Day #360 - Was It Another Wasted Year?

At the end of 2014 I was miserable.  For the third year in a row I felt like I was worse off than the previous year.  I was depressed and only a couple pounds away from my highest weight ever.  I was also smoking a pack of cigarettes a day and binge drinking every weekend just to escape reality.  For me it truly felt like I had hit an all-time low.

My wife and I decided to take a trip to New Orleans at the end of the year.  During that trip I made the decision that if I didn't change my ways, I wouldn't have too many years left.  At 43 years old I had to make a change and I had to stop filling my years with failure.

On January 5th, 2015 I started a new 360 day journey.  The goal was simple... Make my health a priority in 2015 and turn my life around.  So how did I do?  Did I change my ways or was it another wasted year full of empty promises?

In order to turn things around I set 3 very aggressive goals:

1. Quit Smoking
2. Quit Drinking Alcohol
3. Lose 100 Pounds

I knew this was a tough order... completing even just one of these goals would be incredibly tough, but I also knew that I have a tendency to aim low and under-achieve.  I wanted 2015 to be different and I needed some drastic change.

January - March 

My very first focus was to quit smoking.  For the first 3 months of the year almost all my energy went into quitting smoking.  It was tough but I quit cold turkey.  During those first three months I also managed to not gain any weight.  However, to compensate I started drinking more.

During the first 3 months I put a lot of focus on being mindful about my health.  I found myself thinking about it everyday.  It was this mindfulness that really helped me stay focused on the long road I had ahead.  I also started to accept that I couldn't be perfect and that I had to look at the small victories instead of focusing all the time on the failures.

April - June

After my first 90 days I was feeling pretty good.  I was still smoke free and now putting focus on drinking less.  As I cut back on my drinking I realized that it also became easier to stick to a diet plan and lose some weight.  By the end of April I had managed to drop almost 20 pounds.  However, the road was still long and hard and it only got worse when I started having knee problems.  May was a depressing month with lots of knee pain.  I gave back some of my weight loss and by the end of June, after 6 months of being smoke free, I fell off the smoking wagon.  I started to get depressed thinking I was heading right back to where I started and thinking it would be another wasted year, but I refused to give up.

July - September

July brought a change in plans.  Specifically my new doctor recommend I try a no sugar, low carb diet.  It worked better than even I expected and I lost almost 25 pounds in July alone!  I was still off the wagon with the smoking but my drinking was much more under control.  Instead of drinking all weekend every weekend it became more of a once or twice a month thing.  More importantly, my drinking became less about escaping reality and more about just relaxing and having a good time.  After a few months of smoking I also decided I needed to act or risk finishing the year as a smoker again.  I did some research and ended up buying an e-cig.

By the end of September I was down about 27 pounds, had much better control of my drinking, and had again stopped using tobacco.

October - December

With 90 Days left in the year I made the last big push.  At one point early in December I pushed past the 50 pound mark and got below 300 before giving a little of it back during the holidays.  I'm still using the e-cig, with the occasional slip up here and there.  My drinking is well under control, in fact I only drank once in December (New Year's Eve)


The Final Results

Quitting Smoking - Good

• Completely tobacco and nicotine free for 6 months 
• Mostly tobacco free for 4 months
• 2 month slip-up

Quitting Drinking - Fair

• Still drinking, but under much better control and not being used as an escape from reality

Losing Weight - Very Good

Day 1 Starting Weight - 347
Current Weight - 300

Weight Lost in 2015 - 47

Any year that you lose 47 pounds is a good year!

So as the clock ticked over to 2016 I felt a deep sense of satisfaction.  Was my 2015 perfect?  Not even close!  However, I did make my health a priority and I have turned things around.  I made significant progress in all three of my areas of focus and I'm stronger mentally.  For the first time in a long time I feel like I'm back on the right track.  

The journey is not over, I still have a long way to go, but I know I can do it.  Best of luck to all you out there trying to make a change.  Day 360 is in the books, on to Day 361 and a new year with new goals.

Stay Strong!