July Monthly Challenge: Say no to sugar and yes to planks

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We don’t have a lot of sugar in our house. This is where we hold the little but of sugar we do keep around.

Go Fit Girl’s July Monthly Challenge is brought to you by your fellow GFG! readers and Challengers. (A recent Comment Contest Tuesday got all kinds of ideas for many Monthly Challenges, including July’s.)
Thanks for the ideas, ladies.
Nutrition: Reduce sugar intake. Reducing refined sugars would be even better. But I realize that is difficult.
With it being summer there are lots of yummy fruits and vegetables available.
Try to find ways to not use processed foods–that’s where a lot of that refined sugar hides. Start reading labels.
A simple change: make dessert fresh fruit and plain greek yogurt or just fresh fruit. Instead of eating a cookie have an apple instead.
A Livestrong article credits FamilyEducation.com as saying, more than two-thirds of the refined sugar used in the United States is added to processed or manufactured foods.
Exercise: Let’s do a plank challenge this month. A few people have asked for one. So let’s go for it. Let’s make our goal to get to a 2-minute plank over the month. At work we did a 4-minute plank challenge. I dropped out of the challenge once we hit 3:30. It was bad for my back and I felt that it wasn’t enough of a benefit to feel discomfort/pain elsewhere.

  • First week (July 1-7) work toward 45 seconds. Week 1: Plank for 30 seconds once or twice; plank for 45 seconds once or twice.
  • Second week  (July 8-14) work toward 1:15. Week 2: Plank for 1 minute  once or twice; plank for 1:15 once or twice.
  • Third week (July 15-21) work toward 1:30. Week 3: Plank for 1:15 once or twice; plank for 1:30 once or twice.
  • Fourth week (July 22-28) work toward 2 minutes. Week 4: Plank for 1:45 twice or three times; plank for 2 minutes once.
  • Half of Fifth week (July 29-31) maintain 2 minutes. Hold plank 2 minutes once, twice or three times.

Feel free to do variations of plank: forearm plank, full plank, side plank …
I think for July and August this will be an extra exercise challenge as many may be going on vacation: A vacation fitness challenge – if you are traveling this summer, find a way to work in a new type of fitness experience that you would not normally do at home (kayaking, rock climbing, hiking, standup paddle boarding,
Feel free to post your progress below or on the Go Fit Girl! July Monthly Challenge Facebook event page.