So it is the end of August. A lot of folks seemed to have a good month as far as keeping up with goals set for themselves. This was really not about one month only, it was about using the month to try and develop a pattern to follow. Check out the Twitter search for #ActiveAugust to find those blogging about it, or check out my first post with some of those who participdated listed.
How was #ActiveAugust for me?
Final weight – 204.5lbs from 209/210 (and I was actually closer to 211/212 in July but by weigh in day I was trying to eat a bit better in many ways). So counting just the weight in August, I dropped about 5 pounds.
That is not as good as seeing 2lbs/wk going but one of the weeks was a bad week for me and my pants are fitting better (waist is getting smaller), I am feeling better, eating and drinking better and I am being active.
So my grade for myself? B-
What I did well and will continue to do (and blog monthly about at least this year):
- Activity – Swimming and walking extra where/when I can, more active fun time with the kids.
- No Coke – I allowed a couple Coke Zeros during the month but by and large I stuck with water and milk (calcium helps the body to burn fat, helps recovery and is generally good for you)
- Less garbage – Plenty of tasty food that isn’t processed 5 times before it gets to you.
What I should work on in the coming months:
- Goal #1 was a distance swim in open water. I looked around and saw a couple shorter ones (around a mile). I will train for those and hope to compete.
- Triathlon – I want to participate in one next year. I am going to have to get to a doctor for a problem with my right foot and maybe get some PT so I can not deal with the foot pain (plantar fasciitis?) when running.
- Fish/Vegetarian Meals – I enjoy eating either but I didn’t do enough. Probably out of laziness, we have beef/chicken in the freezer and that is what the in-laws (who we eat with often) enjoy. Need to start getting more healthy fish and vegetable into my meals.
- More Activity – I slacked off in the weights, let other things get in the way. Some of those should get in the way, but some of them were just time wasters.
I hope to end the year around 185-190, in size 34s or smaller and feeling much healthier. I also really want to be ready to start doing more swimming competitively so I am going to focus on that as well.
Congrats to everyone who had fun this #ActiveAugust and hopefully it all sticks with us as we move on to the fall.
This was such a great idea. Seeing the people on the twitters talking about it really kept me on point. I lost about 7-8 lbs, and really got into some good habits. I haven’t felt this good in a long time!
Good luck carrying it into September!
Alex – that is awesome! That is what it was all about, figured the encouragement, accountability and support would make it easier on all of us. Glad to hear about your success points. The weight loss is great but the feeling is even more important. I am right there with you. Just got done doing weights and squats until my legs turned rubber and I still feel great 🙂
So far so good into September. I hope the same for you!