Category: Benchmarks

Welcome to Phuket Fit’s weight loss and fitness blog. I’m your host, Aaron Rowland. I’m a 27-year-old writer from Los Angeles, California. At my heaviest weight eighteen-months ago, I weighed in at 160 KGs.  I’m here at Phuket Fit to lose weight, improve my fitness and have the adventure of a lifetime. I’ve been here thirteen months so far and I’m staying indefinitely. My favorite exercises are the bicycle crunch and the medicine ball slam. Barbell thrusters, suicide planks and burpees give me nightmares.

Back In The Saddle

The week after a gain can be tough. While it motivates you to work harder and eat cleaner, it can also be discouraging and feel like you’re not making progress. When those feelings occur, it’s important to brush them aside and focus on the week ahead. You can’t take back the food you ate or the workouts you skipped in the previous week, but you can focus on doing better this week. Leave the past right where it belongs, in the past.

Working Hard or Hardly Working?

After having spent over a year at Phuket Fit, it can sometimes be easy to forget that I’m living in a tropical paradise. Instead of spending eight hours a day stuck in an office doing paperwork, I’m exercising outdoors surrounded by a supportive group of friend and trainers. If I want a break, I’m a mere ten minutes away from a relaxing few hours at the beach. Weight loss is tough, but it doesn’t have to be a chore. If you can find a fun and enjoyable way to lose weight, the odds of keeping it off are astronomically higher than if you’re miserable. That’s one of the things that make Phuket Fit work so well for weight loss. It’s genuinely a good time. It may be hard work, but it’s hard work in an magical place.

The End Of Week Twenty-Three

I knew I would lose weight this week. I’d done everything right. Eating very healthy and exercising like a beast. Even in my off times, I would fine cool fitness activities like badminton and Frisbee golf to fill up my schedule. I step on the scale, and see that I weigh 236.4 LBS. That’s down 7.8 LBS from my nightmare weigh-in last week and is another great step on my journey to fitness and health.

What’s Up Next?

This next week will be a tough one. I’ve made it my goal to walk from Phuket Fit to the Big Buddha and back. At almost 20KMs, it will take me 3-4 hours and features a steep incline as you approach the Buddha. It won’t be easy, but it wouldn’t be a challenge if it were. I’ll let you know next week how I fare.

Have a great week of weight loss! If you set your mind on it, I know you can do it!

Welcome to Phuket Fit’s weight loss and fitness blog. I’m your host, Aaron Rowland. I’m a 27-year-old writer from Los Angeles, California. At my heaviest weight eighteen-months ago, I weighed in at 160 KGs.  I’m here at Phuket Fit to lose weight, improve my fitness and have the adventure of a lifetime. I’ve been here twelve months so far and I’m staying indefinitely. My favorite exercises are the bicycle crunch and the medicine ball slam. Barbell thrusters, suicide planks and burpees give me nightmares.

Twenty-Two Weeks Down, A Lifetime To Go

Weight loss isn’t easy. If it was, everyone would do it. Instead we find ourselves with a worldwide obesity epidemic that only grows worse wand worse as the years go on. You will stumble on your journey and sometimes it can be easy to lose sight of your ultimate goals or the reasons for wanting to lose weight. The more you can do to remind yourself of that, the better. The last few weeks have been very difficult in my journey. It’s been tough to muster up the energy to work out or find the strength to resist the temptation to eat poorly. On any long weight-loss journey, you’ll find yourself eventually in the same place. Your weight will plateau or rise a bit and you’ll find that it’s tough to find the motivation to keep going. When this happens, it’s important to not lose sight of your accomplishments. Even if you have a few bad weeks, think about all the hard work you’ve put in and how successful you’ve already been. It’s not about never failing. It’s about picking yourself up after failure and continuing to move forward. Don’t worry about the one step back, focus on the two steps forward.

Creating An Environment For Success

One of the best ways to help keep yourself motivated is by surrounding yourself with success. That’s the best part about being at Phuket Fit; likeminded people who are supportive of your goals surround you. During any given class, you’ll hear words of encouragement from your fellow guests, pushing you to work harder than you thought was possible. If you can succeed in carving out your own group of friends at Phuket Fit, you’ll suddenly find yourself attending more classes than you thought you’d be able to and eating in a super healthy way. Journeys are easier when you can share the load. That’s the Phuket Fit way.

The End Of Week Twenty

Stepping on the scale after a couple weeks, I know it isn’t going to be pretty. I’ve been attending all the right classes, but not eating the foods I need to. Mark it down as a short-term loss of self-control, suck it up, and step on the scale. I gained weight. Not surprising. No tears and no frown, though. I’m still all smiles. I’ve slipped up before and came back even stronger.  What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and I feel revved up to conquer the scale next week. Lose five pounds next week. That’s my goal and I feel great about meeting or surpassing it.

What’s Up Next?

Attend two classes a day, find other ways to stay active, and eat the foods that my body needs to function. It isn’t rocket science, but it’ll still take work. No skipping classes for a lie-in this week. It’s pure unadulterated focus. Don’t stand in my way, because it’s pedal to the metal toward me goal!

Have a great week of weight loss! If you set your mind on it, I know you can do it!

Welcome to Phuket Fit’s weight loss and fitness blog. I’m your host, Aaron Rowland. I’m a 27-year-old writer from Los Angeles, California. At my heaviest weight eighteen-months ago, I weighed in at 160 KGs.  I’m here at Phuket Fit to lose weight, improve my fitness and have the adventure of a lifetime. I’ve been here eleven months so far and I’m staying indefinitely. My favorite exercises are the bicycle crunch and the medicine ball slam. Tire flips, suicide planks and burpees give me nightmares.

Approaching Your Small Goals

Coming off a plateau week, its important not to panic. Even though the last few weeks have had a small yo-yo effect on my weight, it’s important to believe in what you’re doing and stick with your plan. When you start to notice a long-term slowdown or reversal in your weight loss, that’s when you need to start from scratch and try new things. Luckily, my weight is still heading in the right direction, so there aren’t any alarm bells sounding at the moment. One thing you can do to help stay motivated, is to set small goals for yourself. It can be a new fastest time up Buddha or even reaching a certain weight threshold. I know that I’m really looking forward to getting below 220 LBS, which will be the lowest I’ve weighed in over ten years.

Smart Choices On The Weekend

 

The weekend can be a tricky time at camp. Most of the classes don’t run on the weekends, so it’s up to each person to stay active and to continue eating in a healthy way. Often some of your friends might want to go out partying on a Saturday night. Not wanting to be anti-social, you go with. The temptations are everywhere around you. Sugary high-calorie alcoholic drinks and salty greasy bar food is available wherever you turn. You don’t have miss out on fun times with your friends, just try to be smart about it. Instead of drinking a high-calorie beer, maybe try a vodka soda with a couple lime wedges. It’s a lot fewer calories, but you won’t feel like you’ve been left out of the fun. It’s also a good idea to eat before partying, so you won’t feel the temptation to eat poorly once you’ve started drinking.

Working Out With Friends

Another great way to stay motivated at camp is by creating a support system of friends to train with. It doesn’t take long at Phuket Fit to meet a bunch on interesting and motivated people, who are all on a similar fitness journey. Interact with them outside of class, but also find out what classes they’ll be taking. Working out with a friend is an excellent way to help push your training to the next level.

The End Of Week Nineteen

I step on the scale, and I’m thrilled to see my weight is 229.9 LBS. Almost three pounds down from last week, and less than ten pounds to reaching my short-term goal. Even if you find yourself occasionally gaining weight from week to week, its important to pay attention to the overall trends on the scale. Things like water retention and muscle mass increases can effect the scale from week to week, so it’s important not to obsess too much over any one weigh-in. Its easier said than done, though. Just keep moving forward and youll make it to your goal. Never give up. Theres no failure in falling down, just in not getting back up.

What’s Up Next?

I’ve been feeling a bit sick this week, so we’ll see how that affects my upcoming weight loss. Adding insult to injury is a day-long visa run to Burma that will also take away from my training time. Seems my overall results are going well, though. So, I’ll be following mostly the same training and food pattern this upcoming week.

Have a great week of weight loss! If you set your mind on it, I know you can do it!