Week 7: Back In The Saddle Again!

Last week's number: 314.1 pounds
This week's number: 309.1 pounds
Week-to-week loss: 5.0 pounds
Net loss: 40.5 pounds

By this time next week, I most likely will have lost my son's weight in fat! It's a weird notion, to think that I've lost the equivalent of a 6-year-old who thinks he's Mario half the time. ;-)  But by next year, I will have lost the equivalent weight of an adult woman (albeit one on the petite side).  Carrying around basically another human being full-time can't be good for you!

And here I thought I'd reached a plateau!  After last week's weigh-in, I redoubled my exercise efforts, putting more time in on the treadmill and adding calisthenics to the workout as well.  On Monday night I passed the 2-mile threshold on the treadmill; last night I broke 2.5 miles.  My goal is to do 3 miles on the treadmill in one hour; from there I'll increase speed.  I am really, really serious about running the Spartan Run next year!  It will be the capstone achievement for this whole program!

Overall the encouragement I've gotten while I've been on this program has been simply amazing.  I thank everyone for it every day.  But still, there are a few dissenting voices who ask why I even bother.  The answer is simple:

I have had enough of mediocrity and missed expectations in my life!

It was mediocrity that got me to where I am now physically.  It was an unwillingness to supply more effort than needed that stalled my professional and academic careers for years.  It has ruined relationships, led me to think less of myself in general, and overall made me miserable.

And I think I have a fairly good idea where this spirit of mediocrity started, too.  It certainly didn't come from my parents: both of them accomplished their goals in life and demanded nothing but the best effort from my brothers and me.  They, too, have been very supportive.  Unfortunately I did this to myself, and at the time it was with the best of intentions.

I'll cover that more in my next post.  Warning: if you don't like controversy, you may want to skip that one.