So maybe this two-week break from BMGS, this reverse resolution, this fishing trip without a fishing pole was not the greatest idea. The lost weekend became the lost fortnight, and some serious poundage that had been lost was found again, rather close to home.
My take, without going into the arithmetic or marveling too much about how much faster one's weight goes up than down, is that it was a good thing.
Not for the obvious reasons: some good meals with friends and family, a less rigorous relationship with Mike's Gym, or the found time that came with making very few entries here and none that were about calories or fitness.
No, the fact is that by taking a two-week break -- one in which I ate moderately and got to the gym or out for a jog 2 or 3 times a week -- and witnessing the carnage that resulted, I proved to myself how important it is, for me at this particular point in my life, that I continue with the approach that worked so well for me during the previous 17 weeks from August 31 to the end of the year.
I'll start modestly here, nothing longwinded, and simply outline the approach to which I return today:
* make this blog the center of effort to be accountable to the campaign to take off some weight and get into better shape
* keep my calorie intake to either 1750 calories a day or a net calorie intake of 1600 (after subtracting whatever I burned in specific workouts at the gym or outside)
* get to the gym (or outside) 4-5 days a week
* record it all here on a daily basis
It's simple. It is so easy to complicate things, particularly by petitioning myself to the basic effect that I don't really need to do this, that there is some better way, that it is beneath me as a grown man to have to write all this stuff down.
That's where it came in handy to have this little 2-week reminder of my human frailty. The good news is that I didn't gain it all back, that I didn't give myself a heart attack or subject myself to a serious bout of depression, and that I have the honesty and humility to return. It is definitely easier to post when progress is great than when it is not, but I am steadfast.
It is also good, I think, that I will have this post to return to when I need it in the future.
Everything else in my life is going reasonably well. I am working hard, enjoying friends and family, reading daily and writing well. Pitchers and catchers report in about a month. The wolf is not too far from the door, but he keeps a respectful distance.
8/31/2007 to 1/1/2008: down 40.5 pounds
1/1/2008 to 1/15/2008: up 7.5 pounds
8/31/2008 to 1/15/2008: down 33 pounds
My daughter Adrienne & I at a favorite hangout
Photo credit: my son Danny, age 9. Background courtesy of Chuck E. Cheese
Thursday's Soundtrack
Wednesday's Soundtrack
Thursday Soundtrack
This one goes out to my pal who is fighting off a stomach bug in North Attleboro! Et tu, Charlie?
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