About 18 months ago, our friend Josh was feeling odd. He often felt tired and lacked stamina. He would catch any tiny virus coming his way. His body constantly aching, he was also starting to get moody. All this was kind of puzzling to him.
Then one day, he hopped on a scale and was shocked he had gained more than 15 pounds over the last few years. Suddenly, he realized he was probably working too much, often eating on the go and not exercising that much anymore. During that week, his family physician confirmed what he already knew and gave him the classic eat-healthy-and-exercise advice.
Familiar with the 12-Minute Method, he immediately took matters into his own hands and started changing. At first, it was not that obvious with his busy schedule and all. But he gradually made the necessary modifications to some of his habits as his physical and mental wellbeing depended on it.
On that occupied fall afternoon, he still took 12-Minute to think and access the situation: right away, he decided he would have to lose 20 pounds over the next year (12 months). The next day, he immediately took action and went on a 12-Minute power walk to clear up his mind and revitalize his body.
After a dozen days, he quickly got the hang of it. His hearth and soul felt much better (his weight getting under control not long afterwards).
Over the next couple weeks, the initial 12-Minute walk evolved into 24-minute lunchtime walks every other day plus intense 24-minute bike workouts days in between. Josh rarely skipped a session but took a breather on a weekend day (most of the time on Sunday) and when he exercised enough otherwise. For instance, a sunny Friday afternoon round of golf would be an adequate replacement and a nice change of pace.
That reliable basic training provided a solid base but he found it refreshing to incorporate new activities into his workout routine. He would experiment with all corporate treadmill like devices on rainy days while discovering different bike routes on outside days.
He logged and integrated workout sessions in his agenda. Monitoring his progress provided him additional motivation. Not wanting to obsess about it, he checked his weight every 12 days to know where he stood and to adjust his new habits if need be.
He took some time to revise is diet as well. The main change was that he started taking 12-Minute to plan his weekly menu each Friday. His eating habits were not that terrible but a few tweaks here and there helped.
He lost about 12 pounds over the first 12 weeks (a pound a week on average). He planned to lose an extra pound each month to complete the year and achieve his initial goal of trimming 20 pounds off himself. After that, he would only need to keep his good habits to maintain his weight.
Today, Josh feels and literally is lighter. He had more ups yet still quite a few downs during his trying journey. He is now very proud about his nice progress and puts up an adorable glorified smirk whenever he talks about the whole experience.
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