Thursday, November 6, 2014

Life is a balance of holding on and letting go.

We have been back to Weight Watchers for about 6 weeks now and my starting weight was 229. I was steadying going down at first and then had a bad week (as you can see I gained three pounds, almost all the weight I had lost at that point). Last week we missed the meeting but made it last night and I lost another 1.8 pounds (current weight 226.8). So over 6 weeks total weight loss is 2.2 pounds. This shows me just how complacent I have been over a six week span. In one week I gained three pounds but over six I have only lost 2.2 pounds. Time to get this in check. Time to FOCUS!! I can do better than this.


This is even a more surprising chart. I first joined Weight Watchers in 2007 over 7 years and look how much my weight has fluctuated, looks like the Dow Jones... Starting weight was 240 pounds and in 2011 I got as low as 198.2.  


I really feel like a normal person can maintain just about even weight, not me. This is proof to me, once again, about my over eating. I need to stop cutting corners on counting my points, I need to stop thinking that it's okay to have multiple cheat nights, I need to stay focused on the plan over the weekend. There is no question that the weekends are the hardest. I like eating out, I like drinking wine. Just like working out, it's about finding that balance. I need to find that balance between holding on to what I need and letting go of what I think I want. Do I really want this extra slice of pizza? Do I really want this oh so delicious frozen Halloween peanut butter cup? You bet I do, but I want to lose weight and be healthy more. The more I focus on this fact, the clearer it becomes. Now the hard part...to stay focused.



Tuesday, November 4, 2014

FOCUS

There are two things I have been struggling with as of late, both of which have kept me from coming to class or working out on a regular basis.

1. Injuries - I used to think I was unbreakable. Never sick, never hurt, never broke a bone, just like Bruce Willis in the movie. Now it seems all I do is deal with injuries. First and foremost is my shoulder (which is the cause of all my other injuries). It has been almost two years since my surgery and I am not much better off. The doc said there was a chance that I would never get my shoulder strength back 100%. I think he may be right. I cannot hold the push up position for very long which affects all types of exercises, push ups obviously, burpees, mountain climbers, plank, and so on. Essentially what I have is an old crumbly rubber band of a rotator cuff left, just like the one in the back of your junk drawer. The elasticity is gone, because of this weakness on my left side my shoulder blades are no longer aligned causing a whole mess of back issues as well. I am a mess. All I can do is work through it and hope it gets better. I get discouraged that I can't do what I used to be able to do. The discouragement leads to doubt and doubt leads to laziness and laziness leads to skipping class. Add this on top of note two below and I am lucky to fit in two workouts a week.

2. Eli - Everyday I am not home with my son is a struggle. I wake up and leave the house before he gets up. If I workout I get home about 7 PM, an hour before he has to go to bed. Hila and I work together to get him fed, bathed and ready for bed. Before you know it, it's 8 PM. One hour is not enough time with him. This more than anything else has kept me from working out. I want to be home with him, to hold him, to kiss him, and one hour is not enough time. Yesterday Hila told a friend that she was off to pick up Eli from daycare so I could workout. The friend's response was "He still works out? After our baby, we gave that up?" Really?? Gave it up? We are trying to live a health active lifestyle there is no way we can give this up. The struggle is finding that balance between both. Anyone who has met Eli, or even seen a picture of him can see that he is quite literally the happiest baby alive. He smiles, he laughs, he barely cries. He is amazing. Hila and I have spoken many times about this and contribute much of his happiness to the fact that Hila was in such good health during her pregnancy. I mean she went to boot camp the morning she went into labor and still kicked just about everyone's butt in class. Beast mode level 1000. We need to keep this up, but how? How do you manage what you have to do with what you want to do? I have started thinking that working out is just something that I want to do, where it should be something that I HAVE to do. My old trainer said he could set his watch by how often I came to class, now it's once maybe twice a week. I have to get back to the old mindset of the level of importance of physical fitness. I feel like I am looking at a blurry picture of myself, I can see the old me there I just need to focus. I am still working all this out, how to manage this, how to fit it all in and still be a good husband and father. Maybe I need to hit the gym more, focus on weekend workouts, get up earlier and go to the gym. All of these are different than what I am used to but the course I am on now just ain't cutting it. I need to FOCUS on Following One Course Until Successful. That course will change, and change often but adjusting and figuring it out will make me that much stronger in the long run.

Monday, November 3, 2014

When nothing goes right...go left.

Something has been missing from my life for the past few months. I keep telling myself I can succeed on my own, that I can do this without the help of others but that is simply not the case. In terms of health and fitness it seems I have failed recently more than I have succeeded. I have a need to communicate with others about my achievements, whether good or bad, it keeps me honest. Without doing that I find that I can very easily lie to myself. I can eat this pizza, I can skip this workout and I will be okay. Wrong, wrong, and wrong again. I cannot do it on my own. If I could then I would not be gaining weight, steadily up and up it goes. I have been lost. My connection to the outside world has been my friends and family and this surprisingly powerful blog. It is not easy to share your thoughts with others but what I have found by sharing my thoughts and feelings with others is that the next time I am faced with a difficult decision it is easier to make the right choice because tomorrow I need to write about it. I have felt this way for as long as I have been writing this, but I see it so much more clearly now that I have not been writing. What has been missing in my life is accountability. Even if I don't write about it or talk about it or eat healthy food or workout, my body does not lie. I can tell myself all day long that it's okay but that fact of the matter is my body will prove my dishonesty. The shirt being tight around the belly is a good one but loosing up the belt a notch is just about the powerful honesty tool I have yet to find in life. Accountability. I have missed this word. I have been naive in thinking that I am stronger than my desires. I know that because I keep losing these battles. When faced with a difficult decision, I have been choosing that easier path, the path of least resistance. With your help I hope to overcome this yet again. I have been successful before and I will be again. I keep trying to take the well worn road in front of me, the problem is too many others have been down this road before, it's time to make my own path. It's time to go left.