My Goal

My Goal

Monday, February 25, 2013

My goal is to weigh a healthy 160 lbs. by October 1, 2013 and then to maintain that weight for life.

I weighed 189.0 lbs. this morning, down 0.8 lbs. from yesterday morning.  In ounces, that is 3024 and my goal is to lose 4 oz. each day, which is 1 1/4 lbs. per week.  My starting weight was 204 lbs. and I gained for a few days to 207, then began a good decline in weight.  I weigh daily, first thing in the morning, and I record the weight, first in a real notebook just for that, then on a device; it may be on my laptop or on my telephone where I have an application for that.  I use an Excel spreadsheet where I have detailed my goal changes from 204 to 160 using the 4 oz./day model, which led me to the detailed goal date of October 1, 2013.  My goal for today was to reach 196.25 lbs. (3140 oz.) so I am ahead of my goal by 6.7 lbs.  My rate of weight change will slow down as I get closer to my goal, but for now, I have good progress.

Years ago, when I was in the United States Navy and aboard the ship USS Point Defiance (LSD-31), our mission required us to spend six months at a time in the Philippine Islands.  After our stay there, we finished with a sea cruise to Japan.  I've always liked to point out how we got to Japan.  First, we had to know where we were, then where Japan was.  Then we had to "see" Japan, that is to clearly see where our goal was and make a plan to arrive.  Our plan was to steam at a specific speed in a specific direction, our course, until we arrived.  Did we go straight to Japan without changing anything?  No; that is nearly impossible.  Over that great a distance, our navigator, as good as he was, made minor errors.  Each day at 08:00, 12:00 and 16:00 he and an assistant went on deck on the port side of the 03 level and with a sextant, took a fix, i.e. a bearing, on the sun so that he could know our location.  He reported to the Captain, they conferred and made any minor course changes to put us back on the path to Japan.  One day, I saw our navigator worried, and I mean very worried; he was in almost a make a grown man cry state and he was a very good man, very good at his job.  Why was he so worried?  He was afraid that we were significantly off course and that day the sky was so badly overcast with clouds that he had not seen the sun, not at 08:00 nor at 12:00.  Finally, he was able to get a fix on the sun and we proved to be not as far off course as he feared.  Weighing every day is getting the fix on the sun; it is the standard by which we can measure.  If I have a trend, I can tell if I am on or off course.  Of course, the speed and course is my plan.  If I follow my diet plan daily and exercise daily to that plan, then I am on course.

To accomplish anything we must have a goal.  We must be able to see that goal, clearly, if not in reality, at least in our mind, our imagination.  We must have a clear idea of what we need to reach that goal and how far it is.  We must know where we are and where we are going, set a course and stay the course.  We must have a determined plan to reach our goal and we must allow for the hard reality of course changes, if we must make them.  And we must allow for and accept failure at times.  When we fail, we must begin again immediately.

Stephen Joe "Red Boots" Payne

Body by Payne