I have been going over my short- to mid-term goals recently. One of the reasons to have the blog was to be able to think out loud, and to be encouraged to do so. Most of the blogs that I read are introspective examinations of their author's personal and professional lives and the ways in which they face the challenges that arise in those arenas. This is not to say that there isn't also a ton of happiness and silliness and exaltation, but I think that what draws me to one writer or another (aside from writing style) is there willingess to and candor in tackling those issues that we all face.
For my part, I don't think that I do a particularly good job of this, and my writing here still smacks of a good deal of self-censoring. I was never one to keep a journal and it will be a while before I find a written voice that comes close enough to representing me, that I don't feel all inadequate and generally yucky after a post. Still I hope to have more about me as time goes on. I ask your (and my) patience with the process.
I wrote this morning about my running and working out and felt like there was more to say there. I have as one of my long standing goals to get my weight down to 70 kilos (about 155 lbs). I was slightly more than that -- about 72 kg (159 lb) -- when I arrived almost 3 years ago, but that was shortly after my Mom had died and I my weight was lower than it had been for about 8 months. Anyway, 155 pounds is my "fightin' weight" and somehow I feel like if I can make it there I'll make it anywhere. I haven't hopped on a scale recently, but I know my body pretty well and am tipping the scales at about 80-82 kg (176-180 lbs).
I have felt more and more unhappy with my body. This has been compounded by the endearing cultural characteristic that it is perfectly acceptable here to comment about people's weight/appearance. For example, 「あれ、、もしかして太ってきた、ね？」 or "Oh..? You've packed on some pounds, haven't you?" , is reasonable to say to someone that you haven't seen in a while. I guess I should look at it as a blessing, in that it is much easier to deal with the shame and lack of discipline implied by going from in-shape to out -- the buying of slightly bigger pants, moving the belt loop one notch -- when noone seems to notice. But, when the people that you hang out with comment about it within the first 5 minutes, everything's on the table, it's out there, no use hoping that their silence means that they haven't noticed. Man, I feel blessed.
So being that I am binary I have flown into full-on, be-the-ball mode (I will write a bit about what I'm doing research-wise in the next week or so). As I have seen around this fair virtual world that 8 lbs/month or less is considered within the realm of reasonable weight loss, I am going to shoot for something similar. I'm going to "go hard" -- this is one of my favorite expressions picked up from the kiwis -- until the end of the year and then weigh myself and see where I am. My goal is to be at 75 kg at the first of the year (this works out to a bit more than 8 lbs, but somehow 76 just didn't look right when I typed it, so much better to go from 80 to 75 than to go from, say, 81 to 77 or some such; and since I am not actually weighing myself for the starting weight I can believe what I want about it). This is not to say that I am going to judge my progress solely by weight. Not only am I well aware of how weight fluctuates constantly, I also know that things like bodyfat percentage and BMR are much better indicators of fitness. But using the patented "Weider Use Your Eyes to Observe" training technique, I should be able to insure that I continue to make gains in muscle mass and quality, while slimming my increasingly gaijin-sized ass.
My mid-term weight goal is to reach the 70 kg mark by the end of the schoolyear.（Feb 2nd)
Stay tuned.
PS - The Black Sumo magnet was just too offensive to pass up. It is available here
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