Guest Poster ~Shannon Willardson~

4-WEEK CHALLENGE

Hi everyone! I'm so excited for the opportunity to do a weekly post on Mixers Nutrition. Scott & Chandi Schwab are a couple of my fitness idols, cuz I mean, let's be serious - have you seen their bods? Hot DANG! They know their stuff, and clearly they LIVE it too. Now I personally am no fitness guru, but I’ve learned a few things along the way, & what I DO know is that the quest to reach personal health and fitness goals can be quite the roller-coaster ride. Take it from someone who has gone from training 35 hours a week as a competitive gymnast to maintaining a good 20 lbs. over a healthy body weight for my height, to trying (& failing) at every single diet in the book, to giving up completely and feeding my face with whatever I wanted until it hurt, to competing in a fitness competition last summer. If in my 27 years I've yet to experience EVERY challenging or rewarding aspect of personal fitness, one thing is for sure: I know the emotional and mental toll that the pursuit for personal fitness can have upon a person - for thegood, and sometimes for the tormenting and terrible.

My hope in these little weekly posts is to have you join me on a little journey ... one where we make discoveries together about what works in reference to personal fitness, and what doesn't. And not just in regards to the usual stuff, like 'What do I eat? How many reps of that move should I do? What exercise should I do to work the pectoralis-abdominius-gluteus-maximus-minimus...errr, whatever that muscle is called? How can I end up looking like Chandi Schwab? (THAT one I'm still trying to figure out!!).' I'd also like to discover what works in regards to the way we look at personal fitness and healthy eating and taking care of our bodies. Which mentalities and perspectives foster success and which ones seem to promote failure? What is our motivation behind our pursuit for personal fitness, and is it the right one? In my experience, how someone answers these questions has a huge bearing on the level of success they find in their fitness pursuits... AND whether they're miserable in that pursuit or empowered and invigorated. OUR GOAL IS TO BE EMPOWERED & INVIGORATED! NOT MISERABLE! Right? Right Guys? Bueller? Bueller?

Ok - so now that I've got you all thinking 'When is this girl gonna stop talking?!’, I'll Get On With It! To kick this discovery process off, I am putting MYSELF on a 4-week challenge. You are more than welcome to join me!! Why 4 weeks, you ask? Seems a bit short, you say? I agree! But it turns out I got a wedding to attend (not mine – I’m happily married to THIS DREAMBOAT and have been for over a year now thank you!) that I need to look smokin-hot for, and it’s in exactly one month from YESTERDAY, so I gots to get crackin'. Plus, I've learned from personal experience that the changes a human body can make in a mere four weeks when some consistency and diligence are applied are fairly remarkable. So 4-WEEK CHALLENGE IT IS! GAME ON!



Before Pics:









Ummm, remember how I’m awkwardly holding a newspaper in this pic? Blame it on the days when I tried the ‘Body for Life’ diet – ever heard of it? All of the people who did that program took their ‘Before’ pics holding that day’s newspaper … to prove that it was current I guess? I suddenly feel real dumb about this. Try not to judge me.





Yep – those are my awesome love handles. AND that’s my super angry face.
Oh, and if you’re judging me for wearing these awkward, 5-inch tall shoes, I’m not even mad. I’m judging myself too. It’s just that I’m a short little gal (5’2” and ¾ to be exact), and I always end up wearing big ol’ heels, so I figgered I ought to here as well. So sue me!


Challenge Start date: Friday, March 23rd, 2012
Challenge End Date: April 20th. 2012
Starting weight: 114.2
Starting body fat: 18%?
(I actually have no idea, but I’m gonna guess around 18% maybe? Maybe higher? I’ll get it taken professionally at the end of this challenge.)




GOALS:
-1 serving of fresh vegetables MINIMUM of per day
(microwaveable doesn’t count)
-ONE ‘free meal’ per week… not SIX.
(historically I STINK at eating clean on the weekends. We’re gonna change try to change that.)
-protein shakes at night instead of cookies
(um, yeah. I may or may not have a slight obsession with cookies. No seriously. It’s bad. The goal here is NOT to say that I CAN’T have a cookie when I want one. Rather, it is to ask myself in a moment where I’m thinking about reaching for one: ‘is this REALLY what I’m craving? Is there a healthier choice that would be as satisfying? On a scale of 1-10, how badly do I want this right now?’ If it’s a 10, then I give myself full permission to eat the cookie. Maybe even two. Yep – I just said that. But if the answer is ‘eh, I could probs be happy with a protein shake instead tonight’, then protein shake it is!)
-2 hours of cardio per week & 4 days of weight-training.
-1.5 gallons of water per day.

These are my goals for the 4 week challenge. I’d LOVE to lose about 4 lbs. or so, but what I’m even more interested in is my body fat percentage. Who cares what the scale says if you like the way you look, right? So in 4 weeks, I would LOVE to be around 15-16% body fat. You can watch for my weekly accounting & reporting each Saturday. Wish me luck!
LET’S DO THIS THANG!