This was a very big week for my fitness journey. I hit my goal, and not a day too soon because there were also some bad choices. Plus, I have spent some time thinking about what comes next.

100 Pound Goal… Crushed!

On Tuesday morning, I was still working through a big upward weight fluctuation from the prior week and the weekend. I expected to see a little bit of a weight correction after a couple of good healthy days including skipping drinking on Monday. On Monday, the scale said I was at the 97 pounds lost mark. So, on Tuesday morning, I was expecting to see a couple of pounds of retained water go away. I really expected to see myself at 98 or 99 pounds down.

I went through my normal daily routine and then stepped on the scale. The result was a big surprise… I had lost 100.2 pounds. I had reached my goal of losing over 100 pounds and I did it 2 days before my 9-month anniversary!

I was so very excited and very proud of myself. This may be the hardest I have ever worked for a goal that I set for myself. Plus, I didn’t just meet my “over 100 in under a year” goal, I crushed it!

It was great to have this happen on Tuesday morning because the rest of the week was a bit of a challenge.

March Madness Impacts

I have talked previously about how my body has become increasingly sensitive to dietary decisions and how they drive weight fluctuations. My daily weight can vary as much as 4-5 pounds based on my body retaining water driven by what I have chosen to consume. High amounts of sodium drive these fluctuations as does drinking alcohol, especially beer. So, days where I eat more salty foods or drink more end up causing me to weigh more, temporarily, the next day.

My wife and I are huge college basketball fans and we love March Madness. We have a tradition of taking the Thursday and Friday of the NCAA tournament off work and then we just hang out together for 4 straight days watching basketball. Sometimes we do this at home in our living room, but we prefer to be out where there are multiple TVs, other people and refreshments. This year was no exception. We started on Tuesday night with a wine tasting event, then our final night for our pub golf tournament and the first game.

We have spent a fair amount of time over the past 4 days at bars and restaurants watching games, having some drinks (nothing crazy) and eating moderately unhealthy food. This means that my alcohol and sodium consumption is a bit higher than a normal week. So, you know what that means.

My weight has been changing daily between the 100 pounds lost mark and the 97 pounds lost mark. Despite getting exercise and staying (mostly) within my calorie budget, I am seeing my weight up from retained water.

This is not a big deal, it happens pretty much every week, but I am glad that the 100 pounds lost mark was reached early this week. If I hadn’t hit it then, it would be artificially delayed a week. Though I am very experienced with the ups and downs of my weight through the week (that is why they say not to weigh yourself daily) I still get frustrated every time I see my weight increase. It bugs me!

What Comes Next

So… I am 9 months into this journey and I just hit my goal weight that I planned for the 1-year mark. This has caused me to start thinking about what comes next. I think I have a plan, but it is still taking shape a bit. Here is what I know now….

Most importantly, I am not stopping!

I plan to continue to manage my calories in and calories out with the same degree of diligence that I have through the whole journey. It is getting harder to do because my daily calorie target is now under 1900 calories. I am doing a good job with creating some extra flexibility with daily workouts that average about 1000 calories each, but that will get harder once I go back to work in the next couple of months. But, I am committed and I am continuing what I started.

I am going to try to maintain a 1.5 to 2 pounds per week weight loss until I hit the 1-year point. This is another 13 weeks and that will translate to about 25 more pounds. This is an important number because it will mean that I get myself under 200 pounds by 6/15 or so. Once I am under 200 pounds, I am going to switch to maintenance mode instead of losing. I will just need to figure out what that means other than I can consume about 1000 more calories each day.

In addition to continuing to focus on losing, I am going to keep working on building. I have seen some impressive progress with my muscle definition and growth and I want to continue that. I have lots of areas of my body that need some work to shape the way I want them.

I have a couple of performance goals that I want to achieve too. I want to get to the point where I am bench pressing and doing bicep curls with 100 pounds. I want to be able to do a pull-up. I want to be able to do 20 good pushups. So, each of those will still require some work. They may also require some support from a trainer that I keep talking about hiring.

I also want to keep running. I don’t have a desire to do a half marathon or anything like that. But, I do want to participate in my first organized run, probably 5k, soon. I just need to convince myself that I am ready and I still struggle to get past 2 miles of continuous run without slowing down to walk for a bit. I am definitely going to run the 4-mile run at Oktoberfest in September, but I want to have a few 5k races before then.

Finally, I am going to continue to share my story and help others.

I am now about 75% down with the first draft of a book talking about my journey and how others can do it. I am also looking for some speaking opportunities including at the Columbus Project Management Development Day in the fall.

I really want what I have learned to help other people achieve their fitness goals too. I have even researched how to become a certified personal trainer, but I am not sure I want to do that.

There you have it, my 9 month report on my journey … kind of a State of the Melt!

Check back next week for more!

Last week’s stats (3/5 – 3/11):
Distance walked/run: 47.08 miles
Total calories burnt: 27,154
Total calories consumed: 14,368
Weight change: 0.2 pounds GAINED!