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Goal Status: Achieved


I finally, officially hit my target loss of 40 pounds today. I've been kind of bouncing around in the 158-point-something to 160 range over the Christmas and New Year's holidays - proof that if you can sort of contain the damage over unavoidable high-calorie events, you can hit your target weight. It just might take a little longer.

I realistically have 5-10 more pounds that I could lose, though I've noticed that if I mention that to people they start looking concerned as if I'm starting to develop an eating disorder, which I'm not sure that being a cheap-ass really qualifies as. If I run my stats through the US Navy body fat calculator, it says my body fat percentage is 19% and "Acceptable" - still not quite "fit".

I'd like to finally have a six-pack for the first time in my life, but I'm in a comfortable weight range now. My goal was to be able to say I've lost 40 pounds by my 40th birthday, so I can officially check that off the list.

At some point soon, I may add in some light, quick weight training like pull-ups, push-ups and sit-ups. I've threatened my wife that my next goal might be turning myself into something resembling Hugh Jackman in Wolverine:


That's a side-by-side of him at 31 vs 44 - pretty crazy. I don't know that it's really attainable unless I turn fitness into a full-time hobby (not happening), start eating expensive food (yeah, no) and hiring one of the top personal trainers in the world (lulz).

Still, I recall watching him in an interview saying it was mostly all nutrition, but I think he was eating about 6000 calories a day of boiled chicken, which seems rather insane and not especially cheapo. He was also spending about 3 hours a day in the gym, which just isn't feasible or motivating enough for me.

In any case, I'll be curious to see how many pull-ups I can do now that I'm 40 pounds lighter. I think I used to be able to crank out at least 10-12 on my chin-up bar even at my heaviest. In high school, where I weighed about what I am now, I believe I could do in the high teens or maybe even 20. So, maybe my next goal will be to be able to do more pull-ups than I could as an 18 year old.

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