The Whole Life Challenge officially ended just over one week ago. After 6 weeks of hard work: meal prepping, stretching, hydrating, getting in those z’s, and much more; it all came to a close.
If you’re like me, over the last week, you may have indulged in some of the challenge’s forbidden foods. Maybe you bought yourself a nice bottle of Pinot Noir and Mazzarro’s cheeses (nom!), or had that crazy Engine No. 9 burger you’ve been craving. You had your fun, but you realized how much better you’d been feeling without those devilish indulgences.
So maybe, now, you’re at a crux. You’re probably asking yourself “What’s next?”
If this was your first nutrition/lifestyle challenge, the WLC is just a start. It’s the first chapter of gaining control and consciousness over what a “healthy lifestyle” really means. For my Whole30 warriors, Paleo challenge masters, and WLC Veterans, it’s a reset – a come to Jesus moment. From here, the next step is up to you. You’ve been given all of the tools.
So what is next? We have a few ideas for you as you dive back into the post-challenge world.
- Be smart as you add foods back into your regular diet (and decide what to leave out!) Just like the Whole30, in the Whole Life Challenge you reduced your consumption of certain “inflammatory” foods. Did you notice that your face slimmed, or you lost noticeably weight or bloating quickly? That could be inflammation. Adding foods in one at a time helps you pinpoint where those inflammatory symptoms may be coming from.
- It’s called Lifestyle for a reason. Use your WLC food list as a framework. Make rules for yourself and write them down. Think about the things you truly missed or didn’t miss. Adjust your shopping lists accordingly.
- Experiment! Pinterest is full of recipes for every kind of diet, and our blog has some great ideas too! Interested in trying paleo? keto? bulletproof? There are guides and recipes galore, if you seek them out. Our CrossFit9 Pinterest board is a good place to start.
- Try restricting your feeding window. Instead of restricting foods themselves, change the timing of your intake. Intermittent fasting could be your new bestie.
- Learn. Read books, attend seminars, or get one-on-one advice. Coach Steve’s Ketogenic Nutrition Workshop is coming up quickly. Interested? Sign up here.
- Keep up the habits you’ve already gained! You spent six weeks building them, why not keep going? It’s easier than trying to build a set of new ones!
- Find where your self-control ends. Publix cookies at work? Bring a satisfying snack from home. Know that once a food is in your house, you won’t be able to stop yourself from eating it? Don’t put it in your shopping cart! Get hangry at approximately 3pm every day? Replace that gas station stop with an RxBar.
- Think moderation. You just NEED sugar in your coffee? Try replacing cane sugar with coconut sugar, or working your way down from 3 scoops to 1.
Remember, over the last 6 weeks, you gained a framework for forming habits that will, without a doubt, lead you to a healthier life. For 42 days, you made small changes to your every day life, small changes that lead to habits. Small habits that accumulate to change lives.
Sometimes we think that changing our lives has to be some huge undertaking – that we have to plunge two feet into the deep end or we will gain nothing. Perfect becomes the enemy of good, and we fall into complacency. Let this challenge be our first step. Have fun, take back control. Find the path of least resistance, and get moving.
Interested in what the Whole Life Challenge can do for you? Check out Molly’s transformation.
Ready to defeat the “CrossFit makes you bulky” myth? See what CrossFit9 and the Whole Life Challenge did for Jessica.
