My 12 Weeks Transformation + Getting Active with UniQ and Anta Sports

January 13, 2018

I've been working out for more than 10 years now. I've never been over or underweight but I've never had a shape. I've spent my money on years of gym memberships and supplements without a trainer. I got result but I did not progress further.

First of all, obviously I'm not a fitness blogger. I'm writing this blogpost to share with you my story so if you're looking for work-out tips and diet routines you wont see it here.

In addition, believe me when I say that I'm as clueless as anyone else when it comes to fitness and if you come to a point where you think this blogpost is too vain, self-serving, braggy etc. I promise to try not to, otherwise you are welcome to close that tab and move on to something more interesting.

Guys do have body issues too, we just deal with it differently. In my case I'm usually conscious when I go shirtless in beaches and resorts and rarely you will see me in photos shirtless.

Everyday I see ripped guys on Instagram and Facebook and I always ask myself when will I ever achieve that body. Sadly, I've never really had the urge to do something different. I kept my routines, I ate whatever the hell I wanted and there were weeks and up to a month where I neglected working out until some of my clothes started to not fit me which somehow alarmed me since I'm a style blogger.

One night, I had a chat with my friend online. He said he was doing this 12 weeks program and he showed me his results just halfway through his training. I was stunned! His body looked way better than mine considering I have been working out for more than 10 years.

It hit me, I'm not gonna lie I was super jealous of him and frustrated to myself as to why I haven't done anything to improve mine. So I asked him where he got this program and I said to myself, after my Bali trip I'm really gonna get serious and will sign up for it.

Weeks 1 - 6

When I started if you can see, my body looked like a potato. My arms were too big and were not parallel to my body, I have a beer belly while my face is very puffy.

It helped that this is not the first time for me to hit the gym. When I got the program I know how to do mostly all of the exercises. There were exercises though that were challenging and I almost gave up with. It's mortifying to note that I been of all the years I've been working out I couldn't do at least 3 pull ups and more than 5 dips. But my coach said that I should push it and eventually my body will adapt and I'd be able to do more reps and finish all the sets.

The most challenging part of the program was the food! Aside from the diet, I had to get used to precisely measuring each serving of my meals and prepare meals that could last for at least 3-5 days. I am glad however that I had someone to help me prep my meals. Eventually I started to get used to it and there were days that I was excited to meal prep.

Weeks 7 -12

I had a few bumps as I progressed. I started this program during the first week of October where the busy season just started I even got the flu so I had to pause for at least a week.

There were all sorts of invites to events and restaurants that I had to turn down because of this program not to mention some outings with my friends. When I reached Week 8, the holidays were coming! That's when I realised that I didn't planned this well in terms of the timing so during Christmas and New Year I really struggled plus the stress at work where there were days that I had to drag myself to go to the gym.

Somehow, despite the challenges I managed to still push and looking back now to week 1, I did achieve noticeable changes in my body. By the end of the program I lost 6-7kgs, my arms started to look proportioned with my body, I started to get definition in my abdominals and my face started to shrink.

Side note: I apologize for not using a better camera for my transformation pictures.

Final day

I'm really happy about the results, though I know I still have a few fats to burn. I'm really bad on committing to New Year resolutions, but this I think I would really want to stick with. So I'm planning to do another round after resting for a couple of weeks (don't worry! I promise not to be naughty, I'm still gonna work out and eat clean I just need a short break haha!).

These are the things I've learned and the small achievements I have gained along the way:

I started recording how much weights I have been carrying. I've always read (and used to neglect) that it would help me motivate myself to pick up heavier weights.
As said before I struggled with pull-ups and dips. Now I can do at least 6 pull-ups and 15 dips per set. It's not a lot but I'm confident that I can do more next time. My goal is to be able to do 10 pull-ups and 20 dips by the end of the next program.
Saying "no" somehow empowered me. I felt really dedicated to finish the program.
I love HITT (High-Intensity Interval Training)! I look forward on HITTs after the weight lifting parts of my workout programs. I personally think that whenever i finish, I loose a significant amount of fats due to the dripping sweat I get whenever I finish HITT lol.
I used to hate body fitting fitness gear because I never looked good on those. Now I believe I have the body and confidence to wear them.

Speaking of sportswear, if you are like me who's currently and recently obsessing on sportswear ANTA is the perfect gear for you!

Functional and light, ANTA brings you the best sports gear for your active lifestyle. The fabric does not look and feel itchy. I'm quite sensitive in choosing the sports gear I get and the materials and fabric used by ANTA are really comfortable. There's a great deal of research that went behind it and the shoes are really good for running and my HITT workouts too!

They are very affordable and if you visit UniQ’s store along the Hamdan Shopping Street in Abu Dhabi, you should take advantage of their Buy 1 get 1 FREE promotion till the 17th of January!

I would like to thank my friend Dean for inspiring me to do this program and to Coach Layne of milestonestrength.com for helping me achieve this goal.

Are you also planning a change in your lifestyle this year? Would love to know your thoughts!

Always have fun!