Today, 12 weeks ago, I embarked on the USN 12-Week Challenge.
While there has been some body transformation – no hard work goes unpaid – the most
important factor in this journey was the lessons I learned, and the lessons are
what I’d like to share.
Lesson 1: Make it
a lifestyle change
For 28 years I pretty much ate what I please as a result I picked
up a few kilos, some body fat and bad eating habits. Changing this meant
changing my lifestyle – a permanent, for life change, forever. Get it? Sorry,
but you’ll be surprised how many people fail to understand the concept of ‘lifestyle
change’.
Lesson 2: Eat to
be healthy, not thin.
There are two things my mom taught me about diet and exercise. Firstly,
there is no such thing as a quick fix, it takes hard work, time and dedication,
and secondly, dieting is bad for you.
Having kept in mind that yo-yo dieting is bad for you and this is
a lifetime journey, I opted for a low GI diet because it doesn’t cut out any
food, instead, it teach you to make the healthier choice. For example, replace
potato with sweet potato, choose rye bread over white bread, cut the fat off
your meat, opt for the durum wheat pasta and reach for the cinnamon or
honey to replace sugar. Portion control is also very important.
In the 12 weeks the eating has become a habit. There
are still a few hic-ups, which will come right with time. Look at the ratio 28
years vs 12 weeks, it takes time.
Whichever diet you choose, research, research, research! And then
ask yourself, can you do it for life? If the answer is yes, then dive in head
first. It also helps to go see a nutritionist/dietitian – they are the experts
after all.
Lesson 3: Get off
your butt and get moving.
In the last four years I’ve gone to gym on and off, more off than
on. I now go regularly, something I’ve always wanted to achieve, and I love it.
I love the sweat, the achy-muscles and, especially, the ‘hey, I am
stronger’ reaction. There is nothing more satisfying that hitting a spinning
class and really pushing it, realising that your intensity level is higher than
it was yesterday – and you are still going!
It is important to know how to do the exercises correctly, have a
training programme and know when to make adjustments. You can’t walk blindly
into gym and by some small miracle hope to achieve something – walk in with a
goal.
Here you can go either one of two ways – go see a personal trainer
or empower yourself to set the training programme and make the adjustments.
There are loads of information and advice out there. My favourite is a blog called
Gym Rats Sweat and Sacrifice, Fitness Magazine and the USN website. And,
obviously, www.google.com. Google is your
friend.
Another benefit is that exercising helps me shift my mind from
work to my studies. Sitting down at night has become a little easier because I
have the energy.
Lesson 4:
Willpower is like a muscle – work it!
Be determined. Put your mind to it and do it! When I feel like I can’t anymore I push for that one extra rep, that
one extra minute. In fact, I often put the level up a bit, just to prove to
myself that I can.
Lesson 5:
Support.
Support is like a push-up bra, it gives you a lift when you need
one. My mom, from when I first had the idea, had her pom-poms out, and bf cooks
at night and takes care of the kittens so I can hit the gym after work. It’s
the small gestures of support that makes any journey easier. Now we get to the two lessons why I decided after 10 weeks to stop
using the USN Phedra-Cut and CLA.
Lesson 6: Focus
on the task at hand.
I noticed one night during spinning that I clock watch and my
focus is on the pile of studying I need to get through, the to-do list on my
desk at work and the to-do list of being an adult – bills, washing, deworming
tablets for the kittens etc.
During exercising I stress about other stuff rather that focusing
on the muscles I am working. As a result I release a stress hormone, which
pretty much cancels out the fat burning hormone (at least that was the way it
was explained to me). I am working at changing the behaviour by listening to
classical music or symphonic metal en route to gym and doing some breathing
exercises. Once I manage to succeed in that, hopefully some more body fat will
melt away and the muscles, which I know is there, show more.
Stress is an ugly thing, so when you are a gym focus at exercising
– de-stress rather than stress more.
Lesson 7: Getting
in the zzz’s is important.
There is an old saying, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead”. Yea, your body
doesn’t work that way. An adult should be getting seven to eight hours of uninterrupted
sleep a day.
My first priority is my BA and as a part-time student there is
very little I can do about the lack sleep. But yes, sleep is important to burn
the fat, recover the muscles and speed up the metabolism.
So where to from here?
I have adjusted my training programme to include
more cardio (hopefully bringing down the body fat more) and I am sticking to my
low GI diet and working on those eating behaviour hic-ups. Enough to maintain
my weight. My goal, after all, is to complete this semester successfully.
After exams I will be doing the USN 12-Week Challenge again. I will
then have more time, be able to focus better and sleep more.
As I said in the beginning, there is no such thing as a quick fix,
this is a lifetime journey - and I look forward to another 12 weeks of life changing.
The results:
Kilos dropped: 7.4kg
Body fat lost: 7.65%
Dress size: From an uncomfortable size 34, boarder-line 36, to a very comfy 34.
