Last Updated on June 4, 2024 by Michael Brockbank
Unfortunately, I didn’t really stick to any kind of plan this last week. It was mostly about trying to figure out why my head just wasn’t in this latest challenge throughout most of the last three months. So, it was an utter failure.
However, it wasn’t a complete and total loss.
In reality, I learned a few of my greatest weaknesses this last time around. I’ve done a lot of soul-searching and processing of my life up to this point. And although I still have a long way to go before I make heads or tails of anything, I’m feeling much better than I have in quite some time.
I don’t know if it’s because I’m working on the sequel to my book or because things are still on an upward trajectory in terms of my writing career. But there has been quite a change in my mentality over the last few days, and I’m looking forward to what I can accomplish.
No Idea What I Weigh Today
Part of me just stopped caring what I weighed. It’s not like I went out and started gorging myself on everything I came across. But the effort to watch the scale and keep track of every morsel in MyFitnessPal just wasn’t there.
It’s partly due to the fact that I had such an incredibly rough start and couldn’t get the flow going again. It’s also partly due to the fact that I just stopped really caring about the challenge.
Seriously, a challenge is supposed to be just that – a challenge. If you’re not willing to push yourself to reach certain goals, it’s not really a challenge, is it? And that’s where I dwelled for the longest time. A lot of it came down to stress, depression, frustration, and good ol’ fashion laziness.
But like every challenge before this one, I’m already thinking of the next. That’s because I refuse to give up and will see one of these damn challenges all the way through. Sure, I could try to wait for chaos to give me a three-month vacation, but I know that’s not going to happen.
Part of the next challenge is all about persevering when things go south. After all, that’s one of the things I talk about a lot as a writing influencer. Gah, I hate that freakin’ term. How about a “writing professional?”
Anyway, finding ways to keep my head in the game is the cornerstone of the next challenge. This one, I’m just going to chalk up to “sometimes, shit happens.”
What I Learned and Setting Up the Summer of Effort
Starting next week, I intend to start the “Summer of Effort” challenge. It’ll be a 12-week fitness challenge like all of my previous attempts, except this one will focus more on doing things during the summer.
I might not have that beach bod today, but I bet I’ll be an amazing specimen of a 48-year-old by the end of July. That is as long as I stick to the plan and actually challenge myself.
So, what makes me think I can handle the next challenge when this last one ended in a spectacularly bad fashion?
Pushing Myself to Win
To be honest, I haven’t been pushing myself to accomplish my fitness goals. I often fall back on, “eh, what does it matter?” or perhaps “eh, I’ll catch up tomorrow.” As you can guess, neither one of those sayings accomplished anything over the past few months.
Just once, I would like to say, “Hah! I did it even though X, Y, and Z happened, bitches!” Or, at least something similar.
As I said in an earlier blog post, if your head isn’t in it, no diet or exercise routine is going to work to permanently keep off the weight. Proper fitness and long-term effects center around your mentality to keep it going no matter what happens. And you won’t have continued physical fitness without mental fitness.
The bottom line is that I fully intend to push myself to meet daily, weekly, and monthly goals this time around. Of course, intentions mean nothing without actually putting in the effort to see those things through.
Diving Into Various Techniques
Part of this next challenge is something that I really should have included in this last one. I’m going to blog about the various techniques I’m using to reduce stress, deal with depression, and conquer frustration. Those are the three most damaging elements to every challenge I’ve attempted thus far. Granted, not everything has been my fault since 2019. But a fair amount of it was.
Not dealing with certain things the proper way can create a ripple effect that can disrupt everything else on the pond. That includes your careers and relationships.
So, that’s going to be a big focus this time around – being able to handle yourself when things go sour. In other words, I’m focusing heavily on mental health and relaxation.
Planning Ahead Instead of Just Winging It
For the most part, I have a tendency to just “wing it” when it comes to exercise routines and dieting. Sure, I’ll record my food in MyFitnessPal and have an idea of what to do on any given day to reach a certain step count. But generally speaking, I don’t have a set plan other than going to the gym every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
That is to say that I often don’t rely on menu planning or anything else that takes time to set up. Perhaps that is part of the problem why I have such a hard time committing to fitness challenges. Maybe having a bit more structure would be beneficial.
I mean, this last challenge was all over the map. I kept changing things up too often and really didn’t have a decent plan for any given week. Next time, I’m going to plan out the weekly activities and take advantage of the data I collect.
Seriously, I would love to write about losing X amount of pounds playing Beat Saber.
The Power of “No”
One of the biggest issues I had in this last fitness challenge was the inability to say “no” to things like Taco Bell or ice cream. Even when I had Trader Joe’s Kung Pao Chicken in the freezer already prepared, which I love, I still didn’t say no to 1700 calories worth of Taco Bell.
Needless to say, a lot of people here enable me to make piss poor decisions. Instead, perhaps I should be the voice of reason and stand my ground. Be the beacon of light and power instead of relying too much on others to help me stay the course.
There are all kinds of awesome alternatives that I can choose from that I enjoy more than Taco Bell, anyway.
As for ice cream, Breyer’s makes a decent chocolate peanut butter that is half of the calories as its counterpart. Now that I think of it, it’s been a long time since I started buying certain foods for the “content” of the blog. Getting back into that mindset could help me stay focused throughout the week. I haven’t published a lot of reviews lately.
In any case, I really need to work on my willpower when it comes to things that I know are not conducive to a fitness challenge. At least, not without putting in the effort to plan for them, anyway.
This Challenge Was a Failure, But…
Like always, I am not giving up or throwing in the towel. I just need to revamp my strategy a bit and actually learn from the failings of this latest iteration of my fitness challenge.
Sure, I’d love to share some success stories and demonstrate that it can be done. It would be amazing if I could monetize the blog and YouTube channel further to bring in a bit of extra cash. But overall, I want to prove to myself that I can, indeed, stick with the damn plan.
It’ll take some doing, and a lot of fortitude to stay the course when so many people seem to purposely flatten my tires. But I know I can do it…as long as I put in maximum effort.
Besides, wouldn’t it be awesome if I could give V Shred the middle finger and prove that he’s a piece of shit, uneducated, greedy, asshole who preys on the vulnerable to make a buck?
Since Google is suppressing the blog anyway, let the vulgarities fly.
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