[Naomi]

Hi Rebekah- good for your for trying something new and getting out of your comfort zone! That is a great achievement itself! Breanna is right, the most important thing is hitting your macronutrient ratio goals. This is a process, so you can’t expect to go from not eating this volume or frequency of food to all the sudden eating this volume and frequency of food. Give yourself a little time to adjust mentally and physically, and pretty soon you might find yourself eating all this food and still hungry, lol! 😉

[Naomi]

Hi there- rice and pasta don’t weigh the same and have different macronutrient profiles per serving, so in order to hit your approriate macros you’ll need to have the portion indicated – depending on if you want to have rice or pasta – as indicated in the nutrition plan. Make sure you are food journaling in MyFitnessPal every day and staying within 5g of the target macros 😉

[Naomi]

Hi Rachel- back exercises are some of the hadest to find alternatives for because of the pulling up and pulling down movements. I will try to give you the nest home alternatives I can, but you may need to run to Walmart or Target or a sporting goods store to get a few things, if you don’t have bands, etc. There are some movements that just can’t be repelcated with dumbbells and have the same muscle activation effect:

Pullup – there really is no sub for a pull-up, if you can get an at-home pull-up bar that would be ideal.
Close Grip Cable High Row – You can substitute this exercise using bands or TRX system and just attach the bands or TRX to a secure ancor point.
Wide Grip Pulldown – Two options here would be:
1. bands that have handles attached, just simulate the movement of a lat pull-down.
2. lay flat on a bench or the floor (on your chest, face down) and holding about 2-5lb plate weights, simulate the lat pull down movement.
* neither of these substitutions will allow you to use a heavy weight, but it is replecating the same muscle movement as a lat pull down and working the same muscles, just not working them in the same way a heavy lat pull down would 😉
One Arm Dumbbell Row – this one you can do as-is 😀
Straight Arm Cable Pulldown – this you could substitute with a bench pull over with a dumbbell

I hope this is helpful! Good luck 🙂

[Naomi]

Hi Rebekah- the goal is to stick with a weight that you can do between 8-12 reps as outlined in the exercise protocol. Five is too low, and 1 rep is not really a “set” — its a 1 rep maximum movement. A “set” is a set of multiple reps. For the rest of the challenge I would advise sticking with a weight that you can get at least 8 reps and at most 12 reps.

[Naomi]

Just follow the meal plan as close as you are possibly able to given your schedule. If you need to do your weight training followed by cardio all in one session, drink your protein shake after your cardio.

[Naomi]

Hi Nicola- the post-workout protein shake is timed after your strength-training workout to help aid in recover and muscle building from heavy lifting, bot cardio. Cardio is designed to burn calories while heavy lifting is designed to build muscle. In order for your muscles to build, they need protein and amino acids to build from, which is where the post-workout protein shake coes in. You can wait about 30-45 min post workout if you feel like you need to, but definitey consume the protein shake after your weight lifting workout and not cardio. I hope this helps! 🙂

[Naomi]

Hi Leteia- in your particular case I think it’s fine to switch the order of the meals so that you have the protein pancakes pre-workout, then the pasta/turkey meal after 🙂

[Naomi]

Hi Julie- if you go to each individual exercise in the program and click on the name of the exercise, it will take you to a video tutorial of how the exercise should be conducted. Here the video clip for the reverse grip bent over barbell rows.

[Naomi]

Hi Nicole- yes, you can do the seated hamstring curl in place of the lying hamstring curl. As far as the exercise ball tuck, this is a phenomenal exercise that causes your hamstrings, glutes and lower back to fire and engage (also incorporating stability) in a way that I have not been able to replecate with any other exercise. I am a little surprised your gym doesn’t have an exercise ball, as they are not very expensive, extremely common and functional for a multitude of exercises. I would recommend going to Walmart, Target or a sporting goods store sich as Dick’s or Academy Sports and purchasing one, if you would like to do that. I have brought home gym equipment, such as my own personal bands and jump rope, to gyms before to use with my workout. Maybe you can bring your exercise ball to the gym and just let someone know you’re bringing it in so that you can incorporate exercises with the exercise ball for your workout. Good luck! 🙂

[Naomi]

Hi Carissa- I advise that you stick to the workouts as closely as possible as outlined in the program and not add in anything extra. If yu feel you want more of a challenge to increase your chances of more progress, increase the weights as long as you can still conduct the exercises with proper form 🙂

[Naomi]

Hi Stacey- pre-workout is allowed, but really pay attention to the sugars/carbs and additives/preservatives/color dyes, etc. We did not include pre-workouts in the total macros so please make sure you are food journaling and that you add your preworkout in MyFitnessPal to count toward your daily macros. Some of them are really high in carbs and sugars! 😉

[Naomi]

Hi Ann- I just plugged in the numbers for both Phases 1 & 2 for Meal Plan 2 (which is where I fall in the height/weight ratio). This is what the macro % come out to:

Phase 1
Calories: 2,040
Carbs: 210g (41%)
Protein: 165g (33%)
Fat: 60g (26%)

Phase 2
Calories: 1,600
Carbs: 140g (35%)
Protein: 170g (45%)
Fat: 40g (25%)

[Naomi]

Hi Michelle- it isn’t a stupid question, no worries! Actually, the workouts should be done exactly as indicated. These are all just straight sets: for example 4 sets back-to-back with 1-2 in rest period in betwen. Good luck!! 😀

[Naomi]

Hi Andrea- Phase 1 is focused on muscle-building so I would advise against fasted cardio right now regardless 😉 Fasted cardio is designed more for a leaning out. Absolutely you can do weights, then cardio after weights if that is what works with your schedule. Just make sure you have either Meal 1 or at the very least have some BCAAs (just mix 5g of BCAAs in a water bottle) before your workout. You don’t waint to workout on an empty tank, especially if you are doing both weight training and cardio in one session. God luck!! 😀

[Naomi]

Hi Jessica- yes, that is fine 🙂 Just make sure you have either Meal 1 or some BCAAs before you weight train. You don’t want to lift weights without any fuel in your tank! 😉

[Naomi]

Hi Michelle- this may be a little trial and error and tweaking on your part in MyFitnessPal to get the macros within 5g of your goals, but you can enter this bread you are thinking of replacing Ezekiel bread with and see how it fits into the macros.

A trick you can do to see what foods will work as replacements is to go ahead and enter in all of your food in MyFitnessPal for the day tomorrow. Then instead of the Ezekiel bread, replace it with the bread above, and gp from there. I hope this helps! Good luck! ?

[Naomi]

No, there is not another execise – it is just the exercises here

Six shoulder exercises and three ab exercises.

[Naomi]

Hi Jennifer- that looks great to me! Yes, you will do fine with this schedule 🙂

[Naomi]

Hi Erika- this may be a little trial and error and tweaking on your part in MyFitnessPal to get the macros within 5g of your goals, but you can enter foods in from the protein portion of the food exchange list to see what will work for you as a replacement for dairy.

A trick you can do to see what foods will work as replacements is tp go ahead and enter in all of your food in MyFitnessPal for the day tomorrow. Then instead of the dairy foods, replace them with some of the other protein options and check to see which foods fit best so that you can stay within a close range of your macros. I hope this helps! Good luck! 🙂

[Naomi]

Hi Monica- yes, everything should be counted toward your daily maco goals. You need to food journal everything you consume and aim to stay within 5g of your macro goals 😉

[Naomi]

Hi Maura- if you cannot have eggs, you’ll need to add fat and protein in somewhere. A whole medium egg as about 70 calories, 5g of fat, 6g of protein and zero carbs. Egg whites have less calories and zero fat, so substituting egg whites for an egg isn’t the same.

Make sure you are food journaing in MyFitnessPal and just make up the calories, fat and protein you aren’t getting by eliminating the whole egg. You can use the food exchange list here and here as a guide 🙂

[Naomi]

Hi Heather- all bread is not created equal, so make sure the bread you are substituting has relatively the same macros profile as Ezekiel bread. If the macros aren’t very similar, you’ll need to adjust your food intake somewhere else in your other meals so that at the end of the day, you are aren’t over or under your goal macros.

[Naomi]

Hi Rosanne- the most important things to focus on in order to see progress and be successful with this challenge are:

1. follow the workouts, cardio and nutrition as closely as possible the way they are written and organized as best you can.
2. get all of your meals, but if you need to rearrange them in some way on some days however you need to in order to fit your schedule, that is ok as long as you are getting all your meals in.
3. get all of your strength training and cardio workouts in, but if you need to rearrange them in some way on some days however you need to in order to fit your schedule, that is ok as long as you are getting all your workouts in.

Your situation is a bit unique, and the first week or two may be an adjustment with you trying to figure out what works best. Just be patient and stick with it and focus on structuring everything the bast way that you can with your schedule.

As far as transitioning the meals on your off days, that will be a little bit of trial and error. I don’t know at what times you will be working out or what times you will be hungry during your day/night transitions, so my advise would be just don’t go too long without having any food in your system. If you need to eat before you are hungry just so that you aren’t going too long without food, have a protein shake. I find they are best if you need to eat something but aren’t hungry yet 😉

I hope this is helpful! Good luck, and kudos to you for taking this on with such a challenging schedule!! 😀

[Naomi]

Hi David- we do not recommend drinking any soda, diet or otherwise, during the 60 Day Challeneg as it could negatively impact your progress. Good luck! 🙂

[Naomi]

Hey A D- the almond/peanut butter is not optional but the sugar free syrup is optional, as indicated. Good luck 🙂

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