The next 3 months in the Mamamia office could be interesting...

By NATALIA HAWK

The Mamamia office is an amazing place to work. It’s a lively place, full of like-minded, outgoing people that love to make each other laugh. We play games. We have Disney movie singalongs. Everything is up for discussion – from lunch choices to Miley Cyrus to fashion advice, and everything in between.

That said – it can also be a stressful workplace at times. Deadlines, breaking news, constant meetings and interviews, people calling in sick – all of these are situations that can very quickly turn a quiet day into the kind of day where you forget about breakfast, and don’t have time for lunch, and then end up bingeing on four cupcakes at 4pm because they’re the closest thing in sight.

 Just as an FYI, you should know that this post is sponsored by the Michelle Bridges 12 Week Body Transformation. But all opinions expressed by the author are 100% authentic and written in their own words.

And in the Mamamia office… there is no shortage of baked goods. Either it’s someone’s birthday, or a company has sent us an entire jar full of biscuits to go along with a press release, or someone else has brought chocolate in – “just because”. We all end up encouraging each other to have some cake or have a biscuit. And then we all end up on stressed-out sugar highs, rushing home, without time to exercise because we’re already running so late for dinner.

Sound familiar? I know it must. Every one of us has some kind of bad habit we want to break. Some kind of goal we’ve always hoped to reach, but have never quite been able to achieve.

And as we approach the end of the year at whiplash-inducing, breakneck speed, already facing the New Year’s resolutions we’re supposed to make for 2014 – our shortcomings start to become abundantly clear. We start to kick ourselves for the exercise we didn’t do, the healthy meals we didn’t eat. In the Mamamia office, we’re already talking about how stressed we’re going to be over Christmas – how unhealthy we feel, but how we don’t have the time to work out or eat anything but fish fingers and toast for dinner.

But that’s all about to change. Because four of us are about to take on Michelle Bridges’ 12 Week Body Transformation Challenge – and ACTUALLY turn our lives around, once and for all.

The girls have just been given the weekly Nutrition Plans. Here’s some of the food on the menu next week.

We’re going to follow the food programs and we’re going to follow the exercise programs. We’re going to follow the mindset lessons and we’re going to meet other women who are doing the same thing. And when we fall off the wagon – as we invariably will – we will get back on it. Hopefully quite quickly.

We each have something different that we’d like to get out of the challenge – and by sharing our goals with all of you, we’re making a commitment. Both to ourselves and to all of you out there. This way, we’ll stay accountable and we’ll take ownership of what we actually want.

NICKY: I’ve done 12WBT before and absolutely loved it. Fast forward three years and one baby later and I need to reset my health again. My goal is to stop eating cereal for dinner…  wait… regain my fitness and be able run 10km again without having to stop every 1km!

JO: I feel so foggy all the time. I have a terrible memory and am constantly overwhelmed. Basically, I have lost my mental and physical sharpness. I know it’s because I don’t eat the right foods and exercise consistently. I want my mind and my body back. I am turning 38 on 21 January and as I approach 40 I know I have to put my health first so I can enjoy my work, my life and my children.