Naomi
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Hi Dana- it completely depends on each person. Some people can get away with having cheat meals once a week while others do better if they only have them once a month or once every few months. You have to assess your body and see how your body responds to cheat meals and how often. If you’re body responds in a negative way then don’t have them as often.
Hi Erin- thanks for catching that! Yes, do the circuit until you reach 30 min total, definitely not 60 min ? Good luck, and I hope you’re enjoying the challenge!
Hi Rachel- that sounds about right for the workouts! Keep it up, you’re doing great! Just stick to the recommended rest periods and you should be good! 😀
Hi Adalsinda- we do not have any particular brands of pre-workouts that we recommend but you can do a search on-line and read different reviews, or go to your local health food/nutrition store and ask one of the specialists/employees about recommendations based on how sensitive your body is and what your needs are for a pre-workout. I hope this helps! 🙂
Hi Kamila – replacing your rice cakes with a banana is fine, just make sure you weigh, measure and food journal all of your meals to make sure you stay within your daily calorie and macro goals. Two caramel rice cakes total 100 calories, 22g carbs, 2g protein and 0g fat so you’ll want to weigh your banana so that the portion size is roughly the equivalent of the rice cakes.
Hi Kathleen- do not track or count your exercise in My Fitness Pal, only your food. Regardless of your extra exercise/activity, I would advise against adding calories or changing your macros and stick to the meal plan as it is laid out.
Chevelta- you will have to contact customer support at My Fitness Pal to help you with your My Fitness Pal issues.
Ladies- I apologize, that is correct Adrienne, you will take the post workout meal out on rest days. I misunderstood, but that is correct. Depending on your meal plan, you will consume about 200-300 less calories on your rest days.
Hi Ursula- you’ll need to email [email protected] and they can answer that question for you.
You’re welcome Miriam! 🙂
Renee- ideally it is best to rest as much as possible on your rest days. A light walk or swim or leisurely bike ride might be fine, but rest days should be just that – rest and recovery.
If you are going as hard as you can during your workouts, your body (and mind) will definitely be ready for a little vegging 😉
Hi Sara- you can keep the protein shake in as a protein source. Protein shakes aren’t only for workouts, they are simply a form of ingestible protein that quickly gets into your system because it is in liquid form and therefore bypasses much of the digestive process.
This may be more info than you care to have, but it will help give you a better understanding:
Branched chain amino acids (referred to as BCAAs or amino acids) are the building blocks of proteins. Protein molecules (BCAAS/amino acids) are what your body uses to build muscle. When you eat a piece of chicken, for example, your body breaks down the chicken, then breaks down the protein in the chicken to get to the amino acids so it can use these molecules to repair and rebuild your muscle tissue.
Your muscles don’t know (and don’t care) where or how the amino acids come from used to repair and rebuild, they just want/need them to fix the damage that was done during the weight lifting.
So, on workout days drinking a protein shake within 30 minutes of your workout will give your body a quick, readily available source of protein to temporarily appease your “crying” muscles. But you’ll want continuous intakes of protein throughout the rest of the day, as your body will still be repairing and restoring throughout the day, and even into the next day, not just post workout. It’s kind of like putting on a band-aid right after you scrape your elbow, you want to continue putting neosporin on your cut, and replace the band-aid often as it takes time to repair the damaged, cut tissue.
That being said, a protein shake will quickly get into your system, it is convenient on-the-go, it doesn’t requite chewing so it doesn’t take as long to ingest as a meal does, and you can pretty much drink it anywhere. For these reasons, protein shakes are great for:
– post-workout recovery
– ideal if you can’t eat a meal because of your work schedule and need to get in a convenient source of proteinGetting your protein from food in almost all cases is ideal except for the above circumstances when a protein shake would be a better choice.
I hope this is helpful! Good luck!! 🙂
Hi Char- I think it’s too early to tell if this is something related to high/low carb intake and wondering if you might be coming down with a cold, or your body may just be adjusting to the new workouts and nutrition. We really haven’t been into the program long enough for you to determine a pattern of feeling chilly and tired only on low carb days since we’re really only 3 days into the program giving you one high carb day (the first day) and two low carb days. It could be a number of things, just give it another week or two, then you can see if you always feel a certain way on low carb day 😉
Hi Kathleen- everyone’s body responds differently (metabolism) and everyone has different daily caloric expenditure based on how active or sedentary their day is outside of the cardio and strength-training workouts.
That being said, if you feel you need to adjust anything with the nutrition that will be up to you. My advise would be to follow the meal plans for this challenge as they are as best you can, weigh/measure everything you eat and drink, and log everything into My Fitness Pal to make sure you are coming as close to your calorie and macro goals as possible.
Also, if you haven’t already done so, make sure you’ve read through everything and watched the video in the Nutrition section of the Buns And Guns Challenge program.
Good luck! 🙂
Hi Christine- since you are new to this, your body is going to have to get use to this type of activity – tearing muscle tissue down (weight-bearing exercises), then building it back up (rest/recovery/nutrition). It may take some time, but your muscles won’t always be this sore (then you’ll have to lift heavier so they can start getting sore again, lol)!
If you aren’t doing this already, take 5mg of glutamine at night before bed, which will help with muscle recovery during the night as you sleep. Good luck, and we’re happy to have you as part of this challenge trying something new! 😀
Hi Ursula- the deadline for submitting photos was 9pm EST on Monday, Oct 9th. Have you been receiving other emails from Nicole Wilkins’ 40 Day Buns And Guns Challenge?
You may want to email [email protected] and they can help with any technical issues you may have regarding emails.Hi Renee- if you are finished with Meal 1 at 8:45 am, I would eat Meal 2 at 11 am. Just do your best, that’s all you can do. As your body adjusts to the intensity of the workouts and your metabolism starts to speed up a bit, you may find it’s not so difficult to eat all your meals 😉
Ladies- please choose your meal plan based on your height, not weight, if there is any confusion about which plan you should choose. Good luck! 🙂
Hi Chevelta- please go over all of Nicole’s info in the Nutrition section of this program, including the video tutorial, and follow Nicole’s instructions/plan outlined in this program. Everything is explained in as much detail as possible. If you still have questions about it, let me know and I will help you through it! 🙂
Hi Kasey- go with the workouts/exercises on the website with the video demos, we will get the PDF fixed asap. Thank you! 🙂
Hi Katie- for the correct meal plan for you, choose based on your height, not weight.
As far as supplements go, we do not endorse or recommend any particular brands. Of course when Nicole’s supplement line is released soon, we will recommend you use the nPower Nutrition line 😉 but in the meantime, you can order on-line or go to a local health food store.
I hope this helps! We’re excited you are participating in this challenge and wish you the best of luck!
Hi Morgan- I understand and definitely don’t want you stuffing your face to the point that your stomach hurts. Try eating half of the meal, then in about 1-1 1/2 hours eat the second half. So just break it up into even smaller and more frequent “mini-meals” and see if that works. Good luck! 🙂
Hi Lorraine- the meal plans given are ideally what you should be eating for the duration the challenge, yes. There are also food exchange lists here, here and here. Make sure you read through all of the nutrition info and watch Nicole’s video to have the best understanding possible of how to execute the nutrition [portion of the challenge.
