Athlete Transformation: The 10 Day Challenge

My last post was back in May and focused on the steps I was taking to try and build better habits to be more of an athlete. Since then I have worked on a few things, though being in Las Vegas for 3 weeks was fairly disruptive to my training schedule.

I decided upon returning to take on the 10 Day Transformation Challenge from my sponsor Touchstone Essentials. I wanted to clean the slate and detox my body and also give myself some kind of idea of how to create a sustainable plan around my diet moving forward.

Taking on the Touchstone Essentials 10 Day Transformation Challenge

The challenge was fairly stringent and would require discipline and patience, I was determined to get started and dived in head first.

Here is how the challenge works:

- Purchase a Transform Pack - complete the challenge and you get a free one sent to you also!
- Follow the Daily instructions for the three meal sessions per day.
- Post a short livestream with your daily progress on your social media, tagging @touchstoneessentials (facebook) or The_Good_Inside on Instagram.

Here are the meal sessions:

Breakfast:7am - 16oz water + 1 Boost Focus Fuel
7:30am - 1 12-16oz smoothie with Super Green Juice and Organic Super Protein

Lunch: 12pm - 16oz water + 1 Boost Focus Fuel
12:30pm - 1 12-16oz smoothie with Super Green Juice and Organic Super Protein

Dinner: 

5pm - 16oz water + 1 Boost Focus Fuel
5:30pm - Cooked dinner - protein meat and vegetables (organic if possible), no carbs (i.e rice, noodles etc.)

Extra Guidelines:
- No eating after 7pm
- Avoid artificial and refined sugar, unnecessary snacking
- Reduce gluten intake (carbs, bread etc.)
- No processed foods
- Eliminate dairy and alcohol
- Try and sleep 7-8 hours per night
- Light exercise daily if possible

So with all these restraints, how did I go?

Challenges: 
I found the challenge difficult from a number of angles, for one I had a very busy schedule during the day so it was difficult to keep to the time schedule of the challenge. I was very motivated to complete the challenge so I did my absolute best to stick as close to it as possible and to honour the rules of the challenge.

Two particularly difficult things for me were avoiding the little snacks, the freedom to grab a chocolate bar or some other sugary snack, and also not being able to eat after 7pm. For someone who regularly eats essentially one big meal a day later in the evening (a terrible habit I was looking to break), I was often hungry and had to beat any urges to eat after finishing my 5:30pm meal for the day.

Benefits and Outcomes: 
As the days went on, my face began to look healthier, I had more energy and I was starting to lose some weight. By the end of the 10 days I had lost close to 7lbs, just over 3kg. I found the right combination for my smoothies which I enjoyed, which was the two powders blended with cashew and vanilla almond milks.

I got into a good routine, something I usually struggle with.

Best of all I felt great out on the table when I was training, I was lighter on my feet and I had more stamina in the longer training sessions of 2-3 hours.

I think the important thing was that I had really seen what needed to be fixed moving forward, the breaking up of meals across the day to help improve my metabolism again, the timing of taking the boost capsules regularly to improve my alertness and energy, not just when I'm feeling tired and need a boost to stay awake, and also the importance of reducing meal sizes and going for more lean meat, smaller portions etc.

The Challenge Ahead: 

My challenge from now is to take the lessons and observations from these 10 days and build them into a long term sustainable plan, so that I can get in shape and maintain the level that I need to get the most out of my table tennis training for as long as I can.

I'm looking forward to the road ahead and am grateful for the support of Touchstone Essentials along the road with me!

If anyone has any questions about the challenge you can reach me at mhtabletennis@gmail.com