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At the beginning of February I set myself several challenges. First was to lose at least 28 pounds. Second was to post more to this blog. Third was to cut out my use of the emoticon and fourth was to write at least 21,000 words. It was an interesting month and some goals I nailed, some I missed and some I sorta grazed so I’ll hit these points one by one.
First up was to lose 28 pounds. This was a total failure on the numbers level but a win for general fitness. I started out at 230lbs and tried for a few days to get in a bunch of cardio because that’s how I really lose weight fast. Well I have one of those old infomercial gadgets called a Gazelle that I thought would be great for the task since it’s fun to use and it’s in front of a big TV. Turns out it sucks. I can be on it for an hour and barely break a sweat and really burn out 2 specific muscles in my legs. It’s a horrible all around machine and just ended up not cutting it for what I needed. It’s way too cold here to go for my usual daily walks which clock in at around 4-10 miles. So right there my main vehicle for weight loss was trashed so I changed gears. I’m still using the Gazelle every day to just get my ass up from the computer and keep the blood flowing but my main workout is weight training. I figured if I can’t drop the fat I might as well do a straight fat for muscle exchange. I have a weight bench and some free weights in my basement so I hit those hard and I’m now in better muscular shape than I’ve been in in 7 years or so. When I started the month I could do 2 pushups before I thought I was going to rip a tendon in my shoulder. Now I can comfortably do multiple sets of 25 and a slew of other exercises that have improved remarkably in the past 28 days. So while I’m not getting much skinnier I’m getting all the parts in place for when the weather clears up and spring arrives. My ending weight for the month is 228 so I lost 2 pounds and gained a bunch of muscle that weighs a lot more than fat. I’m going to call this challenge even. It’s not a win because I didn’t accomplish the goal I set out to but I did move the ball forward with getting back into shape.
Second was to post more to this blog. I wrote a few wacky articles and posted a bunch of photos so that one is an easy win and I’m happy with the progress there.
Third was the emoticon thing. I haven’t been able to cut it out 100% but I did cut back about 95%. Took me a few days to get in the groove and try and write my snarky comments a little more eloquently but sometimes I just gave in because I was in a rush or tired and just threw a winky so I could get back to work. Semi-win and I’m going to keep on with it because really, they are pretty obnoxious and I’m not a teenager.
Lastly was the 750 Word Challenge from 750words.com. NAILED IT! I wrote every day no matter what and a few days got my stuff in just under the wire. It was hard as hell and I experimented with writing at different times of day and found some very interesting results. The mornings are without a doubt the best time to write. If I wait until the evenings my mind is tired from work and the day and the stuff I wrote was generally really negative and down. If I wrote first thing with my morning coffee the results were much more fun, funnier and all around more upbeat and the words just flowed. I am already signed up for the March challenge because now it’s part of my daily routine and it helps me get stuff out of my head and clears the way for a good days work. So yeah, EPIC WIN on that challenge.
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I had a bonus challenge that came in not long after I started. My friend Sean Bonner posted a fascinating piece on his blog about how he stopped using soap and shampoo. I thought it was intriguing for sure so I added it to my roster of things to try in February. I went 21 days without soap or shampoo and the results were VERY interesting. My skin hated me for a week and I ended up using a facial scrub about 45% of the time. Shampoo I completely cut out and my hair was a mess. It was the worst part of the experience but after a while it kind of normalized and I got used to it. The soap thing was incredible. Much to my surprise my skin adjusted in a matter of 2 or 3 days. It’s the dead of winter here and I’m always itchy and dry but since I wasn’t washing off all my natural oils I felt great. Didn’t smell bad at all (I still used deodorant because I’m not some damn dirty hippie and I don’t want to get kicked out of yet another home) and all around found myself just more comfortable. I gave up on day 21 because I just really kind of forgot. I got in the shower and just instinctively grabbed the soap and before I realized what I was doing I was all lathered up so that was the end of the run. I need to process the results and figure out what really worked and what didn’t but the no soap thing was amazing. My skin felt great and I had a completely neutral odor. I highly recommend trying it. My 2 tips are shower in very hot water and use a fresh washcloth every day.
That’s it for the 28 day challenges. All in all I had fun and am thinking of new ones to try all the time. If you have any suggestions toss ‘em in the comments.
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