Published: March 4, 2010

I wanted to take on a project to achieve the impossible. When I looked at myself in the mirror and thought of what the pinnacle of physical health would look like, I thought: SIX-PACK.

Several people have given me advice to follow as to how I can create this visible result. What I do every week is take on as many suggestions as I can.

Through my feats and fails, you’ll see what advice I’ve gathered and how successfully I can apply what I’ve learned. You are the people who can ask me, “So, did you work out today?” and hold me to what I say I will do. You can look at me weird if I reach for a cupcake or candy and say, “You’re gonna get a six-pack doing that?”

You, the readers, are my accountability. With your attention, tough love, and watchful eye, I will have six-pack abs this spring. This week has been a week full of fails, and I’m putting them on full blast this week.

I need to learn to stop dwelling on my failures. It seemed like the more I told myself how wrong I was for failing once, the more I kept failing.

March 15 is around the corner, and I’ve been forgetting what I promised, getting sucked into the failures. The same way eating sugar generates more cravings, thinking about my failures generated more failures (though I am happy to say that excessive sugar was not a fail this week).

Before getting into the fails that flourished, let’s list the feats first.

FEAT – Cardio and Sugar Smackdown

For cardio this week, I did a UJAM class in McMahon Hall (every Monday at 8 p.m. in MM 205/206, open to all students), which kicked my butt and got my heart pumping. My abs hurt like crazy after the class.

The day before that, I ran to Erika Bloom Pilates Plus with a guest pass (compliments of my internship) to take two classes. I got a private session with a Pilates instructor who helped me strengthen my back and core muscles.

The less sugar I ate, the more REAL energy I had, not the fake energy where I get all hopped up for a few hours and then crash. This energy was sustaining and comfortable…with no caffeine-induced heart palpitations.

FAIL – Injury, Dwelling and Drying up

Dehydration: Not only was the lack of actual drinking water a big fail for my six-pack journey, the lack of water-containing foods drained my energy levels. My body feels tired and dried up and less motivated to work out when I have less water in my system. The smaller my energy supply, the smaller the chances of my reaching my goal.

Posture became a big deal this week. Sitting at my desk at my internship hunching over a computer didn’t help much, especially when I had a lot on my mind.

What was on my mind? I haven’t been logging food, and I injured my knee. I’m living in the world of the unknown (a.k.a. how much did I REALLY eat this morning?) and the inactive. I had to take three days off from vigorous working out to make sure that my knee healed properly. In the past, injuries have thrown me off track. That’s what happened this week. Next week, no more.

The more I focused on my failures, the more failures I began to amass.

CHALLENGE: For next week, I plan to load up on water-containing foods (veggies, fruits and proteins), plan a yoga class to ease back into cardio, and do cardio at least four times this week.