If you’ve been following my 2020 health and fitness journey, you will know that I have been working through what I’ve called ‘The Year of Transformation.‘ It started with a goal of getting into the best shape of my life by the end of 2020.

It’s been an interesting road but I have not faltered along the way as far as my workouts and exercise mindset goes. In fact, I have definitely transformed. I am way stronger, much fitter and I have less pain. I have more definition to my arms and legs and I’m pretty sure there are some abs somewhere. However, it’s hard to tell because my ongoing nemesis of body fat is still going strong.

Recently, now that I am getting back into the swing of regular martial arts practice, I have become very frustrated at the height of my flying kicks. At my skill level in Taekwondo, flying kicks are definitely a thing and right at the moment a thing I need to do a lot better at. You see, in Taekwondo sparring, all kicks have to be above the belt, the opponent’s belt. That doesn’t sound so difficult until you understand that I am 5 feet, 1 1/2 inches tall. That means that in order to compete successfully I really need to master the flying kicks.

So here’s where Operation Flight comes in. My theory is, the lighter I am, the higher I’ll jump and the less chance I’ll have of herniating my already dodgy spinal discs on the way down. Weight loss is now not an aesthetic thing, it’s a necessity to achieving my martial arts goals. There are some other mobility issues in there as well, but weighing less has got to help.

Training for the year finishes next week for the Southern Hemisphere summer. That means I have around a month and a half to lower my body weight in time for training to resume in early February. In case, you were wondering, I am currently around 28-30% body fat so there’s plenty to lose, I won’t suffer at all.

As a bonus, it also means that at the end of this massive Year of Transformation, where I now comfortably get up at 5.30am six days a week and work out, I will look as though I have transformed, and not just feel like it.

Published by the lean minimalist

Donna Sherriff is a New Zealand based improvement and operations management specialist. Seeing a need for simple, no fuss, improvement advice she started The Lean Minimalist blog in 2017. Donna writes articles offering advice and tips for rapid and sustainable business improvement based on over 15 years in Senior Management roles. Passionate about sharing the lessons of over 20 years on the high performance track Donna offers coaching services to professionals. She also writes about her own personal improvement journey, minimalism, and her life long struggle against the tyranny of cookies and sugar which she overcame in 2020. These days, Donna is pursuing a journey to earn her black belt in Taekwondo after a long hiatus of 16 years away from training. On the side she is an amateur but passionate musician and poet. View all posts by the lean minimalist