Reasonably Resolutionated In the New Year

I'd like to tell you a story about how a friend kept himself motivated to lose weight and get in shape. It'll tie in to the post title eventually...

Let's call my friend "Jerry"...

So I've known Jerry since college. We were both Comp. Sci. majors and from NJ. Back in high school Jerry was a line backer for the football team. I say this so you can get an image of his body type. He was kind of a big guy, but you wouldn't call him fat because there was an awful lot of muscle underneath there. But I will say that he was a bit "round" (but I'd never say that within arms reach).

Now let's move on to post-college life. Jerry fell into the same trap that gets a lot of us. He began working a 9-to-5 job in an office so his activity levels dropped dramatically. Jerry went from a "football" build to a full out fatty.

When Jerry started exercising again, he first took a picture of himself in his "less than desirable" state. For the next few months, whenever Jerry didn't feel like heading to the gym for his workout, he would look at this picture. At first, his motivation was that he didn't want to look like this anymore. But overtime, as he began to lose fat and gain muscle, his motivation changed. He would see the picture, and then see what he looked like now, and he would be excited to work out more. Seeing those physical results made Jerry yearn for something more.

Long story short, a year or two later Jerry resembles one of the Spartan warriors from the movie 300. He eats better. He exercises better. He lives better. And it was all thanks to a photograph.

Ok now let's get back to the point of my blog. Each year I like to talk about New Years resolutions. Last year, my main point was that you should pick a resolution that is attainable and quantifiable. Well, since one of the number one resolutions for Americans is to lose weight and get in better shape, I thought I would share MY resolution for this year.

I already go to the gym regularly, so I'm not worried about getting in better shape. However, as I've begun to lift more, I've been doing less cardio. So I'm burning less fat. The result is that my body-fat percentage is the highest it has ever been.

My resolution is to reduce my body-fat percentage from 17% (current) to 12% this year. This is extremely attainable. But to help out, I'm going to borrow from Jerry's example. On the first day of every month, I'm going to take a picture of myself without my shirt on. This way I can see the physical results of my workouts as time goes on. Hopefully, in a year I can post one of those photos like you see in the miracle weight-loss commercials - where the guy looks fat and sad in the first picture and then ripped and happy in the second one.

...wish me luck...