Reset your commitment to fitness through the 2019 CrossFit Fernandina New Year’s Challenge! This year’s challenge will start on Monday, January 14th and will run until Wednesday February 20th. We will hold information meetings after the 9 AM Saturday morning classes the next two weeks (Jan 5 and 12). You will be able to go ahead and sign up and weigh in at either of the meetings. If you can’t make it to either meeting, we can also get you signed up and weighed in during the week. Entry into the challenge is $45.

Participants will be divided into teams of 4 to 6 people with coaches designated as team captains. Each participant will earn points for meeting their nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle goals each day. At the end of the challenge, prizes will be given to the team with the most points, the individual with the most points, and the individual who loses the most weight by percentage of bodyweight.

The Wodify Rise app will be used to submit our daily points. Wodify Rise has a leaderboard that tracks points as we go, so you can keep up with how you and your team are performing. The Rise app is in the app store for both iPhone and Android devices.

For most of us, the hardest part of living a healthy lifestyle is eating healthy. So for this challenge, we’re making it as simple as possible: Eat real food. Not too much. Mostly plants. These 3 short sentences are the guidelines for the nutrition component of our New Year’s Challenge.

Note: This guideline comes from Ben Bergeron at CrossFit New England and was derived from the CrossFit nutrition prescription: “Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar.”

Here’s a breakdown of our points system:
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Nutrition: 3 possible points each day

• To make it easy to determine how much food we should eat, we’re going to use 3-compartment food prep containers to portion meals (we will provide one for each participant, and you can purchase your own if needed). A meal will consist of vegetables that fill the large compartment and protein and carbohydrates that each fill the smaller 2 compartments. A tablespoon of quality fat will round out the meal. If you weigh under 165 pounds, you will eat 3 meals per day. If you over 165 pounds, you will eat 4 meals per day.
• You earn 1 point for each meal that meets the “Eat real food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” guideline up to 3 points. If you’re over 165 pounds, you still have to eat your fourth meal, but you don’t get a point for it.
• You will also subtract a point for each mess-up (i.e. eating too much of a protein or carb, not eating enough vegies, going back for seconds, eating a snack other than pre-workout fruit, etc.). You cannot earn negative points.

Here’s what you can eat:

• PROTEIN: Meat (preferably lean, grass-fed and organic), Fish, Eggs
• CARBOHYDRATES: sweet potato, fruit, beets, yams, butternut squash, plantains
• VEGETABLES: If it’s a vegetable, eat it.
• FATS: Grass-fed butter, Olive oil, Coconut oil, Avocado, Avocado oil, Macadamia oil, Olive, Raw nuts (almonds, pecans, walnuts, macadamia nuts, etc.) Raw nut butter or peanut butter (no other ingredients)

Exercise: 2 possible point per day and 1 weekly bonus point

• Two points for attending a CrossFit or Vitality class
• One point if you can’t make it to the gym but manage to workout at least 15 minutes on your own. Mobility/stretching counts!
• Up to three bonus points per week for checking into the gym on social media or posting a #CFFnewyearschallenge update (posting to social media could be a great way to help hold yourself accountable!).

Water: 1 possible point per day

• One point for meeting daily hydration goal. Each day, our goal will be to drink .75 ounces of water per pound of bodyweight up to one gallon. For example, a 150 pound person needs to drink 113 ounces of water each day. A 100-pound person would need to drink 75 ounces. A 200-pound person would drink a gallon (128 ounces)

Sleep: 1 possible point per day

• One point for getting at least 7 hours each night/day. Naps can count toward time.​

Life Improvement Goal: 1 possible point per day

• Choose your own goal. Some example: to not have your cell phone on at all once you get into bed, complete at least 10 minutes of mobility each day, read a book for X amount of time each day, not use any cuss words, etc. This can be changed weekly if you like.

SPECIAL ALLOWANCES FOR PRE/POST WORKOUT:

• PRE-WORKOUT: You are allowed a piece of fruit (whole fruit, not canned or dried) if you need a pre-workout snack. A banana or apple are great choices. This is the ONLY snack exception and is only allowed before a workout.
• POST-WORKOUT: Supplements are focused on performance. Our health and body composition should come before that. However, you are allowed one, post-wod non-sugary protein shake or recovery drink (check the label if it has more than 10 grams of sugar, don’t drink it).

Other Nutrition Details:

• No drinks other than water or black coffee
• Sparkling water is acceptable and does count toward your daily water goal
• Up to one cup of unsweetened almond milk per day
• Up to two tablespoons of grass-fed heavy cream per day
• No cold cuts or cured meats
• No almond or coconut flour
• No canola or vegetable oil
• No honey, agave, maple syrup or sweeteners of any kind
• No oatmeal, cereal, or bread
• No Rx bars, Quest bars, or any bars