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My Own 12 Week Challenge

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I’ve just come off the back of my very own (AND FIRST) 12 Week Challenge.  I treated myself like a client and put myself through the process I put my clients through.  Here’s the aftermath!
On Monday 10th November 2014, I conducted a self assessment on myself, which included a full set of measurements, before photos and setting myself a comprehensive 12 Week Goal.  This created a starting point for me.

Break it down into Weekly Goals

I then took my 12 week goal and broke it down into really small weekly goals, usually based around 1 eating goal, 1 training goal and 1 recovery goal.  For example, I had to start cardio (BLAGH!!!) 20 mins 3 times a week.

I created a weekly meal plan at the beginning of each week as well as a weights, cardio and recovery program and pre-planned these into my weekly schedule, in and around training my own clients.

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At The End Of Each Week

At the end of each week, I assessed how well I’d performed, what areas I found worked well and what areas I struggled with.  For me, I slept like a baby, trained reasonably well but really struggled (like most people) with coping with all the distractions of sticking to a very stringent eating regime.  I must say though, that it got easier for reasons that I’ll detail in a moment.

choose to eat healthy

6 Week Mark

At the 6 week mark, I re-assessed myself, took some measurements and another set of photos.  Boy was I surprised.  I had lost 5 kgs off the scales, grown 1 cm taller and reduced my body fat by 8%.  This pretty much was the catalyst to battle on during what is notoriously the toughest time of the year to be doing these challenges, Christmas.

Motivation

I found that having both my kids around me during this time really helped.  Not only did I enjoy training with them, but they provided some real motivation, given they are the reason I do what I do.

For some reason, when I set my 12 week goal, way back in November, I had it set in my mind that “D” Day for me was Australia Day, so when that day rolled round, I re-assessed myself, took more photos, only to discover that I was only at the end of week 11. DOH!! I felt like Homer Simpson.
Anyway, the end result of my 12 week challenge saw me achieve:

  • 12 kgs of weight lost
  • 2.5 cm taller
  • 13 % loss of body fat

I Failed to reach my Goal

For the record I failed to achieve my goal.  I’d set a goal to be 101 kgs and 10% body fat by the end of the 12 weeks and missed it by 3.3 kgs and 2.3%.  Am I a failure?  Absolutely!  Does this bother me? Absolutely NOT!  In fact I’m proud that I failed because it means I set my goal high enough to stretch me but close enough for me to aim at.

Had I achieved my goal, some would say (and I would agree with them) that maybe my goal wasn’t set high enough.

never give up

 What Did I Learn?

I reinforced my own negative belief that I hate cardio.  It’s a fact; I’d rather do a weight training circuit than ride or row for 30 mins doing HIIT.

I discovered that I had a few haters amongst my circle of friends, especially on social media.  I dealt with this the best way I know how; I culled them from my list.

I learned that I’m human

I learned that I’m human and that food is my biggest issue.  I don’t do well when I have temptations so close to me.  This tells me that I have an addiction to the exact same sorts of foods that everyone else is addicted to.  (Chocolate & ice cream to name a couple)  Does this make me weak?  No.

It reinforces my belief that we are not weak, we are simply addicted.  Like alcoholics or drug addicts, once you admit you have an addiction, it’s easier to cope and manage the problem, rather than to beat yourself up over the fact that you falsely believe you’re just a weak arse.
However, the biggest lesson I took away from this whole exercise was how AWESOME my training diary for holding you accountable.  Words on a page don’t lie.  Neither do photos and having my 12 week goal in my hands every day being constantly read also solidified my determination to fight through the tough times.

This was especially beneficial at Christmas time when everyone was on the turps.  If you’d like to get your hands on a training diary simply click here.