Ok… So 90 came and went.

So you may or probably may not be asking yourself, why hasn’t Jeremiah posted his last post.  There are two reasons:

1. As always I am on the road.
2. I couldn’t find my camera.

So I am going to tell you my story and add shot from someone else because I have that.

Don’t ask me who this is in the picture. I was conferencing last week. I threw some parties and there where lots of people there.  I also take a lot of daily booth photos with the webcam and you can see the slim new me daily.

So lets get real

What did I achieve:

• I lost 15 lbs.  
• I am now a size 33 jeans down from 36
• I am a size 16.5 dress shirt down from 17.5 
• I had to get my glasses tightened.

Overall I am so happy, but there is another side too..

• I wasn’t very good at the social component.
• I traveled a lot more than usual during the PCP.
• I still have not found equilibrium in sleep
• I miss beer like I miss my mom.
• My stomach still needs work.
• I suck at pull ups.

I’m there… I am not there

I have arrived at the end of this a much healthier person, but if you have read my posts you know that I wasn’t out of shape.  I am just not in my goal shape.  That also said if you have been reading my posts you know that I am working on a lifestyle of fitness.  I want to live a simple balanced life.  You see the dirty secret is that I nearly had a mental and physical breakdown in February of this year.

I was under so much stress.  Microsoft had take the last shred of energy I had and beaten it out of me.  I don’t blame anyone, other than myself. I had made choices in my career that put me in a bad job and I worked 16 hour days trying to prove to my manager I was good enough.   So in March at the advice of a friend and my doctor, who both told me I was killing myself,  I quit.  

Yep, I quit a 100k plus job in the worst economy in 50 years. Because unlike most people I do know that it isn’t what I do that gives me value.  My faith, My Family, My health; they all mean more to me than a paycheck. The PCP came at a time when I have been redefining what it means to be me.

I still work hard.  Very Hard.  I also push myself in ways that many people probably don’t.  (I prefer big failures to mediocre successes)  but along with PCP I am working on refocusing all of my life.

What is to be gained?

I have never been accused of humility. I am a ceaseless self-promoter and amassed some relationship and political capital that I have spoiled on businesses and endeavors I have not believed in.  But that is changing. I found work almost right away after leaving MS, but I make time now to meet with my out of work friends and counsel them.   I workout daily to improve my health and as much as I miss the sweets that once were a part of my life they have been exchanged for seasonal fruits and vegetables.

 

I have recommitted myself to my faith and to my family; which has only added to my travels.  See as funny as the picture is above, (this was taken as a part of a friends art project.)  I want to be known for so much more than this.

I have very much enjoyed seeing your posts show up in my Google reader.  Reading them from 30,000 feet encouraged me to jump rope when I landed.   Patrick’s mails have been an inspiration to me and I look forward to re-reading them. The truth is that I don’t know any of you but I was sure pushed by you guys. 

On to the next thing.

So what is next?  I asked patrick last week, Can I start over? I want to do it again from the beginning.  And the truth is I am going to follow the diet week by week again, but I have decide that I was jealous of the personal attention some of you were able to get from Patrick.  So I pinged an acquaintance who writes the Sweat and the City blog at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer about a studio she is a trainer at in Redmond.

So starting tomorrow, I will be getting some weekly one on one attention at ZenRock fitness in Redmond. Jennifer and I have met and I talked about the PCP and where I struggled and she promises to have me doing pull-ups in no time.   They focus on functional training and yoga.  I loved the studio as there is almost no equipment there.  I will be focused on using my bodyweight to keep moving forward.  (Funny where have I read about using my bodyweight.)  I am also glad they have such a quiet place where I can practice my Yoga in a 1-1 setting for a while.

Patrick’s email about checking out fitness centers really resonated with me because I am in and out of the places all over the country when I travel.  Most of the places are sad attempts to capitalize on people not achieving their goals but guilting them into another month.

The outcome

I highly recommend the PCP to anyone, I am really hoping to see Patrick when and if he makes it here to Seattle.  We can do a workout at ZenRock.  There is a pair of Ultimate Ears in it for you.  Has the PCP turned my life around from the nearly broken person I was when I left Microsoft. Nope. It has been just a part of the turn around. I couldn’t have done it all though with out the help of Patrick and your inspiration.