BodyBlitz Challenge Measurements Before Height: 183 cm Weight: 98 kg Chest: 116 cm Waist: 110 cm Calves: 39 cm Arms: 37 cm Thighs: 61 cm After Height: 183 cm Weight: 87 kg Chest: 104 cm Waist: 98 cm Calves: 38 cm Arms: 37 cm Thighs: 57 cm

Well, what can I say? Third time lucky! This is my third time at the 12-week challenge and each time it gets harder and harder to do. This will be the last time I embark on the 12-week challenge, as I will not allow myself to fall back into bad habits.

Last year my wife became very ill. During times like this I guess you lose focus on what’s important for you personally and put all of your energy into your family and making sure you do what’s best for them. It was about three or four months before we could see a vast improvement of my wife’s health and during that time I had given up the gym and stopped caring about my needs and focused on the family.

As you can imagine with all the running around, I would just eat whatever was in the fridge. I would skip meals, grab something while I was out — pasta, pizza, it didn’t really matter at that point what it was, as long as it filled the spot.

I loved the gym and developed great relationships at Fitness Arena. I missed my PT sessions with my trainer Pancho and, most of all, the feeling of the adrenalin you get when you have done a great workout.

But coming up to December with all the festive activities on their way, my wife was back at work and starting to get better as the days went by. Meanwhile, I was buggered! It had been a hard year; work was flat out with everyone buzzing around trying to get everything done before the Christmas break. I felt like crap and I had put on so much weight, lost muscle tone and couldn’t fit in to anything. Realistically, I had to lose the weight and get back on track. If I am not healthy and fit, how would I ever handle looking after my family if something was to go wrong again (I pray it doesn’t)?

I know in the past I have drawn motivation from the 12-week challenge before and I felt like I needed to do something that I could focus on — and I know at the end of the challenge I would feel absolutely amazing. How I longed for that feeling again!

So I did it! I entered again with such determination as I have done in the past two challenges I embarked on. I called my trainer Pancho and asked him to work with me on this and provide some guidance and be my mentor and help me get back to where I was only six months ago.

As you can now see in the end result, I am happy, healthier and very excited about 2011. Even if I don’t win, this challenge has given me the opportunity to bring the focus back to myself and I am rapt I did this again for the third time. IM