My idea was to do an anti-lent deal... Instead of the traditional act of giving up something for the 40 days before Easter, I was going to start doing something for those days leading up to Easter.
Instead of not eating meat (animals are too tasty not to eat), or giving up pop/soda/Coke/cola/'tasty beverage' (whatever your region of the world tends to call it), I was going to begin an exercise regiment (again). My plan was to do some sort of exercise each and every day, I needed to break a sweat and hopefully loose some inches in the process.
I have confidence in myself but everyone can use some support now and then. What worked pretty well for me in college was when "Big Dave" Wolski and I kept each other in check when we saw (or didn't see) the other at the rec working out as we tended to be there at the same time. We held each other accountable.
I reached out to the Twitterverse, my tweeps and my Facebook friends and asked them for a favor. The hashtag #TheNewLent was born.
My request was for people to ask if I had worked out each day. If they did not see a tweet/post stating that I had, I needed them to call me out on it.
March 9th, 2011 was the beginning of my challenge to myself. I decided there was no room for the weak in The New Lent. I would not be working out Monday through Friday, and taking the weekends off, 7 days a week 40 days. No excuses.
As my counter climbed closer and closer to 40, I realized that we were still a bit off from Easter. Apparently in the regular Lent, you are able to take Sundays off. WHAT? Did Jesus take Sundays off when he was fasting in the wilderness. I don't think so...
The New Lent went from 40 days to 46 days. In The New Lent we don't take Sundays off. Remember, no room for the weak...
As it looked like I was going to succeed I wondered what was next... Do I stop working out? Go to M-F? Work out unless I have a 'good excuse' or was not 'too tired'? Suggestions from my friends were either go until the next lenten season, or forever. I liked the latter idea but was a bit unrealistic.
A month or so ago, it became official. The New Lent 2011 was from March 9th until November 19th. It is not because I did not want to continue, it is just because that is when we began moving from Tennessee to sunny Florida. It was not real convenient to attempt exercise while on the road and/or after loading and unloading moving vans. Some would say that loading a truck and moving furniture would count as exercise but I was not so sure.
Not sure what The New Lent 2012 will bring... I will have to see... Being 1/1/2012, I am attempting to get back into the exercise routine seeing we are somewhat settled in Florida. Will it be every day as The New Lent was or will I wimp out and skip a day every now and then? Only time will tell... (Planning on doing something in the exercise realm before bed tonight - It is not tomorrow until you go to bed even if it is after midnight)
Results of The New Lent you ask? Was is successful? Did I lose weight? I don't know if I lost weight or not as I haven't really weighed myself since I found out that muscle weighs more than fat which means that most football players and wrestlers are technically overweight when it comes to a height/weight chart. Instead I go by BMI if I can or how my clothes fit and if I need to/am able to go to a smaller short size.
Yes, was able to go down to a smaller size short. I won't say what that size is... Let's just say I am right on the border of not having to pay Wal~Mart an extra $2 for my size shorts...
Wish me luck on the 'resolution' or continuation of The New Lent after the brief hiatus, however you want to look at it. Or, better yet, keep me in check if you have nothing better to do...
Special thanks to @heathermcpike, @theecallie, Lyne Sequin, @hkliesner, @nonmary and anyone else I may have forgotten from back in March who faithfully checked in on me and watched my progress.
No comments:
Post a Comment