The 1st: 24 pounds in 27 days

My 1st challenge starts on Monday the 9th of June: Lose 24 pounds in 27 days. Or, for the rest of planet earth rocking the metric system, 11 kilograms in 27 days. Right now, I weigh 189 pounds. I’m not fat, but I am overweight.

Still, I’m a pretty active guy. I love playing all and every sport, with a special penchant for soccer. But since I left university, 5 years ago, I’ve put on about 22 pounds. I’m only 5′11″ (1.8m) tall, so weighing 189 pounds earns me a BMI of 26.4 – significantly higher than the “Normal weight” range of 18.5-24.9.

My Pops always used to tell me that he was in the best shape of his life, in his early 30s. I just get the feeling that if I keep going in this direction, I won’t be able to make the same claim to my kids one day. I just want to stay fit and healthy – I’m a firm believer in the “healthy body, healthy mind” principle – and I know close friends, who’s lives are just as busy as mine, who’ve managed to keep in great shape.

The difference between them and me: discipline.

So I’m going to prove to myself that with a little commitment and a bit of old fashioned hard work, I can turn back time and get myself back into the shape I keep telling myself I’ll get into “some day”. 

My goal weight is 165 pounds (74 kilograms). So in 27 days, I’ll be a lighter, faster, stronger, fitter, happier me.

And who knows, maybe I’ll be better able to hold my own on the Harrison public soccer field!

Choosing challenges

Choosing appropriate challenges for myself is going make or break this whole exercise. So here’s some background info: I’m a married, twenty-something South African, working abroad for a year in Harrison, New Jersey; 20 minutes outside of New York City. I’m healthy, fairly bright and employed full-time. I’m real. I don’t have a lot of free time but I know that I waste a stack of the stuff.

So my challenges have to be tough, but realistic. And the way I tackle them has to be realistic, too. There will be days when the “real world” of work and responsibilities takes up too much of my spare time to focus on the current 27 day challenge. But, with a little discipline, I’m going to prove to myself that I can better use the hours that I waste every day.

To precisely that end, the first paragraph of this post was written whilst my wife was trying on clothes at Jersey Gardens mall, and the second was during a lull in the romantic comedy we chose to watch tonight.

See, I’m learning…