Making wholesale nutritional changes all at once is rarely successful, but fortunately you don't need to do that to make a lasting change.
Each week, I offer a different nutritional challenge that you can try to incorporate into your lifestyle for seven days. If you like it, keep it up. If not, try the next one.
If you're feeling particularly ambitious, start adding the habits together and see how they help you improve your fat loss goals. But remember, the key to fat loss success is consistency, so don't overwhelm yourself.
For those who complete several of the challenges and see a change, send us your before and after photos!
See last week's challenge about supplementing your diet here.
Week 10 Challenge: Get to Bed
This is the easiest challenge I’ve given to this point because it requires you to do nothing – literally.
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Studies show that 95 percent of adults require seven to nine hours of sleep per night to maintain optimal cognitive and hormonal function. If we fall short of that total, it takes less than two weeks before we begin to show signs of sleep deprivation. Our sleep totals are cumulative, and though most of us would like to spend more time in bed, our lives (and kids) may not allow it.
So what do we do? The first option is go to bed earlier. If you have the ability to sleep seven to nine hours per night, do it.
If you simply do not have a schedule that allows for that many hours per night, make up the missed time with extra sleep in the form of naps and/or catch up on the weekend.
I challenge you to get 49 hours of sleep in the next 7 days by any means necessary. If you succeed, I’m sure your waistline and those around you will thank me.
Good luck!
Dusten Nelson is a Chicago-based strength coach, nutritional expert and practitioner of Chinese medicine. Follow him on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, and check out his website. You can email Nelson at info@DustenNelson.com.
Nelson is currently training Chicago filmmaker Kenneth Yoder to compete in a 100-day bodybuilding challenge. See the original story here.
