What are your Goals?

Firstly i weighed in today 1 kg down from Monday. Not much but it's something - i hope i can keep it off given the trip to China next week. Good workout this morning, I'm keeping it down on the weight and the sets for the following reasons. 1. It's mostly food that must be controlled to lose weight 2. Some exercise is what is important, if i hurt myself then i might miss even some. 3. Stress has been the major cause of weight increase in the past few months, therefore i need to reduce the stress caused by working out also. 4. i can build up the weight while concentrating on form.

I'm quite comfortable with the logic above and do feel good from my workout - even though they feel too short and don't push the limits like before. I worry a little that i'm not hitting that 11 in terms of effort in my workouts - with the BFL programme it was always about getting to that extreme and going beyond what felt physically possible - or in his words going with will power alone as strength had been exhausted. i guess i need to build up to that point again. This is to some extent the reason for the subject of this post.

Today while listening to a Podcast in the car i was hit with the question 'What are your Goals?' For some reason this seemed to hit home hard. I could answer quite easily - get down to 80kg by March and be fitter. But is this a good enough answer - i don't think so as it just looks short term and is quite shallow.

So what are my goals? i don't really know, i mean to be fit and healthy (in the context of this blog, obviously there are other life goals but lets keep to the subject). but to develop an action plan and monitor progress then goals need to be specific. define 'healthy' or 'fit', does it just mean healthier and fitter - because this can only ever be true to a point.

I don't have the answers, but I'm going to contemplate this point a lot over the next few weeks, and blog my thoughts in the hope of finalising a plan. for the time being i can focus on the goal at hand - get to 80kg by end of March and then to stay there.

I can then break it up that i need to be below 94 by year end and expect a tough 12 weeks from there to the end game.

Stress

It's been a while, a long while. i think that the subject here has been a topic before but it's been such a big part of my life in the past two months that i need to talk about it. Stress messes you up! Previously i would say that when the body goes into melt down then you know that you are stressing about something, sometimes you can't figure it out until the problem goes away and the pain also disappears - then you have an aha moment and realise what was stressing you out.

Well this time was different - i have been stressed out for over 6 weeks and i clearly knew all the things stressing me out but could only use the means at hand to deal with it without being able to stop the causes. Issues with clients, serious illness at home, lack of sleep, long flights with disabled children, money issues etc.

Methods of coping - lots of alcohol, comfort food, denial etc. the end result was of course putting on a lot of weight and feeling pretty low about myself. What i found interesting was how much this affects me and how it affects my wife differently. I put on weight and she loses weight under stress.

I am out of this period of stress now. I wound down with a weekend of rest and good food. No Alcohol since Friday night and a good workout this morning - also on ESE since lunch yesterday.

I weighed in today at 101.5 KG. while this is a long way from the June low it's only 3.5 kg from my hovering weight over the past three months. Pretty good considering the things I've eaten and the lack of exercise. But quite sad also that now i have to start again and it will be weeks before i get down to where i was! (and just between you and me i'm now obese again which is cause for depression) So, what to do about it.

I'm back doing TT workout. One issue I've had trying to get back into it is that i was hurting myself trying to get back to where i was. Even the hotel room workout proved too much for me. So I've started the TT for fat loss once again but at the Beginner level. What's more I'm doing only two sets and 10 mins interval. next week I'll look to moving up.

You really can't discount the beginner level - i am surprise how hard it was. Now I'm looking forward to moving through the whole programme again.

Diet wise i need to focus. I'm trying to do 2-3 ESE fasts per week. I have conferences, football trips, board meetings and visitors for xmas in the coming months. I really need to be focused otherwise it will all slip again. I've set out a plan which takes me back to end of March which is the beginning of this one year journey. I need to lose an average of 1kg per week to hit my target of 80kg by then. Need to be focused, lose each week and never have a gaining week!

Alcohol will play an important part in this. i will be off it from the new year till i reach goal, but also i need to keep it in check the rest of time.

Wish me luck!