My BFT 8-week Challenge Journey | Week 1: The Weigh-In

Saturday morning, 7:02am, and I'm standing in a gym holding two metal handles like I'm mid-interrogation with a very judgmental lie detector. The machine doesn't care that it's early. It just runs a current through me and spits out a number.

21.3%.

That's my body fat percentage. Basically, of my total weight, how much is fat versus everything else (muscle, bone, water, all of it). The machine flagged mine as "High" for my age bracket, which is a fun way to start a Saturday.

That's it. That's the whole game for the next 8 weeks. Not how much it changes. Not how I feel about it on any given Tuesday. Just where that number lands on November 21st compared to everyone else standing on that same scanner. A little brutal if you think about it too long...

...which is exactly why I signed up again.

This is round two of the BFT 8-Week Challenge for me. Round one taught me a few things the hard way, and I'm not making the same mistakes twice.

So how am I actually doing this?

Training 🏋️
BFT 4x, Taekwondo 1x, running 1x

Nutrition 🍽️
High protein, low carb, whole foods over anything processed

Recovery 😴
Contrast therapy weekly, Normatec on training days, walking on rest days

Tracking 📊
Oura, Apple Health, weekly Evolt scans

Here's the part I can't help but nerd out on. I built a little system that pulls my Apple Health data every week, compares the last 7 days against a rolling 30-day baseline, and flags it if I'm plateauing or not recovering. Then it emails me the whole thing every Sunday night like a judgmental personal trainer.

It's basically the same thing I'd tell a client to build into their business. Measure the thing. Don't just eyeball it.

Because here's what I've learned running these challenges and running consulting projects: motivation gets you to day one. It does not get you to day fifty-six. What gets you there is the system that catches you when the motivation quietly leaves the building, which it will, usually around week 3, without telling you.

21.3% today. Let's see what November says.