Week 5 Challenge - 12 Steps to Fitness

We've already made it 4 weeks into our 12 Steps to Fitness Challenge. I hope you guys are enjoying the mini-challenges and developing healthy habits because of it. This week I have finally recovered enough from the back injury and minor setback with the stomach flu to get back on track with Insanity ® . I'm happy to report I have 1 week under my belt and pushing forward with week 2. So far I have nothing but high hopes of great results waiting at the end of the next 60 days.

I do have to admit, when I got to the Pure Cardio DVD, I was not quite prepared for the non-stop heart-pounding sweatfest I was getting into. Just getting through the warm-up had me reaching for my towel. But when my much anticipated break didn't come...I found myself chanting, "dig deeper." It is really amazing what our bodies are capable of when we push the limits. I actually saw 183 on my heart rate monitor. That, for me, is a personal record. By the end of the DVD I jokingly fell to the floor. Definitely fun...but most certainly challenging.

So now we just need to revisit the weeks passed in our challenge:

Week #1 Drink 64 oz. of water daily.

Week #2 Get at least 7-9 hours of uninterrupted sleep a night.

Week #3 Ingest at least 25 grams of fiber a day.

Week #4 Take a good quality daily multivitamin.

This week our Challenge is going to be getting the recommended daily allowance of fruits and vegetables. Since this would vary a lot depending on age, sex, level of activity and caloric needs - I just decided we would go with the standard 2 & 5.

Week #5 Getting the RDA of Fruits and Vegetables.

2 servings of Fruit

5 servings of Vegetables

Your fruit and vegetables can be fresh, frozen, canned or dried. Just be careful to read the label and watch that you are getting as close to whole foods as possible. Keep a close eye out for added sugars and sodium. If you do go with the canned fruits, try to stay with the ones packed in 100% pure juice and avoid those packed in syrup.

To get an idea of what a serving size might look like:

1 Cup Serving is approximately equal to 1 small apple, 1 large orange, 1 ear of corn or a large sweet potato.
1/2 Cup Serving is approximately equal to about 16 grapes, 5 broccoli florets or 6 baby carrots.

For those of you still struggling with the fiber challenge, this will probably help with that greatly as most fruits and vegetables are very nutrient dense and contain fiber.

I did make a recommendation for those of you who struggle with the concept of eating so many fruits and vegetables to perhaps consider using the Shakeology ® as a meal replacement. Shakeology ® is packed with over 70 healthy ingredients. As a matter of fact it is now being called the Ultra Premium Health Drink because it is loaded with goodness. So if you would like to include a Shakeology ® a day as part of this week's challenge, I will allow for it to count as 1 serving of fruit + 2 servings of vegetables.

I still want you to get use to eating those fruits and vegetables, but something as good as Shakeology ® definitely stands to merit on its own. So our challenge will be:

Photo credit: © Sophieso | Dreamstime.com

With Shakeology ®

1 serving of fruit and 3 servings of vegetables per day

Without Shakeology ®

2 servings of fruit and 5 servings of vegetables per day

Remember these challenges are designed to help benefit your fitness and nutrition regimen. I'm simply trying to make you aware of the things we can do in our lives to help develop those healthy lifelong habits to keep us bringing those results long after the 60 or 90 days of our program have ended.

I definitely would love to hear your comments. So please feel free to give me any comments you might want to share.

KEEP BRINGING IT!