So, it’s been one month, and I’m happy to report that progress has been good. 14 workouts, none missed, no money donated. All of the workouts were on our home elliptical machine, gradually building from 20 minutes at level 7 to 45 minutes at level 8. It’s a bit depressing to realize that 45 minutes of cardio doesn’t even add up to a sticky bun, but there you have it.

Some random observations on the process:

• I haven’t lost any weight, but my clothes feel a little looser. This probably means I’ve been burning some fat and adding some muscle, but also that I’ve got a long hill to climb.
• I need something to keep my attention, otherwise cardio bores the hell out of me. Mindless action movies are best, though a good fantasy novel can also do the trick (thank you, Audible!).
• Hard to motivate to get out of the house and down to the gym.
• Unfortunately, even when I was able to bank an extra workout, I spent it very quickly.
• The psychological effects of “not wanting to fail publicly” and “not wanting to break the chain of successes” were more powerful than the monetary penalty.
• The most common reason for not working out was a full belly.

Anyway, I’m happy to announce that I’ll be extending my challenge into February. Additionally, I’m also adding the following rule:

• After 8 pm, I am only allowed to eat raw (uncooked, unprocessed) food. Non-fat yogurt is also allowed.

I thought about this for a while, and ultimately realized that “raw” was as good a heuristic as any other. Water, fruit, and juice are in. Ice cream, baked goods, and leftovers are out. Once again, I’ll allow myself an exception if I’m out at a restaurant with my wife, or on vacation.

We’ll see how it goes!

Update: stats can be seen in the original post.

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