May 06 2008
6WBMO: Day 1
Yesterday was the first day of my Six-Week Body Makeover (and also the first day of my marathon training plan). I decided to do the 6WBMO after reading about it at The Fit Shack. I’m not really trying to lose a lot of weight, but I wanted a structured program to help me transition away from my current (not so healthy) eating and exercise habits and toward a more consistent nutritional & fitness plan. My goals from the program are to (1) replace fat with muscle; (2) reduce the amount of junk/processed food I’m eating; and (3) minimize my emotional attachment to food.
To achieve #1, 6WBMO recommends 5-6 sessions of low-ish intensity cardio–think fast walking or slow jogging instead of all-out running. Since I’m training for a marathon, this is precisely the type of cardio I need to be doing. The program also includes resistance bands and a twice-weekly strength training workout. As a long-time hater of strength training, this is probably a good place for me to start. My marathon training program calls for four runs per week, so I’m supplementing that with one long (45-60 minute) walk and the two weekly strength training sessions to meet the program recommendations.
Regarding #2, 6WBMO calls for you to omit (or at least greatly reduce) sugar and salt from your diet. This pretty much requires you to make food from scratch. I’m not cutting out salt entirely because I tend to have lower blood pressure and don’t really need to, but I’m making an effort with the sugar. I cooked a huge pot roast with potatoes and carrots on Sunday to use for my meals this week. I’m already tired of it. I can see that I’m going to need to make sure I get more variety in my diet.
Working on #3 is trickier. I have a long history of disordered eating, so I tend to use food as a soothing mechanism. I also get very panicky about food–I’ve seen this in pretty much every recovering EDer I know. It’s kind of embarassing to talk about, but what the hell. Recovering anorexics and bulimics tend to be very controlled in their eating. If someone asks me for a bite of my food, I get so anxious and upset. What if there isn’t enough??? What if they take more than I want them to?? How will I know exactly how much I’ve had if they eat some of my premeasured portion???? Needless to say, it can be difficult to explain to others.
It’s not logical, but it’s real and that means I have to deal with it. What I like about 6WBMO is that it encourages you to make all of your meals in advance and carry them with you. It sounds silly, but having all of my food for the day in my lunchbox is a real emotional security blanket for me. If I start to feel worried about what I’m going to eat next, I can just unzip my cooler and look at it. Sounds ridiculous, but it really does help me.
6WBMO also requires that you eat every 2-3 hours, which is perfect for me. Hunger can be a very distressing feeling to a recovering EDer. Bulimics don’t really know what it feels like, and it can be very triggering for anorexics. Eating often enough to keep me from getting really hungry helps keep me on a more even keel overall.
I ate pretty much on plan yesterday, and I did my walk for the week. I’ve got all my meals for today in my trusty cooler, and I’m planning to do a 3-mile jog after work. So far, so good! I’ll probably do a few 6WBMO updates each week to let you know how I’m progressing. If you have any questions about the program, don’t hesitate to ask!
Table of contents for 6WBMO
- 6WBMO: Day 1
- 6WBMO: Week One Update
Good luck with the new plan - it sounds like you’ve done a good job of identifying your goals and mapping out a way to achieve them.
I start running this week with a group to train for the marathon coming up at the end of the year. Personally I would like to lose a few pounds in this process but am not going to make this my focus, otherwise I tend to over look everything else.
Keep us updated on your progress!
~K
Good Luck.
Just keep focused on your goals and be happy for each step you make (even if it’s a small, baby step!).
I want to up my running minutes. I might try this process to see if it works. Once my body is less sore!
I identify with the food anxiety. That’s one thing I’m making myself be aware of even though I hate it. Until I was more cognizant, I didn’t realize how much food controlled my life.
Best of luck! I am trying to run a 5k in June, but can’t seem to up my running time. I have been running a little over a mile for almost three weeks and am STILL winded and can’t seem to go any further. I look forward to hearing how your training goes, maybe I will pick up some tips!
My eyes widened when I saw that you are to keep the full meal with you whenever you go - now I understand why I like to know that there are certain foods around me, but I don’t necessarily need to eat them, just need to know that they are there.. and I get that same anxiety about when people take the food from your plate. Ok, so I’m not the only one.
I enjoyed this post and hope to read more about your fit endeavors!
[…] noticed the same thing with the Six Week Body Makeover. The program advises you to try different food combinations for meals and snacks, and when you find […]
Hi Jen, I hope you’re doing well on your third day of the 6WBMO!
In my experience, it’s getting through the first 3 days without the refined sugar, processed foods, and added salt that was toughest, but once you do it’s amazing how your tastes really change.
The best thing I can say is to follow the plan as it’s written, otherwise you might get very discouraged. For ex: if you add salt/sodium to your food, you may see very little weight loss. BUT, if your doctor has told you to do that, then that’s what you must do - just know that you won’t see the same results as fast as others do on the plan.
Also, the 6WBMO doesn’t include any refined sugar. Just wanted to mention that because if you keep that in your diet too, your taste buds really won’t adjust to the clean whole foods you’re eating - the plan foods (without the added salt and sugar) will taste bland if you’re still eating foods with added salt and sugar.
You’ll also see the best fat burning results with the paced walking for your cardio that the plan recommends - 30 minutes minimum, 5 days a week in your target heart rate zone - that’s the quickest and easiest way to burn the fat. Michael Thurmond also teaches you the way to breath when you’re walking, which is also part of the process.
Just wanted to pass these tips along because I’ve seen a lot of people who tweak the program and then get discouraged because they don’t see the results of those who are following it as it’s written. Of course you have to make up your own mind about what you want to do, I’m NOT saying that you must do this or that in your life - but if you want the fast results the program talks about, you get it by just following the program as Michael Thurmond wrote it.
I sincerely hope this helps, I want to see you succeed, and I bet that you’re really excited about your upcoming marathon, too - that sounds like a blast!
[…] been doing pretty well with 6WBMO. All of my meals this week were on plan with the exception of eating dinner out last night, […]
[…] just completed week one of the Six Week Body Makeover, and I wanted to share my results. As you know, it was kind of a rough week–complete with an […]
[…] friend Jen, at Semi-Charmed Wife, wrote a post a few weeks ago that I identified with in a big way. I have a long history of […]