Back to the cave!

Been a while but all is good. Weight is back to before holiday hell numbers and the current focus is on strength training. Wow my body loves the weights. Eating wise I'm doing a kind of paleo thing lots of veggies and lean meat, reduced fruit and dairy/grains are all but gone. We will see! I have a 121 days left of the "45th year" really interested to see how far I can take getting lean and getting fit. The rest of the month and the first weeks of March will focus on dropping another 15 lbs and continuing to get stronger. Cardio will focus on intervals and speed and the occasional longer ride. The spring will return my focus to running and biking. As it currently stands looking to focus on getting faster at the 5 km time rather than to move on to marathon. The longer stuff will be on the bike with a couple of Gran Fondos on the horizon and a few tennis events here and there. Will post regularly on the paleo experiment, may use cave drawings if need be. Love to hear from anyone who has or is doing the Paleo type eating plan.

Guess what I'm doing?

I'm not telling!

It is that time when we wake up to renewed energy, big hairy audacious goals and then proceed to often flounder in a matter of a few short days. This year no resolutions, but I do have some goals - some pretty big ones, but for a change I'm not sharing.

WHAT? isn't telling people your goals, writing them down, having them be SMART (Google it if SMART goals are new to you!). Yes and no. I do have goals but this year only a few. Having too many goals, as many of us do at this time of year, does not lead to focus, and focus is key. I do write them down, but only for me. And I have no more than seven goals as I want to be able to remember them off the top of my head. They need to drive my behaviour, not be in a book somewhere where I find them as a reminder in November 2011 (I actually did that this year!).

No this year I have a few big outcome goals and a couple of critical process goals that will keep me on track. Come on we all know achieving our goals is simple - (eat less, exercise more and you will lose weight and improve your fitness level) but it is not EASY! Doing these key things is what leads to success, and you can't have 100 key things. 

BUT... I'm not sharing, well not yet anyway.  There is some very interesting research on telling people about your goals. What happens when you tell people about a great big goal? Well, you get support, pats on the back, lots of "you are amazing" and, well, those rewards are for just saying you will do something - not actually doing it, and many of us are never actually following through. This changes our social reality, and there is lots of good social science research in this area (almost a hundred years worth!).  For a simple but very well done piece on this see Derek Silver's TED talk on goals (short version here -well worth the 3 minutes!) 

So yes I do have goals and yes I will report back, but only after I've succeeded or failed.  So stay tuned! Happy new year, go set some big goals, a few that you really care about, commit and then shut up and get to work. And then let me know about your success!

172 days

  So if you are new to my blog my goal was to see if I get as fit as possible during the year I'm 45. From my 45th birthday to my 46th on June 21st, 2011.  This Jan 1st no resolutions but a continued focus on getting fit, 172 days in 2011 until I'm 46! When I first started this I think that really I was talking about getting thinner but that’s no longer the only goal. Nor is getting healthier, lets be honest here so many of us say its about health but the genetic gods have a lot more control over whether I'll have a 80th year project than do my fitness efforts. What I do control though is the quality of my life regardless of how long that may be. So I need a little help here. How do you define fitness? What should my measures be this summer, let me know! Comment, tweet or dm me, love to know what you think?

Lurking

Anyone who has lost a substantial amount of weight, see (http://the45thyear.blogspot.com/2010/06/then-now-100-lbs-down.html) knows that the fat suit is never far away. That former self lurks just around the corner, usually sitting on the couch eating holiday baking or having "just one more drink." We all know or have seen someone get in shape for some event, a wedding, birthday or run or ride only to achieve the goal and then slip. Not unusual at all, unfortunately many of the things that allow some of us to lose the weight in the first place, like obsession (sometimes we call it discipline!) have both a positive and a destructive side. One good thing you do gain though is awareness and I am all of sudden all too aware of some very negative stuff creeping back in. The occasional treat has turned to regular holiday treats, a beer or wine to several, daily!! and the reasons to miss workouts seem so much more rationale than they did when I was pushing for the 100 lb loss and then to run a half marathon. I need to realize that the guy who gained 100 plus pounds in the first place is still with me and that's OK I like him, but I don't like the way his habits made me feel. So to slip up is human, to do nothing about it, well at least for me is unforgivable. No waiting, no elaborate planning, no start on Monday or the new year, next week..fill in your favorite! I know what to do... move and eat well and just enough, hydrate often: end of story. So good day lots of water, lots of greens, lots of vegetables and lean protein and a good 45 minute trail run. Feel better already, even the fat guy seems to like this feeling!

Complacency

Sometimes we forget why we started things. I've had a good year so far, made my long term 100 lb weight loss target, ran my first 1/2 marathon, did a self supported sprint tri and had some great long rides, even played some decent tennis. BUT the 45th year is about something more. My first post said

 "I've committed to making my 45th year my fittest year yet." Not to have a good year, not to be a bit fitter but fittest ever. So time to move forward on the bigger goal. I'm lingering at 225 ish lbs but see some old habits creeping back in. A few less work outs a little less care with diet a few too many beers, one word really complacency.  Yeah I'm healthier than the past, healthier than a lot of guys my age but that wasn't what I committed to. Time to ramp it up. 7 more months of being 45 left so no time to waste. I want to see how lean I can get. I have a great base so time to ramp up the fitness, and clamp down the diet. I haven't been below 200 lbs since I was 20 so not sure if that is possible but challenge goals are only fun challenging if there is a chance of failure. So I putting it out there my goal is a lean 199 by my 46th birthday. Details to follow!

So we begin again! THE PLAN

Well its 21 days since I finished my last major goal, running my first half marathon. The last three weeks have been all about planned recovery, in the past I would have been freaking out about less than stellar eating habits and lower intensity workouts, but I knew I would need a break, more mentally than physically. The interesting difference this time is I can't wait to get back at it. I've been running and eating pretty well anyway but I miss the focus a goal brings and more importantly the way I feel when the eating and exercise are in balance and are a priority.
I've reworked an annual plan laying out three major events for the upcoming year. Something major in three of the four seasons; spring, summer, and fall and using winter to build the base, get strong and get flexible. The spring goal is the BMO Vancouver Marathon on May 1st. It will be my first full marathon. In the summer (mid July) I'm going to ride a Granfondo in the BC's Okanogan region and tie that in with a family vacation and mountain biking with younger son. Fall is still a bit up in the air, as it stands I have two events, one being a duathalon in September the other being the Victoria marathon (likley the half, this time with a goal of less than 2hrs or maybe even with the older son!) in October. These will be the focus for what I'm doing but I still plan to play some tennis, get in the pool and maybe even do a sprint tri in there somewhere, but I will fit these in around the key events.
I'm honestly a bit terrified of the marathon (not the event itself, I have a lot of faith in my ability "to gut it out" once I'm out there) but more the training volume. I'm going to continue to use a run/walk method on the long runs and slowly build on the base I have from October's half.  In the short run I have a new weight loss goal, drop 15 lbs by the new year, to help with the pounding of marathon training. Stay tuned!

Then & Now 100 lbs down

So this morning the Monday morning weigh in confirmed that I am 100 lbs less than the day I found myself weighing 324 lbs in a Dallas Mall. 

Many of us love the before and after pictures, the crazy changes, I hesitated to post those before shots; before and after implies some sort of completion. This whole thing, the 45th year IS NOT about losing weight but changing that focus to getting fit, fueling smart and performing. The weight was a barrier, I'm not running much, not being injury free at 324 lbs but I'm also not finished at 224. I think having a lb based end point is dangerous. I'm eating and exercising in a way I hope to continue in some form for the greater part of the next 45 years. So for me there will be no after. That being said man was I fat! check out these shots from 8 yrs ago!

then-not a bulky jacket!

Then -the most activity i was getting!

now

 I'm sure rapid weight loss can happen and I applaud anyone who does that but this was not a quick fix. I gradually regained healthy eating habits and will continue to improve (Kaizen baby!) bit by bit. I'm feeling great returning to being an athlete and that is the focus for the 45th year to get fit and to learn to push, endure, compete, inspire, rejoice and recover. Much fun to come! So as the preseason comes to an end the scale takes a back seat to the focus on sustained healthy living and activity.

The final push

I'm onto the final push. almost a decade ago I was in Dallas for work hitting all you can eat BBQ and drinking beer specials as long as they kept serving me. For some reason I stepped on a mall pay a dollar get your weight scale. It read 324 lbs. Well since then I've quit my job, went back to school to get a PhD moved across the country and managed to stay married (my spouse is insane, but I so happy she is!). Oh and I'm within 5 lbs of dropping 100 lbs. I called this adventure project 100 even wrote it on the back of my XXL under armour shirts. Last week I wrote it on my newest shirt a L. I'm on the final push working on a perfect couple of weeks to get to that goal then the scale goes away and I concentrate on eating well, and getting into the best shape of my life. Pretty cool, thanks to everyone and they are so many of you that helped. But without my wife, Mary this never would have happened. Thank you so much, pretty good chance you'll have me around a lot longer now as well, hope that is OK with you!

may numbers

good month 3 weeks of preseason left!

End of May numbers


weight 228  DOWN 9.8 lbs this month 15 lbs total

chest 43 inches down 2
waist 41.5 inches down 2.5
hips 44.5 inches down 1.5
TOTAL INCHES LOST 6

The starting numbers were:
weight 243 lbs
chest 45 inches
waist 44 inches
hips 46 inches

By June 20 I plan to have the following numbers.
weight  219
chest 44
waist 39
hips 43

Going great and and October challenge is decided.

In last few weeks things have really come together. I've been exercising with intensity and duration (at least an hour for the past 18 days. Eating is becoming pretty focused and I'm making good choices not feeling deprived. No back pain except when swimming so I've backed off that for the time being and increased the focus on tennis, running, biking, core work and the hundred push up program. Onto week 4 of the 100 push up program this week, just finished my first "long run" about 10k, I know not a long run for those who "run" but we are building up slowly, and had a couple of longer rides this weekend. Still filling out some of the 12 monthly challenges I'll set for the 45th year but October is now decided. 146 days from this post I'll be in the midst of my first marathon. http://www.hly royalvictoriamarathon.com/ On 10/10/10 the world will not end but I will hopefully be able to tick a box on my really want to do life list. I went to early register for the half Marathon but this is a year of pushing, a year of the highest level of fitness possible so 42.195 km or 26.2 miles it is. I'm pretty excited and have no time goals it is to finish and be able to enjoy celebrating after the event. We shall see.