The Gym Cellar’s Holiday Challenge!!

We are on the crest of the season for holiday cheer; a plethora of co-worker’s fudge; pretty and shiny holiday colored Hershey Kisses; eggnog and stuffing; in-law induced boozing; gingerbread flavored lattes; candy canes and pumpkin pie; “I don’t have enough money” induced boozing; the work Christmas party; the family Thanksgiving dinner; the in-laws Thanksgiving dinner; the family Christmas party; the in-laws Christmas party; the left overs.

Holiday cheer comes in every flavor the only thing you need to add is an elastic waist band to every pair of pants you own. January rolls around and you are about 10-12 pounds heavier, you joke you are carrying your hibernation weight. But fast forward to August and you still have that extra 10-12 pounds of weight. You ain’t doing it this year!! Take a stand!!

Here is the plan. The Gym Cellar’s Holiday Challenge. If you would like to play send me your email address: w8isgr8@gmail.com and “Like” The Gym Cellar on FaceBook and watch for your daily challenges. You have to specifically let me know you are playing =)

The rules of The Gym Cellar’s Holiday Challenge will not be easy – if you want easy head on over to Weight Watchers – they will allow you to eat fake food to quench your carb craving for 30 minutes until your inner fat girl/guy is squealing for more. All for the bargain holiday price of $99 a month plus the price of food.

The Challenge starts on 21 November as soon as your eyes open. Daily you will be required to stay away from sugar to include: sucrose, fructose, dextrose, turbanado, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, maltodextrin, maltose, glucose; yeah…so you might have to start reading labels.
No non-foods: anything made with artificial sweetners: splenda, sucralose, saccharin, aspartame, acesulfame potassium. Basically if you can’t pronounce it, you can’t eat it.

No grains to include: wheat, flour, bread, pizza, tortilla, sandwiches, oats, grits, cream of wheat, cereal (all kinds), ice cream sandwiches, cookies, crackers, pasta, noodles, macaroni, couscous, cornbread, buckwheat, cracked wheat, quinoa, sorghum, millet, amaranth. I’m sure I forgot one – if it is made with flour it is a no-no.

Drink water – how much – well that depends on you – I can’t prescribe an amount. You may need 64 ounces or you may need more. A good number to reach for is 32 ounces and then anything on top of that is a bonus.

You cannot sit for more than 60 minutes at a time. If you have to wear a watch and set the timer then do it. My desk jockeys can sit at their desk all day without ever getting up. Not this holiday season. Every 60 minutes you need to get up and stretch your legs, stretch your spine and more importantly shake the cobwebs out of your brain.

Television – this is where some of you are going to be heartbroken – one hour of television a day. That is IT! I promise you – you will not die if you do not know what is going on with the Real Housewives of Butthead County.

The kitchen push-up. What is a kitchen push-up? Every time you walk into your kitchen you will be required to do at least FIVE push-ups. I don’t care if they are rock hard hand-release push-ups or gilry on your knee push-ups. I want FIVE push-ups EVERY TIME you walk into your kitchen- even if you are not going in there to eat.

Sleep – 6-8 hours a night. Get yourself some melatonin and some GABA. But get your sleep!

This is what you will be required to do DAILY.

I will also post a daily challenge on FaceBook and send the challenge via email. The daily challenges will be something like 30 minutes of a walk/jog on top of your usual fitness routine. You will also be required to interact with the other members of the Holiday Challenge – cause misery enjoys company ;-)

I am sure a lot of you are wondering about Thanksgiving dinner – what to do, what to do?! Enjoy it! You read that right. Enjoy it. On Thanksgiving you get to eat whatever meal you plan that is your holiday tradition in being thankful for the things you have in your life; complete with shots of whiskey so you can tolerate your in-laws. The only restriction is that’s it – no leftover stuffing or bread to fuel Black Friday Shopping on the 25th. If you’d like to shove a turkey leg in your pocket and some broccoli in the other pockets that is fair game.

Christmas party rules. You can celebrate Christmas with ONE party. Again this is a restriction free celebration. The only rule is that you celebrate at this ONE party for 4 hours only.

Christmas dinner rules. Same as Thanksgiving dinner. You celebrate the day the way you normally would celebrate. Christmas bread, jams and rolls; cookies, fudge and booze. If you celebrate on Christmas Eve that is fine – but then you don’t get to celebrate on Christmas. This is an either or; you don’t get both.

The Holiday Challenge ends on 31 December. The winner is the person who stuck to the challenge 100 percent. This is an honor system. So if you don’t have any honor don’t bother signing up to play. You will have two chances during the challenge to redeem yourself if you “fall off the proverbial Holiday Challenge wagon”.

How you redeem yourself? You must write a paper on why you cheated on the Holiday Challenge. The paper must include specific details about the cheat. What it was; why you decided you had to cheat; how cheating made you feel before, during and after. The purpose of the paper is reflection on your emotional eating. This challenge is about eating real food through the holidays and refusing temptation even when it is easily accessible. We all have the willpower and discipline to do this because there is no starving involved in this challenge. I am not asking you to eat 1300 calories a day – you can eat as much as you want as long as the foods do not contain grains or sugar. So you will never be physically hungry.

Emotionally hungry? Probably – this challenge is about getting over that and becoming stronger and controlling your emotion.

The prize – the winner will receive a basket of my favorite things. Now you are probably thinking that sounds like horse shit! I promise some of my favorite things are walnut and brown sugar candles; oatmeal raisin scented soaps; cool gym wear gear and the like.

You do NOT have to be a member of The Gym Cellar to play – you can live in Canada and play! If you win I just need your address!

LET’S DO THIS!!! HEALTH FOR THE HOLIDAYS!! WHO IS IN???