Witness The Fitness: ATQ Weight-Loss & Exercise Thread

[Last year we did this and it went pretty well, so figured it’s worth a re-visit.]

When I was at U of O, staying in shape was pretty much effortless. I biked everywhere, had enough free time (liberal arts major) for pickup games in various sports, but probably most important had that 18-23 year old metabolism that could absorb a dozen donuts & a 40 of Old E – “Don’t let the smooth taste fool you!” - for breakfast every morning and still lose weight.

Those days are long over. The thing about getting older is that your metabolism doesn’t just shift down to first gear overnight and set off alarm bells – it’s an insidious gradual process. You pick up a few pounds one year, a few the next, life (career, family, nagging injuries) slowly takes on a sedentary nature, and by the time you realize your lazy ass is out of shape there’s quite a bit of work to be done to get out from under all that new padding.

If this sounds familiar, let’s help each other out ATQ style.

Here’s the gist – set a summer goal for yourself & drop it in the comments below. Could be a specific target weight, could be “go to gym X times/week”, or run a certain race, cut down on Swiss chocolates and/or beer (sad!), take martial arts or yoga classes, some combination of the above, whatever. Give us some idea how you plan to get there.

End date will be the Ducks’ Pac-12 opener vs Furd, September 22. That gives us a little over 3 months – 14 weeks I think.

At the beginning of each week we’ll each check in with what kind of progress, or lack thereof, we’ve made. Something measurable – weight would be the most obvious choice, but could be anything.

I’ll set up a weekly chart with each participant so we can track how we’re doing over time, and we can use that as a springboard for encouragement & maybe a little peer pressure - personally I’m way more consistent if someone’s holding me accountable.

Last year a few folks absolutely killed it, and I think even those of us who didn’t quite make their target (raises hand) still saw some good progress. It really did work.

So let’s do this, who’s in?