Imagine She Was 36-25-34: Glamour Challenge

*Nelly

So I started the Body By Glamour Challenge yesterday. I've done this before and never finished it, but I figure if I'm going to be a Personal Trainer, I better get in better shape. I mean you want your chef to be chunky, but not someone who's job is to tell you how to get in shape. So I re-registered for the program.

It's a 12-week challenge that basically has you log all your food and workouts. Most people can get healthier and lose weight simply by documenting what they eat and do. That in itself is a motivator. But they also have a food and exercise plan laid out week-by-week, which they email you but are available in your account page on their website. Things like This Week's Food Goal: Learn the Food Plan Basics. Find that and other health related topics on my other blog, Health if I Know. (The format is still a work in progress. Bear with me, folks.)

It's kind of a pain to document the ins and outs of every food item, but the good news is you can save it all in your Favorites, so later you can just click on it. For example, I have a protein shake most mornings, so I created a Favorite that is all calculated out the way I prepare it. Now when I want to add it, it's just one click away. They also have popular foods listed in their Food Search tab. And it's the same with the Fitness Journal.

I had to answer a bunch of questions, like What is your target area? and put in all my measurements. One of the cool features now is that all that information is stored to track my progress. As often as I want I can redo all my measurements, and it will show me a graph of my progress. There are also graphs for my caloric intake (based on the food journal) and my calories burned (based on the fitness journal).

They also offer motivational articles by TV's Toughest Trainer, Jillian Michaels, a Shape Up blog, and a tip-of-the-day. Today's tip is: "The easy-listening tunes that most supermarkets play slow shoppers down, and the longer your visit is, the more likely you are to add some unnecessary junk to your trunk—er, to your cart. Want to avoid unhealthy impulse food purchases at the grocery store? Make a list and stick with it."

The one thing I miss from the first time I signed up is my virtual model. They used to have a feature where you could put in your stats--including hair, skin and eyecolor, and facial features--and it would make a little model of you. Just like the graphs, you could change the stats on the model and it would change. I guess they just figured you could look in a mirror.

The best part about it all is that it's FREE!! All this trying new stuff can get expensive, but this one only costs time and concentration.

I'll keep you posted...

"If you don't do what's best for your body, you're the one who comes up on the short end." -Julius Erving