Over the line

Today's weigh-in: 200.4
Analysis: Actually, I was prepared for 205+
Time since last weigh-in: 3+ months
Time since last gym-hitting: Same
Waistband status: Tight

Hello, if there's anyone out there who still reads this blog. Hope there are still a few of you, but that's not really too important. What IS important, is that this morning, I weighed in at over 200 lbs for the first time in a long time. The good news is, that I'll be back under 200 before weeks end.

Maintenance is a bitch.

You're doing great, working out regularly, eating well but not killing yourself, enjoying life. Slowly, imperceptibly, you start allowing little things. A pizza here, 10 beers there. Then you fall into a slump and things get worse. As you start eating like crap, you stop working out. Once you stop, it's VERY hard to get back in there. Especially for a person like me: someone who needs everything to be "perfect". (E.G., "what's the point of going to the gym if I'm eating like crap?") I know this is a bad attitude to have, but it's the way I am. In order for me to get into the mindset, I need to be immersed in my "character" of a healthy, fit person. It's like method acting. Strange, yes. But I do what I can, I know myself.

Anyway the bottom line is, I was going to the gym religiously with my friend Zach. It was great motivation, I was sort of training him, as he was new to the gym. (He's in good shape, but wanted to start lifting weights). Anyway, having a gym partner is a huge help. Not only does it motivate you to go in the first place, once you're there, your "man-stincts" kick in and you're constantly trying to outdo each other. Leads to killer workouts.

Well, 2 things happened.

1, I started hurting myself. Every couple of weeks I would be laid up with back pain. It started to become clear to me that I was overdoing it on the "big" exercises and that I needed to dial it back or try a different approach. This led to a gradual decline of me going to the gym. And 2, Zach also stopped going. Once that happened, I had no accountability, and I simply stopped going. Like I said, I haven't been there for 3 months or longer.

On the eating front, it's just been a disaster. I am in a relationship with a girl who, while great, unfortunately has pretty much the same eating disorder that I have/had. Emotional eating, bored eating, and eating absolute crap. Not that she doesn't battle it (albeit in a different way than I do), the bottom line is that when we're in a rut, we enable the hell out of each other and end up ordering pizza and crap just about every night. And drinking. The end result is that over the course of the last 4 months or so, between the holidays, winter depression/boredom, and a Parisian vacation, we managed to each pack on about 15 or so pounds.

So that's that. The good news is that I (we) are still here fighting the good fight. 15 pounds? That's nothing really. And while I don't want to live a life of yo-yo dieting, I see it more as a pendulum swinging. Hopefully with each swing the variance will decrease, and eventually I will reach a point of balance.

So my goals this January, in no particular order:

-Get back to eating only healthy, whole, natural foods in smaller amounts
-No alcohol during the week
-"No-drunk" rule means that on Friday or Saturday, I can have 3 or 4 drinks, but that's it
-Hit the gym 3x a week. I'm starting off a bit slower, and I need to figure out how to move forward and make progress without hurting myself. May add in some yoga.
-Limit television viewing. For now, this means trying not to turn it on until 9pm
-Work harder on dog training
-Reign in my spending and get back on budget.
-Do Rosetta Stone (French) every day

That's it. Thought I'd put it out there for y'all, but even more, for me. I'll try to post periodic updates, but probably not too much.

Bonne nouvelle année!