A little perspective

Sometimes I wonder why I’m bothering with the whole “getting healthy” thing. I look in the mirror and don’t see changes, I look at what I’ve done in the way of workouts for the week and wonder what happened to my grandiose plans… And then I usually get distracted by something shiny and forget what I was thinking about.

Fitocracy has helped me a lot over the course of the last 9 months in terms of ideas for what to try next, support, nutrition advice (always taken with a grain of salt, this is the internet after all), and general fun. But with the turn of the year they’ve added a way to see your total stats for 2013. Suffice it to say, I was a bit surprised by the numbers.

Total pounds lifted in 2013: 107,645. Keep in mind that I don’t have a gym membership and that I really just kinda faffed about with weights, so I’m rather surprised I got that much. The number for 2014 should be *much* higher.

Miles traveled: 413.7. This is the one that really surprised me. This number includes walking, running, hiking and I assume bicycling. Maybe even kayaking or swimming (not that I swim, but still). If you told me this time last year that I would not only start running, but would run in a couple of 5k races during the hottest part of the year I’d have laughed at you and then taken away your crack pipe. And yet, I managed more than 400 miles on my own.  Pretty god-damned amazing if you ask me. And yes, I intend on at least doubling this number for 2014, if not shoot for an even 1000 miles. Will I make it? I don’t know, but I’m sure as hell going to try.

So even though I may not see any changes when I look in the mirror, I know that I did something that, for me, was almost inconceivable. I’ve lost weight, I’m making better food choices and cooking more than I’m dining out, and I have what I think are perfectly reasonable and achievable goals for the coming year.