Month: March 2022

Progress Update – Day 20

My 2nd 10 days were not as successful as my first 10. And…spoiler…my next 10 aren’t looking so hot either.

I know excuses aren’t interesting, but that’s kind of still my thing (I’m working on it…I even have a coach!). Our house has been ravaged by illness. The COVID rapid tests say “negative” but we had all the classic symptoms, including the loss of taste/smell (my wife). We’re on the road to recovery now and emerging back into the world.

Green is positive change, yellow is no change, red is negative change…all aided by the default Microsoft Excel color coding.

Back on track now, with the unwitting help of a TikTok influencer. I’ve been getting up earlier (5AM) and hitting the gym in the morning. I had been trying to do the gym in the evening but struggled to find the will. I find it much easier in the morning before the day has started beating me down.

Here’s the view of tracking daily – and also grouped into 10 days, 30 days, 150 days, 300 days, 750 days, and ultimately the entire 1500 days. These boxes don’t all have to be green – and they won’t be – but the more green, the quicker I’ll reach my objectives.

Onward !

Weight Loss in the Time of COVID

In hindsight, embarking on this journey as the world (read: Canada) emerges from the pandemic may not have been the smartest thing I’ve ever done. My family (and I) are keen to travel and enjoy life again, and did just that over the March break.

It’s easy to lose track of the calorie counting while out of your comfort zone and routine, and that’s exactly what happened. The scale was not kind upon our return home.

What matters now, I suppose, is the bounce. Do I fall into despair and revert to my old ways? Or will I see this as the temporary setback it is, and come back renewed and recharged?

In a way, my problems are all about that choice. A never ending series of temporary setbacks. Much like the COVID-induced paranoia (justified or not) it has to stop somewhere. What better place than here, what better time than now?

Progress Update – Day 10

First view at my 10-day progress tracker. In my view, if I am consistently (but not constantly) meeting my 10-day targets, I will meet my 100-day targets, and I will thus meet my 500-day target. I’m tracking my weight (which varies day-to-day), my weight trend (a 10-day weighted average, which also moves but much more slowly), and a few other key metrics.

Green is positive change, yellow is no change, red is negative change…all aided by the default Microsoft Excel color coding.

Small wins lead to big change.

Here’s the view of tracking daily – and also grouped into 10 days, 30 days, 150 days, 300 days, 750 days, and ultimately the entire 1500 days. These boxes don’t all have to be green – and they won’t be – but the more green, the quicker I’ll reach my objectives.

Onward !

The Best Time to Plant a Tree is 21 Years Ago…

Though, as they say, the 2nd best time is now.

Allow me to “introduce” myself.

I’m a 40-year old father of 1 beautiful little 4-year old girl, husband to an amazing woman, a 2-time cancer survivor, a really busy professional, and about 90 pounds overweight. The goal of this blog is to address the last of those.

It all started (at 19) when I moved to university. Throughout high school I had been extremely active. An avid golfer (up to 27 holes/day), softball player (summer before university I participated on 3 teams), and hockey fanatic (played, coached, and officiated…so basically on the ice for hours each day). When I moved to university I registered to live on the “athletic” floor of our dorm – it was appropriate going in.

For a bunch of reasons, I instead indulged my new found freedom by playing video games and partying. The freshman 15 became the freshman 50, and my body has really never looked back.

Now that I have a daughter in the picture, and now that she’s ready to be outside and active, it’s time to fix this and set a better example.

Sitting here today I’m roughly 255 pounds at 5’10”. My target is 165, and I intend to reach that target over the next 1500 days, at the conclusion of which I’ll turn 45. I have a plan, though that’s the easy part.

Over the next 1500 days I’ll be using this space to capture my adventure, with regular “metric updates”, and conversation about the challenges I’m overcoming.

The goal here is to create some accountability for myself. If anyone reading this (if anyone reads this) finds some value in what I’ve written, that’s a solid bonus.

Let’s get to it!