The Challenge Officially Begins Today!

It’s finally July 1!   The Challenge has officially begun.   Take a sec to quickly review the 7 principles and then start sharing your thoughts and experiences.

In his outstanding book The Paleo Solution, Robb Wolf gives some excellent pointers on how to begin.   In a nutshell, this is what he recommends:

PHOTOS

Your photos are for your own personal use.   You don’t have to share them with anyone, so don’t worry about that.  This is super simple, and super effective.   Robb suggests taking five photos on the day you begin — today!

1. Full body: front
2. Full body: side
3. Full body: back
4. Face: front
5. Face: side

This only takes a minute, so consider doing it once a week, or twice a month.   Label them with the date if your computer or camera doesn’t automatically do it.

Be sure to take all your photos in the same clothes, in the same spot, with the same lighting.   Clothes should be form fitting, and the less you wear the better.

MEASUREMENTS

1. Weight
2. WHR
3. Blood

1. WEIGHT: Time to step on the scale!   Weigh yourself, ideally naked.  From now on, try to weigh yourself at the same time, ideally first thing in the morning.  Record your weight somewhere, but don’t get too caught up about doing it every single day.

2. WHR: Get your waist-to-hip ratio.  According to Robb, your WHR is probably the single most important measurement.  This just takes a minute.

WAIST:   Measure your waist at the narrowest point.  Here’s a quick video that shows how to do it.  Use your belly button as a reference point.   The tape goes around your body and comes back to your belly button.   Simple enough!   That’s your waist measurement.

HIPS:  Measure your hips at the widest point.   This goes around your butt.  Here’s a quick video that shows how to do it.

Measure your waist and hips a few times to make sure you’re getting the same number.   Once you’ve got your numbers, simply plug them into this WHR calculator.   Or you can just take your waist measurement and divide it by your hip measurement.   That’s it!  Record your WHR, and repeat every couple weeks.

3. BLOOD: If you’ve had blood drawn lately from the doctor, you should be able to get these five basic numbers from your results:  Blood Pressure, Blood Glucose, C-Reactive Protein, Cholesterol, Triglycerides.   All five of these are in your basic blood panel.   If you haven’t had blood drawn recently, go sometime in July and ask for a basic check up PLUS test for Testosterone.   Ideally, see if you can get your body fat percentage checked as well.

Over the course of the one month challenge, get your nine measurements and record them in a place that you won’t lose them.   (Weight, WHR, Body Fat %, Blood Pressure, Blood Glucose, C-Reactive Protein, Cholesterol, Triglycerides, Testosterone)

The blood numbers and body fat % you only need to do once this month, obviously, and the weight, WHR & photos you do can as often as you’d like, ideally once every week or two.