Goals

Since returning from Thailand in November I have regained almost 10 pounds of the over 18 pounds I lost while in Thailand. Since returning to the U.S. I have been indulging in fast food, junk food, and Dr Pepper a little lot too often. I have a goal of getting to an under 25 BMI this year. That isn’t going to happen if I’m gaining weight rather than losing weight. I’m sure I’ll lose weight when I return to Thailand, but to reach my goal I need to be losing weight now.

To get myself back on track, I decided I needed a little extra motivation to start losing weight again. I know from prior experience that I can lose weight when I eat better and exercise. I just need to actually do those things. Long time readers may remember that I lost 30 pounds in 6 months a few years ago. That was accomplished by betting $3000 with HealthyWage. The fear of losing $3000 was enough to make me get serious about losing weight. The reward of winning a few hundred dollars for making my goal also provided motivation.

Since betting on myself to lose weight has worked in the past I am now trying it again. HealthyWage has a policy that to make a second wager with them you must be at or below your weight at the end of the first wager. Since I’m still a few pounds away from that, I am using DietBet to help motivate me to lose weight right now. I’ll do a bet with Healthy Wage later this year.

At DietBet I am doing what they call the Kickstarter Challenge, where the goal is to lose 4% of your body weight in 4 weeks. DietBet has smaller bets so I’m participating in 3 different games. They are for a $25 bet, $30 bet, and a $100 bet. The combined total should provide me with enough motivation to lose the weight.

Update: It is now 3 weeks into my DietBets and I still need to lose 4 pounds to win my bets. I lost quite a bit of weight the first week and then got lazy thinking it would be easy to win the bets. After not paying attention to my eating and exercise I gained some of that initial weight loss back. This last week I need to be completely committed to eating properly and exercising regularly. It will be a challenge to lose the remaining weight. If I didn’t have $155 on the line I’d probably give up. With the extra motivation of wanting to avoid losing my money I’ll be trying hard this week. Ideally, after getting in the habit of eating better and exercising regularly this week those activities will continue after the bets are over.

Want to get in on the “dieting for dollars” craze and up your potential for weight loss success? Bet on yourself and start your HealthyWager today. Then lose the weight and get paid, simple as that!

This post contains affiliate links to Healthy Wage and I may be paid a commission for sales at no cost to you. I personally used Healthy Wage and would not recommend them if I didn’t think it’s a great service.

Before I write about my 2019 plans I want to review my 2018 plans. In 2018 I didn’t make any New Year’s resolutions or specific goals for the year I just shared some things I planned to accomplish during the year. The three things I planned to accomplish during 2018 were to save/make money, finish hiking the Appalachian Trail, and lose weight.

I did not finish hiking the AT. I spent a couple of weeks hiking on the trail and didn’t complete much mileage. I wasn’t able to get in a consistent hiking groove so I decided to return home rather than keep hiking. I”d still like to finish the AT, but it isn’t a priority so I’m not making it a goal right now.

I did accomplish the goal of saving/making more money. My total earnings were actually a little lower in 2018. However, the more important goal of saving more money was accomplished. I put over $11,000 in my company 401k, $6500 in my IRA, $400 in my solo 401k, and also invested about $2k in dividend stocks. That was well over 50% of my after-tax income. I’m considering this plan/goal a win.

My third and final plan was to lose weight. The first half of the year I actually gained weight. The plan was not going well. After I moved to Thailand I made great progress losing weight. I started 2018 at 230.2 pounds, went all the way up to 234.6 pounds, before eventually getting all the way down to 206.4 pounds. I didn’t set a specific amount of weight to lose. I think losing 23.8 pounds qualifies as losing weight and consider that plan accomplished.

In summary, I accomplished 2 of my 3 goals last year. As Meat Loaf says, “2 out of 3 ain’t bad“, so I’m satisfied with those results.

This year I am going to make my goals a little bit harder. This year I intend to focus more on actions rather than end results. For example, I can’t completely control whether I lose 30 pounds. However, I can control how often I exercise and whether I drink soda. If I follow my actions I’ll probably reach my goal. Even if I don’t reach the goal I’ll make good progress and developed good habits.

I’m sharing some of my goals now and I’ll make further goals once I’m in Thailand and have ample free time to get things done.

My first goal is to be able to do 1 chin-up. I haven’t been able to do a chin-up since I was 21. That is 30 years ago so being able to do a chin-up would be a pretty big accomplishment. This is a repeat goal from a couple of years ago. I didn’t make much progress on it then. I’m bringing back the goal since my brother left behind one of those pull-up bars that hang over a doorway at my mom’s house. I’ve been using it several times a day and can tell I’m getting closer to being able to do a chin-up. I can now do 1 band-assisted chin-up and can lift myself up several inches without the band. Last year when I first tried to do a chin-up I couldn’t even lift myself off the ground so this is good progress. If I continue to use the pull-up bar several times a day and lose weight (see next goal) I’m certain I’ll accomplish my goal of doing a chin-up.

My second goal is to get down to a BMI of 24.9. That would put me in the normal range for BMI. Last year I managed to get my BMI down to 29.9 and below which put me in the overweight range rather than the obese range I had been in for several years. I have gained some weight back and now have a 30 BMI putting me back in the obese range. That means this year I need to go from obese to normal weight. To accomplish that I am going to resume my intermittent fasting. I got out of the habit once I returned to the U.S. Intermittent fasting consistently will help me lose weight. The big thing I’m going to do to lose weight is stop drinking Dr Pepper. Soda makes up a big portion of my calorie intake. Giving up Dr Pepper will be difficult, but I know it will help a lot in losing weight. The last thing I’m going to do is make sure I exercise at least a little every day. I bought a jump rope and am using it for a few minutes several times a day. It isn’t much, but I do think it will help.

I’m also going to set some goals for this blog. I will flesh those out once I’m in Thailand. The goals will involve writing more, improving SEO, and figuring out ways to make more money from the blog.

That is all my goals for now. I’ll add more goals during the year. Working at my tax job and then my trip to Thailand will take up the first half of the year. I’m unsure what I want to do for the second half of the year. Once I figure that out I can set more goals that will work with my plans for the second half of the year.

Back in August I wrote a post sharing my goal of losing 30 in 3 months. I stated in that post that at the end of the 3 months I would post my result, including before and after pictures, regardless of the outcome. The results post was supposed to be published on November 29, 2018, but as usual I am a bit behind on getting the post up. 

I will warn you now that both the before and after pictures are not pretty. I am rather fat in both the before and after pics. If you don’t want to see a half-naked fat guy you should stop reading now and not scroll down the page any further. You have been warned.

To get straight to the point I did not meet my goal of losing 30 pounds in 3 months. I managed to lose 18.4 pounds in 3 months. I went from 224.8 pounds at the start to 206.4 pounds at the end.  I also went from 30.2% body fat to 25.7% body fat. My BMI dropped below 30 which means I am officially no longer obese, I’m just really overweight.  Although this was well short of my goal I am still pleased to have lost that much weight.

The first couple of months in Thailand I was losing weight pretty steadily.  I was a little behind the pace needed to lose 30 pounds, but I was still on pace to lose almost 25 pounds. However, my weight loss plateaued in November.

My weight loss was achieved with a combination of intermittent fasting, a morning HIIT workout, an afternoon swim, and lots of walking. After the first week of November I moved out of my apartment in Chiang Mai to a hotel with no fitness center or swimming pool. This resulted in a large dropoff in my amount of exercise. Once I returned to the U.S. I continued to not exercise and I also indulged in quite a few foods that I had missed while in Thailand. Not surprisingly, I didn’t lose any weight the last couple of weeks in November. 

Below are my before and after weight loss pics. 

Although I still have a big gut, it isn’t quite as massive in the after pics. The man boobs are also a little smaller. The biggest difference was that I lost some weight from my face which I think made a pretty big change in my appearance.

The shorts I wore in the before pic are now way too big for me. While I was in Thailand I had to take an elastic band and tie two belt loops of the shorts together so I could wear them without them falling down while I was walking. 

I have actually gained a couple pounds already this month. Although I have gotten back on track with my intermittent fasting, I haven’t gotten back into the exercise habit. I need to start exercising consistently and eat better so I can start losing weight again. The fact that I lost quite a bit of weight in Thailand proves I can lose weight. I just need to do the actions necessary to lose the weight.  I’m not going to set a new weight loss goal, instead I will set goals to develop exercise and eating habits that will result in losing weight. 

This post is to make public my goal of losing at least 30 pounds in the next 3 months. One of my goals for 2018 was to lose weight. I didn’t set an exact weight loss goal. I knew I needed to lose about 50 pounds though. Right now I weigh about 5 pounds less than I did at the beginning of the year.

It is clear I haven’t been working too hard on this weight loss goal. I actually gained weight earlier this to reach my highest weight ever. Due to that I had to lose 9 pounds in order to get to 5 pounds down for the year. At this point losing 50 pounds during the year is unrealistic, but I think losing 30 pounds can still be accomplished.

Last week I was able to lose 4 pounds by just abstaining from soda and fast food for a few days and exercising in the morning. If you’ve been reading the blog for a while you might remember that I lost 30 pounds back in 2014. Although I have since gained all of that weight back, that previous weight loss combined with last week’s results indicate to me that I am capable of losing weight when I really try.

A major factor in my favor for losing 30 pounds in 3 months is that in the past I’ve consistently lost 10 pounds a month when living outside of the United States. That was without making a special effort to lose weight.  Last year while I was in Europe for just under 3 weeks I managed to lose 5 pounds despite eating a lot of fast food and drinking a lot of soda and not making any effort to lose weight. Living in Thailand where the food will be much more foreign to me should lead to greater weight loss than I experienced in Europe. Plus, while I’m in Thailand I will actually be trying to lose  weight.

One of my goals in going to Chiang Mai for 3 months is to work on improving myself. Being in Chiang Mai should facilitate my weight loss goal. A major help will be the fact that to my understanding my favorite soda, Dr Pepper, is not available there. I have tried and failed to quit drinking soda several times this year. Starting today I am quitting soda for the rest of the year. Since I don’t especially care for any sodas other than Dr Pepper, it not being available will help me quit soda. About 25% or more of my calories come from soda so cutting the soda habit will save me a lot of calories.

I’m also thinking that I will find it easier to not eat fast food while I’m in Thailand. Although, I know they do have Western fast food in Thailand, I don’t think fast food outlets are quite as ubiquitous there. Having fast food be a little less conveniently available should help. Also, the Thai food is supposed to be much cheaper than fast food. Being a tight-fisted miser should work to my advantage since I won’t want to spend extra on the less healthy fast food.

When I choose an apartment in Chiang Mai I will pick one with a gym. Having a gym in the apartment building should overcome any resistance to working out. Also, I should have a lot of time on my hands so I will want to exercise to help fill out my day. I don’t plan on renting a scooter or frequently using ride services. I intend to walk everywhere I can reasonably walk to which will help burn more calories.

To provide myself with a little more motivation I will be posting my results at the end of three months, including before and after photos. Getting healthy should be all the motivation I need to lose weight. Just in case it isn’t sufficient motivation the desire to avoid the embarrassment of posting an after photo that looks a lot like the before photo will provide me even more motivation.  The results will posted on November 29, 2018 regardless of the outcome.

With the New Year it is time to look back at the old year and make plans for the current year. To prepare for this post I looked back to see what my plans for 2017 were at the end of 2016. I didn’t make any goals for 2017, but rather listed a few different plans that I might follow. I ended up not following any of them.

There was a somewhat positive reason for not following my possible plans. I ended up getting hired full-time at my tax job.  That put the kibosh on my traveling plans and my plans to look for a different job.

One of my plans for 2017 was to finish my hike of the Appalachian Trail. My tax job limited the time I had to do that. My job does have an annual eight week unpaid vacation which I could have used to hike. Instead my GF and I traveled to Europe. We spent several days in Paris with a short two day side trip to London. My GF was only able to stay for nine days. After she left, I traveled on to Brussels, Bruges, Amsterdam, and a couple of Amsterdam suburbs. We neither one had been to Europe before and were happy to finally visit.  My three weeks in Europe were the highlight of 2017 for me. The trip made me wish I could travel more.

The full-time job didn’t really help my finances as much as would have hoped. One reason for that is that I paid a lot towards my student loan during the first half of the year. My failed house purchase also wasted some money.  I did manage to make a maximum contribution of $6500 to my IRA. And I also put a couple thousand in my solo 401k and a thousand in an HSA.  So I guess I didn’t do too bad financially. It just seems like I should have made more progress after sacrificing a year of my life for a job.

Overall 2017 was just an okay year. I would like 2018 to be better. Here are some of my plans to make 2018 better. These are just preliminary plans for now, they will be fleshed out to actual goals later.

Save/Make More Money

I made the most money I ever made in a year in 2017.  Still, it shouldn’t be difficult for me to  make more money this year.  All I need to do is work more hours, especially the more lucrative overtime hours that are available during tax season. I’d also like to increase the money I make from my non-job sources.

I should be eligible to contribute to a 401k at work this year, although I haven’t received any sign up information for it yet.  Assuming I am able to contribute to the 401k, I should easily be able to increase the amount of money I save this year. I’ll be eligible to contribute $24k to the 401k.  That won’t be easy to do, but if I’m able to do it that would be a big increase in savings for the year.

Finish Hiking the Appalachian Trail

I have about 800 miles left to have hiked the entire AT.  During my eight weeks off of work, I should be able to finish this hike. This plan could get derailed as I’m often being tempted by cheap airfare to places I’d like to travel. I don’t know when my eight weeks off this year will be yet. If they end up being in July or August I’ll probably scrap the plan to finish the hike since I hate hiking in the heat. Hopefully, I’ll have time in late Spring or early Fall and will finally be able to finish this hike.

Lose Weight

This seems like it is a goal every year.  I did manage to lose 30 pounds back in 2014. I quickly gained most of that weight back though. Last year I ended up gaining even more weight and now weigh more than I did in 2014. I’m at my heaviest weight ever. There also some other health issues I have along with the weight.  I have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, sleep apnea, and prediabetes.  Those health issues should improve or possibly go away if I get back to a healthy weight.  This year I need to get serious about losing weight. It is the most important goal I’ll have this year. I’ll write a separate post about this later.

If I’m able to complete all three of these goals 2018 will be a great year.