As you may have read in my last Fit Happens chapter, I asked all of the guys in the contest to share their thoughts on the contest and how they plan on approaching their health and fitness post-contest.
The second in the series of interviews, Magic Bus shared some of the motivational issues that he had with as the contest progressed as well as his proposal to do another Fit Happens in the future.
1. What are your overall impressions of Fit Happens?
It
was super helpful in the beginning to have some camaraderie and
competition, but that tailed off during the second half of the contest
for me. I'm to blame for that; I withdrew from the social aspects about
mid-way through and that definitely hurt my progress.
2. What have you changed about your exercise regimen and/or diet during the contest?
I've
still mostly focused on diet. I each much less fast food and processed
foods than I did prior to the contest and am overall more cognizant of
what goes into my body. During the last couple of months I've started
walking and jogging as much as I can and have found it to be quite
enjoyable actually. In the future, I think that will help a lot.
3. What challenges were the toughest during the past six months?
Exercising
has been really challenging for me. With a small child, I never feel
like I have enough time to go to the gym or take a walk. Of course,
that's really just an excuse. The fact is, it was not important enough
to me to sacrifice my personal time.
Something
I'm still struggling with is sticking to my plan after I've screwed up.
I'm prone to say things like "I'll start back on it on Monday" after
I've binge eaten once during the week. The rational part of me knows
that I should just pick up right away instead of waiting, but for some
reason I feel like the week is shot. This is probably the biggest
contributor to me not losing the weight I wanted to.
4. Did you reach the goals you set forth at the beginning?
Nope. I hoped to get down to 250 lbs.
5. How much did being in the contest motivate you to lose weight? Could you have done it w/o the contest?
At
first, a lot. I would say the first 3 months were of the contest were
fun and really pushed me to lose more, but after that, I sort of
withdrew. In hindsight, I would have preferred a shorter duration with
smaller goals. We could have had say, 3 or 4 one month contests where we
could "reset" in between. I think that would have kept me motivated
longer.
6. Will you continue your weight loss journey?
Definitely. This is not the end for me. I've got a small person's worth of weight to lose still.
7. How will you keep yourself motivated with the contest ending?
My
wife has recently started a much more rigorous exercise plan and is
training for some races coming up. I'm planning to get in on some of
those to keep myself active.
8. Did anything or anyone surprise you during this contest? How so?
B-Bo! It's crazy that the lightest guy was able to lose by far the most weight.
9. How much more weight do you want or need to lose to get to your ideal weight?
70
lbs. That would bring me down to around 200 lbs. By no means would I be
a small guy, but I think that's when I would be happy.
10. Should we keep tabs on each other as the months pass to keep each other motivated? If so, do you think we will?
Absolutely. I think we should take a month or two to reset and maybe kick off another shorter competition.
