100 Days of Fitness: Week 15 – What It’s All About

Fifteen posts and twenty pounds later, I wanted to take a brief moment to talk about why I engineered the 100 Days program, how it's supposed to effect you, and just what it's all about. Plus, I'm still recovering from my trip I told you about last week, which lasted nearly a full week and featured hundreds of miles traveled, dozens of people met, and many drinks imbibed. We'll see how that effected my body later.

No doubt if you're reading this at one point or another you looked into the mirror and just weren't happy with what you saw. Maybe that was a passing thought and you're okay with your body – hey, great for you. Whenever I looked in the mirror though, I wasn't happy with what I saw. At my worst I was 265lbs and fat in college, then I lost some weight, felt better, but gained it back when I started working in the real world. I felt pretty good about myself for much of the time though, until one day about a year ago. July of 2009. I walked into a store and, like many men, just grabbed a pair of jeans off the rack that were “my size” and didn't bother trying them on. At the time I was wearing a 38. I bought them for a trip out of town as part of a nice new outfit.

I didn't bother trying them out for like a week — after all, they were my size, I'd put them on when I wanted to wear them. When the day finally came, the denim gripped my thighs like a face, fought my fat ass, and refused to close. I had managed to fit into other 38s, but these were nicer, and I guess measured a little smaller than the 38s I was wearing. Or maybe I was just fat. Rather than returning them though, I embarrassingly tossed them into the bottom of my closet and just ate the expense.

A few weeks later I was messing around on Facebook, a site I had long given up on, when I  came across some pictures recently uploaded by a friend of mine. I was appalled at the round faced person with my name labeled on it. While at a time I was comfortable with myself, now I hated my picture and was hiding too tight jeans in my closet. It had to change.

I came up with the 100 Days Program because of an idea I had heard about “muscle memory.” The military says, in regards to their constant drilling, that if a person repeats an action a set number of times it becomes second nature. The same way you never really forget how to ride a bike or how you can pick up the guitar after a few months of absentia and still play a few tunes. I figured if I could commit to doing this for a long enough period, pretty soon that would be the way I lived. After all, we get fat from the constant repetition of eating too much and sitting around too long.

So here we are, 15 weeks after I started and I'm happy to say the idea worked. In the early days I was always obsessing over my calendar, now I barely remember that it's on the wall. I just know that each day I'm going to avoid most carbs, do a full body workout, eat plenty of protein, and just behave in a healthier way. It's become ingrained to me. On the rare instance when I go out for lunch or dinner, there is no thought of chips or french fries, but of apples and tuna. Granted, I do take my cheat meal once in awhile, though usually I opt for pizza.

Then, just today before writing this, I stumbled across that year old pair of jeans in the closet. They said 38″ on them. I figured them closer to 36″ based on the ridiculously tough time I talked about earlier. Either way, I figured I was in for a challenge. I decided to try them on. They came up easy. Closed easy. There is even some room in the waist. They fit just fine. (I'm pretty sure they are measured small though, as most 36″ pants I own are as loose if not looser now than these)

I'd be lying if I didn't say I went and admired myself in the mirror. No, I don't have abs yet or anything and I'm not done losing weight, but damn it was nice to fit into those pants. Perhaps the only sad part of this is if I loose all the weight I want to, they won't fit. I won't shed a tear over that though.

To me, that's what it's all about. This is what the program is for. Conditioning yourself into a new lifestyle and wearing what you want to wear. Or being as healthy as you want to be. It's about conditioning yourself to behave in a way that gets you where you want to be. Hell, you could do 100 Days of Screenwriting, Flossing, or Tap Dancing if you wanted to.

So that's my song and dance about why the program started, how it's working for me expertly, and how successful it's been so far, clearing my closet of fat clothes and letting me finally fit into my arch-nemesis designer jeans.

My Results

Being gone for a week and coming home beat, my time was spent working and moving, not working out. I did make sure to still pay attention to what I ate and when, though I consumed alcohol pretty much every night. A dude's got to party. After hopping on the scale, my weight showed 231.5, down .5lbs from last week. Not bad at all, considering there was no exercise, a few take-out meals, and plenty of booze. I've lost a total of 20lbs so far and can fit into those jeans formerly of the devil, so I'm happy. Happy but not done. So let's kick it up a bit and keep going.

My original goal I stated was to get down to 215lbs. I'm down 20 and have about 16lbs to go. I know that I'm going to lose that 16lbs and then maybe even a few more now that I've conditioned myself to unconsciously follow the program.