Get Fit: Week 6 (Day 44)

Hello internet and future self. It's been 44 days since I've started my journey. I have noticed some amazing changes in my body as well as mental changes to how I think about food and how I exercise. I can't remember the last time I was comfortable looking at myself in the mirror. I can finally say that when I glanced into the mirror and noticed myself, I did not mind my appearance. I didn't have that "fat" look that I knew I had. You know, love handles stick out of your jeans, stomach showing, and the bloaty face look. When I look at my body without my clothes, I know there is still a long way to go in terms of what I want my final look to be. But I am happy with the changes that have happened over the past month. It gives me drive to keep working at it. Every time I feel hungry, I think about what kind and type of food I want to replenish my hunger with. It's a mental lifestyle change that I hope to keep going forward. I stick to cleaner meals that contain chicken, fish, greens, and fruits. My main meal tends to be lunch time, while breakfast is slightly heavy (such as a bagel) and dinner being my lightest meal of the day. I'll typically eat a bagel with cream cheese and black coffee as a supplement. Lunch will be composed of chicken or fish and will be of a considerable portion. I'll workout immediately after work for around 1.5 to 2 hours. I'll typically end my workout around 6:30 or 7PM, and consume a Pressed Juicery Chocolate Almond juice (or Soylent) to end the day. Of course, there will still be times where I crave for something not healthy (biscuit breakfast sandwiches are still my weakness), but I try to limit it to one meal within the week and during the earlier parts of the day such as breakfast or lunch. My drinks have been limited mostly to water and black coffee. It's done wonders removing sugary drinks from my diet. Working out feels different too. It's starting to be habitual (which is a great thing). However, there have been times where I was tempted to skip a workout in order to do other things like watch a movie, happy hour with friends, or get a heavy dinner with my family. I've been very focused on my goal though, skipping out on many of these events or rescheduling them for when its most convenient with my day schedule. I've noticed that many of the exercises that used to be hard are no longer difficult. I've either had to update/change my routine, or make the same existing workout harder by adding weights or variety. When I first started, I was only able to use 60 pound weights. As of this writing, I'm currently hovering over 100 on most workouts. Since I've started my fitness journey, I've been using several life events as motivation to do things with intensity to get to my weight goal faster. Here are a couple of those events:

1. Peter Lee wished me to be happy and to live a healthy lifestyle during his retirement party. I knew he was inferring to my body weight when he said this. I thought I would be intimidated, but instead it gave me motivation to work out even harder.
2. My cousin, Steve, recently posted on social media the 40 pounds of weight loss he accrued since he started in 2016. For him, it was the Keto Diet that got him there. I've been using this event as a competitive way to beat his 2 year timeline. I started around 255 pounds. I'm currently at 237 pounds. That's 18 pounds; I'm practically half-way there.
3. There is a wedding that is on August 18 (two months from now) [Job and Angela are finally getting married!]. This is the date that I aim to look good for at the moment. I'm not sure if I'll still be fat looking, but I am shooting for at least "average", where I feel like I fit in with the rest of the attendees who will be there.

There's plenty of room for improvement. I'm still iffy about my plyometric workout which involves only the use of your body as freeweight. I think that when I lose more weight and get closer to my weight goal, it will be easier for me to do these body workouts. I can envision a time in the near future where I can do mountain climbers and alternating squats with intensity, and feel good, sweating, doing it. Once the people around me (excluding family of course) notice that I've lost weight and get positive comments, it will further advance my fitness motivation. I can't wait to achieve more and see what new things I can do during my fitness journey. Trust the process, be consistent and practice patience. The journey is long, but it will be worth it once we have achieved and maintained it.