In preparation for the challenge I took these "Before" pictures...
To make sure I've got an accurate assessment of my body composition at the beginning of the challenge, I did a DEXA test last week.
WHY?
During my days as a graduate student at MIT, I gained quite a bit of weight. I used to visit the gym and swimming pool every once in a while, but had no workout plan or goals. Plus, I never changed my diet...I was eating fatty foods, lots of carbs, very little greens, etc...so my bad nutrition was actually working against my workouts. When I saw no progress...I gave up. I call that behavior "Resolution Wo/Man", meaning your heart is in the right place (like when you eat too much during the holidays and make a "New Year" resolution to start a diet/hit the gym first thing tomorrow morning...), but you are totally unprepared to follow-through...you see, resolution will only get you so far...to make it all the way you need good (or better yet, excellent) preparation. There's a saying "Fail to prepare, prepare to fail." I've found that to be very true. Our hectic schedules make us "opportunistic Eaters" - we grab whatever's around, eat it fast, and go on with our business. Preparation takes time and because our society has become super efficient at manufacturing and consuming ready-made/fast/junk food, taking advantage of that is a huge time-saver.
You have to remember there is always a cost to cutting corners in order to save time. Back in those days the price I was paying was my health. I had allergies, saborea dermatitis, my sleep my aweful, and high cholesterol. One doctor I went to see about my sleeping problems said I had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and that there's nothing he nor I could do about it. I accepted his diagnosis and went on with my life, completely calm about the fact that I now have another condition on my medical chart.
Three years passed and we left the USA and returned home to Israel. One day I did some blood tests and it turned out that my cholesterol had reached a point where my doctor was worried and she referred me to a nutritionist. The nutritionist took my measurement, explained the basic rules of nutrition, gave me a menu to follow, and told me to come back in a month. For the first month I managed to stay motivated. I had lost some weight and felt good about myself. And that was it. I never returned for a third meeting, and, in fact, gained most of the weight back. Thinking back, I don't think issues like "Being healthy" and "Looking/feeling good" could keep me motivated for long. I think that this is the case for many people who all know what is the right thing to do and can stick with that for a while but then lose motivation and go back to their usual habits.
What did it for me was finding a hobby I was passionate about and that was rock climbing. At first it was just for fun...but it quickly became an obsession. All I could think about was rock climbing and how to get better at it. Now what's beautiful about rock climbing is that it's straightforward...basic physics...how fast you advance in the beginning depends on a simple ratio between your weight and strength (technique and mental preparation obviously play a HUGE part as well). So what I needed was to get super lean and super strong. I started reading a lot about nutrition, workout techniques, supplementation, and more. The extra effort of learning how to achieve my goal along with the goal itself of climbing better, harder routes was all I needed to stay motivated and achieve what I had set to do.
In 2010, I weighed 93kg with roughly 22% body fat. In 2012, I weighed 75kg with roughly 8% body fat.
My goals for the 56 day challenge are to:
1. Push my limits and achieve a better physique.
2. Inspire people to take their health seriously, to think about what they put in their body, and to help them find the thing that keeps them motivated to make positive changes to their lifestyle.
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