Challenges Challenges

What a frustrating week.

My exercise is up, my calorie intake is down, my diet is balanced. My wife is working out with me and as motivated as I am.

Sounds good right?

My weight is the same, my back is so sore I can't run, I'm basically not moving and it's driving me nuts!

I know, I know, stick with it, it's a bump, a bounce, a plateau. I get it. Just frustrating. I hate not seeing results on the scale, so I have to look for them elsewhere.

I found them...The other day doing my P90X routine I was able to do some of the ab workouts that had stymied me before. It's a small thing, but it points to changes in my body, in my core strength. My abdomen is measurably smaller than it was a few months ago. Both good indicators it's working.

But the best news was during a doctor's visit. My blood pressure has come down. Substantially actually. That was VERY encouraging.

We can get so focused on a goal, especially with weight loss, that when the goal is elusive we miss all the things that are also changing for the better. If I was strictly looking at the scale I would be pretty depressed and angry about this week. but I'm not. I'm not jumping for joy either, but I am revelling in the small things this week as I fight through this little weight burp.

It's a challenging journey, and that's ok. It's good to push ourselves, it's good to set lofty goals. And it's also good to appreciate achievements outside those goals, to keep motivation and fire burning inside as we go through some of the hard parts.

Speaking of challenges. On the weekend we had a family party. My cousin is leaving for Scotland, and her mother, my aunt, turned 50.

My Aunt has always enjoyed athletic pursuits, tennis, golf, softball. She was a natural athlete when she was younger, and continues to be even now. When I was a kid, I looked up to her for her athleticism. I went to her softball games at night, loved watching this little spark plug play. She was a very positive role model.

I know she reads this blog, and has enjoyed my writings. So, here is my shoutout to her, and my challenge. In this your 50th year, pick a goal for yourself, tell us what it is, stick to it for the year, enter year 51 better than you entered year 50. turn that competitive fire and energy you have into something hugely positive for you. Whatever it is, health, fitness level, improving your golf handicap, volunteering at something. But pick something, use the 25 year olds energy you have to accomplish something at 50 you can look back at and be proud of, continue being that great role model for your daughters, your nephews and nieces, and add to it being a role model for living young at an age when so many people say it's too late to change.

Good luck

@fatfitman

Motivation in 140 Characters or less, thanks @BL11Austin

Journeys of change are hard. Ask anyone who is on one or try one yourself and you'll see. If you know someone who has quit smoking, lost weight, kicked a bad habit, gone back to school, well, then you know someone who has challenged themselves and come out better for it. But take a second to appreciate just how hard a trip it was.

It's never an easy trip, and there are lots of pitfalls along the way. Lots of reasons to just go back to what is comfortable. Lot's of reasons to simply live in the now instead of being focused on your future.

And sometimes we need a little help, and sometimes it comes from surprising sources.

Earlier this week I posted a blog quoting Austin from The Biggest Loser. When I sent out a tweet tagging Austin I immediately got a response from him encouraging me. But that's not where the story ends.

The next day was hard, really hard. I didn't want to work out. I wanted to eat about half a tub of ice cream and just feel better for a minute. Then I took a quick look at my blog, I noticed that my last entry had 10X the amount of traffic I normally get. But I didn't know from where. I logged into twitter and discovered to my great joy that Austin had tweeted a link to my blog to his followers, and all these eyes had come over to read my story.

All these people, many in the same boat as me, reading about my struggles, my achievements, my journey.

And a funny thing happened. My motivation went through the roof. My next entry couldn't be about a failure. I couldn't let myself down and have to share that with everyone.

Austin, this young 20-something from California had, in under 140 characters, got me off a couch and out the door for a run.  The ice cream forgotten, a healthy snack in its place. My journey uninterrupted. The struggles of the last 6 weeks erased, I wake up this morning back to 258.6, those extra pounds shed and me ready to continue.

I know weight loss, and any self-help goal has to be motivated by your own desire to change, it has to be a little bit selfish. But sometimes we all need some help. Sometimes it's a friend with a kind word. Sometimes its a family member with nothing more than a look. Sometimes it's a quote, an image, a TV show that gets us moving.

And sometimes its a stranger, a young man, tweeting from California, who gets us going again.

Thanks Austin,  I needed that.

Fatfitman

Checking back in

So 11 days ago I vowed to start working on that 5k run.

I'm happy to say I've been sticking with the Couch to 5K training plan so far. Yesterday I completed run #2 of the second training week. 5 min warmup then 90 seconds of running followed by 2 minutes of walking for 6 cycles (21 minutes) then another 5 min cooldown.

I'm also proud to say that my DW (darling wife) has taken up running with renewed passion. I say renewed because back before I met her she was an avid runner, 10Ks, half-marathons etc. But after she finished law school she stopped. Well, she seems to have the bug again and looks forward to her training days far more than I do!

It felt good to have some success again, its been a solid 6 weeks it seems of going backwards. Sometimes the early success we have can make us complacent. I know it worked that way for me. I stopped logging food, I stopped working out with the same regularity. I lost that first 10lbs easy. I should have known it would get tougher, I should have known it was the discipline I was showing that was leading to my success.

I want to thank @bl11austin for a tweet on Apr 16th. He quoted Jim Rohn "Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment"

Don't ever forget that my friends. Goals are great, goals can drive us, goals make us reach for more. But discipline is required to achieve them. Without discipline goals are just empty promises to ourselves.

Don't go backwards

A very good friend of mine (JL) said something once I have always loved. "Let the bridges I burn light my way"  Though he wasn't exactly making the point I am, the sentiment is the same. Don't go back the way you came, don't even allow yourself the option. Always move forward and create situations where moving forward is the only choice.

I mentioned in my last blog I needed to change my workouts because of an injury (which by the way I will be seeing a specialist about in July). So since one of my goals this year is to run in a 5K race, I figured i would start my training for that.

but how do I get myself out and doing it? Well, the easiest way to stop saying "I'll start tomorrow" was to force myself into a situation where tomorrow wasn't an option. I registered for the 5K race that is held in concert with the Mississauga Marathon. The 5K is held May14th. That's a mere 5 1/2 weeks away. That leaves me about the bare minimum amount of time to go from couch potato to struggling runner. I do not expect to be able to run the course by then, but I do expect to be able to run most of it. If you want to see a handy program for going from couch to run click here.

So last night was my first crack at the distance, finished in 43:59. Mostly a brisk walk, but for the first 20 minutes I alternated running and walking as per the program above. My neighbourhood is very quiet, beautiful and a little spooky in the dark I discovered.

The main thing is i know have a goal, an immediate one, one I can't ignore and delay and say I have lots of time for. I've committed to this run, I've left myself no option to slack off in the training. For the next 6 weeks it's all about getting ready for that day. Moving forward, one step at a time. I have my plan, my route is laid out, all I have to do is execute it.

I'll keep you up to date on the progress.  What's your goal, and what are you doing to get yourself there?