We’re starting a 30-day Nutrition Challenge on Saturday May 13th!  We’re adding a new twist to things this time: we’re going to give you the option of doing the Whole30 (great for first-timers!) OR eating Whole30-ish, identifying one bad eating habit that you have, and using this 30 day period to break it.

Some examples of habits you might want to try to break: the tendency to eat too fast or in too large portions, eating mindlessly or boredom eating, nighttime eating, stress eating, or a sugar addiction.

We’ll kick off the challenge with a 90-minute session in which we’ll complete a benchmark workout, weigh-in / take measurements, take “before” photos, and then talk about the Whole30, and the strategies we’ll use to break those bad habits.

What Is The Whole30?

The Whole30 is a short-term nutritional reset, designed to help you put an end to unhealthy cravings and habits, restore a healthy metabolism, heal your digestive tract, and balance your immune system. Participants commonly report consistently high energy levels, improved athletic performance, better sleep, and improved focus and mental clarity.

In brief, you’ll be giving up sugar, alcohol, and grains, and eating real, natural, unprocessed food in the form of meat, seafood, eggs, veggies, fruit, and good fats from fruits, oils, nuts and seeds.

The Whole30 is about looking better, feeling better, and performing better. Many people experience weight loss, but the reason to do the challenge is not weight loss per se. That’s because it isn’t a good indicator of your overall health or how good you look. We have plenty of examples of people who have remained the same weight or even gained weight over the course of the challenge, but who also found their six-pack and performed better than ever. This is because they changed their body composition (converted fat into muscle, which is more dense.)

Read more about the what and why of the Whole30 at www.whole30.com/new.

What’s The Deal With Habit-Breaking?

Most people find that the Whole30 helps them overcome cravings and reestablish a healthy relationship with food. But often one trip through the Whole30 isn’t enough to break stubborn eating habits. If you’ve done the Whole30 before, generally eat pretty clean, but have found a bad eating habit has crept back into your life, this is your chance to really focus on eliminating it.

For habit-breakers, we’re actually going to recommend that you NOT go full-on Whole30 as well. Instead we’d like you to try to keep your diet clean-ish and focus on breaking your worst bad habit. This is because of the “willpower bank” concept: all self-control tasks draw on the same reserve of willpower, which becomes depleted throughout the day. Trying to resist a lot of temptations at once causes your goals to compete for a finite supply of willpower, so focusing on breaking your habit over following every little rule of the Whole30 will make you more likely to succeed.

The Prizes

To be eligible to win, participants must participate fully in the buy in and cash out sessions. Winners will be decided by a coaches vote, based on best results. Note that this is NOT about who loses the most weight. We are more interested in a combination of change in body composition (i.e. losing fat and gaining muscle) as judged by before/after photos, and improved performance on the benchmark workout!

• First place man and woman will each win $100 cash plus $100 membership credit.
• Second place man and woman will each win $75 cash plus $75 membership credit.
• Third place man and woman will each win $50 cash plus $50 membership credit.

The Timeline

Before Saturday May 13th

Before the buy-in, you should:

• Join the challenge Facebook Group
• Read the Getting Started guide to the Whole30 and the Whole30 Program Rules
• If you’re habit-breaking, read these articles on identifying habit-triggering cues, and willpower.

Saturday May 13th: Buy In

12:00PM – Buy In!
During this special 90-minute class, you will:

• Pose for ‘before’ pictures: men should wear shorts; women should wear shorts and sports bra. Make a note of what you wear so that you can try to wear exactly the same outfit again for your ‘after’ pictures! Note that these photos will be seen by the coaches only unless you agree to allow us to use them more publicly!
• Complete performance benchmark workout: “Helen” – 3 Rounds for Time: 400m Run, 21 Kettlebell Swings, 12 Pull-Ups
• Weigh In
• Pay your cash entry fee to make your entry official / fund the prize pool!
• Get a Whole30 crash course, and strategies for habit-breaking.
• Be able to ask any questions you have about this whole thing!

Sunday June 11th: Cash Out

12:00PM – Cash Out!
We’ll wrap things up with the benchmark workout again, weigh-ins, and “after” pictures.

Monday June 12th – Wednesday June 21st: Reintroduction Protocol

The reintroduction portion of the Whole30 is critical to the learning experience. Over these ten days, you’ll slowly, carefully, systematically reintroduce some of the off-plan foods you’ve been missing, and evaluate how they make you feel in the context of a healthier relationship with food, metabolism, digestive tract, and immune system. Learn more about this at www.whole30.com/step-two-finished.