It's now been over one hundred days since I decided to reclaim my health and fitness through consistent dieting and exercise.
Over one hundred days of tracking everything that I eat and drink, every minute of exercise, every hour of sleep. I've made significant progress, and I feel better about myself than I have in a long time - better than I did at any point during last year's journey.
I've introduced a few more higher-calorie days to my nutrition plan in order to help my metabolism stay high. It's a tricky balance to get that right; I do my best to listen to my body my instincts - so far that formula seems to be working.
Last Friday I weighed 249 lbs; that's an 81 lb weight loss! I've decided that I won't weigh in again until June 11th, and that my target weight at that time will be 230 lbs. It's an aggressive plan to try and lose that much weight at this point, given how progress is bound to be that much harder now. Still, nothing venture, nothing gained; if nothing else, having that as a goal will push me to give my all into making it happen.
When I came up with the weightlifting regimen that I've been using throughout this process, I only plotted out 16 weeks worth of workouts. And, seeing as how I'm now in the midst of week 15, I find that I'm undecided as to how I'll proceed after next week.
The question is, do I just reset and start the whole thing all over, or do I blow the whole thing up and try something completely different? Considering that I'm already doing a new routine with each subsequent phase (4 week stretches), I would likely continue to make steady gains in musculature and strength by doing the former.
Doing something entirely different is intriguing, but I have concerns about moving away from circuit training due to the fact that it's super-efficient, and gives me an extra cardio and fat-burning boost - both of those are paramount to my fat-burning efforts.
I've become somewhat addicted to running as my primary means of cardio. I get in an average of 45 minutes a day, split between morning and nightly sessions. It really burns fat like nothing else, but it's definitely more stress on my body. The mobility training that I do helps (as does ibuprofen), but there are still days where I have to slow it down a bit to allow myself some extra recovery time. I'm also toying with the thought of regularly competing in 5k races. It would definitely provide some added motivation to reach my fitness goals; but truthfully, motivation hasn't really been an issue at this point.
Someone asked me the other day if I can ever see myself relaxing my diet and exercise efforts at some point after I reach my target weight. The answer to that is an emphatic 'no'. I know that this is how I should have been eating and training all along; had I never have gotten lazy all those years ago, I wouldn't even be in the predicament that I find myself in now!
The life changes that I've made feel sustainable; I'm eating a wide variety of delicious food, I have the energy to do just about anything that I wish to do, I still have ample time to spend with my loved ones, and I avidly pursue several hobbies in my 'me' time. Were my life out of balance, I might think differently; as it is, though, I can't imagine life without the pursuit of better health and fitness.
Even if I'm doing the exact same things 10 years from now that I am today, by my estimation I'd be happy, healthy, and perfectly content.
Wednesday, May 23, 2018
Friday, May 11, 2018
Day 90: 76 lbs in 90 days!
Progress! But much work left to do.
I'm pleased, but not satisfied. Proud of what I've accomplished, but very aware of the goals still remaining on that far off horizon.
I will likely begin doing more frequent weigh-ins. I just don't want to be a slave to the scale like in my previous efforts, which absolutely destroyed my belief and confidence. I'll have to figure that out.
Time for some fasted cardio before my work day begins.
Here's to the next 90 days... And whatever it may bring in the way of progression.
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Day 88: 'To be someone better the next day than I was the day before'
If you're so inclined, find me on Instagram and Twitter! I've been making an effort to post daily on one or both of them; mostly about food and/or training, naturally 😄
Sunday marked my 4th routine change, per the muscle periodization program that I employ to maximize my conditioning efforts. I'm still exercising the same muscle groups on the same days, but with a totally different set of movements than at any time before. And, as was the case after the routine changes that I'd made in the previous training phases, my muscles were wholly unprepared, and I struggled mightily - precisely the types of results that I'm after!
Four week intervals definitely seems to be the sweet spot when it comes to shaking my routine up... Long enough to improve in the various lifts and exercises, but not so long as to allow my body to adapt to the workload - which diminishes the intensity of the workouts.
Two days from now is 'weigh day' - the first time that I will have weighed myself since the effort to reclaim my fitness recommenced. My starting weight was 330 lbs; I'm really not sure what my new weight will be.
The idea of stepping back on the scale brings with it a host of complicated emotions, all intertwined and almost indistinguishable from one another, save for an overall awareness of the gravity of the moment. Excitement, apprehension, anticipation, doubt, curiosity, worry - no one feeling really stands out from the others; there is no purity of thought, no singularity as it relates to what this might mean to me once it's done.
The words don't even begin to properly convey what I'm feeling - what I've been feeling for the last couple of weeks, for that matter - as this milestone draws ever closer. So, I won't waste any more energy on trying to make sense of it... I'll just experience it, and what will be will be.
Three days from now is the 8th Annual Trent Holt 5K in Pulaski, TN. I registered for this event back in mid-April, as a means to challenge myself to push towards my fitness goals in a way that I haven't done before. Paying the registration fee (even though it was only $20) was me making an external commitment - not just me making a promise to myself, but something greater than that. It has pushed me to run harder, longer, and more frequently than I have at any point in the last 20 years; not even when I was in better shape did I run more than I do now!
For the most part my body has held up, which to be honest is a bit of a shock. I've always had occasional episodes of knee tendinitis and, after my extreme weight gain over the last 10 years, infrequent issues both with ankle soreness and with plantar fasciitis. While I've had very brief flareups of all of those maladies, they've been quite manageable - even more so than when they occurred in the past when I was very fit! It makes zero logical sense, but I suppose it has to do with the fact that my nutrition is the best that it's ever been, along with the fact that I incorporate lots of mobility training into my daily routine - something that I didn't really understand or see the importance of way back then.
Mentally, I'm in a strange place. Despite my diet being ultra-clean, despite strictly adhering to all the guidelines that I set for myself, I still find myself struggling with the weight of my own expectations. I'm having to remind myself constantly that this is a marathon, not a sprint. I'm encouraged by all of the the progress that I can see and feel. And yet still, there is something that I cannot quite find the center of, and it causes me mental and spiritual unrest. Whether it's a longing for that which hasn't yet arrived, or for something that was lost along the passages of time - I just don't know.
My savior has been the process - the grind, the consistency, the fresh set of challenges that I'm meeting head-on, every minute, every hour, every single day; for now, the process is keeping whatever that indescribable feeling is from bubbling over.
Suppression is better than nothing, I suppose... But I'm hoping that, as I continue along this journey, I may one day discover the cure.
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