Studying for the CPA exam and weight gain is like the dreaded freshman 15. I started out my CPA journey weighing 115 pounds, even after giving birth to three children, I was able to start my journey at a desirable weight for my height and build. Flash-forward 18 months and I weigh 130 pounds. I didn’t even gain that much weight my first year in college 12 years ago.
With the crazy schedule of a CPA candidate it isn’t always possible to eat the healthiest of meals and snacking while studying became a real bad habit quickly.
The Time Frame
The month of June is a black out month, I have passed two sections of the CPA exam and am waiting for exam scores for the other two sections. So with no studying means more time for healthy alternatives for meals, no snacking and time to fit in some exercise. This way if I have to get back to studying in July I will have built better eating and exercise habits that I can continue and incorporate into my study routine. On the other hand, if I pass both sections then I am one step ahead of working on my goal of getting back into shape.
Methodology
I have decided to model my 30 day fitness challenge after the 4-hour Bodybook by Tim Ferriss. My husband and I purchased this book in January but hadn’t taken the time to read through it.
Tim Ferriss asks his readers to think of weight loss having three components; diet, drugs (natural and prescription) and exercise, which when combined will sum to a total of 100. Depending on how you want to model your fitness program you can cut up the three components in any way you need to. I will be doing 75% diet, 0% drugs, and exercise 25%.
Another thing he makes sure to point out is that while you are exercising the loss of fat and gain of muscle counter balance themselves. Muscle weighs more than fat, so as you are gaining muscle mass, it is possible for the scale to be increasing rather than decreasing. He refers to this as re-composition, the change in appearance.
In order to track the progress of your re composition he recommends taking a full body picture, with different angels and a physical GPS by taking before circumference measurements using a tape measure:
| Body Measurement (05/28/2011) | Left | Right | ||
| Both upper arms (mid-bicep) | 10 | 10 | ||
| Waist (horizontal at naval) | 33 | |||
| Hips (widest point below waist) | 38 | |||
| Both mid thighs | 22 | 22 | ||
| Total Inches (TI) | 135 | |||
Tim Ferris also recommends eyeballing your percentage body fat. This is something that I am struggling with. In his book there are references to pictures of individuals with 20%, 15%, 10% and 5% body fat. I don’t look like any of them, so I am assuming that I am more than 20% body fat, which is a scary thought.
The Diet
I am going to focus primarily on diet because it is the easiest part I can control. I don’t want to use drugs to induce my weight loss because it isn’t as natural. I think that my body will be ‘tricked’ into shedding the pounds and once I eliminate the drugs the weight will come right back. Instead I will be using his recommended Slow-Carb diet, which has been used by others to lose 20 pounds in 30 days with the diet alone (I only need to lose 15 so this seems possible). There are 5 rules with this diet:
Rule #1 – Avoid White Carbs (except within 30 minutes of finishing resistance-training)
Rule #2 – Eat the same few meals over and over
Rule #3 – Don’t drink calories
Rule #4 – Don’t eat fruit
Rule #5 – Take one day off per week
The Workout Routine
My goal is to run on the treadmill two times a week, pilates two times a week, and return to dance practice two nights a week. The dancing and treadmill will give me a cardio workout, while the pilates will help with core muscle strength. I want for my muscles to be defined, but don’t necessarily want to increase my muscle mass.
So Far
I started this fitness challenge on May 28, 2011 weighing 130 pounds. I stepped on the scale this morning and weighed in at 127. I cleaned my house front to back on Saturday, definitely getting a workout because I was sore the next day. On Monday I pulled weeds with my boys outside for about 45 minutes. Tuesday I used a 20 minute pilates DVD, which focused on core strength. The last time I attempted to use this DVD I was sore for a week, but this time I barely felt any after affects. Tomorrow is my day off, which was timed perfectly for my sister-in-laws wedding. We are going to be running around all morning finishing all the final touches. I will also be my daughter’s hairstylist because she is the flower girl. I won’t have the time to pre-prep my meals and I won’t impose my diet plan on my in-laws.
Picture by: Nicole Lee on Flickr