It turns out I’ve let myself go just a bit. Experimenting with tape measurements for body size is what let it really hit home. Yikes! I have been unknowingly adding a bit of fat here and there on my body for the past, well, year really. At first when I saw the number, I was like: “Naw, this is just a bad equation”.

Then I started to think about it.I have become pretty carefree in my snacking habits lately. You know how some people like “finishers” for their workouts? Well I like finishers for my meals. I don’t actually mean dessert. I mean a bit of extra meal. Often. Like “that oatmeal was good, but I think I’ll have a piece of toast with peanut butter now”. And then there’s that before bed snack. Whether I’m  hungry or not.  And the “I’ll just grab a few almonds while I’m in the kitchen” snack. Which would be fine if it was only once or twice each day. And the wine. Oh I do like my wine. It’s crept up to a glass each night. Sometimes two. Sometimes. Anyone buying that? Oh, and then there’s my relationship with bread. I live near a delicious bakery. They have this cheddar chive, jalapeno bread that is ah-mazing. Like eat the whole loaf amazing.

Maybe that’s why my pull up ability has dropped so much. I can barely get 2 out now. Which is awesome if that’s your best. But when you were going from 5 to 6 last year, it’s not so great. I don’t know about you, but I’m not really a fan of de-improving. Ok, clearly that’s not a word, but what is the opposite of improve? Looking up antonyms now…ha! Thesaurus.com doesn’t  list any. There you go. The word doesn’t exist, so clearly it’s not somewhere we’re meant to go.

For the last year or so I’ve consistently said that I’m happy with how I look, and that I don’t want to lose any weight. While I’m still happy with how I look, now I do want to lose  some weight. Really I just want to get back to the weight I was at when I started saying things like “I don’t want to lose any weight”.

So I want to lose a bit of weight. Great! Let’s do it.

This revelation is especially timely as we’re just over a month away from launching the Custom Strength 8 week Custom Weight Loss Program. So timely in fact, that I’m going to follow our program for the next month. Starting…now! (or more accurately 4 days ago when I started writing this post).

Weight Loss Key #1: Have a goal. Or better yet, goalzzz. These are what we look to for motivation if we have moments of weakness. If. Right. *when*

Here are my goals:

1. I just want my pull up-ability back. Those of you who can do pull ups know just how awesome they feel. And being able to do more feels even more awesome. Extra weight is the enemy of pull ups. And I want more pull ups.
2. If I’m going to be honest, I also noticed my speed and performance on the ultimate field dropped off this summer. At the time I attributed it to age and lack of time to prepare. It got to the point where I wasn’t really enjoying playing. In fact I was talking about quitting, or moving to a less competitive team even though I love my team. Seriously. It’s the perfect blend of great people and ability. Now part of the problem was that I was putting too much time into work which didn’t leave me enough drive to want to compete hard on the field. That’s something I’m still working on. But the thing about performance is that the better prepared you are (and that includes body composition), the better your performance will be, and the more likely you are to really have fun. I love to compete, so in all honesty, dropping a level is probably not the answer. Getting my body back to competition shape is the answer. Now father time still has a say in this, as I’m not 25 anymore. But when I drop down a level, it’s going to be because that’s really where I’m meant to be; not because I’m not fit enough.
3. If I’m going to be completely honest with myself, I’ve also been noticing that I don’t like how I look in some clothes. I hate that feeling. Particularly when shopping. I’m sure most of you who have some weight to lose are thinking back to the last time you tried on jeans or a bathing suit. Am I right? I want to get back to being able to try on clothes and be able to judge the clothes, not the body. And to feeling that I look great no matter what I wear. I love that feeling.

Those are my three primary goals. As part of the goal setting portion of this program, I’m going to spend some time thinking about them. I’m going to think about how much fun I can be having playing ultimate once I get to my target. I’ll visualize myself on the field having a blast. I’ll also remember the many games this past summer when I really wasn’t having fun and I was doubting my skill and my ability to compete. I won’t spend too much time dwelling on the negative because I don’t think that’s healthy. But I do think looking at both the positive and negative outcomes of a goal can be powerful. When I face a challenging craving, instead of just thinking about the deliciousness that faces me, I will visualize myself either having a great time playing a sport I love, or driving home from the game filled with self-doubt. Now I’ve internalized my reason for sticking with the program. Not sure your goals are something you can really internalize and be motivated toward? Try writing it out. In truth, I just came up with that outcome spectrum right now as I was writing. Writing it out can be very helpful. That example is pretty powerful for me, and it’s not even about health or family. Take the time and find out what will motivate you to succeed at your weight loss program.

The next couple of blog posts are up. The next one is about what I’ve done to lay the foundation. And the third one about tracking progress is also up.

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