I’ve been hesistant in sharing this part of my life but I believe it’ll help in encouraging me to stay committed and dedicated to my long-term goal. Two years ago I hit my all time highest weight of 145lbs. I’m not particular tall, I stand at about 5’5 on a good day or 5’4 if you ask a doctor 🙂 Given my small frame, my ideal body weight is 114-127lbs. So at 145lbs, I was definitely above my ideal weight and it showed; I wasn’t happy and set out on a path to tone up and lose the weight…

The Beginning

It was difficult getting into a workout routine. But two summers ago, I began swimming; something I really enjoyed. The first time I could barely make it half ways across a 30 yard pool without having to rest. The following week, I did better and was able to make it across without stopping. The week after, I was able to do a full lap. Little by little I began losing the weight. I compulsively tracked my status via iFitness on my iPhone. Every month I would “weigh in” and do my measurements. Even though visually there wasn’t much change from month-to-month, the measuring tape didn’t lie… I was shedding the inches and dropped from 145lbs to 132lbs within 6 months. What can I say, for us short guys dropping even a pound or two is very significant.

Once the winter rolled around, I stopped swimming. I joined a gym in December to keep exercising and working out. As it happens to most, I started out strong for about 2-3 months but the habit began fading away. When the summer of 2011 came around, I began swimming again but not as much as before. Unexpectedly, I fell into an extreme diet of about 1,000 calories a day for the rest of that year. I was still losing weight but I felt my energy low and my immune system compromised. I knew it wasn’t the healthy way of doing it… even if I did reach as low as 124lbs. After getting sick one too many times that year, I decided to bump up my calorie count and recover from this extreme diet (which I honestly had no intentions to be on, it just happened).

For the first part of 2012, my energy levels hadn’t recovered and I was more focused on getting back to a healthy calorie intake. I had gotten used to not eating. I had lost my appetite but slowly began getting it back. During this time I also didn’t religiously do my monthly weigh ins or measurements. So now here we are… it’s the summer again and I decided to start up my swimming once more. I’m back into the same routine, doing my weigh-ins and measurements. During my downtime, I had increased from about 124lbs to about 130lbs and all my measurements went up.

This time around though, I’m going to hold myself publicly accountable. Back in high school, when I used to run cross-country and do basic weigh training in the off-season, I weighed 118. My ultimate goal now is to weigh 122-125lbs but with significantly more muscle definition; I feel this is achievable. With this being an introduction to my personal challenge, track my current progress:

My Personal Workout Challenge Progress

 

Related Posts: