Another week in the record books and more mixed results but the trend line is in a positive direction so that is what counts. When you see the stats at the bottom of this post (which are always 1 week behind) you will see that I am eating more, burning less and melting slower than last year, but the quality of each has improved a lot! I am glad that I started adding the comparison versus last year because it is a new source of motivation… just want I need, right?!

Here is another source of motivation, this is my latest before and after recreation that Liz and I shot at Indian Lake last night. This is one year to the day difference and I had already been melting for a few weeks in the before picture. (click to expand)

Big change, right? I am so happy with my progress and am still amazed with myself at how strong, powerful an dedicated I have been. The journey hasn’t been easy, it hasn’t been perfect and, on occasion, hasn’t been fun. But it has been worth every minute of it and I am so happy that I did this!

Milestone: 13 Months

Today is the 13 month anniversary of making the decision that changed my life. For the past 13 months I have spent every day tracking, measuring, focusing, making smarter decision and sweating my ass off (literally)! The rewards have been immense. Not only have I lost 125 pounds so far, but I have also found myself and found my voice. There is no turning back now!

I know I may be a little annoying to people sometimes. I seem to always talking about how great life is, talking about my workouts, talking about nutrition, talking about project management and data, writing articles and posting motivational social content. I honestly don’t mean for it to be annoying to anybody by any means! Quite the opposite really.

But this is who I am now and this is my mission it is my purpose and I don’t apologize for being true to me. It has been and continues to be a transformation and I am more confident than ever that this is my calling!

So please don’t get annoyed, get engaged. Ask me questions. Let me help you accomplish something as life changing. Let’s work together to build a world where goals never die of loneliness!

Fitness Over 40

There have been a couple of instances lately where somebody has mentioned my age (41, will be 42 in November) as a limitation. Usually it is related to why I am experiencing a certain pain or something like that. These people don’t mean anything negative about this at all and they are trying to be helpful and supportive. But it is kind of a shock every time that somebody says something like that to me.

My age is just a number and will not slow me down!

In the past 13 months, I feel like I have gotten 10-15 years younger.

I have become an athlete! I can run several miles with a smile on my face. I have a resting heart rate in the low 50s (started in the low 80s). I have lost 125 pounds and 14+ inches around my waist. I have gone from an average weekend of 3000 total steps to yesterday at nearly 17,000 steps. My Capn Crunch and Netflix on a Saturday morning have become yoga and 6 miles of running and walking. I get up by 5:30 every weekday and walk into the office having already worked harder than most other people will work ALL DAY.

My only limitation is the 1 square foot of real estate at the top of my body, my mind. I guess I am also limited by the fact that there are only 24 hours in a day. My age is not a limitation and I will not allow it to hold me back. If I want something I am going to go out there and get it!

If you are over 40 and you want to become an athlete, you can do it! Don’t let your age be a reason not to do something. If anything let your age be a reason not to wait one more day to get started.

Getting Harder to Burn the Calories

So I just mentioned how my body has improved and gotten so much better over the past 13 months. There is an unfortunate downside to that progress and that is that my body is WAY more efficient and it takes more energy to get my heart rate to go up. That means that my calorie burn from exercise is less than ever.

I was shocked last weekend when I ran a 5k and only burned 500 calories when doing it. Plus, as I have started doing year over year comparisons, my exercise levels have gone up since this time last year and my calorie burn has gone down. This comes at a time when my need for fuel for my body, particularly protein, has increased because of the intensity and frequency of my workouts.

So the solution to this is that I have to do 2 things: work harder, be more patient.

I will keep working harder in my workouts and will not take my foot off the gas. I am going to keep signing up for races, keep working with my trainer to build muscles (get swole?) and keep pushing myself past my limits.

At the same time, I have to keep making myself ok with the slow-down in weight loss. I was dropping 5 pounds per week when I was over 300 pounds which was a bit easier. But I have a 40% smaller body that is also way more efficient so that rate is going to change. Plus I am gaining muscle mass each week to. So 1-2 pounds per week is the maximum that I should be expecting and I should be moving into maintain mode soon.

If I keep up this 2-pronged strategy I will keep moving towards my goals.

Shirtless and Confident

One final note on this week’s progress comes from something that happened yesterday. We decided that we wanted to go to the beach and get in the water for a while. It was a hot day and the water was pretty refreshing. Plus I wanted to do some walking against the resistance of the water to add some more calorie burn on top of my already draining 1100 calorie workout.

So we get to the beach and unload the car. We walk to the sand and setup our chair and get all situated. Then I took off my shirt and confidently stood there in my swim trunks for the world to see. I wasn’t embarrassed to be shirtless in public. I didn’t feel the need to hide myself. I was completely ok with it.

Is my body where I want it to be? No. But I am proud of where my body is not and I am confident that I look healthy. I also know that it is a work in progress and will continue to improve every single day for the rest of my life.

I am happier than every before that I am me and wouldn’t want to be anybody else!

Check back next week for more!

Last week’s stats (7/2-7/8):
Distance walked/run: 36.64 miles (+5.17 vs. LY)
Total calories burnt: 23,502 (-6,463 vs. LY)
Total calories consumed: 14,810 (+1,873 vs. LY)
Weight change: 2.5 pounds gained (-7.7 vs LY)