My change from last week –

Change in weight (2/10/20 – 2/16/20): +0.4 LBS

So as you can see I gained weight this week. I will address this, and my attitude surrounding it a little later, but first I want to discuss something that has been on my mind. Family.

This past week we experienced a loss in the family. This loss was of course sad and a time for mourning, but it also required time for celebrating a long life lived and a superb legacy left. I do not want to dwell on this because it is not needed, but I feel that this situation sets up my thoughts about the importance of self, how we impact those around us, and our families.

I embarked on this ‘betterment’ journey for many reasons and family was one of the biggest. I want to be the best husband, father, brother, son, and friend that I can be. Doing this requires an effort and discipline into investing in ones self. My emotional and spiritual wellbeing helps me in my interactions with those around me. My physical wellbeing helps ensure that I am around for those I love and that I am around in a capacity to help for as long as possible. Watching an extended family come together over the past week to not just mourn, but to celebrate the life of an incredible person reinforced my drive to be the best I can be for those around me.

I know it may sound selfish, but I want to have more than kids. I want to have grandkids and would love to live to see a great grandchild. Not only this, I want to have kids that make me proud and who are proud of me. I want to help foster a family that is strong, has tight bonds, and will always come back together with love. I would like to have a legacy that is both positive and one of influence. Is that so selfish of me? I want my kids to grow up thinking “I want to live how dad lived” or “I want to treat people and life the way dad does.” I find the way we invest in ourselves and family is how we can impact those around us, our community, and who knows… maybe the world. I plan on expanding on these feelings in a future post. But I hope we can all think about our place in our families, whether it is blood family or our family of friends. What can we do to invest in that?

I will get back to my weekly weigh in now. This past week I ate out or had takeout for 6+ meals. I managed to get in 3 workouts and went for a couple of walks. I also played some disc golf on Sunday. I am viewing my week as a win. The inconsistencies with eating had to do with being flexible with the family (or laziness and no desire to cook) and this also contributed to the lack of working out. But that is life. Life throws curveballs all the time. I feel that a month ago I would be beating myself up for this week. Today I am happy, because despite everything, I stayed almost the same. I still feel healthier than before, I still feel like I am on the wagon, and now I can get back to the plan.

I am getting better at recognizing that consistency is not always doing the plan 24/7/365. Consistency is rolling with the punches and getting back to your baseline, despite what happens around us. Life will bring family outings, travel, one-off events, and other things that will keep you from your ‘perfect week’. How we respond to life being eventful is what defines our consistency, and ultimately our success. So with that understanding, my goal is to get in walks at work 3 days this week (I have a super busy meeting schedule), to work out 5 days (either on the Peloton, a run, or a bodyweight routine), and to stick to our meal plan. I am also putting myself on a more strict spending habit. We have a number of trips and events coming up and I need to tighten up the spending on coffees, food, and other non-necessary things. Time to get back to that discipline!

Hopefully my next weigh-in will be back in the negative, will exceed the .4 lbs I gained this week, and will come with a great feeling of accomplishment and pride.

Date	Change in Weight
12/1*	–
12/2*	-5.4 lbs
12/9	-5.4 lbs
12/16	-3.4 lbs
12/23	+2.8 lbs
12/29	-1.2 lbs
1/6	-1.4 lbs
1/13	-1.6 lbs
1/20	-1.4 lbs
1/27	+0.4 lbs
2/3	-1.2 lbs
2/10	-4.6 lbs
2/17	+0.4 lbs

-Ben