Captain has thrown his gauntlet at my feet with a challenge to see who can lose the most weight by the July 4th. I have been thinking about this long and hard. I love competition. I certainly want to lose a lot of weight fast. On the other hand, I have been trying my hardest to make fitness my focus. Weight is only one component of that. I believe that we put too much emphasis on the scale numbers and not enough on overall health and well-being.
On this count, I am a hypocrite. The name Half Man is a reference to wanting to lose half my body weight. I get down when I don't lose or even gain. Then, I have to console myself by reminding myself of all my fitness gains. When I lose weight, I am happy and excited. However, you in the blogosphere are the only people who know how much I have lost. I refuse to tell anyone how much I have lost. I tell them I am in it for the fitness, not the scale.
Soooo, I feel that if I pick up this challenge, I will be going against my principles. I started to think about ways to include overall fitness into the challenge rather than just weight, but I couldn't figure a way to do it that wouldn't get over-complicated or too time consuming.
Then I started thinking about my friends Jeff and Brad (who is interested in getting in on this competition). I thought that maybe a little competition might encourage us and help us to keep things going in the right direction.
So I decided that I would take up the gauntlet after all. Why not? At least this was my conclusion while I was out on a nice little 8 mile run yesterday. I might not have been thinking straight. Mostly, I was struggling with my obsession over weight and my obsession to not be obsessed with weight. After all, could I even imagine running down the block last year at this time, yet alone running eight miles. No way, Jose. Running for that long gives you a lot of time to think (and be delusional). So I have put a new section above giving the count for the competition. If anyone else would like to get in on this competition, just let me know and give me your starting weight. Then give me updates from time to time so I can update.
Living Fit Is My #1 Job!
7 comments:
Nothing wrong with competition I don't think. I hope it goes well for you :)
I don't think I'll be joining in on this one :D
I LOVE it. Its go time... You hit the nail on the head for me with your comment about obesssing about weight loss then obsessing about not wanting to obsess about weight loss... Wow, that rang true. I go the first 75 or so off and since then have been obsessing about weight loss. Its almost been an ANALYSIS PARALYSIS... Too much talk and not enough DO... What's that Nike slogan... JUST DO IT... ITS TIME
Good luck and lets make the most of this time...
The main thing to remember is that you don't do anything stupid to lose the weight - if it comes of from healthier eating and exercise, then great. If it comes off from radical diets then it's no victory.
However, if you guys want to change the goal to the first one to get under 180lbs, I might just join in... ;)
Can girls play? I'd be interested. I'm doing okay on my own (25 lbs gone), but I need a bit of a nudge to actually put the exercise bit in gear. I seem to have the eating part licked.
If you wish to add me, my current weight is 207.2 (as of this morning). How often/what day do we weigh in?
Don't be a wimp, Captain Flapjack is sucking wind and backsliding to 300 like James Brown doing the Harlem Shuffle!!
Halfman,
It is all fun and only for bragging rights. There is no 250,000 on the table like the biggest loser. I will post my weight tomorrow.
Jeff
p.s. For breakfast I usually eat the huge breakfast burrito instead of flapjacks
Halfman,
I stumbled on your blog by accident, but when I saw your title - "My Journey to Fitness" - I was compelled to read on. I love that you are making fitness, and not weight loss, your focus, and that you see this as a lifestyle change. I wish you the best of luck. If you ever have any questions or would like some free fitness advice, please don't hesitate to drop me a line at cj@crossfitsandiego.com. Good luck on your journey!
C.J. Martin - CrossFit San Diego
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