A Twelve Week Challenge

It's no secret that I'm particularly fond of my food. As a result I've fought a helpless battle to control my weight most of my life, which results in a lot of yo-yo dieting. The latest upswing in fitness has now come out of a need to counteract the upcoming binge-fest that will take place on our trip back to Malaysia, which happily coincides with an opportunity at work to do something about my expanding belly.

Flight Centre, well Healthwise specifically, are holding their annual 12 Week Challenge which has officially started today. It's a bit of a poor man's Biggest Loser, where we submit our measurements and photos before and after the period for a panel to judge who made the most progress. There's also supposed to be a written component but we all know that's a wank really. It's all going to be down to hard numbers... and hard abs... grrr.

There are a heap of travel related prizes to be won, but I'm sure the real goal is to get people to take better care of themselves. Of course, if I were the cynical sort then I'd say the main goal would be to drum up more gullible people to sign on for personal training sessions... oh wait, I am the cynical sort.

Because working as a team is so much more fun, I'll be entering with a group of four including ChrisP (my boss), so there's some motivation to get results. Just because I'm a masochist at heart, I'm also upping the ante by publishing my weekly progress here for public scrutiny. Hopefully the threat of embarrassing ridicule will be enough to keep me away from the naughty food. So without further ado, here's Week 1.



I have a feeling that Weeks 5 through to 7 will be particularly challenging as we'll be back in the land of cheap and tasty food by then. Expect to see a little bump there.

Alison helped me take my "before" photo and we both agree that it turned out to be sufficiently disgusting. I think I'll assess my actual progress by the end of the program before putting the shots up for comparison. It's also particularly... fleshy... so I'll have to think long and hard before subjecting the Internet to that.

Day 1 and so far I've survived without eating anything I shouldn't have. Came home in the rain and managed to muster up the energy to do half an hour of Zumba in front of the TV with Alison. Now I feel fat and I have no rhythm...