And all the difficulty comes back...

Okay, I have obviously not followed through with beginning this blog and getting back on track.

I have had yet another last minute around-the-world trip, and just got back and am still getting settled in.

Bottom line is, I still need a lot of work on keeping myself accountable when I travel and discovering new ways to stay healthy on the road and when I have no stable life.

More to come soon.

Goals and Motivation

As I'm starting out again, I think it's important for me to reevaluate my goals and motivations. When I first started my efforts to become healthier, I was in a bad place, both mentally and physically. I wanted to feel good about myself and stop the downward spiral before it got out of control. I gained around 30 pounds in half a year, lost it in another half a year, and gained 50 pounds back. I felt awful and was very unhappy.

I'm in a different place now, though. I have learned a lot of things over the last couple of years. I know how to listen to my body (even if I choose not to sometimes!). I have a vague idea of how many calories I've eaten, even without tracking it. I'm usually able to handle my stress without going on a binge, and when I do let go and just eat without thinking, I can stop myself a lot earlier than before.

But, I'm still not as healthy and happy as I would like. I'm still overweight, and I'm still struggling with staying healthy. I have learned a lot of techniques, but I don't take the effort and time to apply them. If I get off schedule and miss a few workouts, I end up not working out for a month or two. I've gained back 10 or so pounds of the 50 I had lost at one point.

My end goals are being healthier and looking better. I am vain. I like to look good. I'm also interested in being active and not getting worn out after 2 minutes of playing with friends or surfing. I enjoy the stress relief and the sense of accomplishment I get from a real workout.

So, my initial goals are to be more accountable. Ease back into working out regularly and tracking food. I'm going to play a little bit with diet as well, as I'm concerned that I've been eating way too much sugar and it's having a huge influence on me.

I would like to get down to my goal weight of 170 lbs. The lowest I've ever been is 179 lbs, and I was only there for a week or so. I can't remember ever being that low before. It felt good. It's a long 20 pounds to go!

In terms of my fitness, one of my goals is to open water swim a popular route near where I live. This swim is about 1.5 miles (~2400 meters). It will definitely take a lot of training to achieve this, but I used to swim a lot so I think I can do it eventually. It will also force me to get back in the pool, something I am not excited about!

I'm excited to move forward and start working towards these goals. I have been getting less and less healthy and more and more unhappy with myself, and I'm excited to be making progress.

New beginnings...

My old blog, Beer & Cheese to the Beach, covered my efforts to lose a lot of weight and get back to a decent level of health. I've learned a lot from that process, and since then I have been reasonably steady in my weight.

However, I've found that maintaining stability and motivation and fitness has been very difficult for me. I swing back and forth wildly, depending on the season, how much travel I'm doing, and what else is going on in my life.

This has worked out okay, but I want to have some stability in my health and fitness. I am currently on the upswing, having gained back about 10 pounds. I am at the highest point of where I feel comfortable being.

I am going to start blogging again to hold myself accountable and use this community to reign in my bad habits and find new techniques for staying healthy.

I started to travel a lot for work, around a third of the year in a hotel room, and that has been a big struggle for me.

Looking back, I am proud of the accomplishments I have made. I have lost and maintained a loss of around 40 pounds. I stay somewhere between 40-50 pounds lost from my highest weight. Also during that weight loss, I quit smoking cigarettes. I wasn't a pack a day for 20 years type of smoker, but I picked up that bad habit for half a year or so, and it was hard to kick.

During my original weight loss, I also graduated college and went through the process of finding a job, moving to a completely unfamiliar place, and finding a way to make it home and adjust my life to the 9-5 grind.

I am excited to be back in the blogosphere and hope you guys can help keep me accountable, celebrate accomplishments, and point me in the right direction. I look forward to participating in the community again and cheering you on as well!

Cheers! I raise my glass (ice water please!) to us and our journeys through life!