Motivation

It’s been a while since I last wrote on this blog, for a few reasons.

The first reason is that it’s summer and that means the weather is right for running and riding. I have the same 24 hours in my day that I have during the winter, but now the afternoons are favorable for riding a bike.

Secondly, I began to question what basis I had to be doling out advice. Honestly, I started doing it to answer questions that friends and coworkers asked me.

I backed off of my sharing for a while because I lost a little bit of confidence in what rights I had to tell people those things. I’ve thus far been unable to meet qualifying standards for the Boston Marathon, I don’t have six pack abs and I eat cheeseburgers and French fries every now and then.

Despite all that, I’m sitting at 160 pounds today. That’s 80 pounds less than my maximum, way back in 2007. I have to have done something correctly. I know what I want for myself and have realistic expectations. I back off of my goals when my body needs me to and pour gasoline on the fire when everything is working the way it is intended.

This brings me to the focus for his post; motivation.

A good friend asked me at dinner last week about finding motivation. I thought about this topic a lot in the days since her suggestion. I still am not sure I’ll be able to sell my concept here in words, but believe I am prepared to attempt to shed some light on my personal motivation.

When I first decided to do something about my body, my self-esteem and overall health were in a pretty bad place. Not only was I tipping the scales at a number far too high for my height, but my last physical exam yielded numbers for blood pressure, cholesterol and other factors that were approaching the warning zones. My physician gave me an ultimatum. I could either do something about my overall health, or I could prepare to take daily medication to regulate blood sugar (diabetes), blood pressure (hypertension) and other factors that I couldn’t even begin to understand. Also, I looked like shit.

I previously had accepted that being fat was my fate. I didn’t like healthy foods, and didn’t think that one should spend their life eating things that they do not enjoy. I didn’t believe in moderation or have the ability to fathom why someone would wake up before 7:00 am to exercise before work. All of those things led me to believe that the people that did them were complete psychopaths.

The guy on the right exercises (2013). The guy on the left did not (2007).

Accidental Success

I experimented with my diet. By that, I mean that I stopped drinking sodas. I was drinking around 3-6 sodas per day, followed by a six pack or more of beer each evening. I ate chips by the bag (not fun size). I made sandwiches that required support beams. Eating an entire large pizza was normal. I was never tired, believe it or not, but I had only exercised in the form of walking for a few weeks.

Remove sodas from my diet and cutting my portion size in half removed 20 pounds from my frame almost instantly. It was beyond noticeable. You couldn’t look at me and not see it.

The constant comments from friends, coworkers and people in the community served as a gold star. I wanted more. I can’t tell you how amazing it felt to have people notice what I was doing. In truth, I may have started to do more for some of the wrong reasons. The outcome, however, has been worth it.

The changes in diet continued. I found myself able to tolerate, and later enjoy, salads and vegetables. Though my brain still wants the entire pizza, I stop when I have had enough.

I bought a bike (you know that already). I started running (you know that already). I began to work on the basic math that affects your size and shape. I learned about counting calories and balancing plate portions to ensure that my body was actually getting what it needs. I started tailoring exercise plans to my own needs, and making exercise a priority in my life planning.

The whole time that my daily routines evolved, one constant held true. The pounds kept falling off. In most cases, I kept getting faster on the bike and running. My full disclosure is that I am recognizably fast on neither.

One Word

My goal was to create a closing thought here that would make you lean back in your chair and think about one single word. There’s not one, though.

I started with progress. Then I thought about commitment, lifestyle, drive, determination and a litany of other words that you’ve seen on motivational posters in your breakroom.

I am addicted to progress. I like numbers and charts/graphs. I commit to events, because they require training. I’m driven to achieve goals, and I’m determined to never be the guy looked like me in 2007.

Of all the words I thought about, though, lifestyle seemed to fit the best. My fitness journey started in 2008. There have been highs and lows, but there has never been a point where I walked away from the new commitment.

Each time I met a goal weight, or exercise milestone. I caught my breath and looked for the next one. Your journey, your lifestyle, doesn’t have to be about marathons or 300-mile bike rides. If your journey is about overall health, then make that your lifestyle. Commit to it on a long-term basis. You can’t set a dietary plan, reach your goal and then expect not to return to your previous picture of health if you abandon it.

In the same regard, you can’t run a six minute mile for the first time after training to get there, and then expect to keep running that pace if you never train for it again.

This is why my motivation has become my lifestyle. I want to be able to keep doing epics things and constantly improve. I believe my short distance PRs (personal records) are behind me as I get older. I think I am capable of things at the age of 36 that I could have never imagined myself doing at 26.

I weigh less than I did when I graduated high school. All of my personal health metrics are exactly where they need to be. My resting heart rate is below 40! I’ve kicked addictions, learned things about myself both physical and mental and even accomplished almost every goal that I’ve set along the way (I’m looking at you, Boston). Each one of us can do exactly what I’ve done. Why not start today?