UPDATE: Summer Fitness Challenge 2011

The fitness challenge is over. Winning the challenge was realistically never going to happen, but I had been hoping to add a little intensity into my “game” through my participation.

To be honest though, I can’t say that much changed while I was following the plan…sure, during the challenge I managed to avoid the cheat meals that I would normally indulge in once or twice a week. But I totally failed to comply with any of the guidelines for The Zone as I had originally intended.

Indeed, that fancy scale with the digital display that I bought when the challenge started looks great on the kitchen counter, but to date it’s "all show, no go".

I started out with the best intentions – I listened to the coaches, I memorized Rob Wolff quotes. Carefully measured cups of spinach and painstaking attention to every little gram of almond butter seemed like a small price to pay for “CFDC abs”.

But in the environment of my bachelor’s kitchen and the reality of my limited cooking skills, making that added effort to go “Zone” just seemed like too much.

I will swallow my fish oil and will pass by the half-and-half and the whole baked goods section at the supermarket – but please don’t make me measure my food into little blocks. OK?

Even without the Zone I did see results. I managed to lean up a little through this process (dropped my body fat by 1.5%)…and I did experiment with a “cauliflower mash” recipe that I really like. So although I am short a few dollars for that fancy scale, I have no regrets.