My One-Year Challenge

There are many examples of 30-day challenges. For example, many people do a "Dry January," where they don't consume any alcohol for one month. In Canada, it's been more popular to go sober for February, because the month is shorter!

I've decided to give myself a much bigger challenge for 2023. Instead of tip-toeing around with half-baked resolutions, I'm going all the way. I'm doing a one-year challenge.

The reason is that because of many personal reasons, including the death of two people close to me during the pandemic (not of covid, but the stress of the pandemic just added to it), I've let myself go.

It seems that everything went off the wagon: my diet, my fitness, my sleep, my productivity.

But the end of last year was the perfect set of circumstances to reevaluate my life and realign it towards what I want.

My one-year challenge is a no-compromise "back to health" program. Here's what I set out to do for the entirety of 2023

Diet: I'm eating strictly plant-based, with absolutely no added oil or avocados, nuts, seeds, coconuts. Essentially, I'm doing a low-fat diet but not messing around trying to eat fatty foods in moderation. It's the same macro-nutrient breakdown I've recommended in the past, roughly 7% fat, 10-12% protein and 80% or more carbohydrates.

Caffeine: My downfall has always been caffeine and I'm quitting entirely.

Alcohol: No alcohol, although this isn't difficult for me.

Exercice: I'm starting small and increasing by a maximum of 10% per week.

Those were the main aspects of my challenge.

What My Friends Say

My friends have seen me go through different diet phases, and know my "extreme" personality. When I do something, I tend to go all-the-way. But they've also seen my go too far with certain things and burn out. For example, with exercice, I know my limits, but I used to follow the advice of fitness trainers, and ended up injuring myself that way. So, they find certain aspects of my challenge "impossible to maintain," like the "no-oil, no fat" aspect. However, this comes from a lot of experience and I know that this diet works best and I actually find it easier to maintain when I go all the way.

There is a fine line between doing too much and losing yourself in moderation. With diet, I think that going all the way works best, because compromise always leads to more compromise. Eating unhealthy foods "in moderation" leads to keep craving those foods, and you never truly experience the benefits of this way of life. In addition, there is no danger to the body to immediately switch to healthful eating.

With caffeine and exercice, a slow approach is probably best. Quitting caffeine cold turkey can lead to severe headaches and lethargy. And doing too much exercice too fast can lead to injury.

So that's my challenge for the year.

What about you in 2023?

Feel free to post a comment here.

Frederic