Accumulated Minor Woots

[Retxab]

I've been losing weight for about 7 months now, down a bit over 50 pounds. I have perhaps a year more of eating at a caloric deficit ahead of me to get down to a healthy weight, so I'm in for the long haul. But I like to celebrate milestones along the way. Here's a few that have been piling up over the last little while.

 

Clothes - I recently replaced all my jeans, by shopping at "regular people" stores. Most places that sell decent quality but relatively inexpensive clothes only stock up to about a 42 waist, which while by no means small was too small for me when I started losing weight. I've opened up a huge amount of wardrobe choice at a much reduced price. I've already moved from XXL shirts to mostly XL shirts (though some manufacturers it's still XXL), and I'm looking forward to shifting down to L shirts in a few months.

 

Knees and ankles - I'm a middle aged fat guy working a job that keeps me on my feet all day (I'm a cook). I also played soccer when I was younger and in better shape, leaving me with a somewhat dodgy right leg. I had accepted mild knee and ankle pain as normal, and once every two or three months either my right knee or right ankle would get a fair bit worse, such that I'd be limping around with a brace on. Now, the "normal" pain is gone, and I haven't had a major episode since last summer. I think I have to credit squats and deadlifts for this, as well as weight loss. 

 

Self-image - in the gym, I sometimes watch the fat guy in the mirror - by which of course, I mean me. The most charitable thing I've been able to say about that guy is at least he's trying. Today, for the first time, I caught a glimpse of that fat guy mid rep and thought "that guy's looking good. He should keep it up."

 

Work - being a cook means moving with speed and purpose in an area crowded with people and hazards on an often somewhat slippery floor, lots of bending and squatting to grab things, and occasionally lifting and carrying things up into the 25 kg range. I perform better at all of these than I was last summer, to the extent that my co-workers comment on how I've turned everything up a notch. Since I was, if you'll indulge the arrogance, one of the best cooks there a year ago, I'm pretty happy to still be able to up my game. Besides, it keeps all the young whippersnappers on their toes if they have to work to keep up with the old guy.

 

Perceived lifespan - I didn't really realize before some introspection, but this time last year my horizon for life decisions was at most a decade long. At some level, I thought there was a decent chance I wouldn't be around longer than that, so why worry about it? I felt pretty old. Now, I'm back to the mindset I had in my 20s and 30s, making decisions and choices with the assumption that I'm going to live to be a hundred. And that feels really good. I hadn't actually realized how pessimistic I'd gotten except in retrospect. 

 

Thanks Nerd Fitness for the help in getting here, and here's to all the woots to come. Live long, and prosper.

[Georges]

Nice Job!  (and nothing "minor" about those woots!)