So you have lost some weight, now what?

It’s almost New Year’s Day, time for reflection and resolutions. Many of us have also been arriving at our 1 year anniversaries with F3 in the Columbia/Lake Murray/Lexington regions and have had some amazing results in all of the 3 F’s. But the big question is, “Now what?”

Most of the pax who have been consistently coming for months to a year of more have lost some weight, some like myself are proud to say that they’ve lost 30 lbs. since starting Jan 2^nd last year, and several have lost more.  Most of us would say we’ve gained just as much fellowship with our brothers in the gloom, forging friendships and accountability and I think all have been challenged to seek and grow in faith. The purpose of F3 includes invigorating male leadership in our community and I believe our local region has been finding more and more ways to give back and help others. That’s great, that’s the whole spectrum of F3, turning #sadclowns into fitter, more productive, more connected men, but what’s next. How can we not become complacent or satisfied where we are now with our new smaller pants sizes and guys to call out on twitter or call up for an early morning run so we’re not alone.

As we approach New Year’s Day I’d encourage you to assess your progress over the last year in all 3 F’s and make goals (in case you’re against resolutions) for the next phase of your F3 life. FITNESS: If you would like to make a weight loss goal, do it and make it reasonable and attainable. You didn’t gain those extra 40 lbs. in 2 weeks and they won’t come off by coming to just a couple 45 minute boot camps. Increase your activity level or intensity, add a running group to your regular bootcamp (that’s what really helped my weight loss) and of course assess your diet and see where you are regularly sabotaging your hard work in the gloom and work to change it. FELLOWSHIP: Make it a point to engage with regular attenders and FNG’s at workouts and meet outside of the gloom at #coffeeteria or lunches, make it happen and forge those relationships.  FAITH: Look for opportunities to grown in faith privately and also with your F3 brothers #IronSharpensIron.  Finally look for ways we can engage in our local communities to help those in need and show the strength of this group does not come from doing 10k races or 10,000 merkins but exists in our willingness to serve others.

Don’t be afraid to set lofty goals for this coming year, if you don’t you may find yourself next year still spinning your wheels looking and feeling the same.  If you ran your 1^st 5k in 2014, start training for a half marathon (you can do it, I did). If you did a half or full marathon, how much faster could you be this year? Are you regularly stepping up to Q the workouts? If you have been coming for a year you should be on the regular rotation. If you lost 20 lbs. do you still have more to lose?  Keep working on it, adjust your diet, and ramp up your intensity.  Maybe you are a visual learner, if so take some pics to see how your body changes over the year.  Shirtless yes, but don’t stick out your stomach and slouch just to make the after pics look better #infomercial101 and take some body fat and circumference measurements monthly to track your progress.  Resolve to engage in 2^nd and 3^rd F opportunities whenever possible and make yourselves better men, husbands, fathers, co-workers and members of your community in 2015. #getbetter #bebetter