As 2019 was coming to an end, I saw myself pushing over the 300 lbs. mark, and I realized that I needed to take advantage of the concept of a New Year Resolution. Normally my annual resolution is “Don’t die,” which has given me quite a bit of an undefeated streak. Weight loss is considerably more difficult than staying alive, so I was going to need a plan. I needed small, achievable, and measurable goals if I was going to succeed. 

April: Vegetarian Meals and Quarantine Workouts

I started the month with a lot of excitement and confidence... which was my downfall. Throughout half of April, my eating goals did not include calorie counting. They did include having one vegetarian meal and one fish meal per week to cut down on my meat-eating. This was manageable, delicious, and fun. My wife and I enjoy cooking, and those goals added a simple challenge which added a nice variety to our weekly meals.

When it came to workouts, April was far less focused on cardio workouts and much more focused on the “Quarantine from Covid-19 Workout from Home.” This meant I was doing crunches, pushups, and squats from the comfort of my own home. I started with 125 per week and added more as time progressed.

I took a one-week break from these for an unspecified “Cardio” workout as a goal. I ended up doing some Beachbody Cize and also going for a run that week, so I got two in (yay!). I returned to the Quarantine Workout the last week of April.

With the muscle-building I gained from these workouts, and the excess snacking from the weeks I wasn’t counting calories, I ended up gaining 6.8 lbs in April—I did not make my weight goal. However, since I had lost so much weight back in February and March, I was only about 2 lbs. behind where I wanted to be within the year. So, although I fell behind, it wasn’t as traumatic as it seemed that morning on the scale.

May: Surprising the Metabolism

In lieu of my setback, I had no dietary goals for the first week of May, so I added intermittent fasting for that week. Although it never really worked for me in the past, I figured it was enough of a surprise for my metabolism that it would help for only one week. I spent the rest of May counting calories with the exception of a handful of cheat days.

For workouts, I had running back on the docket, altering between that and the quarantine workout each week. The month started with a 30-minute run, then 35, and I would start off June with a 40-minute run. When not running, I was doing 200 reps of my pushup, crunches, and squats by the end of the week. 

My metabolism had certainly adjusted this week, and my hard work had paid off. I was aiming to lose 1 lbs. by the end of May (the original goal of the month). I ended up losing 4.4 lbs, putting me 0.2 lbs ahead of my annual goal. I was back on track, baby!

June: Improving 5K Pacing

The second week of June did not involve counting calories, but I decided to do it anyway. I didn’t have it as a goal during the fourth week, either, but I decided to count them from Wednesday on through to the end of that week. In the end, I counted calories for almost all of June.

For exercise, the month included running every week. Due to exceeding my running goals (running a 5k faster than I thought I would when I made them), I modulated one of my goals. Instead of going for the longer time, I tried to begin cutting my time on a 5k, which was the original plan for the end of June. I continued to run a 5k once every week, with the ultimate goal to be able to do it under 40 minutes by the final week.

I also had muscle-building routines built into my fitness goals within the month. One week I had to do a back/bicep/shoulder workout. Being that gyms were still closed, I had to search for some at-home workouts that didn’t include weights. I found some great resources for bicep and rowing workouts that involved a towel and using my own body weight as the weight of the exercise. Another week, I had to work on my chest & triceps. For this, I did normal, inclined, and declined pushups every day. Fifteen of each style of pushup every day led to some solid muscle development.

6 Months In

At the end of it all, I ended up exceeding my weight loss goal by 0.8 lbs for the month of June. I’m solid with this schedule so far and am on track with where I want to be for the year. I’ve got some new goals for the next chunk of the year, and I’m excited to share them with you and how I succeed at them from July-September.

How are you progressing with your 2020 Resolutions and goals? Has an incremental, monthly approach helped you to stay on track?
Share your progress, struggles, and adjustments in the comments at the bottom of the page.

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