I’m going to pass on my quick summary post this week (even though I did lose another 0.6 pounds) because instead I want to talk about a bigger goal that I recently put on the horizon – this fall, my wife and I are going on another cruise!
It’s technically for a few different things – celebrating our 5th anniversary, as well as stress relief in preparation for some other big stuff this fall – but while we’re at it, I’ve decided that I’d really like to try and also make it a celebration for having shed a ton of weight as well. As the calendar falls today, we set sail in about 31 weeks, meaning that if I could merely lose a little over a pound a week, I’d be at my ideal weight by the time we leave the dock, thus leaving all the more room for the ridiculous indulgence that can only take place on what is essentially a floating buffet table with a swim-up bar…
At first I was a little hesitant to set a “big goal” like this because it can be so discouraging to miss them, but at the same time, the more I thought about it the fear of failure is a horrible reason not to set a goal in the first place, and especially considering that this is something that I’ve been trying to do for quite some time now and that without a doubt I certainly ain’t getting any younger here, even if I only get halfway to my goal, that’s a few steps farther than I got last year and if it takes even a few consecutive years of 20 pounds/year to get to where I need to be, that’s still a hell of a lot better than dying of a heart attack at 40 because it was too big of a task to even try.
So if you want the raw numbers, that’s right around 35 pounds in 31 weeks … the end goal being to be able to relax and just enjoy a long week with my wife, completely unencumbered by both stress and fat as we sail idly around the Caribbean. We’ve actually talked about not even leaving the boat this time – the last time we went, I admittedly felt a little rushed because we had excursions just about every day that demanded our rise before 8:00am, so this time we’re thinking it might be fun and different to just lounge around on the ship the whole time and really take in the atmosphere, enjoy the pools, stay out late and watch the stars, and that sort of thing. We also splurged for a room right next to the spa, so chances are there might be a few massages on the docket for each of us before our trip is through, too!
Now to just give that masseuse a little something less flabby to work with… 😛