Day #86 - The Significance of March

As March comes to a close I wanted to take some time to reflect on the month.  I never really discussed it (probably out of fear of failure), but I sort of viewed March as a "do or die" type of month.  When I started this 180 in 360 journey I set 3 goals for myself... Quit smoking, Quit drinking, and Lose 100 pounds.  I've clearly made great progress on quitting smoking, and I've started to make good progress on the drinking, but until March I really made no progress on losing weight.

When I look at losing 100 pounds I figure the best I can safely hope to do is lose around 10 pounds each month.  Having made no progress in January and February, I only have 10 months left.  Knowing that it will only get harder as I lose more weight I felt like if I couldn't lose at least 10 pounds here in March then it was highly likely that I wouldn't make 1 of my 3 goals.

Yes, I understand that it would have still been physically possible if I didn't make it and I also realize the world won't come to an end if I don't get all the way there, but psychologically I think it would have really been a blow if I believed I couldn't hit my 360 day goal after only 3 months (and that's how I felt In my head anyway).

Thankfully I had a good March.  I dropped 11 pounds giving me the hope that I can still make it.  It's going to be tough, there's not a lot of room for error.  One really bad week could put me out of it, but I can't think that way.  Instead I have to keep pushing forward one day at a time.  March is over and it's on to April and (hopefully) another 10 pounds.  We'll see in just 30 short days, but for now, on to Day 87.

Stay Strong!

Day #68 - Slow Progress or Excuses?

I spent a good part of today asking myself if I really have changed.  Other than quitting smoking 2 months ago I haven't really made any progress with improving my health.  I'm sure some of you would say that's enough, but lately it feel more like I'm using that one bit of progress as a crutch.

The one thing it feels like I'm missing is consistency.  I do well eating but not so good exercising, then I'll start walking each day but I end up going out to eat more at lunchtime.  On and off it seems to go with no signs of more "good" days than bad.  It's almost like each change gives me an excuse to do poorly in another area.  That's not true change. 

This week has been a great example of more excuses.  I haven't eaten all that great this week, but my rationale is that I'm working hard each day and getting lots of exercise.  Since I don't want to do too much at once it becomes OK for me to eat poorly because my physical activity has increased.  Sounds crazy doesn't it?  It's like that whack-a-mole game; you hit one and another pops up.

I'm starting to think that my commitment to change is moving too slowly.  I don't want to overdo it and burn out with unsustainable change, but right now I think I've gone to the extreme in the other direction, almost to the point of not moving forward at all.

As my vacation comes to a close I still have more to ponder about my progress.  I think it might be time to step it up just a little bit.  On to Day #69.

Stay Strong!

Day #21 - Measuring Progress

After completing my first 20 days it dawned on me that I really don’t have any way to measure my progress.  When you look at what I’m trying to do, my changes are so much more than just what the scale tells me.  I’ve had my ups and downs already; I’ve had some great days and some not so great days.  But how can I tell if I’m making progress?  How can I tell if I’m improving as time goes by or just stagnating at the same level? 

This is the year that I have chosen to make my health top priority.  I set out with 3 specific goals; Lose 100 pounds, Quit Smoking, and Quit Drinking.  But these are long term goals, how do I measure my progress towards them?  More importantly, there are so many daily factors that can impact my yearly goals, how do I capture that stuff.  In order to meet my goals I also have to keep my mental focus.

Sure I have my scale and weekly weigh-ins, but I could go on a starvation diet for 30 days.  During those 30 days if all I focus on is my weight then I would say that I'm doing great. 

I need something that will tell me how I'm doing each day because that's what I'm focused on; one day at a time.  I need some method of "grading" myself each day (objectively).  If I can record that grade everyday then I should be able to see some sort of a trend.

So that's what I'm going to do.  I'm going to develop a system of grading myself each night and then recording it.  In order to be successful I figure the system needs to meet these criteria:

1. It has to be objective - subjective grading won't work because it can be influenced by how you feel each day.  No, the grading has to be designed such that if I graded myself and my daughter did, we would come out with the same score.
2. It has to be quick, easy, and require nothing more than a pen and paper - If it's not quick and easy I won't do it
3. It has to have room for growth - Based on how I'm doing right now, I should be scoring probably around 50%.  That way as I grow, my score will have room to grow as well to show me the progress

I think what makes this process tricky is that item #3.  In order for me to design something with room to grow, I need to know what my future me should be doing each day.  I have to take some time and think this through. Expect me to write more about this later in the week.

Today was my unrestricted day so I won't go into much detail about how I ate.  Another big milestone though, today marks 3 weeks of no smoking; 3 weeks is the milestone when they say your cravings have reduced considerably.  I've still got a long way to go, but I take stock in what I've achieved so far.  Goodbye Day #21 and my first 3 weeks; let's head into week #4 and Day #22 with a bang!

Stay Strong!