Roommates

I miss having roommates sometimes. It gets lonely and the noise from TV doesn’t make up for real people’s conversations even if I’m not interacting with them. Just knowing friends are literally close by if I wanted to chat or go grab a bite to eat with them on a whim was a nice thing to have.

Maybe it’s in anticipation of going to Vegas this weekend with friends (2 of whom are former roommates), but tonight is one of those lonely nights when I wish someone was here in my condo. Not necessarily to “hang out” but to have around while I’m getting things done around here.

I did it!

Yeah, this post is a little late. I've been busy. Deal with it.

My weight loss challenge ended April 28th and I won. It felt unreal at first and I was (and still am) uncomfortable with the praise I received, but I'm extremely proud of myself, for several reasons that could've made my final month difficult.

• Midway through the challenge, my trainer (and gym co-owner), Aaron, told me that I had to reach 220 lbs as my end weight, which is three pounds more than the 70 pounds originally agreed upon. He claimed that he said all along that he rounded it to 220 from 223 to make it a nice even number to reach. So I had to contend with losing an additional 3 pounds.
• I weighed in for March late, on April 3rd instead of the first day of April. I had only lost 3 pounds in March, leaving me 9 pounds to lose in April, when I had surely expected to hit my goal weight by the end of March.
• I weighed in for April on the 28th, instead of May 1st, cutting my deadline by 3 days because Aaron would be on vacation starting April 29th.

So how did I do? I beat my challenge by 10 pounds, weighing in at 210 lbs on the gym scale! That means I lost 19 pounds in April, despite the reasons listed above. I lost more weight in my final month than any other month, even more than any of the first three months in which I averaged about 14.5 pounds lost per month.

Aaron was extremely nice to me (and proud of me) that day. He interviewed me with a video camera as I walked up to the gym that morning. Several gym members were there, specifically to see my weigh-in. One was even in his work uniform and stopped by just to see my weigh-in before going to work. I am not one to enjoy the spotlight whatsoever, not physically in front of people like that. I was nervous with sweat within seconds.

Aaron made an announcement to the gym to have everyone gather around. He played a 7-minute video projected onto a screen for us to watch before I would step onto the scale.  It was a slideshow of my progress, each month's photo of me without a shirt (slightly embarrassing!) along with workout shots of me with encouraging little captions, like "He never gave up," and "he never complained." I was touched. I can't recall the last time I received, and valued, such recognition from my peers. The slideshow was followed by a clip of a video my trainer's fiancee had taken as I was doing the last 100 meters or so of my final pre-weigh-in workout, a 1000m burpee bound, followed by an on-the-spot interview Aaron had me do.

Then it was time for the weigh-in. Other than my first month, Aaron had always made me face away from the scale so I could never see the numbers as I was being weighed; he would just tell me what it was. This time, he let me face the scale. It's an old-school scale, the kind most doctors' offices still use. I stepped on it, saw that the scale was set to 200, but that moving the weight to 220 made it too heavy. My heart did a somersault. When it was stopped at 210, I really don't remember my reaction. I only remember relief. My memory is actually sort of a blur from that point. I remember Stephanie, another trainer who had led several of my classes throughout the challenge, gave me a tight hug. There were a lot of high-fives and "great job" comments.

Winning that challenge was probably one of the hardest things I’ve had to do; it required so much focus and discipline. I'm not sure I ever had that kind of discipline with anything in my life. I only wish I could have that in other areas of my life right now. Now that I'm done with this challenge, perhaps I can focus some of that energy to improving myself in other aspects of my well-being.

Someone said something very nice about me.

I’m feeling pretty low lately about stuff. No details. That’s all you get.

So, I’m pasting a Facebook post that a fellow gym member wrote about me the day before I won my weight loss challenge to make myself feel better. I was extremely honored that someone thought this of me, even more so that he took the time to write it out and post for his friends (and mine) to see. The comments that followed from other members at my gym as well as friends were touching as well, but I’ve left those out.

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I was inspired by Darrin S today. Were you?

by Michael on Friday, April 27, 2012 at 6:47pm ·

Do you know how far 1000 meters is? It's 0.62 miles. Do you know what a "burpee bound" is, in Crossfit terms? Together, they are done in 6 steps:

1. Begin in a standing position.
2. Drop into a squat position with your hands on the ground.
3. Extend your feet back in one quick motion and put your chest on the ground (bottom of a push up).
4. Return to the squat position in one quick motion.
5. Return to an upright standing position.
6. Jump forward with both feet together as far as you can. Repeat...

Do you know who Darrin is? He is a member of the same Crossfit gym as myself. He started a weight loss bet with the owner, and they dubbed it "70 lbs in 7 months". His final weigh in is tomorrow, so I should start this off by saying, GOOD LUCK DARRIN!

I came into the gym today a little sluggish. Monday and Wednesday were pretty hard WOD's (Workout of the Day), and I didn't feel like getting up this morning. I noticed Darrin was missing. Usually I see him, and ask how his morning went. He would sometimes say "I rowed for an hour" or, "I did 2 WOD's", or something crazy of that nature. I have heard the other trainers say that he was "a machine", and "such an inspiration". I got to witness this first hand today.

Do you remember what burpee bounds and what 1000 meters were? Well he did those, that far! No running, jogging, walking, or steps of any kind. His body hits the floor, he springs back up, and jumps for 0.62 miles over and over and over until he's done.

I have been inspired by people on TV, and the things poeple have accomplished in the face of adversity. Sure, inspiration is all around us. BUT, it's different when you are watching someone accomplish something right in front of your eyes, with a  look of dedication. When you see it live and in person, the effect is different. He made everything I had to do that day, look easy. Darrin had dirt and gutter water on his clothes, his cheeks were dirty from resting at the bottom, and he still had the ability to laugh at Aaron's donut jokes on the final stretch. He looked like a homeless person after a storm. It was truly an inspiration to watch Darrin accomplish this amazing feat on his last day before weigh in.

I don't know him all that well, but for the 10 mintues I spent watching him finish, he reminded me what hard work and dedication really is. We will be there tomorrow to see his final weigh in, and whether or not he makes his goal number, he has still won. 

If ANYONE at the gym reads the board and sighs at the day's WOD, think of Darrin. It should remind you of how much of a (p)wussy you are.

Thanks for the inspiration Darrin.

ADHD

http://twitter.com/#!/Schwizzle/statuses/76045289609379840

I don't have actual ADHD; I have what I think is more like Attention Deficit Hoarding Disorder. I keep collecting, recording, downloading, eating, and collecting even more. Of everything. Books, video games, recipes, Blu-rays, Tivo'd shows, magazines, junk, junk, junk. 

I have a bookcase full of books. I've probably only read 10% of them. More like 5%. I have video games that haven't been unwrapped since I bought them over 2 years ago.  Movies that I've purchased and haven't watched since buying them. The list goes on.

In fact, I even have a to-do list that grows everyday more and more as tasks get accomplished less and less.  I waste so much time doing nothing that nothing I want to do is getting done.  I'm not learning, I'm not progressing, I'm not sharpening any skills, wit, ANYTHING.  The greatest (and possibly the only worthwhile) accomplishment I've done is winning my weight loss challenge (which needs a post of its own that I keep putting off as well).

It's not that I don't have time for doing/reading/watching these things; I'm not making time. If I would only put as much focus into improving myself overall as I did with working out, I'd... well, I'd probably lose quite a few friends actually... but maybe I'd finally have success in some other areas of my life.