Get ready for a cheeseball post, because if you haven’t picked up on it by now, I’m a little bit cheeseball. Heck, I tell stories for a living, so of course I’m going to be a little dramatic!

After 6 long weeks, the Orange Theory Fitness weight loss challenge is complete, and while we were neck and neck at the midway point, my competitor got the best of me for the male winner of my studio. I’ll admit, I was a little bit bummed that I didn’t win, so let’s break things down.

1. What I lost

   1.  I lost the competition, or to better put it, I didn’t get first place. Since on the studio level only the top male and female percentage lost wins a prize, I have to settle for the consolation prize being….
   2. I lost 30 pounds in 6 weeks! Just shy of my starting body weight!
      • So let’s take a look at what’s more important, what I gained.

2. What I gained

   1. Knowledge: While this is an ongoing process, I know a lot more than when I started in many areas:
      • Nutrition: much of what I’ve been doing the past 32 year was (obviously) incorrect. I know what makes me full, what fuels my body, and what makes me feel good from the inside out. I’m also not too shabby a cook!
      • Groceries:
      • Workouts:
      • Rest:
   2. Confidence: both inside and outside the gym.
      • Previous attempts at getting fit were almost always halted with injury, so I made a concerted effort to go conservative. As my overall strength grows, I’m much more confident in my own body to start pushing myself and taking my fitness to the next level.
      • Outside the gym, having the clothes feel looser, my back muscles helping my posture, more energy overall. You can’t help but start to get a little more bounce to your step with confidence!
   3. Muscle: I actually have them now! The scale can be deceiving, and one thing to note is I’m 100% confident I lost much more than 30 pounds of fat, because I can feel and see muscle growth. I scratched my shoulder the other day and felt a muscle, freaked me out at first!
   4. Clothes: It’s like I went on a shopping spree, only I bought clothes I used to own but stopped wearing. Luckily, my hoarder nature is a good way to further gauge my progress: if this was a shirt I wore x amount of years ago, then I’ve worked off x years of weight gain!
   5. Good Habits: The number typically associated with developing good habits is 3 weeks. Well, I can tell you that it’s going to take more than 3 weeks to destroy 32 years of bad habits. But I’m well on my way.
      • With that in mind, I will take everything I’ve gained and lost over the past 6 weeks and move on to step 3….

3. What Comes Now?

   • Of course I’m not going to stop now that the weight loss challenge is over, I have the rest of my life to keep going and bettering myself!

Now, in full disclosure, due to my competitive nature I did cut calories pretty aggressively and I avoided food temptations by going into a hermit like state. While it was effective in jump starting the weight loss, here’s the simple truth: it is NOT sustainable long term.

So my goal, which I fully understand will be a whole new challenge, is to take what I’ve learned and find a way to sustain it forever. Here’s my plans right now:

• Ease off the gas as far as depraving myself nutritionally
• Allow myself to have reasonable cheat/treat meals, but be smart and strategic with it. Have them on days that I worked out, and don’t go completely nuts!
• When I do cheat and/or fall off the wagon, DO NOT BEAT MYSELF UP! Acknowledge it’s happened and move on.
• Have a social life. Stress and internalizing emotions leads to high cortisone levels and weight gain. The point of this journey is to better my life as a whole, having fun with friends and family reduces stress and really makes life worth living.

This was a fantastic jump start to the new journey, much better than I anticipated. Now to just keep it going!