Well, first of all, I have a supportive wife and family. Not that I didn't have my families support before, but my parents can't physically do what I can/could, and although my brother can, we didn't live close enough to each other any of the times when I got serious about weight loss. My wife is with me now. I can talk with her about ANYTHING. Having support is extremely helpful.
In the past, when I lost weight, I think I looked at weight loss as a finish line. I had a goal, and I was going to accomplish it. It was a race. I dropped weight as quickly as I could and once I crossed the finish line, I didn't have to do this crap anymore. That's what it felt like to me. Crap. Lifting weights is BORING. Is it cool to see your body change, physically? Hell yeah! But do I want to spend an hour in a stinky gym a few times a week? Hell no! So once I was done, I was DONE.
Then the weight would come back. Sometimes slower than others. Sometimes I would sit comfortably... about where I am right now... but it wouldn't last. The weight came back. And every time I got scared that it was coming back, I'd "lose weight" again, drop down to where I was comfortable the last time, and call it quits. I would try to maintain by going back to what I had always done, eating whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. I had already done the work, why wasn't I maintaining?
Well duh, Matt! Just because you're lighter doesn't mean you can eat like a fat man again. Eating like a fat man makes you fat!
So this time, things are completely different. I'm taking it slow. I'm not racing to the finish line. I'll get there when I get there. I'm also changing habits. I feel gross on rest days. I know I need the rest, but I'm finding that I don't think to myself, "Thank God I don't have to work out today!" Instead I'm thinking, "I really want to work out, but I can't because I don't want to hurt myself or have a setback in my training."
I'm also changing my palate. I often think that I really love chips and fries and other junk food, but once I'm eating it, I realize that it doesn't really do anything for me anymore. In fact, the other day I went out for brunch with some friends. I had a healthy sounding burrito... grilled chicken, black beans, vegetables, some salsa... but I ordered some sweet potato fries as well. I knew they were going to be deep fried, but I thought I wanted them.
I was wrong.
I ate them anyway, but I found myself eating them because I felt guilty for spending the extra money, not because I was hungry or because they tasted good. Shit, I covered them in katsup... I didn't even taste the sweet potato fries.
Sure, I guess I enjoy junk food sometimes... the occasional slice of pizza or Chinese food is nice, but I wouldn't say I get out of it what I used to. I certainly don't crave that stuff very often anymore.
The other thing that's really changed in my life, is exercise. Winter is by far the hardest time to exercise for me. That's why I decided to do p90x on my last cycle. To push me through the winter. I've found joy in exercising. I think that I stopped cycling in the winter in the past because it was too cold to do it. I don't have the gear. But I certainly have stuff to run in the winter, and there's no excuse not to. Is it pleasant? Not always. But it works, and I do enjoy running.
Now that it's been warm out and I'm training for a half marathon, I'm encouraged to keep going. Last week, I signed up for the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington D.C. It's on October 28th. I have 7 months to train for it. That's 7 months to stay in shape and continue losing weight.
Over the weekend, my wife and I ran a 10 mile race in Margate as a warm up for the half-marathon on April 1st. We finished in 1:33:51 (9:23 pace). That's a personal best for me. We're looking at finishing the half somewhere around 2 hours. I'm hoping to get under 2, but I'll be happy with under 2:05.
Despite sitting on a plateau at 232.5 pounds, this is my life now. I eat well. I exercise a lot. I have goals. I keep pushing. And I will continue this process until I'm where I want to be. Then I'll keep pushing forward. Because if you're not moving forward, you're standing still. And I'm not ok with that anymore.
Today's pictures:
No comments:
Post a Comment