fitnovo.

com
6 Week Weight Loss Challenge
Time Required: 30 minutes per day, 6 days per week for 6 weeks.

Overview: Long term sustainable health is what we promote at Fitnovo.com. This plan is an all inclusive 6
week road map to help you find a life of fitness. The most important part of this plan is commitment. If you
keep working, you will see results. Specifically, this plan is designed for reducing body fat, increasing muscle
tone, and aerobic capacity.

Goal: Increase fitness and lose body fat in 6 weeks. To obtain further results, this plan may be repeated.

Level of Difficulty: 3 out of 5 – This weight loss challenge is not difficult, but it does take a continuous and
consistent effort to succeed. This plan will only work if you are committed and determined to stick with the
program for a full 6 weeks.

The Fitnovo weight loss challenge addresses three aspects of health:

1. Nutrition:
Diet is the most important piece of the weight loss puzzle. This plan contains nutritional guide lines
for you to follow. It also contains a sample meal plan and a few select recipes. It is highly
recommended that you keep a food journal to track your progress. A food journal is available for
free at www.fitnovo.com .

2. Physical activity:
The basic goal is to be active every day. This program provides a mix of cardio and strengthening
exercises. This will help increase your metabolism and speed up the weight loss process. This plan
will not substantially increase your muscle mass, but will help tone your muscles.

3. Motivation:
Inspiration is the key to any life change. If you aren’t motivated you won’t complete the plan. We
are committed to keeping you motivated, which is why we have created the website Fitnovo.com.
We have a community as well as several tools to keep you motivated. We also send out weekly
motivating emails. Short of slapping the french fries out of your hand, we will do everything we can
to help you succeed. However, motivation is largely an internal phenomenon. Find your passion,
find your drive. Find your reason for change and remind yourself why you are doing this each and
every day.

Equipment needed:
A gym membership - or -
o Light dumbbells that can be lifted 12 – 15 times without terrible strain.
o Stabilization (Swiss) ball that is inflated.
o A sturdy chair
A good pair of running shoes. Preventing injury is very important, and the right pair of shoes can go a
long way towards ensuring you aren’t sidelined. Find a shoe store that specializes in selling running
shoes and get fitted. Be sure they take into account your foot arch, weight, and stride.
physical activity:
Assessment: Before starting any diet and exercise program, it is important to assess your current physical
shape and capabilities. Also, as a way to bench mark improvements, use this plan in conjunction with the free
fitness tools found at www.fitnovo.com .

Body Mass Index (BMI) - A calculator can be found at http://www.fitnovo.com/bmi_calculators.php

or use the following formula to calculate your body mass index: weight (lb) / [height (in)] 2 x 703
A BMI of between 18.5 – and 24.9 is considered normal; A BMI over 25 means you are considered
overweight; A BMI over 30 means you are considered obese

Maximum Heart Rate - It is important to know your maximum heart rate for the purpose of knowing
at what pace you should be training. It is also important to note that this formula represents a “best
guess” and heart rates vary by individual depending on body composition and fitness.
Formula: 206.9 - (0.67 x age)

Resting Heart Rate - This fitness indicator allows you to judge your aerobic fitness. Many overweight
people have an unusually high heart rate. You should record this at www.fitnovo.com weekly to mark
your improvements.

Weight - Obviously the most basic of fitness assessments. This should be recorded weekly and always
first thing in the morning, before eating breakfast. Weight often fluctuates, sometimes up to 7 pounds
based on water retention or dehydration, so it is not quite the benchmark of progress it has the
reputation as being.

Waist Size - A better indicator of your success than weight. Your waist size should be recorded weekly,
before breakfast. A reduction in waist size means a loss of body fat.

Instructions: The idea is to develop a habit of being physically active. This six week plan calls for 2 different
strength training workouts, as well as 1 running/cardio workouts. Alternate between workout as described in
the chart below.

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

Week 1 Cardio Upper body Cardio Lower Body Off Cardio Upper Body
Week 2 Cardio Upper body Cardio Lower Body Off Cardio Upper Body
Week 3 Cardio Upper body Cardio Lower Body Off Cardio Upper Body
Week 4 Cardio Upper body Cardio Lower Body Off Cardio Upper Body
Week 5 Cardio Upper body Cardio Lower Body Off Cardio Upper Body
Week 6 Cardio Upper body Cardio Lower Body Off Cardio Upper Body

As you can see, you will be repeating the same three workouts continuously over the 6 week period. This will
help lead to the development of a routine. And while it is always good to mix up your physical activities, you
can work on that after you are in great shape. For now it is important to stick to a routine of proven workouts
to help transform your body.

Fortunately, these workouts only last 30 minutes and are challenging but not difficult.
Cardio Workout:
The cardio workout serves a few purposes:
First, running/jogging burns more calories than nearly every other exercise.
Second, running will improve your aerobic ability - quickly. You should notice a substantial difference in
effort around week 3 or 4. Improving your aerobic ability, or cardiovascular health will help ward off
the first and third most fatal dieses in America – heart dieses and stroke.
Third, increased cardio health will help you to better complete the strengthening workouts, which will
lead to a more toned and shapely body.

Step 1: Find your maximum heart rate using the formula on page 2 or at
www.fitnovo.com/heartrate_calc.php

Step 2: Complete the following workout on “cardio workout days.”

Cardio Workout

Time: 30 Minutes

5 minute walking warm up

6 minutes running at 50% of your maximum heart rate or effort
3 minutes walking
4 minutes running at 50% of your maximum heart rate or effort
3 minutes walking
4 minutes running at 60% of your maximum heart rate or effort.
5 minute walking cool down

Strength Workouts:

The strengthening workouts accomplish several important health goals:

Tones your muscles - which leads to a stronger more age resistant body when compared to an less
toned and weaker body.
Increases body metabolism - helping you to naturally burn more calories to just maintain your natural
balance.
Look Better - Let’s face it, looking better is a major factor in most diet and exercise programs. Strength
training is great for helping to get looks and improving confidence.

Strength Workout Details:

The strength workouts are separated into two workouts – the first focuses on your upper body and the
second focuses on your lower body. Each week you will perform the upper body workout twice and
the lower body workout once.

Select one exercise and conduct five sets with it, starting with a set of 12 reps, then increasing the
weight and doing 10 reps, adding more weight and doing 8 reps, adding more weight for 6 reps. Then
reduce the weight and do 12 reps. Immediately perform another set of 12 reps for that muscle group
using the second selected exercise.
 Example: Bench press 12 reps of 100 lbs
10 reps of 110 lbs
8 reps of 120 lbs
6 reps of 130 lbs
12 reps of 100 lbs
Incline Bench 12 reps of 100 lbs

Rest for 1 minute in between each set and two minutes after completing the muscle group.

Upper body workout:

Time: 30 minutes

Rest: 1 minutes between sets, 2 minutes between exercises

1. Chest – choose from the following exercises – bench press, incline bench
press, butterflies, cable crossovers, dumbbell decline bench press

2. Back - choose from the following exercises – pull-ups, lat pull downs, bent
over rows, back extensions, cable row

3. triceps – dips or seated dips, triceps pushdowns, kickbacks, overhead triceps

extension.

4. biceps – curls, preacher curls, hammer curls, cable curls

5. Shoulders – shrugs, upright row, shoulder presses, lateral raises, front raises

Lower Body Workout

Time: 30 minutes

Rest: 1 minutes between sets, 2 minutes between exercises

1. Core – swiss ball crunches, reverse crunches, bicycles, knee raisers,

oblique, heel touches. – do 4 sets of as many reps as possible – up to a
max of 25 reps.

2. Calves – seated calf raises, standing calf raises, balance board or ankle
circles.

3. Quads - barbell squats, leg presses, leg extensions, hip sled

4. Hamstrings – lunges, leg curls, flutter kicks, Romanian deadlift

nutrition guidelines
Put simply, nutrition is the most important aspect of a weight loss plan.

Overview: This plan is not a fad diet, but a tried and true healthy meal plan that has always worked.
Additionally, we have added one small change and that is to slightly increase protein consumption to help aid
in weight loss and muscle strengthening. This diet will not help you gain weight.

The calories that you consume should be broken down in the 40/40/20 percentage, or in other words:
40% Carbohydrates
40% Protein
20% Fat

Calorie Amount:
To gain or lose a pound requires the addition or subtraction of 3500 calories. Exercise can certainly help this,
but the fastest and most effective means of weight loss is through a sensible diet. However, if calorie
consumption falls below 1200 total calories per day, the body operates in a ‘starvation mode’ and attempts to
store calories, thus negatively effecting your weight loss goals.

Find your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), use the calculator found on
http://www.fitnovo.com/bmr_calculator.php or use the following formula:
Women: BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )
Men: BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) - ( 6.8 x age in year )

Your goal is to eat 500 less calories than your BMR. So for a 30 year old, 5’6” female that weighs 200 pounds
the goal should be to eat around 1325 calories per day. That is 500 calories less than her BMR of 1825. Please
remember not to eat fewer than 1200 calories per day.

The most difficult part of following this food plan is not the calorie amounts, but the consumption of protein.
Eat protein with every meal and actively look for ways to fit it into your diet.

Calorie Spread:
Spread your calories out to 5 or 6 meals per day (including 2 big snacks) instead of over the traditional 3 meals
per day rule. To regulate blood sugar and prevent cravings for unhealthy snacks like donuts, chips, or candy,
it is important to eat every 2 – 3 hours.

Food List:
Unlike most meal plans, we do not provide you with a list of approved and banned foods. Constructing your
diet to meet your specific taste is much more important – as long as you eat the correct amount of calories
and spread them throughout the day.

However, you should strive to eat a healthy diet, generally following the United States Government food
pyramid.

Meal Plan Guidelines:

 Eat 5 or 6 meals per day.
 Eat 500 calories less than your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR).
 Eat 100% whole wheat instead of enriched or white bread whenever possible.
  Center your meals around lean protein. Chicken, salmon, seafood, some cuts of pork and many cuts of
beef fall within the category of “lean protein.” Additional ways to increase your protein consumption
are through egg whites, cottage cheese, and soy beans.
 Skip beer and soda – they quickly add up the unneeded calories and have a very high sugar content.
 Drink 8 glasses of water each day. This will substantially reduce your cravings and hunger in between
meals.
 Eat a dark green vegetable with dinner.
 Cook extra portions at dinner to eat for lunch the next day.

Example:

Breakfast – 7:00 am
½ cup oatmeal w/ almonds and cranberries and 3 tsps brown sugar
1 cup coffee w/ cream and sugar
8 oz water

Morning Snack – 10:00 AM

1 Zone Protein bar
1 Apple
8 oz water

Lunch – 12:00 PM
(left overs) Chicken breast w/ whole wheat pasta and marinara sauce
8 oz water

Afternoon Snack – 3:00 PM

Yogurt and granola
8 oz water

Dinner – 6:00 PM
Grilled salmon with steamed broccoli
8 oz water

Evening Snack – 8:30 PM

½ cup cottage cheese with 1 ring of canned pineapple
-- or—
A Skinny Cow Ice Cream Sandwich

Good luck and stick with it! Weight gain doesn’t happen overnight and neither does weight loss. If you follow
this plan, in six weeks you should see noticeable results – and so will everyone else. As with all diet and fitness
plans, you should consult your physician before beginning.