The Challenge of "The Challenge"

I'm really excited about the progress that The Challenge has already had in the first couple of days.  People seem to really like the idea, and I've received quite a bit of encouragement.  The pledge drive portion of it is something I'm still going to work a little harder on, but a huge thanks goes out to those of you who have decided to help me raise money for the American Heart Association.  I should have added the caveat that if I GAIN weight, I'll pay you however much you pledged per pound.  That would be a Tiger Woods vs. the field kind of bet that more people would probably be interested in getting in on. My ultimate fundraising goal is $1,500, which at the rate I'm going will mean I need to lose 150 lbs.  I'm pretty sure this means that I'm going to have to cut off at least one of my legs.  Still, this is my challenge, so I will keep fighting until my poundage multiplied by the amount of pledgers gets me to my goal.

One of the highlights thus far has been seeing the scale drops start up again.  I was a bad, bad boy last week.  I don't know what it was exactly, but I was on a collision course with bodily destruction.  I ate out every meal.  I polished off a couple of pints of Ben & Jerry's.  I even ate a large Papa Murphy's pizza on Sunday, two days after I secretly started the challenge!  Fortunately for me, I didn't dig myself into too deep of a rut that I can't get back out of it.  In fact, I was already down 2 lbs. this morning!  I really enjoy the motivation of knowing that every glass of water, every little walk during the day, and every watched calorie equals immediate financial success.  I might have even taken a $21 poop this morning!  Sorry, that was gross, but the thought did cross my mind.

I am keeping in my mind that this is definitely not a sprint, but a marathon.  In the past, I've set very large short term goals, like 20 lbs in a month.  I've done it, but it is almost impossible to maintain.  Again, I'm looking for a new lifestyle, not a quick fix.  Six months doesn't seem like a long time in the grand scheme of things, but if I'm lucky I'll get a whopping 144 6-month periods in my life.  I've already used 59 of those, so I'm down to just 85 more (again, if I'm lucky).  I need this 60th period to be the one to prove to myself that I can keep something going for more than three months at a time.  I need it to be more than just rhetoric.

Just like the last time, the food changing is going to the easiest part.  I bought a rice cooker on a tip from a buddy, and I am super pumped to be able to throw in rice and then have it steam veggies and meat on the top.  I'm all about ease and this seems to be about the easiest possible setup in the world.  I'm still not sure how to get myself pumped up about the exercise, though.  I really need to find an activity that I'll be motivated enough to participate in, like the racquetball games I had in Iowa.  I've been invited to go play volleyball with friends, but the HSP in me is not super jazzed about the whole meeting new people and then promptly embarrassing myself in front of them.  It is a lame excuse, I know.  I think I need to start smaller, like tennis with one person, and then work my way up the ladder of people present that might make fun of me.  It is the same reason I don't feel comfortable working out in gyms.  I feel like everyone is watching me because they are.  Don't say you haven't been on that recumbent bike or the elliptical machine and seen the person across the room that is on a machine they have no business being on.  You don't think, "Boy, good for that person for having the initiative to better their health!"  You're thinking, "I wonder if anyone would notice if I took out my cell phone so that I can win America's Funniest Home Videos when this guy falls off that treadmill."  

I haven't played basketball since the one time I tried a couple of weeks ago.  I don't have the right shoes, and I can't really afford to go buy any on this particular paycheck.  I had a pair of basketball shoes that I can go pick up at the old place I lived, but I've had that pair since the early 2000's and they were getting pretty worn down.  Evidently sitting in a closet will that do that shoes.

So, that's the challenge for the rest of this week: find something to do that gets me moving.  Maybe I should buy a bike.  That seems like a reasonable thing to do in Minnesota in the spring time.  Or a dog that I could take on walks.  That would be the illogical thing I've been trying to do for the last five years.  Again, I just want to start small and work my way into it.  I like to play myself off as this morbidly obese person that can barely get of his recliner, but in reality I'm still a somewhat athletic person.  I just need the motivation to get the ball rolling again.  Any suggestions from the peanut gallery?

Challenged in more than one way,

Jeff

P.S. - If you are a reader of the blog and like the concept of my challenge, I would love to hear your ideas on how I can maximize this thing.  If you know of someone who might enjoy the journey, send them on over, too.  If you haven't made a pledge yet but would like to, no worries.  You can jump on my wagon anytime!

P.P.S. - My movie recommendation for the week is "Mary and Max".  It is a stop motion animation movie from a couple of years ago that was hilarious, charming, sad, dark, and overall wonderful.  It has a great cast of voice actors led by Toni Collette (the mom from "Little Miss Sunshine"), Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and Eric Bana, and it tells the tale of how a little girl in Australia finds an unlikely pen pal in a middle aged man in New York who is diagnosed with Asperger's.  The animation was great, but it is definitely an adult movie.  It is currently carrying an 8.2 rating on IMDB.com, which puts it on par with The Wizard of Oz, Toy Story, and Annie Hall, and slightly above Gone With the Wind, Avatar, and The Graduate (all coming in with fan votes at an average of 8.1).  Check, check, check it out!