[FatTony]

"Do not pray for an easy life, pray for strength to endure a difficult one." Bruce Lee

It's one of my favorite quotes. The other one I find similar is Navy Seal's motto: "The only easy day was yesterday." I treat them both as something beyond motivational. They give you a perspective. It's harsh but true to its core.

Although it seems like one of those New Year's resolutions blog, believe me, it's not. Far from it. I committed myself to lose 21kg on September 17th. As it usually the case, life happened. I had a nice start, lost 3kg in 1.5 weeks, then I got angina, with three different acute inflammations. I lost voice with all the other goodies. In mid-November, I got covid. Even though I wasn't going out of bed, I got ill by Covid (courtesy of either wife or kid). It felt like angina on steroids, I was literally battling for my life. Not because of Covid but because of angina + being overworked + overweight + house renovation + buying car + having a startup + second kid coming up + tons of tensions with wife. I just had enough, and covid was cherry on the top. I told myself that there are way, way more entertaining ways to die than with a sore throat and unable to speak.

Something about me, I am in my 30ties, father (soon of two kids). I am fat even though I don't feel like it. I am WEAK, even though I don't feel like it, and I hate that feeling. I made commitments with three closest people for around 10 000 USD that I am going to weigh 90kg by November. If I lose, I pay. If I win, I am fit. The side bet is I am going to send them my pictures from tracking (underwear with a fat belly), and I am going to walk 24h with them with a backpack with 21kg of fat inside. Me being ill for 1.5 months made it a big challenge. What is even worse, I stress eating because of it, and I gained weight after illness.

I am writing this blog to keep myself accountable. I did it earlier with my business, and it worked great, and I've met many fantastic people because of it. Now I am desperate, and there is the only way I know how to deal with it, push through.

I don't have a plan and routine yet. Writing a blog is a start. On top of the list of things, I need to go through and plan for.

Plan:
1) Regular Blogging to keep me accountable - Not being able to erase history like from apps.
2) Tracking:
Daily: Calories intake, Weight
Weekly: Measurements, Photos, Blog
3) Diet Go for Flexible Diet (Low Carbish) if fail or too inconvenient dietary catering - still cheaper.
4) S&S Routine - Start with Swings, build your wrist and add TGU
5) Running 3+ times a week with HR bellow 135
6) Physical therapies to fix stiffness after covid.


Drawbacks:
1) It seems that my metabolism slowed down after illness, and I have to eat 300 calories less to maintain my old weight.
a) Just suck it up and test. Reverse diet after you meet your goals.

2) Teaching Kid to sleep without his mommy - Waking up 5-10 times a night and problems with falling asleep.
a) Prepare dim red light for reading and prepare a few books for cases when you can't fall asleep
b) Update GTD system to have a list of things you have to do, add mark boring to do them at night.
c) Electronic Nanny to keep doors closed.
d) Order a more comfortable mat to sleep on the floor. Once you have a better weight and less stress in your life, then you can come back hardening body.
e) Grind furniture maker to finish your wardrobe to be able to manage your nights better.
f) Improve your diet and implement running to have more energy during the day.

3) Second Kid at Feb
a) If it's going to be too hard, order catering - way cheaper than paying a fee and being fat.

4) Problems at startup
a) Finish GTD to be able to prioritize better.

5) Bussy schedule no time for preparing meals.
a) Buy minifridge to the office for a few backup meals that are sealed.
b) Prepare some meals to go and put them in a freezer. It's still going to be healthier and better, even if you eat it cold or microwaved once in a while vs ordering.

6) Wrist Pain after Covid
a) It's in pain because it's weak to do TGU you have to do daily ice bath for Wrist
b) Strength the muscles with CC exercises

7) Hour wasted to go for Physical Therapy - Uber Problems
a) Rent a car for a month and see how much does it improve.

PS. As I said earlier, I don't feel fat, even though numbers say otherwise. FatTony is a courtesy to Nasim Taleb, whose books I adore.

[FatTony]

#2) Teaching Kid to sleep without his mommy - Waking up 5-10 times a night and problems with falling asleep.

I bought a nice duvet, a fine sateen sheet, which improved my falling asleep big time. It made me understand one thing. With a ton of stress and in the most challenging time of my life, it's fine to go easier on some things, especially when I face a challenge where 95% fails.

When I face a challenge where I succeed once (lost 10kg and kept it off for 6-8 years) and failed 10-20 times (losing and keeping off 3-4kg) I should let some stuff go. I am going on a war where the casualty rate is enormous. Part of my commitments is after I go down to 90kg, I have to keep it off for five years. I have to perform at my best.

I am going to find a more comfortable sleeping mat rather than sleep on an exercise mat. This point is still in the process.


#6) Wrist Pain after Covid
As expected, when you feel numb pain in your wrist and big pain when it's in contact with something cold. Put it on ice water. I had problems with my wrist since I was 16-18 years old and wanted to wear a watch. Somehow after covid, everything that was weak in me popped out at the same time, but it's good. I was given a chance to work on that. I put my hands in a bucket filled with cold water and ice. It seems to work fast. It's been only three days, and I can move my wrist without numb pain.

I Will add some calisthenics exercises to the mix and, in no time, will be able to start doing TGU.




What is an excellent thing about keeping a blog is an accountability. Yesterday I failed to keep my calories. Also, I failed to track them. At one sitting, I ate four cottage cheese, two chocolates, and some other things that I probably forgot. Normally I used to click the reset button on my food journal and start all over again. Funny I know. The idea of losing even more KG was thrilling; how well I would feel after losing them. Today cut down calories to 1700, tomorrow also planning to go with only 1700.

It never stops to amaze me how much BS I was able to tell myself. I go for a run, and I have scrapes on my tights, yet I was telling myself that I am not thaaaat fat. Anyway, later this week I am going to start doing swings. Will give myself two-three weeks more with TGU because of my wrists.

Found a remarkable multi-tasking hack. Once I week I have a corporate call with Company I work with. It takes around 2-3 hours. Usually, I am speaking at the end of the call. Marketing and sales is sexier than boring technical stuff, so I can run at that time. Last week I did 1.5h run and had great fun doing it. Today I was only able to do 30min and had to go home, but still, it's a huge win. The slow pace of keeping my runs below 135 HR allows me to speak, and I am even sharper at those calls. Anyway, I need to get some sleep now.

[FatTony]

The first week over. I have collapsed twice already. We invited friends with kids so our daughter could socialize. I went running and cut calories the next day to even it out. I could be wrong with calorie counting, so I will try 2700kcal one more week. If it isn't at least 1kg per week, I'll drop down even more calories.​

I am super happy about this week when it comes to running. Two out of three times, I didn't feel like running after 10 min. Two out of three times I ended up running one hour. During 30-50 min, I enjoyed it a lot, then I stopped, but it was just ten more minutes with super slow pace.

Another small win, I had a super big urge for Pepsi while being in a convenience store and didn't buy it. I am doing the Body You Deserve program by Thony Robins, and it's very insightful. It takes a lot of time but to succeed at commitments, I have to be a different person than I am now. I simply have to become a fit person. There is no way to be on a fake diet for six years of commitments (that's why I made them that way).

I can't wait for February because I will do it for the second time, and I will be able to skip some parts and focus more on others. First time I am doing everything to the letter. I also can't wait to channel playing computer games into exercising, keeping a blog, making notes from programs and books. Habits will take a while to kicks in. With all that is going on, I allow my brain to escape into games. I feel like change will come naturally. I feel like running five days a week. I am just not able to do it now. Especially with all these scrapes from running, I even have some blisters before I figure out I should use some oil on my tights.