Saturday, May 4, 2013

The Details: How Does NutriFit Work?

Welcome to NutriFit!


NutriFit is a program designed to help you get stronger, faster, and fitter (is that a word?) by achieving your best body through daily workouts, fun team challenges, and team accountability.

In a nutshell...or a long blog post...here's how the program will work:

You have received (or will receive) an interactive Excel spreadsheet where you can enter your point totals and it will total them for you.  You will need to record everything on this document and save it as you go.  You will also track your measurements, body fat, and FIT Test results on this sheet. 

If you do not have Excel, you can download a free 60-day trial of it here.

Okay, so let's talk (or write) about how this is all going to work. Once you open up this Excel document, you will see two tabs at the bottom of the page.  One is titled "Points Tracker," and the other one is titled "FIT Test Results & Measurements." 

 Let's get just a little closer on those tabs.



When you click on the "Points Tracker" page you will see where you will keep track of both your daily and weekly points.  If you scroll down the page, you will see there are 6 weeks here where you will keep track.  So, every Sunday, you will move onto the next week.

Let's start at the top and discuss what you will be doing to earn these points. 





  • EATING EVERY 3-4 HOURS.  This allows you to eat smaller portions and keeps hunger away. It also allows your blood sugar to remain stable which prevents fat storage. If you keep your meals and snacks 3 to 4 hours apart the entire day, then you may award yourself 5 points for the day. If you find you are not hungry 4 hours later, that likely means you ate too much at the previous meal. If you are hungry before 3 hours, feel free to eat. Honor your hunger, but also listen to your body and stop when you are satisfied...not when you are "full."

  • EAT AT LEAST 5 FRUITS/VEGGIES DAILY.  This doesn't mean 5 fruits AND 5 veggies, although that would be awesome. It's the combined total of the two, then you earn another 5 points. So, what counts as a serving? So happy you asked. You can see here for an entire list.
    • 1 small piece of fruit the size of a baseball or tennis ball
    • 1/2 banana unless it is very small, then it can count as 1 serving
    • 1 cup of melon or berries
    • 1/2 cup of most other fruit
    • 1/4 cup of dried fruit
    • 3/4 cup fruit juice (although it's always better to eat your calories than drink them)
    • 1 cup raw leafy veggies
    • 1/2 cup other raw or cooked veggies
    • 6 oz. V8 (preferably low sodium)

  • DRINK YOUR WATER.  You need to drink half your body weight in ounces unless you weigh more than 160 lbs, then you need to drink at least 80 ounces, but you are welcome to drink more. For example: If you weigh 120 lbs, you divide that by 2 = 60 ounces of water. Make it convenient. Carry a water bottle with you, keep one in the car, on your desk, etc. If it's readily available, you will drink. If you drink half your weight or at least 80 ounces of water each day, that's another 5 points.

  • STOP EATING BY 9PM.   It's not that your liver decides that everything turns to fat at 9 pm, rather, this is the time when your guard comes down and bad choices can easily be rationalized. Most people are not cooking up a plate of steamed broccoli at 10:30pm...it's usually higher calorie, higher sugar, higher fat items that are the worst thing you could eat right before you go to bed. It's better for you to go to bed feeling like you could eat something, but instead, burn fat while you sleep, wake up ready for a good breakfast. If you stop eating by 9pm, then you get another 5 points for that day. **There may be a couple of you that are already at a very lean body fat percentage and your goal is to gain muscle more than anything. If this is you, you may eat past 9pm; however, if you want to earn your daily points, you are only allowed a protein shake at night. Try to give your body just enough to fuel your muscles for the night, but not too much that it will want to store it as fat.

  • CONTROL THE AMOUNT OF SWEETS/TREATS YOU EAT.  A sweet is a treat which includes brownies, cakes, cookies, candy, donuts, ice cream, regular soda, or anything sweet that you would consider a treat. A sweet serving will vary so let common sense be your guide as you portion out your sweets. Basically, if you are asking yourself if the portion you've chosen is 1 serving then you probably already know the answer. A small brownie and 1 scoop of ice cream vs. half the pan of brownies and a huge bowl of ice cream. 12 oz. of regular soda vs. 64 oz. bladder buster cup from the gas station. Remember, justifying your portions will do you NO favors in the end. Here is the point breakdown for sweets:
    • If you have less than 3 each week, you get 10 points for the week.
    • If you have 3 treats, you get 5 points for the week.
    • If you have 4 treats, you get 2 points for the week.
    • If you have more than 4 treats, you get 0 points for the week.
    • You will just put your final points under "Saturday" on the spreadsheet.

  • CONTACT YOUR TEAM MEMBERS EACH DAY.  You can do this by talking to them at CrossFit, calling on the phone, or sending an email or text. Keep everyone accountable and use your team if you need help, motivation, or to be talked out of eating that candy bar. :) Each day you do this, you get 5 points.

  • EXERCISE:  It's important to exercise, and it's important to rest. Please make sure you have balance with both. You have 5 workout days and 2 rest days. Here's the breakdown for points and exercise, with the maximum points you can receive each day is 10 with a maximum of 50 possible for the week.
    • Daily WOD = 10 points
    • 60 minutes of other cardio = 10 points
    • 45 minutes of other cardio = 7 points
    • 30 minutes of other cardio = 5 points
    • 15 minutes of other cardio = 3 points
    • Anything less than15 minutes = 0 points, but props for squeezing something in.

So, here's what a Week 1 spreadsheet would look like all filled in.  It will automatically total your points for you.  You can see at the bottom, the maximum points for the daily points is 235.  Remember, you only can get credit for 5 days of working out, so if you do more, just don't add more points. 



Now, onto the Weekly Points:



  • QUESTION OF THE WEEK: Each Wednesday there will be "Question of the Week" here on this blog. I would like you to please post a comment. This will earn you another 5 points.
    • To comment on this blog, simply click on the word "comment" on the bottom of the post. If you don't have an account with google or other form listed, just click on "Anonymous" and include your name in your comment. If you haven't ever commented before, please feel free to practice on this post.

  • TEAM/INDIVIDUAL CHALLENGE: Each week there will be an additional Team and Individual Challenge. These will be posted on Sunday night and must be completed by Saturday night in order to count. You will earn another 25 points for each challenge you complete.

  • BONUS:  There may be a surprise bonus challenge that will pop up over the course of these 4 weeks, if so, then this is where you will record those points. 


 As you enter all your points, the spreadsheet will calculate all of your totals for you.  At the end of the week, you just need to look at the GRAND TOTAL box at the bottom of each week's tally, in blue. 


The maximum points each week is 290.  However, there may be a week or two where a surprise challenge may be thrown out there and more points may be available.  It is the GRAND TOTAL that you will report to me every Sunday by noon.  You will report your points here. 

I will report the top individual scores and top teams each Sunday evening when the weekly challenges are presented.


The second part of your tracker is the second tab entitled:  FIT Test & Measurements which you can click on the bottom of the screen shown here:



Once you click on this tab, you will see that this is where you will store your own personal results.



 You will write your results in the first column from the FIT Test.  Only write a number in these boxes.  If you would like to write any additional notes or modifications to the movement, so you know how to compare a similar movement on week 4, then write these in the next column.  You are responsible for taking the information from the sheet provided when you have your measuremnts/FIT test and transferring this information onto this spreadsheet as well as recording that information here.

You write your results from your measuremnts in the box for that:

Enter your measurement numbers how they are written on the hard copy you were given when you had (or will have) your measurements taken...in decimal form, just as they appear.  You will also need to enter them here. 

  Some of you are looking more for inches gained rather than lost, don't worry about how your spreadsheet is calculated, I will look over these with a different measuring stick. 

I'd wish you good luck, but luck isn't going to cut it in this challenge...just a lot of HARD WORK, but I know your results will be well worth it!

Winners will be determined on point value, improvement to FIT Test, improvement to measurements, pictures, weight, etc.  I look at the big picture, not just a single part.

If you have any questions, please post them here as a comment, since others may have the same questions.  You may also email me or call me with any additional questions. 

This officially begins on Sunday, October, 13th!