Day 99

The final results are in.  While a bit anti-climactic relative to the numbers from two weeks ago, they are a far cry from the numbers of (almost) 100 days ago.  After taking several weeks to settle in, it looks like 12% body fat is the "steady state" result of this particular set-up of nutrition and exercise habits.  Here's a graph of how things finished:

To put some numbers to it:

• 30.2 pounds lost overall (14% decrease)
• 21.1 pounds of fat lost (47% decrease)
• 7.9 percentage points of body fat lost (40% decrease)

I've been exercising for a long time, and here and there I've felt proud of the level of strength or athleticism I've reached.  I also went a long time with both the knowledge that I was doing things that aren't good for me and the feeling that it either didn't matter or was too difficult to change.  This process helped me break that feeling down by giving me a long enough time for results to show without it being so long that it felt too big or permanent a change.  (Little did I know the full extent to which things that started out as 100 Day habits have become life habits.)  The help I got up front from Ryan & the Fire team on meal planning was critical.  Finding 15 minutes to get in good cardio on off-days also helped.

Now What?

Last night I thought to myself, "Man, now that this is over I can finally..." and something funny happened.  There was nothing I wanted to finish the sentence with immediately.  Yes, I am looking forward to enjoying a nice glass of wine or beer and a sweet treat every now and then - but by and large, I'm excited to keep living the way I have been these last 100 days.

On Friday, I'm meeting with Ryan to learn about getting "picture ready."  My photo shoot is on Feb-28, so while my 100 Days is over I still have a few weeks of prep work to do.  But after 100 Days... it's a piece of cake.

Day 94

It's almost the end of the road for 100 Days to Great.  I've got 5 more days until my next and last weigh-in on Day 99.  That will mark the last official measurement of how a few simple, but high impact, changes can make a huge difference in your weight and health.  Following that measurement, Coach Stefan will be setting me up with a few temporary finishing touches to the nutrition plan, in preparation for a photo shoot on Saturday, Feb. 28th.  Because the last nutrition changes are temporary, I'm treating my Day 99 weigh-in as the true end result of this process.

I've been honest with you through and through, and I'll continue to be so now.  I'm not sure how I feel about the photo shoot yet.  There's some prep activity that's not really my thing - shaving the body hair (which I've got plenty of) and getting a tan.  I take a sort of stubborn pride in my fuzziness.  Had I been an adult in the 80s, I'd have fit right in thanks to folks like Burt Reynolds.  Today, though, the image of attractive masculinity is presented as being hair-free, and fuzzballs like me are made to feel like we should keep it covered or get rid of it.  Shout-out to my wife Molly for always making me feel like the sexiest man alive.

Now, let me establish that the only reason the Fire team recommends folks do the shave + tan thing before a photo shoot is to better highlight the transformation the body has undergone.  Muscle definition stands out with some color, and obviously, when it's not hidden underneath hair.  One of the reasons I've kept working out happily at Fire is that I never feel judged about my appearance or musculature - only encouraged and appreciated when I work hard and stay focused.

So the net of it is... I think I'll do it, and then decide what I want to do with the photos afterward while I'm itchy as hell with my hair growing back.  I might just share them with Molly, or file them away for a day when I need a little motivation to keep treating myself right.