What is the Sustainable 60 Challenge?
The goal of the challenge is simple: do the 6 Fundamentals more days per week than you don’t do them (4/7 days). The 6 Fundamentals are:
Have AT LEAST 1 serving of protein, carbs, fat, and fiber (in the form of a vegetable or fruit) at each meal using the Precision Nutrition Hand-Size Portion method.
30 minutes of movement
Go to bed on time
30 minutes of active rest
Drink half your body weight (BW) in ounces of water.
Report to the community group - or an accountability partner if you are doing the challenge on your own- each week on Monday.
When we complete all 6 of these Fundamentals 4/7 days per week for 60 days, that results in doing each habit at least 34/60 days. To some people, that may seem like it’s not enough to start taking strides towards your goals, but let me put it this way:
34 days of meeting these guidelines equals being active for at least 960 minutes, approximately 96 servings of vegetables, and resting a total of 16 hours in two months. Not to mention likely getting more sleep and bringing a whole party of people along on the journey with you!
Studies show that we don’t need to be 100% consistent in our habits to see results. In fact, research supports that even 10% consistency can produce great results, 50% consistency can take you extremely far, and 80% consistency can radically change your life while still allowing you to LIVE your life without the pressure of having to be perfect. (for more on this, check out Precision Nutrition’s Transformation Research)
When we were creating the Sustainable 60 Challenge, we wanted something that would meet the majority of people where they are- allowing them to live their lives but also start taking steps towards a healthy, sustainable lifestyle that cultivates health in all areas. We wanted to create a challenge that tests all of the 6 Fundamentals of Health so those that complete it can truly see the power of the holistic approach at work. The challenge is designed to help you realize this one big thing:
You don’t have to do everything perfectly to see your goals become reality. AND it can be FUN and practical to start taking steps in the right direction.
But to take it one step deeper, let’s look at what each Fundamental really requires and how you make the most of each one so you know exactly HOW to complete the challenge and get the most out of your 60 day challenge.
Nutrition.
What exactly is “one serving” of a protein, carb, vegetable, or fat? We personally LOVE Precision Nutrition’s hand-size portion method. The theory, backed by research, is that serving sizes vary based on the individual (yes, I am saying the “serving size” on the back of the cereal box is not something you should live by). So to help you figure out what a serving is for you, check out this guide from Precision Nutrition: for more on PN’s hand-size tracking method, click here.
The other big question we get about the Nutrition part of the challenge is “why just food pairing? Why not calorie or macro counting?”
When it comes to losing weight, muscle gain, toning up, or really any other general health goal, adequate nutrition can be defined by these two things:
Balance blood sugar
Adequate vitamins and minerals
The easiest way to do both of these things are:
Pair carbs with protein, fat, and fiber in the form of a vegetable or fruit as much as you can. This slows the digestion of food, and therefore the uptake of glucose from the carbs.
Eat a very colorful diet. Different colors correspond with different nutrients. By including a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, we can be assured we are getting a wide array of nutrients as well.
So by challenging people to start practicing food pairing, we can start laying the groundwork for an individualized take on these principles. Normally, simply practicing food pairing is a super simple thing to jumpstart weight loss, improve energy levels and irritability, and support happy hormones. It’s a small but powerful challenge!
Move your body intentionally for 30 minutes.
When it comes to movement, weight training and running are not your only options. Exercise is relative to the individual: their current health status, interests, goals, and preferences. We can get creative with movement and have fun with it. It doesn’t have to be a chore!
So for the sake of the Sustainable 60 Challenge, we really just want to help you focus on increasing your activity overall, finding methods of movement that you enjoy, and creating intentionality around movement in your routine. For the entire 60 days, we encourage participants to get creative with it and try new things. Don’t feel like you have to put strict parameters around your movement unless you want to/are ready to get strategic about your specific goals.
Some ideas for creative movement are:
Continuous, vigorous cleaning like mopping a floor
Walking
Dancing
Stacking fire word
Putting weights next to your couch and doing squats during commercials, show intros, or any time you hear a word like “hristmas” (kind of like a drinking game).
Pick a bedtime and stick to it.
In today’s world, sleep is hard to come by for many of us. When it comes to sleep and getting more of it, the first step is committing to good sleep hygiene, or the behaviors and habits we have before bed. One of the easiest and most practical things to start doing this is getting to bed slightly earlier than we normally do.
Now, when we say “pick a bedtime,” we don’t mean deciding that we’re going to go from sporadic, unpredictable schedules and regular late nights to going to bed at 9:00 PM every night with the snap of our fingers. That’s just not practical. What we DO recommend is figuring out what your average bedtime is. If that’s 1:00 AM or 7:00 PM, we don’t care. We just recommend being honest about what the average is. Then, the goal would be figuring out what a healthy, practical bedtime for you would be. For most people, this will be around 30 minutes earlier than their average.
For the sake of the 60 days, the bedtime goal is meant to start creating intentionality around our sleep.
Actively Rest for 30 minutes.
LET’s term for “deal with stress” is Active Rest. We want to challenge people to find one way they can actively help their bodies, minds, and/or hearts rest.
For this reason, we don’t count scrolling on our phones, or watching TV every 4 days each week. Now, you are the one who knows your body best. If watching Netflix is something you NEVER get to do and you just would love to have a few minutes to yourself to watch something you enjoy, we’re not going to tell you not to listen to what you need. We just hope this isn’t the only way you actively rest during this challenge.
Some fun ideas for this part of the Sustainable 60 Challenge might be:
Going for a walk with a friend
An impromptu coffee date with a loved one
Reading
Trying something new
Journaling
Taking a yoga class
Baking
Listening to a fun podcast
Sitting on the coach with a cup of coffee and allowing yourself 30 minutes to just be still.
Hiring a babysitter for an hour to let you take yourself out to lunch
This part of the challenge is all about being mindful of what we NEED and taking 30 minutes to act on whatever it is we need. However that looks for you, we hope this part of the challenge is a life giving one.
Drink half your body weight (BW) in ounces of water
We are all composed of about 60-70% (or more) of water. Even 1% dehydration can cause cognitive impairment, sleep disturbances, fatigue, headaches, muscle cramps, nausea, etc. To put that in perspective, if the general recommendation is to consume about 50%-100% of your body weight in ounces of water per day, a 100 pound person being 1 ounce dehydrated can cause dehydration symptoms.
Now, to go from drinking an average of 2 glasses of water per day (about 16 ounces or 1 average sized water bottle per day), to drinking 100+ ounces overnight is no small task. The most practical way to start prioritizing hydration is to start with the minimum recommendation and make that a daily habit. From there, we can gradually increase the amount of water we drink, maybe add in some electrolytes, and slowly figure out what each individual’s hydration needs are.
So for the sake of the 60 day challenge, we aim for that 50% goal!
Report to a community group weekly on how you SPECIFICALLY achieved each goal that week.
Research suggests that the likelihood of habits sticking and reaching health goals increases exponentially when we have a support group to do it with. In a post-pandemic world, we also have all seen the effects of isolation in a new way. At LET we are diligently working to not just provide quality health guidance and programs, but we want to cultivate a community that thrives on authenticity, balance, and community. We want to see a SWARM of people out here slaying their health goals and doing so in a fun, uplifting, and encouraging way TOGETHER.
In order to do this, we want to challenge each of you to harness whatever community you have and hold each other accountable. And if you don’t have the community you need, we want to help you start finding it. The best way to do this is to jump in- get honest with some people, challenge each other, and do something that’s going to push you to be aware of your behaviors and habits in a healthy way.
If you have a group of friends you want to do this challenge with, let us know on the Google Form you fill out at registration. List the names of people you want to do the challenge with, include their email addresses, and make sure you let us know you want to be put in a private group!
If you don’t have a group to do the challenge with or you’re looking to cultivate a bigger community of people on the same health path, we encourage you to jump into the challenge and embrace our community group in the LET app!
If there are any questions about the challenge and how to complete it that we did not answer, please email us here:
brenna.limitededition@gmail.com
