The Healthy Lifestyle Challenge

September, for me, is the month of bright and fresh colours and smells! It is also the month for tossing out the old and bringing in the new. Well, there is no doubt that change is a good thing and I thought I would dedicate this post to the recent challenge I committed myself to: The FitLab 12 Week Pilot Study.

There are five of us taking part, each with our own individual set of goals and objectives. The common thread in each of our lists of things to accomplish is healthy living forever. In other words, the twelve weeks encompassed in this challenge are the very stepping stones towards a complete healthy lifestyle which should never be a temporary endeavour but one you make for life.

We are a week into the challenge and so far everyone seems to be reaping the benefits of one hundred percent commitment. I, however, am the first to suffer with a broken immune system. I have been booked off for a week with a severe chest infection and am only to return to physical exercise next Monday. This next week is going to kill me.

My husband is also one of the pilot study participants but he is getting it easy compared to the rest of us. We are all restricted in terms of what we can and cannot eat for the first four weeks but whilst we have to avoid all dairy, sugars and carbohydrates, Rowan is not as restricted. See, where four out of the five participants have weightloss as one of their main goals, Rowan is so near his goal weight already, he just has to up the exercise and he will be perfect! He will say to this "I am already perfect"... and I would have to  agree (naturally).

In truth, the best part of this whole challenge is the very fact that Rowan is doing it with me. It's easy to make excuses and try and get out of exercise commitments, but having someone invested in the same challenge makes it that much easier not to flake out. I could actually say the same for any of the other participants... Everyone is so good at keeping each other motivated. The FitLab team of Bongani (our trainer, owner of FitLab) and Stephanie (our dietitian, owner of Complete Living) make for an amazing support system and if this first week is anything to go by, the next twelve will surely go by without any hiccups.

Here's to the remaining eleven weeks of the challenge!