Week One

Diary Entry
I started off by visiting my Biokineticist on the date my USN Body & Lifestyle Challenge started. It was on Monday 12 January 2009. Lara and I discussed my goals in-depth and must say she was a bit sceptical when I told her that I wanted to achieve at least 5% body fat at the end of the challenge. The first week is not pleasant, waking up at 3h30am in order for me to fit in all my pre-workout supplements before I go gym, I am sore in places you can't imagine and find myself rolling out of bed because I can't sit-up straight in bed but I needed to push forward. Detox is getting to me a bit and feel as if I have no energy. In my mind I keep saying "the first four weeks is a reprogramming faze it will pass".

Workouts
Training hard, strength not where it should be but focusing more on technique. Gym sessions are great, just sore all over. Cardio good in the evenings, concentrating on keeping my heart rate just below my 65% mark. (180 Calories in twenty minutes)

Diet
I found that the amount of food and supplements I was putting into my body was difficult, I am used to eating once or twice a day.

Statistics and Measurements
99Kg and 14.1% Body Fat. Not in great shape!!!

Week Two

Diary Entry
At the end of week one going through all the pain I did not achieve much except for moving my activity level up from a 1 to a 2 and losing a measly 1kg. I thought to myself, how on earth am I going to do this. I am killing myself on level 2 for minimal gains. Look at the stats carefully and this is why USN insists on you doing weekly measurements, USN does not call it compulsory measurements for nothing. They want you to see the change, they want you to succeed.

Workouts
Training hard, strength improving a little, Werner is pushing me hard. We are still focusing on technique but increasing weight slightly. Still concentrating on keeping my heart rate just below my 65% mark when doing cardio. (180 Calories in twenty minutes)

Diet
Feeling a bit better about the amount of food, tummy not great but will get there.

Statistics and Measurements
Lost 1Kg, gained circumference all over and lost more than 2% body fat in one week. So what do you think now, better than jumping on a scale and thinking to yourself damn I only lost 1 kilogram for all that work.

Week Three

Diary Entry
This is where I realised, "DON'T look at your starting date stats again" until you finish the challenge. Anything from here on is better than when you started. The trick is to beat week two, this approach kept me motivated, interested and competitive. Focus on last week's results and try to beat them. Week after week my wife used to take my stats away from me and wrote new goals down and put them on the fridge. I also did not go near a scale, only on my measurement dates.

Workouts
Training even harder, with the "beat each week" concept in mind I tried to carry this through to my training sessions. Keeping my heart rate just below my 65% mark. (180 Calories in twenty minutes)

Diet
Eating like crazy now, my body is yearning for food. I needed to keep focused here or else I will eat anything. (Note to self, make sure you have all you food ready so that when it's time to eat the right foods it there)

Statistics and Measurements
Let's look at the stats, looking great, beat week two and my circumferences were back to normal accept for my abdominal region. I had lost only 600grams, devastating for those who love the scale but for me I knew what the figures were saying, down a further 2% in body fat, abdominal region on its way down and keeping muscle. (Look at circumference measurements)

Week Four

Diary Entry
Started off like week three, needed to beat last week, looked on the fridge and there it was my new goal, refocus, reset and start again. At this early stage I realised what I needed to do, the answer was in week three, let me explain, for my goal I wanted to lose body fat and weight as well as lose size around my abdominal region but keep my circumferences steady. This translates into retaining / building muscle while losing the access thereby giving you a ripped look without looking thin.

Workouts
Training has become a pleasure technique all sorted out and can now focus on increasing weight, damn I love it and can start seeing the differences in my physique. I started to push a bit harder with cardio, trying to burn more calories in the same time frame but still keeping my heart rate at 65%. (220 Calories in twenty minutes)

Diet
Still eating like crazy, (good stuff though). I am also ensuring that all my food is pre prepared and portioned as per my eating plan.

Statistics and Measurements
Stats at the end of week four where not great but at least it was an improvement on week three, I lost only 0.2% body fat and lost about 1kg, my circumferences where slightly up which I was happy with and my abdominal region had dropped 2cm. Total stats for the four week period: Body Weight down 3.7Kg Body Fat Down 4.3% Not bad, if you calculate this and multiply it by 3. (But not good enough for me) You telling me you can't achieve your goals, I think you can. The thing is because you focus on a new goal every week you start achieving more and more in shorter time frames.

Click here to see all my measurements for the first four weeks.