Here we are, yet another fitness challenge that I am attempting. This one is going to focus on seeing what I can do in 12 weeks before Halloween. This time, I don’t foresee any hiccups along the way.
That is as long as no one tries to suffocate themselves, crash a car, or otherwise create an immense amount of chaos. But even then, I really need to figure out how to handle the stress a bit better.
I guess I can be proud that I’ve managed to not overeat or gain a lot of weight back during the chaos.
What is Hot 4 Halloween?
Since the beginning of the summer of 2024, I decided to start titling the fitness challenges for myself. It’s just another way to try to keep me engaged and focused on what I want to accomplish. In this case, it’s doing what I can to lose weight and be more fit by Halloween.
You see, I’m not just trying to lose weight. My primary focus is improving my overall level of fitness. Sure, I’d love to weigh 200 pounds, but I rather enjoy being able to lift virtually anything in my house without assistance.
Not to mention that I still want to cross the entire state of Colorado on a bicycle at some point.
As of today (August 5th), a 12-week fitness challenge will run through to October 27th. And what better way to celebrate the victory than to dress up as something awesome for Halloween? Perhaps a superhero of some sort or even using latex body paint and going as Venom.
Right now, it would look more like Venom swallowed a water buffalo and hasn’t digested it yet.
The reason why I am focused on a 12-week challenge is because I want to demonstrate what a 48-year-old can do within three months of actively putting in an effort. And this time, I plan on pushing myself as hard as I can to achieve my goals.
I know, I say that every time I set up one of these challenges. But something tells me that it’s time and that I’ll be able to stick with it.
No holidays or birthdays are in sight – so it all comes down to whether my family can keep out of the emergency room.
Primary Objectives for the Halloween Challenge
As I said, losing weight is only part of the equation. I only have about 25 pounds or so to go before I hit my loss limit. But it’s hard to say what my goal weight is at the moment because I have been putting on quite a bit of muscle mass.
In any case, it shouldn’t take me long to burn through that 25 pounds, especially if I maintain my diet plan and fitness routines.
I’m not going to list “going to the gym” as part of my goals. It’s already habitual as I try to go every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I feel a bit lost if I don’t go and at least spend an hour doing something at Planet Fitness.
Now, keep in mind that this is all from the perspective of a desk jockey who spends between 12 to 16 hours sitting in front of a computer. These are goals that are ideal for me and my lifestyle.
Sticking With My Net 600 Diet
I know how effective my Net 600 Calorie Diet is when it comes to losing weight. The premise of it is how I lost 80 pounds in the first place. It’s all about burning twice as much as I eat. So, if I want 120 calories worth of cookies, I essentially have to burn 240 calories with various activities.
Eventually, I’ll hit a limit as you can’t sustain burning so much in a healthy manner. Once I get to around 15% body fat, I’ll have to re-evaluate my diet. But I have a long way to go before then.
Ideally, I would love to see what I look like at 8% body fat, but that is some athletic level of activity. And because I am an aging desk jockey, I’m not sure if I can get that low without stroking out. Remember, we want to get healthy, not put ourselves at risk of going to the emergency room.
Average Carb Intake at 150g Per Day
I love pastas, breads, and sugars. But I also know that keeping the carb intake under 150g keeps me burning quite a bit of fat in a relatively short amount of time. Usually, I can drop around 0.5 pounds per day if I can stay active and have fewer than 150g of carbs.
Why not just stick to the Keto diet or other low-carb plan? As I said, I love pasta. My physiology allows me to indulge in some of the carb-rich goodies and still lose fat as long as I don’t go overboard and keep active.
In other words, I don’t believe in being overly restrictive about my intake. After all, I’ve lost 80 pounds without cutting anything out of my diet. I just eat far less of it than I used to.
Minimum Average Protein Intake at 120g Per Day
I know that I am not getting nearly enough protein in my daily intake. After a bit of research into consuming protein, I’m actually quite deficient, especially considering how hard I work at the gym.
For the Hot 4 Halloween challenge, I’ve spent a bit of time planning out my meals better. Yeah, I know…I don’t often plan out what I eat. But if I don’t, I know that I won’t get enough of what I need.
I’m recording everything I eat in MyFitnessPal, so I can share how my days look during the challenge. I would also love to record how much everything costs, but I have a hard time remembering to keep the receipts.
An Average of 12,500 Steps Per Day
The main driver behind my Net 600 Calorie Diet is physical activity. The more active I am, the more I can eat. That means ramping up the physical activity to enjoy some of the holiday goodies that are about to hit Costco, Walmart, and Target.
I should be able to handle an average of 12,500 steps per day through various activities. This includes things like walking, running, playing the Oculus, playing the Kinect, housework, gardening…pretty much anything that has physical movement.
The reason why I am saying an “average” is because I often take it easy during the weekends. So, on the fitness spreadsheet, I’m going to keep an eye on the weekly average steps. They’ll be highlighted green or red depending on how I maintain each day.
More Sleep On Average Per Week
Over the past six months, my average nightly sleep was only 6.47 hours. In reality, I should be getting between 7 and 9 hours of sleep each night. It’ll be a tough one to break until I get my new bed soon.
I currently have the hardest freakin’ “memory” foam bed. It’s like jumping onto a wooden plank.
Another problem I have is FOMO – the fear of missing out. It’s kind of like how a toddler doesn’t want to go to bed as he or she would miss something important. It’s a habit that I truly need to break, especially given how tired I am all the time.
Break a Personal Record Each Week
Before Halloween, I’d love to set a few personal records. These are all fitness-related, such as the number of concurrent push-ups, biking mileage, number of sit-ups, weight lifted…etc.
Currently, it’s too hot to ride for extended periods of time. I am susceptible to heat exhaustion and stroke. So, I’ll have to wait until it cools down some before I load up Runkeeper for biking mileage. But it’s something I’d love to do this time around.
Regardless of the temperature, there are all kinds of bodyweight exercises and stats that I can shatter for myself over the next 12 weeks. And I’d love to shut my dad up about how many push-ups I can do.
Weekly Video Updates
Something I’d love to get back into making are the weekly update videos. These will be similar to the blog posts, so I’ll embed them every week. They will be raw footage for the most part, meaning I won’t spend two hours editing. I just don’t have enough time available.
I’d love to go back to making nightly shorts, but it’s incredibly difficult to maintain that flow simply because my life is so chaotic. I’ll do what I can, such as sharing when I break a personal record. But as for regular daily Shorts, I doubt that I can maintain that for the duration of the Halloween fitness challenge.
I figure I can make the Monday weekly update videos as soon as I get back from the gym. It gives me about an hour before my day actually starts, which means it shouldn’t impact my Monday routines.
Knocking on wood, here…
Gaming Calorie Burn Updates
Now that I have a Charge 6 (my Charge 5 died on me), I would like to record new datasets for the calorie burn games on ColoradoPlays.com. Not to mention listing all of the games I have and which ones burn the most calories.
It’s perhaps one of the most fun things I do during the challenges. I am a geek when it comes to numbers and recording data. For me, seeing just how many calories each game can burn is exciting.
That’s the greatest benefit of gamifying fitness. It’s all about finding ways to make exercise fun. Because the more fun and engaged you are in an activity, the more likely you’ll continue doing it. For me, playing the Oculus and Kinect while recording calorie burn is immensely fun.
Hot n’ Spicy for Halloween
The above might sound relatively basic to some. But for me, it’s going to be a challenge to maintain. Because of how chaotic my life is and how I often forget the small things, it’ll be quite an accomplishment if I can just maintain my diet plan for three months.
The best exercise and diet plans are what work for your needs and wants. Not everyone has the time to spend an hour per day at the gym, or has the money to buy supplements galore. And that’s what I intend to demonstrate during this challenge. You can still manage to accomplish a great deal to boost your levels of fitness without breaking the bank or sacrificing too much of your time.
At the end of the day, it all comes down to one simple fact: motivation to challenge yourself.
So, should we place bets on how much of this challenge I’ll complete by Halloween? As long as no one goes to the emergency room, I think things will progress nicely.
And in the background, you can almost hear the universe saying, “Hold my beer.”
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