Weight Loss: A Statement of Intent

I went hard-line last week.

I deliberately set out to lose a significant amount of weight and I deprived myself in order to do it.

Picture: sylvar

I moved away for the ‘slowly building a lifestyle’ concept, just to see what it would be like to push the envelope. I’m glad I did, it paid big dividends.

The time was right for me to see how far I could go with some sustained effort and self-discipline – something that’s been sadly lacking from my performance for a few weeks now.

I love the concept of building a lifestyle. I recognise that it’s important to build some better habits in terms of exercise and diet, but recently I’ve felt there’s something in that idea that gives me a let out if I fail to make some progress each week.

I accept that losing weight is not a race, but nor is it something I want to prolong forever. I don’t want it to be some indefinite task hanging over my head – something that never quite gets achieved.

I want to reach my goal sooner rather than later and in 3 months time I don’t want to be writing I’ve only lost five pounds, but hey, at least I haven’t gained weight. It’ll be tedious to write about it and it’ll be tedious to be living that life.

I would much rather write about how good it feels to have dropped weight and enjoyed some exercise. I’d much rather read about it too!

Seeing Dave Wright do so well over the last two weeks has driven me to strive for the same results. I’ve been inspired by his achievements and it’s helped me believe that I can dig deep and do the same.

Like I said, it’s not a race, but the quicker I can get to where I want to be, the quicker I can start to work on the second part of my goal which is to learn to maintain my goal weight and thereafter work on increasing my muscle mass and strength. That’s where I want to spend most of my time and that’s what I want to build my lifestyle around. Dragging it out as I have, is like building a lifestyle based around weight loss. That’s not the lifestyle I want to be living.

Of course there will be times when I post that I’ve maintained my weight. It’s true that there are other factors at play with maintaining weight, including water retention, glycogen reserves and increased muscle mass, so I shouldn’t always see maintaining as a failure. But to be honest, most of the time, maintaining will be a result of my failure to do what’s necessary and endure the discomfort of making tough decisions.

It’s nice that I’m comforted when I’ve only maintained but it’s not really doing me any favours. At some levels it allows me to believe it’s OK, and it’s not OK. Living a weight loss lifestyle is purgatory and I want it to end.

In the coming weeks I’m aiming for a more modest 2lb loss, but I will err on the side of caution and steer closer to a 3lb loss than a 1lb loss.

If I consistently post 3lb losses then I can address that by eating a little more or exercising a little less. How good would that be?

A further statement of intent:
In four weeks time I will weigh 187 lbs
In eight weeks time I will weigh 179 lbs
In twelve weeks time I will weigh 173 lbs

Maintenance isn’t an option for me anymore!

Are you living a weight loss life style? Would you care to post a quick statement of intent in the comments?

Failure Isn’t An Option – Or Is It?

So what do you do when you start a fitness blog with two other people and then you spectacularly fail to get fit or lose the fat?

Picture: fireflythegreat

We’re eight weeks in with the Wednesday Weigh-In and by my reckoning I should be in the region of 16 lbs down. That’s half the weight I wanted to lose at a modest rate 2lbs a week.

O – M – G !!!

What’s wrong with me?

Why have I lost a grand total of 1lb in EIGHT weeks?

That’s pitiful by anyone’s standards even taking Christmas into account.

The very best I can say about my circumstances is that I’ve maintained…. but then that’s not quite accurate. It’s more accurate to say that I’ve lost weight… and now I’m putting it back on again.

The BEST I can say is that I haven’t exceeded my starting weight. And I’m clinging on to that fact for dear life.

Clearly something isn’t clicking.

I don’t think any of what I’ve written to date at BlogToFit is outrageous nonsense or even dramatically flawed. I think my basic plan to get fit is sound.

So what’s the deal?

Well… I think I’m NORMAL.

Seriously, I think that I’m just the same as everyone else who’s trying to lose weight or get fit.

I have the same busy lifestyle where I’m trying to fit a quart into a pint pot – constantly juggling conflicting priorities and making a hash of it.

Prior to starting my own blog Teach My Children Well – which was intended to track my self improvement – I spent a lot of time reading blogs like Zen Habits, Scott H Young, Steve Pavlina and many more like them and the vast majority of them seem to advocate simplifying our lives and concentrating only on one major goal at a time for a month at a time (as per the links).

I’ve always loved that idea but I’ve never been able to do it. My life is just too full of other things.

There are too many urgent demands that I need to be dealing with right now. Real issues in my life that will come to a head within the next six weeks like the looming threat of a return to work and an overwhelming desire to avoid that by finding a new way to make a living, not to mention the fact that I have a four children to marshal around, along with all the attendant duties of a stay at home parent – I don’t feel I can afford to put any of those things off for 30 days so that I can get on top of the weight loss.

What I’m going through now is exactly why I came to the web. I was looking for the solution to my general inability to get things done. I felt overwhelmed all the time, which led to procrastination, which led to nothing getting achieved.

I’ve always kept an open agenda, because I’ve convinced myself that I don’t want to live my life by an appointments diary. Which is nice for doing spontaneous things, going where my fancy takes me and getting into the moment, but it gets nothing achieved.

Vast swathes of time pass and I look back and wonder how, with all that time, I managed to achieve so little.

I know I need to do less. I know I need to cut so many more things out of my life in order to get the important things done, which is why I chose to have only four priorities.

I’m cautious about following another hair brained scheme to trick myself into losing weight but if I don’t do something, in two months time, I’ll still be nearly 200lbs and I’ll still be without an income and forced to return to work and both of those scenarios are about as far away from my major goals as it’s possible for me to be.

I strongly suspect my personal organisation is the root cause of my problems. The open agenda approach means I’m doing what I feel like doing, not what I really need to be doing.

Are you organised? Does this help with your fitness or weight loss goals?

Or am I totally missing the point? Should I just pull myself together and get on with it?

Should I put fitness on hold indefinitely until I’ve dealt with my top three priorities.

What would you do?

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My Weight Loss Success Story

My name is Dave Fowler, I’m six feet tall and 175lbs. I would describe myself as being in excellent shape for a 41 year old and in good shape for a man half my age. I have a flat stomach and a good amount of muscle, but I’d say I’m more lean and athletic than bulky.

Picture: mandj98

I run three times a week mostly for fun and just to keep in shape but I also do the odd competitive 5K or 10K just to challenge myself.

I don’t have a gym membership so I’ve developed a few great body weight routines that I can do wherever I happen to be. I change the routine regularly so that I don’t get bored. They don’t take that long to do, and if I’m really pressed for time I can break them up throughout the day.

My diet consists mainly of fresh foods. I eat plenty of fish and white meat along with salad and bean dishes. Fresh fruit and veg is always available for snacks. The food is attractive to look at and being based on a Mediterranean style diet it’s very tasty..

I try to avoid processed foods as much as possible and if I’m forced to eat them, or if I sometimes choose to eat them (and I do from time to time), I try to keep my intake to a moderate level.

My approach to health and fitness is casual and fun and centred around leading an enjoyable lifestyle rather than a punishing and demanding routine. I find this helps me to stick with my plan.

I have an abundance of energy all day and just feel so much better physically and mentally. I feel much less stressed and far happier.

My friends and family all comment positively about my appearance and lifestyle. It’s great to receive such compliments and it certainly gives a boost the way I feel about myself.

I wasn’t always like this though. In January 2009 I was overweight by about 30lbs sporting a belly and a big old pair of love handles. 30 lbs might not seem like much but the extra weight was enough to exacerbate a back problem, which in turn affected my sleep.

The roll of fat was just ugly and unhealthy. It was unappealing to look at and irritated me every single day.

My eating habits irritated me too.

I wasn’t a gluttonous overeater, but more of a casual overeater. I didn’t really notice it happening at first but then I stopped and had a good look at the quality and quantity of food I was eating. It wasn’t totally horrendous but it could have been so much better but for a few small changes.

I ate what my family ate. And my family ate what I chose to feed them. I felt guilty that I was feeding my children so much processed food, mainly through what I thought was convenience, but it turned out that convenience was another word for lazy.

Claiming that I didn’t have enough time to cook properly or exercise was a lie. The truth was I chose to use the time to do other things.

I was fat and lazy, and if I didn’t do something, I knew I could get into real trouble.

One night as I sat at my computer typing a blog post, I felt the discomfort of my belly hanging over my belt and the waistband of my jeans cutting into my hips. I felt drowsy after eating a stodgy dinner and had a craving for sweet food – and of course I gave into that craving.

There and then, I decided that I would take responsibility for my situation and make the necessary changes. I wasn’t going to waste time with self-recrimination, I was just going to get on with it.

When I woke the next day I set about making immediate changes.

I realised that I needed to make nutrition a major focus for the day. Not just for me but for my family. I also knew there were other important things I needed to tackle like running the household and managing the finances.

When I thought more about it I realised that these were all interlinked, which made my decision much easier.

I resolved that until I’d got this area of my life under control I was going to ditch casual TV, computer games and other time wasters. I didn’t eradicate TV from my life but I was very selective about what I watched.

I overhauled my online life too and I hoped that my friends would understand as my replies to their emails and other messages weren’t the long winded cyber hugs I used to send their way, but instead, quick one liners with a big smiley face.

They were brilliant. They understood that I was trying to build a better life for myself and were very supportive. In the end it turned out that my communication with friends and loved ones was much improved – because after I’d done all the important things in my day I was much more relaxed and that shone through.

Changing my priorities in this way was great for my family life too. Rather than detract from my time with the children it increased it. I involved the children in as many aspects of the process as I could.

Budgeting, grocery lists, planning and preparation were turned into a family experience. The children helped with the cooking and as a result they tended to eat better because they had made the food themselves.

I hope they will also follow the example I set for them with exercise. They couldn’t do all of it with me but I tried to include them when I could.

I got them to count out my push-ups on the living room rug and they’d try to copy what I was doing. In the evening when I put my running shoes on for a quick blast around the block, I’d hand them a stop watch and ask them to time me. I then got them to mark the time on a chart and we plotted a graph together.

The whole experience was a massive boost to their education and self esteem. When they eventually grow and leave home I know that they’ll be able to fend for themselves. They’ll be able to cook, they’ll know how to exercise and how to look after their finances – and this is something I’ll treasure in years to come as I watch them thrive.

The truly great thing about it is I should live long enough to see it.

My lifestyle transformation was a slow process as I learnt how to cook from scratch and learnt how to organise my time and my kitchen. Exercise was difficult to begin with but after the first two weeks I really started to enjoy it, and actually found myself looking forward it.

It was largely a matter of trial and error – and there were plenty of errors – but my setbacks didn’t deter me.

Well, it’s January 2010 now and over Christmas and New Year I put on 4lbs in weight. I’m not at all worried though, as my plan allowed me to be more relaxed and I know it’ll only take me two weeks to deal with the excess – and then I’ll be in great shape again.

Who knows, I might even be able to drop from 10% body fat to 8% by the time I go on my summer break and look fab by the pool .

I’m proud of myself. I’m proud that I didn’t let another year slip by without achieving my goals.

Here’s to a great 2010!

Dave.

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Getting fit is not my top priority

I say again….

Getting fit is NOT my top priority.

What?

How can that be?

If I’m not fit and healthy little else matters, right?

Picture: redvrs

If I’m sick or injured or suffer a debilitating illness my health and fitness will jump to the top of my list and I’ll consider it over almost every other factor.

The thing is though, I’m not terribly unfit, nor am I terribly unhealthy – I am what might best be described as ‘out of shape’.

The damnable thing about that is… I can live with being ‘out of shape’ for a while longer.

When I think about it, this may account for my repeated failures to move the last 30lbs.

Yes, fitness is important to me but it’s not the driving force in my life – not most of the time anyway – and over the years I’ve artificially hoisted my fitness goals to the top of my list of things to achieve whether or not they deserve to be there.

The problem being, I then neglect more important issues until they bite me on the arse.

And at that point I find myself in a confused muddle of misaligned priorities, failing to achieve any of my goals.

So I’ve changed my priorities to reflect my situation.

My prompt for this wasn’t the dawning of a new year, it was instead the prospect of having to return to work after my 9 month break.

It’s not something I want to do, as I place far too much value on my current role as stay-at-home dad and the freedoms it offers. But having neglected to keep a tighter grip on my financial situation (misaligned priorities biting me on the arse) the need to get more money coming into the household might force my hand.

On realising the magnitude of the situation, suddenly my mind has been diverted away from wanting to get fit for relatively trivial reasons like how much better I’ll look to the Mums in the school playground (don’t even waste your time telling me how sad I am! I’m fully aware of mypatheticness ), to how the hell can I avert this catastrophe?

I’ll be honest, my desire to get fit is predominantly driven by vanity, and much less for the long term health benefits – and this is something I’m only just realising.

But this doesn’t mean I have to abandon my fitness goals, it just means I have to be more realistic about them.

At the moment getting fit and lean is number four on my list.

Still, that’s not too bad as there are only four priorities in total. Other matters formerly holding the title of ‘priority’ have been dumped.

My top three priorities relate to trying to maintain my status as a stay-at-home Dad and avoid a return to the Police Force (and I’ll write more about this on my personal blog).

As far as fitness is concerned I’m still going to be eating less, I’m still going to be exercising more, but I am prepared to compromise my fitness goals in favour of the first three priorities if I have to.

This feels like a sensible approach to take and by accepting that there are other more important things to consider right now, I might actually start to get fitter and leaner.

Where do health, fitness and weightloss fit into your list of priorities?

Tara, Dave and I would like to thank you for joining and supporting our little community here at BlogToFit and we look forward to your company in 2009.


We wish you all a very Happy New Year!

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Winners Never Quit, Quitters Never Win

Even at my lowest point this last week I never once considered throwing in the towel – but I did let it slip from my grip on occasion.

Picture: notsogoodphotography-

When life starts to make extra demands on my time or throws in unexpected issues for me to contend with, the simple act of getting fit becomes much less simple.

My troubles started last week when I felt the first symptoms of a cold brewing. Since the first warning signs, the cold has become a little worse and leaves me feeling dog tired.

This general fatigue led to my waking time moving from 4am to 5am.

Failing to get up early enough meant that exercising then cut into time I’d set aside for other important tasks and I found myself becoming anxious because I was losing ground.

I don’t know whether that’s connected with what happened next but I woke up with a stiff shoulder which then progressed to my neck. I found it difficult to sleep with a painful neck and slept in even longer until 6.30am.

The next night I decided to go to bed earlier to get more sleep, but that was the night my children woke me TEN times in total. My alarm went off at 4am and I didn’t even waste my time reaching for the snooze button, I just turned the damn thing off and woke at seven.

With my cold progressing nicely and my senses dulled by poor quality sleep, we made a trip to visit family for a birthday party. I was tired, hungry and fed up but I enjoyed the party food. My brother in law did the decent thing and took me to the pub for a couple of beers.

After passing up a slice of birthday cake we spent an hour and a half getting home, we put the kids to bed and I nipped out to get some hot food. Not the best idea but I couldn’t face cooking, I couldn’t face rabbit food and I couldn’t face being hungry.

The next day I was up late again and didn’t run, firstly because I didn’t get up in time and secondly because my neck was still sore.

When my wife then decided that she wanted to paint the living room I was tasked with looking after the children. Not being a school day I had to entertain them upstairs because they couldn’t be trusted to roam free with the freshly painted walls just aching for dirty hand prints.

Later, we did the outdoor thing for a while but then it got to lunchtime and home wasn’t a good option so I opted for…. McDonald’s! Yay! Superb decision making!

Actually I don’t mind this bit because it was a spontaneous bit of fun for the family. My children get to eat Happy Meals about twice a year, so a third time wasn’t going to hurt.

I enjoyed what I ate and I don’t regret it – we had a great time.

That same evening we took the kids to a Pantomime at the local theatre. It was a production of Aladdin and it was fantastic – but it involved eating ice cream during the intermission. Okay, this one I regret as I could have easily abstained.

It was half way through the performance that I felt a pinching sensation halfway down my spine. It got worse and I knew I’d trapped a nerve – doing nothing!

Cold, stiff neck, trapped nerve. Great.

To compound my woes I also came face to face with the prospect of having to return to work. It’s come as something of a blow as it’s not at all what I want. Of all the directions I saw my life taking, a backwards step was not amongst them. My return is not scheduled until the end of March so I have three more months of being a Stay At Home Dad.

I don’t know how many of you know about my former employment status, but I’ll be returning to my role as a Police Officer.

It’s a job that’s difficult enough but leaving myself open to the ridicule of having my fat photos reproduced in the local newspapers is not my idea of fun. I’m sad to say that I’m going to end my crazy routine of posting pictures of me in my boxers and I’ll be taking down the existing pictures.

So it’s been a tough week but I’m not quitting. On the contrary I’m even more determined to succeed.

I’m not a quitter.

I’m a winner.

The difference?

I believe the difference is a state of mind.

What techniques do you employ to keep a winning mindset?

I hope your answers will help me maintain mine.

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