New Beginnings

I got into the office this morning at 7.25am. This is probably the earliest I have ever been in the office and on a Monday no less. But I usually demonstrate enthusiasm and fervour for coming into work at the start of the week and then it diminishes as the week moves along. Anyway, I'm thinking it was a fabulous idea to get here at 7.25am but then I've spent the last half hour trying not to fall asleep. Sigh. It defeats the purpose of coming in if I'm going to be semi-conscious. Bah.

I start my 12-week challenge today. My gym was running this program called the 12-week challenge and I decided to sign up because I thought I needed some help. And help aside, the program so far looks like it has a lot to offer. It teaches you everything to know to create sustainable change to your lifestyle, which is what we should all aim for right? I don't belive in eating 2 meals a day and running yourself ragged at the gym everyday to slim down. Because even if you do slim down, the change is temporary because it's drastic. Your body is going to want to go back to 3 meals a day (or more) and you end up worse than where you started.

It irks me when I see girls not eating. It's not a permanent solution and it's not a healthy one. Yet every girl I have ever known to have lost a lot of weight and slimmed down has done so by starving themselves. The ones in denial don't call it "starving" because they claim they don't feel hungry. Whatever. You are still starving your body. I can sit here and feel jealous that these girls look so good, but I bet their insides are not looking so hot. A lot of girls (inadvertently) sacrifice health for good looks. Which is wrong. To me, that's just delusional. You're kidding yourselves.

This 12-week challenge encompasses a combination of things.

1. Diet
We've been given a book to write down everything we eat for the duration of the challenge. The gym people have provided some recipe suggestions, which is great! I'm not the most adventurous eater. I like to stick with what I know (just to avoid disappointment) but that just means I stick to my beloved pastas and other not-so-healthy choices. Those I'm-not-hungry girls don't realise that you should be having at least 5 meals a day if you want to get fit. I don't like to say "slim down" and I prefer to say "get fit." There is a difference.

Anyway, you have breakfast and then a morning snack. This makes sense especially when you have breakfast at 7am and lunch is at 12 or 1pm. 5-6 hours without food can be a bit of a struggle so you have a morning snack around 10am. Then lunch, followed by an afternoon snack. Again, between lunch and dinner is a good 8 hours for me on many days. So having an afternoon snack at around 3 or 4 pm is a great idea.

We get one cheat day a week so that you don't deprive your body of the (naughty) foods you love. For me it's pasta and tiramisu. Yum. I did stuff myself silly this weekend, just so I would be good for this program. Cheat day acts as a motivator for you to stay on course, but as time goes on, your body will start to crave your treats less and you'll get used to the healthier foods you've been forcing yourself to eat for the last n weeks. Cross fingers.

2. Exercise
We've been given exercise cards to be stamped off by our instructors whenever we do a class. In the 12 weeks, we have to do a minimum of 24 cardio classes, 12 pilates or yoga classes, 4 boot camps, and 3 personal training sessions. It doesn't sound so bad. That just works out to be 2 cardio classes and 1 pilates/yoga class a week. Totally doable.

Boot camp starts this Saturday. I'm a little scared of the boot camp because everyone's been saying horrific things about it. I went into this program not expecting it to be easy, but I wasn't completely freaked either. It's just everyone else around me who seems more freaked out than I am. Thank you all for your concern, I love you but just be enthusiastic for me ok? I'll need that support. Anyway, not really looking forward to the 7am bootcamps, especially when I have no idea where the hell bloody Victoria Park is. I'm gonna have to wake up at 3am just to find the damn place.

3. Goal setting
We were given booklets to record our progress, which is great. We were encouraged to write down what we hoped to achieve at the end of the program and all I could think of was sustainable change. Diet is one of the biggest things I struggle with to change and if I make the changes incrementally, I might be able to foster long-lasting positive changes. Exercise is not so much an issue for me, but maybe not knowing what type of exercise I should be doing for what I'm trying to achieve might be the thing. And I'm hopeless at working out on my own, without an instructor at the front of the class telling me what to do. Hopeless. But that's what the personal trainer is for. To ask and learn from.

So, this will be a learning and changing experience for me. Any support would be much appreciated. Hopefully by the time summer rolls around, I would have reduced my body fat, increased my muscle mass and made a permanent transition to a healthier lifestyle.