Just a “short” intro post here. I’ve made this blog as a way to publicly journal my attempt to improve my overall fitness. Writing this in May of 2020, I’m on Week 5 of my Nth attempt to lose weight. I’ve been somewhat concerned about it since high school (1996–2001), and I started to get serious about tryin to lose weight my second semester of grad school (2006). Starting and stopping for years, I was overweight but relatively stable at 160–180 lbs, and I never got below 15.8% bodyfat, usually hanging near 20%. I then finally got fully employed in 2014 and my travel for work went through the roof, and my weight has steadily increased over the last six year.
Now (or, mid-April, 2020) at over 225 lbs on a male’s 5ft 7.5in frame, and bodyfat just under 30% (≈29.5%), it’s gotten to the point where I can’t do things I want to do, leading to interpersonal issues when my boyfriend wants to go on hikes but I’m huffing and puffing just walking up the driveway, and at the age of 37 (just turned, birthday is May), I’m transitioning (or past) to the phase where it’s simple to lose weight due to a slowing metabolism. With being overweight, potential health issues increase substantially, and while I don’t have them, really, now is the time to get rid of the excess baggage. Oh, and I’m getting stretch marks that I know are hard (or impossible) to get rid of, so before they get worse or larger or more numerous, I need to shrink the gut.
With COVID-19 having shut down all of my work travel for the foreseeable future, I’m hoping this is the very last time I’ll be restarting. I’ve been home now for 12 weeks, the longest stretch in literally since mid-2014. I have a possible trip in 4 weeks, but if that is cancelled, I will have a stretch of 33 weeks without travel. That is the longest, as far back as my records go (so to some time in grad school?).
Travel has been my go-to excuse, once you get past laziness. Travel means I can’t monitor food nearly as well and there are always hidden calories (why is salad at a restaurant >500 calories?). Travel for work means I’m stuck in meetings all day and I have no energy to do any sort of exercise (and those meetings are in a chair with no ability to be active). Travel also interrupts any and all attempts to form healthy habits for me.
So, really, getting rid of that issue (for better or worse) for a long period of time, I am really hoping I can pull myself out of this two-decade (but especially six-year) rut and do this. I’m hoping that this free-form blog will help with my motivation, or get out frustration, or anything else that will help to get moving.
So, here’s to that.
My Fitness Blog 