Heat 5.Week 1&2. Ultimate You Challenge, Summer 2016

It always amazes me how fast these 8 week Challenges go by.

Have two weeks really gone by so quickly?

It seems as if they have!

Much like 2016,which seems to have vanished in a flash.

Here is a question for the group.
Why do we always think the worst?

You get a phone call from your Dr, you believe that you might have a terminal illness.

Your bank manager leaves a message, you put off calling him back

just in case there is a problem with your account.

Your security company calls you, your alarm has gone off.

You dash home expecting the worst, only to find that the washing has set off the alarm.

You get an after hours phone call from your boss, you expect that you are going to be fired

when all he really wants to do is say thank you for a job well done.

Why do we constantly under value ourselves?

Be it in weight loss, exercise or work...
we over think issues and focus on the negatives.

We should have enough confidence in ourselves and our abilities

that we can silence that little voice?

I found myself in a situation recently that had caused me concern for an entire weekend...

and where was the problem in reality?
IN MY HEAD!

If SG has taught me nothing else, it has given me back my self confidence.

The "voice" has not vanished, but it seems to be muffled and no longer as loud as it used to be.

How about yours?

Heat 5 Week 2 begins...But what, I hear you ask about Week 1...

Well the beginning of a challenge is always tough,

not so much physically(I know my limitations) but mentally.

I know from experience that if my "head" is in the right place, then my body will follow.

I do try to start in a manner that befits the ethos of this community,

but that Plan does not always work...and for that reason, I have Plan B and even Plan C.

If I have to go to "C" does that mean I have failed?

Certainly not, I still have a Plan, it is just a different one!

Life is all about making plans, for eventualities that we can or perhaps cannot control.

It is how we handle these changes that defines who we are...or what we can become.

I have seen SG's achieve enormous life changes in this forum.

By the same token, I read on an almost daily basis about people who have "slipped"

and now want to quit or believe that they are not the best they can be.

Understand one IMPORTANT fact...YOU ARE ALL HERE IN THE GROUP,

and that my friends, says a lot about who and what you are...

and more importantly, what you can achieve.

Never give up on yourself.

You do not have to measure yourself against anyone else in this group.

Make the "competition" internal...challenge yourself constantly

but not to a point where you can injure or potentially hurt yourself.

If you are uncertain about training regimes, ask...

if you are uncertain about health....ASK A PROFESSIONAL.

Everything in moderation! Both exercise and food.
You can have one cookie...but you don't have to eat the entire packet.

I have no control over my chocolate intake, so I now no longer eat chocolate.

( I have been clean for more than 25 years)
but that was the only way I could deal with that craving.

Do you ever have "one of those days" ?

where you feel like you are trying to put an octopus into a bucket?

You get one leg in and one of the others pops out.

No matter how hard you try, you cannot seem to get them all in at the same time...

but you persevere. Why?

Because, being a member of this community, giving up is not an option.

I had one of "those" days during the past week
I woke up with a runny nose and a twinge in my back and as a result I did not go for a run.
But did I do nothing?

Instead I was able to do a set of exercises at home.

In the past I might have turned to food to make me "feel better"
but instead I chose instead to eat clean...
just to prove to myself that food as a reward is not really necessary.

Did I survive? Hell yes!

I enjoyed a wonderful home-cooked dinner made by my wife to round off that day

knowing that all WILL be well with the world tomorrow.

"It is not the problem that is the problem. It is how you handle the problem that is the problem"

As if the UYC was not sufficient,

I am also tackling this "challenge" in conjunction with UYC...

These are exercises that just a few weeks ago I would be "avoiding like the plague",

yet more often than not I am up and training before 5am!

Mainly thanks to my cat who believes that sleeping past 4am

is a waste of daylight.

A couple of years ago, when I decided that being overweight was NOT a sign of success,

the scale was my "go to" partner.

I would weigh myself at least once a day, sometimes twice depending on my training schedule.

I became obsessed with the figures on the dial.

My nutritionist warned me that I was losing too much weight.

Can there be such a thing I pondered?
Lose to much?

Her recommended goal weight for me was 84kg...I got as low as 79kgs and then I floundered...

It was almost impossible to keep that weight off.

And as a result I slowly started to put the "lost weight" back.

But luckily for me my daughter stepped in and suggested SG as an option,

and the read out was not "gospel" or carved in stone.

The tale of the tape has become my new "go to" measurement
and even though my weight has virtually remained static between 86,5 and 87,6kg,
the cms have been dropping on a regular basis.

I have dropped from a 42 to a 36 and can ALMOST fit into a 34.

My shirt size has gone from XL to L and even a M thrown in for "fun".

At the end of the day, I am getting compliments and I am feeling better about myself.

It has only taken me 63 years to start loving my body.

I am not totally happy yet, but I am closer than I have ever been.

A the finish of the 10km night run

during the course of Week 2.

I believe that ANY distance needs to be approached with respect,

and a belief that I can do it.

My time goals are set with that in mind, and one of my goals for evening
was to ONLY walk at the watering tables.

I was led to believe that there would be 4 tables...

turns out that the course was 2 laps, making a total of only 3 tables.

Seeing I run alone, it is easier to walk than to push...

but I did try and push a little bit harder than last week.

Turns out that my strategy was a winning one...

I was placed 1st in my age group...

and there were 12 people behind me on the night,

all of whom were younger than me!

Even though I am training in a gym,

running is my go to exercise...

Not like it used to be 22 years ago when I would run 18kms a morning...

and at under 4mpk.

Now, I am older, the distances are shorter and the times are more like 6mpk.

Does any of that worry me?

Not really...I would like to run a 60minute 10km

and perhaps even a 2.10 half marathon.

But, at the end of the day, it is about the enjoyment and time spent on the road.

Never give up! It is not how many times you fall that matters,

but how many times you get up that counts...

YES! I know that we have all probably heard that before,

but at the end of the day, "if it is to be then it is up to me".

Take inspiration where you can, and to this end my on-line coach,

Tammy Du Plessis, has been an enormous help...

hearing her chirpy voice on my phone makes me smile

and realize that I am not training in a vacuum...

even though I chose to do the UYC "alone" as #onemancan.

I have often seen pictures posted with the words "I am not there yet" on them.

Are ANY of us EVER satisfied with how we look, how many kgs we have lost

or how many burpees we can do?

I for one will never be, as I am always chasing that "one more...."

(you can fill in the blank for yourself).

All that we can be is consistent.

If we stumble, we continue...if we fall we get back up and soldier on.

And, just like that, Heat 5 heads into Week 3 of the UYC.

Was Week 2 a good week for me?

Yes and no...

I ran a 10km night race and came first in my age group,

but there have been stresses that have taken my

"eye off the prize" as far as my eating goes.

Not too far off the prize, but just enough to make my resilience waver.

What that really means, for me, is that this week has to be more focussed than the current one...

I have not "fallen off the wagon", I have not binged,

I merely blinked and in that moment, lost some direction.

From an exercise perspective, I am on track and in fact I having been pushing

myself in that area, which might be a reason for the eating.

But, I have regrouped and will "attack" the new week with vigour and enthusiasm.

I have only stumbled, not fallen and I intend to correct that.

Tammy Du Plessis, you seem to have a sixth sense when it comes to my feelings...

thanks for your voice messages, they are much appreciated.

This is what I had to say about the upcoming Heat 5:

https://www.facebook.com/david.batzofin/videos/10209648407661114/