Fat down, Money up
Simply put, that is my New Year’s Resolution for this year.
I’ll be honest with you. I don’t have a very good track record with New Year’s Resolutions.
In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever carried a single one out all the through to the very end. Like many people, I generally last until about the end of January before I either lose motivation, or something else grabs my attention. But this year, I really want this year to be different.
So this is what I’m doing.
1 To begin with, I’m making a very clear goal.
I want to lose 10 kg this year. More specifically, on December 31, 2018, I want to weigh 10 kg less than I do now, which means that my target weight is 72 kg.
Losing weight slowly is fine by me. I don’t want to suddenly drop 7 kg and then gain them back next winter. I want to make the changes that my body needs to produce permanent results. For the time being, I am hoping to lose 1 kg by February 1. That is Step One.
2 I have thought long and hard about why I haven’t been able to lose weight in the past.
(Over the last seven years, I have steadily gained about 15 kg.) The conclusion that I have come to is that , up until now, I haven’t been able to find an exercise routine/format that I can easily fit into my daily schedule.
For me, evenings and weekends are very busy. In the evening, I’m on full-time father duty and I can’t dedicate time to exercising on a regular basis. On the weekends, in addition to having family duties and plans, I work part-time. The only time that I consistently have is in the morning, the early morning, before everyone else wakes up.
So, to begin with, I have decided to do a 9-minute strength training routine every morning at 5:00 am. This is a quick, but challenging interval training routine that I found through The New York Times. I don’t know if these nine minutes will be enough to make much of a change in my body weight, but for the time being, it is a place to begin. If I see that I need to expand and make changes down the road, I will.
I am already imagining that I will have to find a way to incorporate at least thirty minutes of walking, running, cycling, or swimming into my weekly routine (probably more), but before I do so, I want to establish a minimal daily exercise habit that I will be sure to continue and see what effects that has on my body.
3 I am keeping this goal in front of my face.
Everyday I am recording my daily weight and the exercises that I do each day on a calendar, a calendar that I must look at everyday in order to keep track of my changing work schedule.
The purpose of recording this data is twofold. For one, I want to see how my weight changes and exactly how much exercise I am doing. Keeping track of this data will help me to see if I am making progress or not. It will also show me if and when I am having setbacks, which should help me to troubleshoot the cause of these setbacks.
Knowing where you began and where you are is essential for plotting a course toward where you want to go. That is another reason why I want to keep track of my weight and exercise routine. Doing so will help me to see how effective the exercise I am doing actually is and will help me to make decisions about whether or not I need to change my approach to exercise and losing weight. It is possible that I will need to exercise harder and longer than I currently am to achieve my goals. It is also possible that I will need to change my diet. At the moment, I simply don’t know what I will need to do, but recording this information consistently on a daily basis should help me to understand where I am at and it should also help me to make decisions that will get me where I want to go.
4 I am posting about my progress and experiences on social media.
Accountability is a huge part of maintaining specific behaviors and pushing oneself to reach one’s goals. When it comes to exercise, I have found that I don’t hold myself very accountable for my actions. If the weather is poor, or if I’m too tired, of is something else catches my eye, I am very likely to give myself a Rain Pass and call off exercise for that day. If, however, I have to report my progress to the world, I think I will be a little more likely to push myself on those days and in the moments when my resolution is weak.
What can I say, I’m a crowd pleaser, and I don’t like to disappoint people.
So, I’m hoping that by sharing my story on Steemit and on Sola, I will win a few followers who will help me to achieve my goals by simply expecting me to be true to my word. In other words, when I say that I am going to exercise everyday, I am hoping to find an audience who will be looking forward to reading my weekly updates and seeing if I did as I said I would do, which in this case means 9 minutes of interval training every morning.
As for the second part of my New Year’s Resolution, the Money Up part, beyond working more and continuing my Steemit habits, I haven’t made much of a plan to increase my wealth. Maybe once I start making some progress on losing weight, I can begin focusing on part two of this resolution.