I did it. I completed six weeks of boot camp. I don’t think anybody else thought that I could do it. I’m not sure I thought I could do it. I realize I didn’t cure cancer or anything like that, but it was challenging and it was, in a way, life altering. I feel better now. I look (somewhat) better now. And all it took was six weeks (and a lot of hard work). I’m healthier mentally and physically and I have more self confidence.
Here are a few actual results I earned through my dieting and exercise: 1) I lost 4.5 inches around my waist! This was my main goal, to lose the beer belly. It’s not all gone but I killed off 4.5 inches. I can’t tell you how many times I thought about getting a big knife and just slicing off all the excess fat around my waist. (I also occasionally fantasize about jumping through closed windows when I’m frustrated, I can be a little extreme at times.) I also lost a lot of the fat on my neck. That flab is not attractive; 2) I took four minutes off my mile. I went from a 13.5 minute mile to a 9.5 minute mile. And I don’t even like running/jogging; 3) I lost 10 pounds. My goal was to lose 16 but I’m happy with the 10. I wasn’t focusing on my weight because I feel it can be misleading and I didn’t want to get discouraged if I hadn’t lost much weight, but I was glad to have at least taken off 10 pounds; 4) I don’t have the exact numbers here but I went from roughly 30% body fat to roughly 28%. I should get it down to 25%. Which leads me to …
I’m doing another Boot Camp Challenge! Just because the six-week camp is done doesn’t mean I’m totally where I want to be. I still have a good way to go to reach my goal of being slim and fit. I’m slimmer and fitter than I was six weeks ago, but I’m not there yet. Another 3 inches or so around the waist, another 5 or 10 pounds lost, and another minute or two off that mile while bringing my body fat percentage down to a respectable 25 is where I’d like to be. And I don’t trust myself to push as hard as they push me at boot camp. Getting up at 5:30 in the morning keeps me honest the nights before. You don’t want to be hungover at boot camp.
To learn more about Boot Camp Challenge and how to register for the next camps, click here.
This article appears in February 27 • 2009.