The Mission: Fight to Fitness

I'm fat. I won't lie about that.

My weight has increased exponentially over the past 10 years. I've seen myself grow from a portly size 31 (at about 15 years of age) and today, I should be about a size 34.5 (in consideration that pants-size 34 is tight and 35 is slightly loose). My weight has regularly see-sawed depending on my state of mind. I don't comfort-binge but I do enjoy my food. A lot. A LOT.

I measure approximately 167cm in height. Approximately meaning I last measured my height in 1995 and I measured 165.5cm. This is assuming I did not grow shorter, and I did not get much taller.

My weight has see-sawed depressingly from 60kg in 1995 to almost 70kg today. Although 10kg is generally not THAT significant, my lack of height causes me to appear pudgy and multiply in chins, among other deformities.

Fitness-wise, I was in reasonable shape a couple of years back. I played footy regularly. Although I was never invited by my football-playing friends, I found other people willing to play with a mug like me. I liked running. I used to run every other day diligently for about 5km-8km at a time.

However, today, I don't think I'm at that level anymore. These days I dance very often but as I have found out, excessive dancing does not help anyone lose weight. It's probably light cardio at best considering we dance vigorously for 4-5 minutes at a time and we rest in between songs. Plus it is a social event, not all out exercise.

OK. That's my current fitness profile. The Mission, if I choose to accept it, is to turn my sad life around. I've taken the first positive step by signing-up for a gym. My logic is - I'm going to pay good money, and if I don't follow-up, I'll be wasting money I don't have. So I better make the best out of it (Chinaman Logic #264). I've done this yesterday and later tonight I intend to visit for the first time. Which gym I signd up with is irrelevant since I'm not joining for the reputation, but instead for the free towels and secrecy.

I also want to thank Mr. Raj, a dear friend and salsero, and fitness instructor extraordinaire, for proposing a simple regime for the Stage One of my development of self. It goes a little something like this:-

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1 Hour solid session at the gym (no chit-chatting and time-wasting) which is composed of:-

30 minutes of resistance training, consisting of exercising all the major muscle groups in 2 sets of 15 reps each, with less than 1 minutes rest between sets. The bracket indicates a rough description of the form of exercise for each of the muscle groups:

- Leg extensions (pushing motion)

- Chest (pushing motion - forward)

- Back (pulling motion - backwards)

- Shoulders (pushing motion - upwards)

- Biceps and Triceps (pumps)

- Abdominals (crunches, or other abs exercise)

Other relevant details are:

Speed of workout - 2 seconds to lift, 4 seconds to lower

Weightage - Start with 75% of maximum load. May need to test until such weight is determined.

To also note details of workout for future reference.

30 minutes of Cardio work, which includes:-

5 minutes of warm-up;

20 minutes of Cardio; and

5 minutes of warm-down.

Cardio here includes running, cycling, cross-trainers, etc.

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Raj has also proposed a tracking progress for me. I'll need to get some details of myself including:-

1. A before and after picture. This may be embarassing but necessary to track my progress.

2. Waistline measurement from the navel.

3. Weight.

4. Body fat.

5. A detailed list of my eating habit for the next 2 weeks.

I'll also be tracking my progress in near-real time using the Fight to Fitness Blog to inspire me to victory.

More importantly though - what is my GOAL in all this? I don't want to have a Calvin Klein sexy bod just yet. For now, my short term goal is:-

LOSE WEIGHT AND FIT BACK INTO MY SIZE 32 PANTS. WITHIN 3 MONTHS OR LESS.

There we go. Realistic, specific and practical. The time-frame may be adjusted slightly but thats just a technicality.

Thanks for everything Raj i'll definitely continue to need your help but thus far, your dedicated advice was imperative to give me something to work for. If I achieve my target(s) and people like what they see, I won't forget that all this could not have been possible without your help!

Thanks for viewing!

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