Last Updated on October 23, 2024 by Michael Brockbank
To say this challenge went belly up is an understatement. It was hit by a torpedo while smashing against the shoals during a hurricane. With everything that has been going on lately, it’s just been a wild one.
I’ll still work to finish off strong, which I’ve never done before. So, I suppose I can log that away as a small victory.
Too Much Going On?
I decided to double-down on WriterSanctuary.com and its platforms. That means putting more effort into the blog, YouTube channel, social media, and writing books. Since it has the best chance of generating some revenue, I’m going to use its momentum to carry me into 2025.
As I started focusing on the writing stuff, a lot of things have been happening. The blog has seen numbers it hasn’t seen since January (before Google’s AI update), the social channels are blowing up (ish), and the YouTube channel is approximately 8 weeks from monetizing with ad revenue.
So, what does all of this have to do with my weight loss challenge? Well, I’ve been spending a lot of time building it up and less time building myself. I stressed a bit about my first author event and binged something fierce last weekend, and I’m ignoring my alarms again in lieu of creating content.
That’s something I really need to work on, especially since losing weight and getting fit would give me content for this blog.
It’s odd, though. People around here keep calling me a “celebrity,” which makes me feel a bit strange. I never thought of myself as a celebrity. I just want to help people find their paths for writing. Then, I published a couple of books and have been heavily praised for my next book by beta readers and editors.
In other words, I’m getting to a level of success that I really wasn’t planning to achieve. It doesn’t make me feel uncomfortable, but it does sidetrack me from some of the health and fitness stuff I wanted to do. Well, if I manage to buy a $3 million house next year, I’ll set one of the rooms up as a gym and crank out some videos. Does that sound like a deal?
Wrapping Up this Challenge
Although the vast majority of this challenge imploded faster than a minisub in the Atlantic, I still want to finish strong. I was going to commit to three protein days before the weekend to lose as much as possible. However, I didn’t realize the coffee and Fireball I drank on Tuesday was going to rack up the carbs to just under 100 grams.
So, I decided that I’ll just see if I can keep the calories green throughout the rest of the challenge. That way, I should at least lose a couple of pounds by the end.
I would immediately jump into the next, but we have Halloween next week and then Extra Life that weekend. I’ve been craving muffins from Costco and donuts from Voodoo.
Am I disappointed that I couldn’t stick to this challenge nearly as well as the last few? A bit. However, the successes I’ve been having as a writer lately kind of dissolved a bit of that frustration. I would have loved to have been Hot 4 Halloween, but I’m enjoying myself immensely as a dark fantasy and dark western author.
What’s Next on the Agenda?
Just because this challenge fell flat on its face, doesn’t mean I’m giving up. It just means I need to hunker down next time and continue to improve myself. That means taking what I learned into the next challenge so that it improves my chances of success.
After the Halloween challenge is over, I plan on writing another blog post about what I learned and how I’m changing things up for the next. But in the meantime…
Christmas 20
From November 5th through December 23rd, we’re doing a smaller challenge called “Losing a Christmas 20.” This is a seven-week challenge in which we’re all committing to maximum effort. Think of it more like giving yourself a Christmas present. The weigh-in on the 24th reflects how successful everyone was during the challenge.
Yes, we’re planning on having a Christmas Eve show on the YouTube channel…complete with adult eggnog.
Anyway, I figured that since I am able to lose 3 pounds per week if I actually put in the effort, I would weigh 21 pounds less. It seemed everyone liked the idea and decided to join me. Thus it was coined the “Christmas 20.”
If I am successful, I’ll weigh close to what I did when I bought my house – 213 pounds. In reality, it’s been decades since I weighed under 220 during the holiday season.
Setting Up a Studio?
We have access to an apartment that we’re turning into a studio. It’ll be for both the writing and the fitness content. Since the studio has a nice kitchen island, we plan on making a few food videos and other things. Not to mention that we’ll be able to set up decent backdrops for other video content.
I’m not sure when we’ll be able to set all of that up, as I still need a second computer before I can move out of my office space in the basement. With Christmas coming up, my money is tied to presents and such. Nonetheless, we should be able to get a few things established to tackle 2025 like a police German Shepard hitting a meth head.
Besides, it’ll be nice getting out of the house to “go to work,” so to speak. And while I’m appreciative of the apartment space, I would still rather have a warehouse.
More Blogging
If I can stick to my schedule, which I’ve been doing relatively well this week, I should be able to get back into more blogging. I have a new post that is nearly done about vitamin D and hope to get back on track soon.
However, the writing content is the primary focus now. I’ve been spread too thin and am trying to build up one brand at a time. As soon as the writing blog hits 450 visits per day, I’ll pull back a bit and start focusing on building Crossing Colorado. I still plan to blog and do the live show every Tuesday. But I’m not going to overly stress about missing blog posts if I have other things on my plate.
Yet, I still have at least two blocks of time scheduled each week for this site. So, there should still be a trickle of content even if I spend more time working on a massive post for WriterSanctuary.
In other words, Crossing Colorado is my second priority.
One Week to Go
As I said earlier, I am a bit disappointed that I didn’t get as much done this time around in terms of losing weight or fitness. But given the success of everything else thus far, it might be a decent tradeoff. At least, for me, anyway.
I am pretty excited to put in maximum effort for the Christmas 20, though. I’m already setting up another spreadsheet and planning out how I can lose 20 pounds in seven weeks. It would be pretty cool to write a blog post or perhaps a video or two of the experience.
Let’s see if we can wrap up the final five days in the green for caloric intake, though.
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XMAS20 is on like Donkey Kong.
Yes it is. 😁