sum, 40 snuck up on me. I don’t feel old. I have a lot of young man goals I am chasing. I needed to do something to remind myself that age is just a number. You can change, you can learn, you can grow. You can hit the reset button and feel comfortable in your body. At any age.
What’s next?
Well, I had some sugar this morning. I got both the shits, and a headache. Turns out my body didn’t miss it that much.
What’s next?
What do you think? Another 40 days? 100? With yoga? Running? Meditation? I’m not sure of all the details yet, just that I need a month to process everything, heal a nagging shoulder injury and then figure out the next goals.
Quick aside on the shoulder injury- it didn’t happen in yoga. It happened while sleeping. If that ain’t an old man injury then what is. I had a client when I was like 26-27, Richard Gargiulo, he was in his 70’s. He hurt his shoulder in his sleep and I think I called him a “F#<king liar”.
Ahhhh karma.
Ok. Back to what’s next. It will involve meditation, fitness and goal setting. And it will start 1/1/19.
You in?