For goal oriented people, it's sometimes a little unnerving to actually cross the finish line. Because, once you reach your goals, you need new goals to keep going strong. In my case, this year a number of long held "wishes" became "goals" became "accomplishments"--almost unexpectedly. Now, the question is, what do I do next?
I started losing weight this year almost by accident. Last December, I was freed from the obligation of getting up and going to work every day. In the immediate aftermath of that shocking occurance, I needed to add activities in my life so I would not sit around being depressed. One of the first things I added was twice-a-week sessions with my wife's amazing physical trainer, Rebecca Metry, who works out of the Next Level gym in Grosse Pointe Woods.
Almost immediately I saw results. For days after my workouts I was so sore that I could barely climb steps. This was from a guy who had always been physically active, who had faithfully maintained a running regimen on my home treadmill for ten years. However, my exercise was unvaried, and little more than 1.5 hours a week. It possibly kept my blood pressure under control, but certainly not my weight. The additional two hours of exercise with the trainer, working long neglected muscles, along with an improved diet, meant that something unexpected happened for me during last year's holiday season . . . I lost weight! And it happened without a specific plan in mind!
Like most Americans I had a general goal of losing weight. I knew I weighed too much, but I wasn't disgusted with myself. I'd been fatter a few years earlier and I was wearing the same wardrobe I'd fit into for the past six years. I believed I'd found the "middle aged me" and was more or less content with the person I'd become. That was before I needed to face the cold realities of an impossible job market, and the prospects of vying for business opportunities with people in some cases half my age. Being a short, chubby, bald, middle aged guy didn't seem all that appearling any more. I needed a makeover--and some dramatic goals to become the new person I wanted to be. I wanted to be a thin, fit, hard working-middle aged guy who oozed confidence. But how to get there?
First, I needed a specific weight loss goal to reach. Second, I needed a workable plan to get there. Finally, I needed some outside motivation to keep me from cheating along the way. By March, I had all my goals in place: my specific weight loss target was 30 pounds, which meant going from 195 pounds in early December to 165 pounds by the end of June. I picked 165 pounds because I graduated from college at that weight. My plan to get there? I needed to up my exercise. Rather than just three 30 minute runs at home and two sessions with the trainer, I needed to add more exercises at home. This quickly became a 15-minute ab workout in my basement that I did prior to my runs.
The external motivation came when I became impressed by the strides taken by my daughter Lonelli who was preparing for her first triathlon. I decided (at her invitation), I could do one, too. So I committed to participating in a strenuous race in June in Detroit. I had 10 weeks to get ready.
This was the final factor that pushed me across the finish line for my weightloss/fitness goals. To prepare for the swim portion of the triathlon, I began daily workouts outdoors at our local pool after Memorial Day. With the swimming my weekly exercising increased even more. And, amazingly, my weightloss picked up again. In fact I crossed the threshold of my weightloss goal a full two weeks early. The triathlon provided me the focus I needed to achieve my weightloss and fitness goals. And the results were dramatic. At the beginning of this journey, I had no idea I'd end up thin, fit and with "six pack" abs. And that outcome came without any plastic surgery or other artificial interventions.
Fearful that once the race was over, I would revert to my old ways and turn back into the pudgy "middle aged me" rather than the buff "middle aged me", after my first race I signed up for another race in late August to keep me working hard at my fitness. I continued daily swims, regular runs and bike rides, two-times-a-week training sessions, and healthy eating.
And, amazingly, the weight continued to come off. In fact, at one point I dropped to 158 pounds, which was my weight 26 years earlier when I had competed in an earlier triathlon. And, it was my weight when I got married. However, even I thought 158 pounds felt a little too light. In fact, "thin" clothes I had bought only a few months earlier were now too loose. I found bottom. But what would be my new "correct" weight. I believe 162 pounds sounds right.
So what about the second triathlon? This time my training seemed more purposeful--I had specific results goals this time rather than just hoping I'd finish. Also, knowing I could complete a triathlon reduced my general feeling of anxiety before the race. This time I felt excited rather than scared.
The conditions on August 22, the date of the Island Lake Triathon were ideal: The water was 75 degrees and calm (no waves in the lake) and the air was 78 degrees and the sky overcast--no sun beating down during the bike portion or the run. At the same time, there were new challenges. The bike course included sizeable hills and a portion of the run took place on grass and included running down a hillside.
With my triathlon season over, the pool closed, and a long, cold winter ahead, what am I going to do now to make sure I don't backslide? I like how my new body looks, and I want to keep it, even if its hidden under layers of clothes.
First, I'm going to watch my scale closely. If I see my weight creeping up again, I'll take serious action--cut out all sweets/alcohol/snack carbs, until I get back to my "correct" weight. Second, I need to keep up daily exercise. Not just the gym workouts and three times a week on the the treadmill. But, as long as the weather holds, long walks with my wife, as well as three-days-a-week workouts with a masters swimming group at a local indoor pool. I will only keep off the pounds if I exercise daily--I like food way too much. Finally, I'm making plans for next year. In 2011, I'll be considered 50-years-old for triathlons, which means I'll be competing with older men. My goal is a top-three finish in a serious event--and the sooner I pick the event, the sooner my training will begin.
I don't want to become a yo-yo dieter, nor do I want to look back at the pictures from this summer and say wistfully, "gosh I looked good then." My desire is to find a fit and health place--where I'll stay for the next twenty years at least.
I'm open to suggestions on how to stay there. Let's take this journey together.
No comments:
Post a Comment