2019: Losing it with my wife!
2019 was a challenging but effective year of weight loss for me. I currently weigh 246 pounds, for a loss of 27 pounds on the year and a total of 98 pounds since I started counting on May 9, 2017. I missed my original January 1 goal by only 5 pounds, which is remarkable given the plateaus I encountered. I also accomplished several other long-term goals this year.
The best part of 2019 for me was watching my wife make massive strides with her weight loss and overall health. In addition to changing her life, this selfishly was incredibly motivating and supportive for me as her husband. On top of that, she absolutely demolished me in the weight loss department this year, losing 70 pounds and getting within striking distance of her goal weight for 2020.
Here’s a look at how I did in 2019.
Plateaus!
Here’s a closer look at my year of weight loss.
I started the year at 273 pounds.
By my birthday, I was already at 250! But my weight shot back up to 260 within two weeks, ugh.
I brought my weight back to 250 by July 1. This was during work travel to India, and let’s just say my diet was lighter.
I spent most of the rest of the year (July-November) bouncing between 255 and 260, despite continuing with 3x-weekly workouts and twice-weekly cardio.
I stabilized on 249 pounds after adopting an intermittent fasting diet during the month of November. It’s always noteworthy to hold (or even lose three pounds!) during the holiday months of November and December. For me, these months have more time off for cardio and other workouts…so the discipline of a diet was the hardest part.
I had a great final few days of 2019, dropping my weight from 249 to 246.
Other Milestones
In January, I had a few fitness-related resolutions.
As an aside: I thrive on resolutions and goal-setting, and it annoys me to see people mocking them or suggesting that they’re useless. Like most things, you’ll get out of a goal what you put in… so go ahead and make them, then do them! I recently wrote this list to myself about the process:
- Make a goal
- Make a plan
- Make a commitment
- Make time
- Make progress
- Make discoveries
- Make changes
- -REPEAT-
These were my resolutions, and the days I achieved them.
I also started tracking my Personal Records (PRs) on several exercises.
I also achieved a few additional unplanned milestones:
- I can jog an entire 5k without stopping. As you can see from my resolutions, I couldn’t jog a mile without stopping at the beginning of the year!
- All clothes are down one or more sizes. Even my feet (!) appear to be smaller, as I’ve gone from a full size 12 to 11.5 shoe.
- The definition in my shoulders consistently leads to a pat down at the airport, which is nice. The TSA people say this is a thing — “You must be hitting the gym, huh?” Yes sir. Let’s get this over with before my pants fall down.
New Habits
I started several new habits this year, many of which I mentioned on my 35th Birthday post.
Eating
First and foremost, the best habit of the year has to be dieting along with my wife, Christine. After adding heavy cardio (phase 1) and strength training (phase 2), I knew that diet would be key to losing any weight this year. My wife is an amazing cook, and preparing meals is a big part of her role in home life. She adopted several Paleo principles in her cooking, and “settled for white meat chicken” on several occasions.
Jogging
I can finally jog for a considerable amount of time without stopping. This seems to be possible thanks to intensive (and expensive!) Physical Therapy the first part of the year and continuous improvements to my stamina over the past several years.
Now that I can jog, jogging is a significant part of my workout routine. The only challenge I’ve encountered is how to balance “jogging days” with more traditional strength training “leg days.” I feel like I still need both, but jogging three miles definitely still leaves me sore.
Hiking
We’ve also started hiking more often this year, which is a great new hobby that Christine and I enjoy doing together.
We’ve now hiked several trails around town, especially those at Monte Sano State Park. In September, we were supposed to go on a cruise to the Bahamas. When Hurricane Dorian canceled the cruise, we went on some awesome hikes in Knoxville and Stone Mountain instead. We’ve also walked a few trails in Mississippi on visits…and I can’t forget the trek to the fort on my trip to Pune, India!
Strength Training
Lifting weights was a bit of a roller coaster in 2019. I started the year hoping to focus on the 5 full-body lifts of the popular “Strong Lifts” program, but ran into issues with relatively minor form-related injuries and general difficulty with those. For the past two months, I’m mostly back to what worked in 2018: A Push/Pull split with dumbbells and cables.
I’m a little disappointed not to be able to do better with Squats in particular. Balance was my primary limitation here, and I had hoped that PT would help me make progress there.
Reflections
The beginning of the year is always a good time to reflect on how far I’ve come. I’m always tempted to be disappointed, knowing that I could have done more. Reflecting back at what I HAVE done and how improbable it is that I’ve come this far helps me to focus on the way forward.
How about some year-over-year Christmas pics?
Next Steps
For 2020, one of the biggest challenges for me and my wife Christine will be to get back to eating three healthy meals a day while still slowly losing weight.
Another challenge will be finding some margin for weight loss. As the progress above shows, I found a way to get within 5 pounds of my goal for the year after a nearly 6-month plateau. I think this will mostly focus on “cheats” that I’ve still allowed, and the addictive behaviors around those — things like drinking alcohol, eating candy, drinking soda, etc.
Resolutions for 2020
I’ve set the following resolutions for myself, for 2020:
- Get my weight under 220 pounds
- Do a one-minute plank
- Do a 5K in under 35 minutes
- Bench Press 185 pounds
- Deadlift my bodyweight
Thank You
Thank you for everyone who took a few minutes to read this post. I want to thank everyone who has encouraged me on this journey so far, and I hope that I’ve encouraged and inspired you to achieve your goals this year. I know that I’m very blessed to be in the position with time, money, and other resources to achieve my fitness goals.
God bless you, your friends, and your families, and have a great 2020!
