Respawn Required. Start Over.

[madviolinist]

Hey All. It's time for me to do a respawn. Here's a bit of my journey (mostly so I can remember where I came from, what I've done, and where I want to be.)

I never saw myself as hugely overweight. Sure, there were guys smaller than me, but there were many bigger than me too. Just after I got married, I hit 100kgs - and that was it for me. I never wanted to be three figures, so I decided to do something about it. My wife was up there as well, about 95kgs if I remember, so we both started a journey to being healthier. This was my start point: Christmas 2010, at 100kgs

We started eating healthier, using a couple of cookbooks that were given to us. Eventually, we got onto a series of cookbooks called "The Bikini Cookbook" - which were a whole heap of awesome tasty meals, all 300 calories or less. That helped kick start our weight loss. By Christmas 2011, I was much happier with my Christmas image.

 

By 2012, I had moved to Melbourne. I was studying, and living in an apartment style building, which was right across the road from a huge park. I started running, completing the C25k program. I then set myself a goal of completing the City2Sea a 14km fun run in Melbourne. I did that in 2012, and then again in 2013. Here's a pic of me and my college friends at the end of the 2013 race - that's me in the yellow (with the awful attempt at a moustache), and my wife next to me in the green.

In this time, I hit as low as 75kgs. I was feeling good, and loved running as my exercise. My wife also hit her goal of 70kgs, and we were both healthy and happy.

I then finished study, and moved to Devonport, in Tasmania. Here there was a good running track that I ran on regularly - though not as regularly as I should have. In my two years there, in addition to some work-related stress, healthy eating started to be replaced by stress eating, and my weight started to drift back up again.

I've now moved again, and am living in country Victoria. My work now is a lot less stressful, but the eating habits didn't change, and my weight has ballooned back to 88kgs, and I'm barely fitting in my formal uniform anymore (I'm a Salvation Army Officer, so I wear it every Sunday. And I don't want to get a new uniform because they're expensive). I haven't been running as much as in the morning (when I like to run) it's been icy (and who wants to run when it's icy), and there's no gym in town (yet) for me to train inside. I know, excuses, excuses.

 

So it's time to respawn and start things over again. Talking with my wife last night, we've set ourselves some goals and some strategies to help us get back on track.

We've going to Bali for a holiday (I know, so very bogan of us) in November, so we've set that as our goal deadline. We've got about 19 weeks. My goal is 10kgs lost (To take me to 78kgs), my wife's is 6kgs. If I hit my goal, I get to go golfing on one of the awesome courses in Bali. If my wife hits hers, she gets a day spa. We've also set an intermediate target of half way - first one to lose half their goal will have the other cook dinner for a date night, and get to watch whatever movie they want (I'm not sure what I'll choose yet, Star Trek, Star Wars, or one of the Marvel movies that I've been going through recently). I've also set myself a target that if I can run 5 times a week for two weeks, then I'll get some new over-the-ear running headphones (such as the Sennheiser OCX 686). 
How we're going to get there: I'm thankfully in a job that's pretty flexible and I can set my own hours. I'm also in a town small enough that I can easily come home for lunch. So, while it's cold at least, I'm going to come home for my lunch break, go for a run, then have a quick shower and healthy lunch before heading back to work. We're also aiming to be back onto the Bikini Cookbooks for our meals. I'm also saying no more sneaky chocolate bars, that I used to get whenever I went to the shops. I've set up my NerdFitness Academy Epic Quests, and will start working on my bodyweight workouts as well (level 3 at the moment). Planning to start logging in daily here to post in my Daily Battle Log ()will update with a link when I create the post tonight Find my battle log here)

Oh, and my big why? This is me in 2016, with my two kids, Annabelle (4) and David (almost 2). I want to be able to run and jump and play with them for as long as I can.

[Evicious]

Thank you for sharing your story! You guys have such a thorough plan and wonderful rewards, I have every confidence that you and your wife will achieve your goals. I expect to see pictures of Bali by the end of this year!