Progress...

On many occasions over the history of this blog, I have posted about my progress in fitness.

Running Speed Progress...
CrossFit Progress...
Strength Progress...

Unfortunately, I have rarely written about the progress of my overall health. Sure, running faster, growing stronger, jumping farther are all aspects of my health. But during all this time, I never felt like I "hit the nail on the head" with improving my overall health.

I am a numbers nerd (funny since I teach English & Literature). Over the past 5 or 6 years, my wife and I have done a weekly weigh-in and written it down in a chart. We felt this would be a motivation for us to see our progress & a tool for accountability. Honestly, at times it was depressing to watch my weight slowly creep up. Other times, the numbers made me kick into action to take control of those numbers.

My action always revolved around physical activity (training for marathon, Urbanathlon, CrossFit, P90X, 603PTP). Sometimes it would touch on my eating habits too (P90X Nutrition Guide). But something was always missing. What was it?

...more intensity?
 ...more commitment?
...my genes just suck?
...I'm just getting older?
...my eating habits?

Every time I took up one of these activities, I always read the sidebar that said, "In order to see REAL PROGRESS, you must take care of your diet." Taking care of your diet is pretty vague. So without concrete steps (except for P90X), I never really considered my eating habits. Until recently...

So in the name of self-experimentation, I devoured It Starts With Food, The Perfect Health Diet, and blog posts from the most proliferate Paleo writers. And committed to their guidance along with doing the Whole30 with my wife. So would I see any progress in my overall health (weight, energy, strength, etc)?

YES! This chart only shows one side of the progress, but I can tell you "YES" for every aspect of this health progress too. Now to sustain it. Let's see what this chart looks like 6, 9, & 12 months down the road. But at this moment, I completely agree that real health progress is a result of what you put into your body, not necessarily what you physically do with your body (although that matters too). And taking care of your diet is concrete when you follow It Starts With Food and other clear resources. Seek them out!

*Knowing how/what to eat is important too. Check out the resources to the right of this post to find some that I have found very helpful!