I haven’t told many people I am on a deeper journey to lose weight here. There is no point to that.
I want people to notice. That is the ultimate test. And people have started to notice! One person remarked on it. Even my GF (who is pretty bad at telling) remarked on it.
So, let’s keep pushing it.
Sucks! I missed the race. Woke up early, got ready, got to the location. But – I entered from the wrong side! I ran to the start line (which was 2.5 miles away) but they wouldn’t let me start.
I am so annoyed! Didn’t make progress towards my Marathon goal.
The next set of races are a while away. I do have some non marathon races in the meantime. I should also focus on continuing the training.
Most people seem to say that you should lose weight slowly so that you don’t gain it back. They say that if you crash diet, then you will regain it all back and/or lose muscle.
But lately, I have been seeing more and more evidence that obesity should be viewed as a disease and so, cured rapidly. See this blog.
Obesity is a disease. The mortality rate can jump up 100%.
Regardless of the academic stuff, I am not being aggressive enough. I can crank that dial up a notch.
How Fast Can You Lose Weight Safely WITHOUT Gaining it Back?
In 2022, I went through more of a mental transformation. I didn’t lose a lot of weight, but I think I had a mental switch. I flipped the switch.
I wrote some details about Building Confidence. One thing that I talk about in that blog post is that I want to build behind-the-fence confidence. The people who say no don’t matter. The people who feign concern don’t matter. Nothing seems to be greater to me than that fight with yourself as you go towards conquering lofty goals. To achieve what you set your mind towards.
I entered 2023 with my inner confidence brewing and decided to take a lot of big shots. There is a snapshot of my life in which I achieve a lot of my goals: health, relationship and work. And this year I started in all three directions.
I have high expectation from myself. Higher than anyone else might have off of myself. And I am not going to settle or beg. I will continue to take my shots and either people can join me or not.
Running is changing me in a deep way. The act of just going out there to the park and running for some amount of miles despite the naysayers, the distractions, the high stresses at work, the mf’ing environment… none of that matters to me. I just go.
Emotions
For some reason when I look at videos of the NY Marathon from years past, I get a bit emotional. It’s this idea of conquering this task. As a fat guy, to be able to push my body to adapt, slim down and conquer that marker. And also finally feel like a New Yorker.
I have visualized that day: November 3 2024.
After I have completed that marathon, I will vote in my first presidential election ever.
And then, I will go watch the Steelers play in Pittsburgh, on their journey to the Superbowl.
Completing that marathon would mean that my body has finally come into shape and created a base for the rest of my life.
Beck and Terrell
The Beck Book and Chris Terrell have been instrumental in initiating the flipping of the switch. It is propagating into the rest of my life. Let’s keep going.
Right now things are going well. I am seeing my body adapt to running in a way never done before. My VO2 max is increasing in front of my eyes. Resting heart rate is plummeting. And I am losing some fat.
I have been eating well (keeping calories low, protein high). And I am largely abstaining from alcohol. I am definitely on the wagon right now.
I am afraid of falling off of the wagon. I am afraid because I am not sure if I will ever be able to get back onto the wagon. I don’t know how I will be able to recover from a blackout or a hard night of gorging. I don’t know how I will be able to get back into running if I haven’t run in more than a week. It was so difficult to start in the first place that I don’t know if I can go back to that again.
It is easier to keep going than to start again
Right now I am being propelled by motivation because I have good goals to achieve. But soon, I will have to start using fear of failure to keep myself propelling.
2023 is the first year in which I started to run. I am actually pretty interested in the process. I am obsessing over running and watching what I eat, etc. I am a bit worried that the second year might not be as detailed as this one. Maybe that is okay if things are going well?
One example where the second year actually was better is tracking calories. I have been tracking calories for way more than a year. It’s a great dataset (and that is the thing that’s propelling me). Another example is the Moleskin. So, perhaps I am not that bad at keeping habits going on for more than a year. That actually is awesome.
One trap that I do not want to fall into this time around is thinking too much about the future, wallowing too much about the past and ignoring the present. The famous saying goes:
You keep one foot in the past, one in the future and end up peeing on the present
Specifically, I don’t want to fetishize the future. I have done that in the past. I start loosing a bit of weight and start projecting where I could be in the future. I see those numbers and start to get comfortable. Bad idea.
This time, I am going to take it one day at a time. This is critical. And continuously course correct if things are not going my way. Simple as that. Eventually you can zoom out to see the larger picture. But, while you are on this journey, you need to focus on the next step.
This is an important mindset change. Of course, you are coarsely guided by a broader vision; but you have to be able to focus on the present so that you can adapt and course correct with agility.
I am noticing this mindset cropping up in work and in my relationship too. And it is becoming part of my health journey.
I think that this is how I will tackle the Marathon as well. One step at a time. Focus on the present. And then zoom out later to see the full picture.
I did another 5k. An official one. I actually am scheduled to do 10 miles in the last 10 days.
Eh, not good. It’s been 5 days. I have been stuck on this.
I just signed up for a half marathon for middle of March. WTF. Am I ready for it?
On one dimension, this is stupid and of course I will not be able to actually run that whole distance.
On the other dimension, I just want to feel it. I can walk big chunks of it. No judgement.
I am hoping to get it out of the way and normalize it. Get an idea of what it means. I have the same feeling that I had for the 10k. I was so apprehensive.
To test it out though, I have to do a full loop of central park plus a bit more. I need to see if my body can at least do that.
I am on a diet.
I am in a cutting phase.
I know that people say that “don’t be on a diet, have deeper life style changes” etc etc. Well, for me, I like to think that I am on a diet. And I like to think that I am in a cut.
It helps me to think like a bodybuilder who is in a temporary “cutting phase”. That’s how I am going to view this.
I have a longer list of food but generally, these have been my regular items lately:
Interesting stuff. Basically, he did what I am doing:
I think this is it. Don’t need to be keto. I am super sure right now.
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The Rolex Life 