For the summer of 2025, the challenge is to progressively increase my level of fitness. Not only would I like to lose the last 35 to 40 pounds (I’ve lost 80 so far), but I would like to climb up the stairs without wheezing.

The idea of this challenge is similar to the last 100 days I tried. Only this time, I have a bit more motivation under my belt and look forward to making something happen this year.

What Is the Primary Goal for the Summer Challenge?

I’m not focusing on merely losing weight this time. I have a feeling that I’ll get pretty close to my weight goals a little over halfway through the challenge this summer. In addition to shedding some fat, I’m also looking to improve my overall fitness through progressional improvements.

I am a desk jockey; I work and play at my desk for 12 to 16 hours per day. And if I don’t want to continue being a candidate for a heart attack or a stroke, I need to get more active. Besides, my last blood test was anything but promising. Everything is far beyond what it should be, from cholesterol to having polycythemia vera.

At least my blood pressure is good, though.

How I Plan On Succeeding the Summer Challenge?

This time, I’m feeling quite motivated to succeed in the challenge. It’s a mixture between feeling better both mentally and physically this time to getting the test results back from my blood work.

Some people are quite surprised that I haven’t stroked out by now or suffered a massive cardiac event. I’m guessing that’s…bad.

So, how am I going to tackle the current summer fitness challenge?

The Point System

I devised a point-based system for my physical activity. Last time, it was more centered around the foods I was eating and steps. This time, the points are centered around actual activity.

You can see the accumulation in the spreadsheet below.

For instance, I get 10 points for every minute I spend during cardio workouts. This includes treadmill time, playing the Oculus, playing the Xbox Kinect (when I can get it to work), riding my bike, and more.

Then, I make points for every pound I lift at the gym. For this, I take the total weight and divide it by 100. If I lift a total of 38,000 pounds, I would get 380 points.

I also make points by being in a caloric deficit. The points for this are the difference of intake vs output divided by 100. For instance, if I burned 3000 calories but only consumed 2000, that would be a difference of 1000. Then, we divide that by 100 to get 10 points.

Lastly, I get a point for every 100 steps. It’s lower this time only because I want to work on more than just walking. Don’t get me wrong, you can do a lot of good for your body by simply taking a 15 to 20-minute walk. But I want to focus on other aspects of physical movement.

Keeping Each Weekly Point Total in the Green

It’s not enough to simply keep track of the points. Each week, the plan is to make more points than I did in the last. That’s where the “progressional improvements” come from.

However, I need an incentive to keep motivated to make more points each week. In this case, I’ve promised viewers on the Tuesday night livestream that I will do the show shirtless if I fail to make more points.

I know it might not sound major to some, but for me, it’s probably the most embarrassing thing I could think of. I hate walking around without a shirt on, and a lot of people watching the show love the idea.

So, there is the motivation to keep improving workouts and eating habits each week during the summer challenge. I don’t want to do the show shirtless.

My Net 600 Calorie Diet

I know my Net 600 Calorie Diet works for me, if I let it. For several years, it’s been really difficult as I seemed to have lost my give-a-shit for being healthy or losing weight. But lately, I’ve been getting more motivated. A lot of that has to do with getting the news from the hematologist.

However, I’ve also been donating blood as part of the treatment for polycythemia vera. My levels have dropped to normal and I am feeling quite a bit better overall. I’m not as tired, have a bit more energy, and seem to have a bit more focus.

Not to mention the vitamin D supplements the physician put me on.

Anyway, I have a pretty good feeling about keeping the calories in check, at least until I hit 215 pounds or less. The Net 600 Calorie Diet is for fat burn, not sustainability. I’ll have to re-evaluate my eating habits once I lose enough fat.

Whole30 (Near the End)

I’ve been talked into trying Whole30 after my birthday. Apparently, it’s a diet plan that removes a lot of processed junk to help reset your body and metabolism. I haven’t looked into it much, but plan on writing a few articles about it in the near future.

I’ll record my experiences daily with Whole30 in the form of Shorts on YouTube. From what I’ve seen and read about Whole30, it looks like I’m in for a rough ride. So, it should make for some entertaining videos.

Collecting the Data

As always, I am collecting some data throughout the summer challenge. The spreadsheet below is relatively self-explanatory.

Fields that are in white are estimations based on previous entries. The fields that are in sea green are days that I’ve recorded actual data. Red days are when I gave up.

Let’s hope for no red days.

Weekly Update Posts

Every week, I write an update about my experiences.

• Summer of Fitness: False Start, Let’s Try This Again
  Well, as you probably guessed, the start to last week was a bit of a failure. I’m motivated to get this going, but the chaos just kind of ran all of my plans into the ground. So, I am starting over today.
• SoF Week 1: Lost 0.6 lbs? Seriously?
  This first week, I’ve only lost 0.6 pounds. Though, I’m not surprised, given my lackluster performance for eating and exercise. It’s a slow start, but that doesn’t mean I can slack off the rest of the challenge.
• SoF Week 2: Lost 2.2 Pounds and Aiming for More
  In week two of my Summer of Fitness challenge, I managed to lose 2.2 pounds. It wasn’t the massive drop that I wanted for my goal, but it’s not bad considering that I didn’t do much until Sunday.
• SoF Week 3: Down Another 1.8 Pounds, Slowly But Surely
  Well, week three wasn’t the pillar of greatness I thought it would be, but I still lost 1.8 pounds overall. So, I can’t call it a failure. It’s not as much as week two, but any loss is still an accomplishment.

Making the Summer of 2025 Awesome!

At the end, I’ll update this page with the results based on the total collection of data. I’m a bit of a dork and love to keep track of numbers. In any event, I want to make this a summer to remember by completing the challenge.

All that’s left to do is to make sure I keep adding more points each week.