Week 9 & 10 - A "Moment Of Truth", Learning How To Rest, and Staying Consistent

The outcome of the first contest has been decided. It was a very close finish, and although I did end up dropping slightly more weight, I couldn't accept the final prize. I was overjoyed as to how motivated we'd been, and how we both pushed each other to succeed. As horribly cliché as it sounds, we had already been rewarded and there was no need to to favour one person's success over the other's. I had lost 7.0% of my body weight (17.4 lbs) over a two month span, and my competitor lost 6.0%. We've both benefited from this experiment, and will continue to do so using the good habits we've formed, as well as continually supporting each other along the way. No rest for the wicked, I've still got another competition on the go, and the first half-marathon of the year is quickly approaching. And though I likely won't take the "grand prize" in the next contest, I still feel as though I've come a long way regarding my weight issues and how I'm dealing with them. The true battle is with myself, so if I'm going to "lose" to the other contestants, that's an acceptable situation to be in, as long as I'm always pushing myself to improve. It's not about the final outcome, it's about the journey.

Forming good habits is extraordinarily difficult. I feel as though I've tried every exercise at every time of day, looking for the perfect combination of variables to give me that "Eureka!" moment. Lately, I've been training in the gap of time between the end of the work day and before supper. It seems to provide the best block of time with the least amount of interference, with the only problem being that I'm very hungry when I initially arrive home. I've tried modifying the time and quantity of my afternoon snack, but to no avail. It's almost a Pavlovian condition when I enter the house at that time of day, I have the need to feed. The best balance I have found is to have a very light meal before my workout if needed, and another small portion afterwards.

Chillin', relaxin', veggin'. In my experience, there had always been a point during the week where I, (intentionally or not), would miss a workout. I'd previously dismissed it as a "day of rest", but perhaps it was doing more harm than good. One missed day would become two, two became three, and before I knew it, a week would have passed before I even thought about training. My new outlook hasn't been overtly altered, but it does benefit from one small adjustment. Instead of going out of my way to be lazy on an "off day", I still perform my daily workout routine, but at a much lighter pace. Even a 20-30 min walk with light intervals is enough to maintain the habit of training, without actually training. Regardless of what my workout will consist of, I still change into my track pants, strap on the running shoes and hit the pavement or treadmill every day. Even if it's a "light" day, I haven't broken my habit, and will be much less likely to miss consecutive days.

When I stepped on the scale for my "official" weigh-in, I was very happy with the number, but I wasn't surprised to see it. I'd worked VERY hard every single day, by managing my food intake and training hard, to ensure that I'd finally see the results I deserved. I'm living proof that you don't need expensive memberships to fancy gyms, pills that claim to shed pounds while you sit around, or any other gimmick designed to take your money and leave you more depressed than when you started. All you need is a fridge stocked with fresh fruits and veggies, a good pair of shoes, and the mental strength to take that first step every day. With a little patience, the rest will take care of itself.