Time to Take Stock
It’s an interesting point in my life, despite the failure at the long term goal I’d set to reduce myself by 100 pounds. I still struggle with my actual weight. But, to some degree, I’ve let myself just continue to be. . . and observe the realities of a brand new and demanding career.
My newfound career is, indeed, incredibly rewarding. And incredibly fun (OK, I’ll admit it: I’m a prosecutor). However, it is also incredibly time consuming. I have some financial clouds hanging over the top of me – but I think they will ultimately be resolved in my favor. (And, even if they’re not fully resolved, the career change was well worth the mini-financial struggle).
About a year ago, I went through an incredibly difficult financial period. Immediately out of law school, I simply didn’t have the income necessary to support the debt I’d accumulated. I didn’t want to go get just any old job out of law school, because I definitely had my sites set on being a prosecutor. So, I endured low pay (~$26,000, later raised to $39,000) to work as a not-yet-permanent member of the prosecutor’s office. Ultimately, that bet paid off with a job as a prosecutor in that office. While that was a tremendous benefit, the burden was the financial sacrifice. To some degree, the financial sacrifice continues (I earn in the upper five figures. . . but need to pay ~$1,200 per month in student loans). It’s all doable. And the fitness things are coming round.
My workouts over the summer were way too sporadic. Things are really crazy and unpredictable at the beginning cycle of careers, generally, and really unpredictable in my particular career. I definitely put in some 70-80 hour weeks in the beginning. The hours have massively dwindled since then. I’ve also been a bit kinder and gentler to myself: If I work all those hours, I no longer insist upon 8 workouts per week. I take multiple days off in an attempt to accliminate myself.
But, now that I’ve been in the office for about 4 months, I am getting the hang of it. And I’d like to get back to setting real fitness goals for the next year or so. Moreover, it’s been a bit difficult these days with interesting roommate predicaments. Morning workouts can be tricky because I have to wait to get into the shower, and at the new gig, I simply can’t walk in 30 minutes later than I need to be (bad idea to keep a judge waiting for you late ass). I suppose I could go hit the gym during the lunch break. . . but even that can be a bit hard – certainly difficult to schedule.
I’ve purposefully been quite easy on myself for the past two weeks, because of several factors: 1) My new part-time job is searching for places to live; and 2) the new career is demanding; and 3) I want to be frugal with the food I have on hand, so I’ve internally agreed to not go to the grocery store (except milk, juice and occasional fruit), until I move out of the loft.
FITNESS GOALS
I still hold onto the ideal that I’d like to do an Ironman. Specifically, I’d love to complete one before the age of 40. I would also like to increase my physical appearance. I’ve set a ‘get real’ deadline to coincide with when I take my new apartment (which seems to be imminent). I’ve been reticent to openly track my weight in other parts of the my current apartment(particularly on the refrigerator) because it would be embarrassing (my roommates would see it as well, and I’d prefer to maintain quiet peace about it). But, in my own place, I think I could rationally do it, and it would be fine. At minimum, I’d like to get myself down to 230 pounds. Even more ideal would be fewer than 200 pounds. And pure ideal would be 5% body fat at 175 pounds or so. I do have a gym membership, so weight lifting is definitely possible.
In order to so, I need to radically increase my nutritional perspective. And, increasing caloric burn would be helpful as well.
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