Figuring it all out

Posted on January 5, 2018 by theffkid

“Why, hello. Haven’t seen you here in a while…”

I don’t know why I haven’t posted in so long. I’ve opened this blog page, tried to type, came up with some solid draft ideas, and then lost steam. I kept trying to come up with some epic post with Mark Morrison’s “Return of the Mac” blasting from the heavens as I return to my blogtastic glory.

But life doesn’t work that way.

The blog has been such an important part of the past almost decade of my life. Not only did it serve as the trailhead of my weight loss journey, it shaped my skills as a writer. I also hoped that it would help encourage others to become healthier. Not out of any selfish hope, but because I knew how much better my life was inside and out once I made that change in my own life.

“So…why did you stop blogging, Nathan?”

I think I stopped writing because I was ashamed of gaining some weight back. When I weighed 225, I dealt with some dark stuff. I hated how I looked. With a capital “h” hated. I felt like I was this rubber band that was stretching myself out to new links, but deep down I knew that I would snap back one day. And it did, but it could have been way worse.

Somehow, I think that stunted my weight-loss growth. I think instead of confronting some of those issues (you know…when you realize that you feel feelings that aren’t always happy) so I resorted back to food instead of confronting them.

What I’ve realized this week is that you really don’t truly grasp the concept of self-preservation until you’re 29 and a half. Whether you like it or not, you figure out that you have to watch out for yourself. Whether that’s your job, your friendships, or your health. I’ve pushed myself really hard in my late 20s and it took its toll on my health. I was really hard on myself. In fact, that has been on every job evaluation I’ve ever had. I wasn’t trying to be perfect, I was trying to do it all. Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad I did because I got to work on some amazing projects with some amazing people, but I’ve finally realized that it’s OK to take a step back.
Not every fight is my own.

“So…what now?”
Well, I am going to start writing again. I still wear the FFK moniker as a badge of honor. I love inspiring others. I feel that it’s what I am called even at a spiritual level. If every day of my life isn’t spent helping others, then what’s the point?

For years, I have pushed other people to embrace and promote the personal brand they want others to see. I haven’t been doing that. For the past three years, I’ve been this weight loss has-been. Now, it’s time to practice what I preach. It’s time to keep moving forward.

Introducing #FFKFitby30

Posted on June 28, 2015 by theffkid

For the past few weeks, Megan and I have binged watched the entire series of Game of Thrones. You know, that show with the dragons, ice zombies and Peter Dinklage. The show is simply amazing and I can’t believe it took me this long to finally watch it. Anyway, while we were watching the fifth season the other night, I thought to myself “wow, I wonder how old Kit Harington (John Snow) is. He must be like…37 or something.” So, like any good TV consumer, I went to IMDB to look for his age. Aaaaaaaand he’s 18 days older than me. That means we graduated high school at the same time, we were in awkward puberty at the same time and we probably secretly even loved Nickelback at the same time. When I told Megan, all she could say was “we’re old.”

While this might mean that I’m just not good at guessing the ages of people, it just reaffirms my false belief that I’m younger that I actually am. (At this point, I’m waiting for some red head to come up to me and say “you know nothing, Nathan MacDonald.”) The reality is that I am an adult and life his happening right now. This all kind of came to a head when I realized that as of June 13th, I am a year and a half away from turning 30. My twenties are almost gone. And I’m kind of sad about it.

At this point, I know you’re ready to comment with a remark like “ummmmm…you’re not that old. Stop whining!” or something like “dude! 30 is the new 15!” But for me, it’s more than that! I’m seeing that 3 number as a finish line for goals that I set nearly a decade ago. (Yes, the FFK is turning 5 years old this year.) I need to think of my journey in those terms so I mentally keep going. More importantly, I need to breath new life into this journey.

With that, I would like to introduce you to #FFKFitby30.

Below is a manageable list of goals that I will conquer before January 13th, 2017 (you know…when I turn 30). Some are serious, some are silly, and others are just plain cool. My plan is once I complete one goal, I will add another! So here we go!

Exercise for 30 minutes four times a week.
Complete a marathon
Run a race every month
Do a pull up (yes, one pull up. I can do a tenth of one right now…)
Weigh in below 200 pounds (199.8 lbs totally counts!)
Get certified in a fitness program like TRX of kettlebells
Track my food six times a week

So seven reasonable goals that all benefit one another in some way! I’m going to start tracking food tomorrow in a food journal on my phone and Megan and I also started Insanity Max 30 (check it out! It’s awesome!) last week! I’m ready to begin this journey to 30 and using these goals as my map!

Here. We. Go.

Vacation Recap and Being Back on Track

Posted on July 22, 2014 by theffkid

Hello! I’m back!

It always feels like the week after a vacation is crazy and somehow even more exhausting the the trip itself. It’s nice to be back to normal…for a while at least!

So let’s talk about what I’ve been up to, shall we?

Vacation to Texas
We spend a about a week and a half in Texas seeing family and friends. It was nice to be somewhere that didn’t have humidity. We spent all of the 4th of July out on my parent’s porch and I didn’t even break a sweat! We also got to see our friends Scott and Tabitha and their new adorable baby Cora in Austin!

With all the fun in Texas came a lot of eating. At the beginning, portion control was the name of the game. When that started to slide, I added some movement to my days with walking around my old neighborhood for an hour or so each night. I wasn’t moving to undo my calories, I was doing it to at least get my metabolism going and to get some steps in!

When we were flying home, we got stuck on the tarmac in DFW for about an hour and a half. We had a pretty short layover in Charlotte so we knew it was going to be a race. The plane landed in CLT at 10:05 and our flight was leaving at 10:30. Oh yeah, did I mention that our gate was clear across the airport? So we Home Alone’d it like a boss and we barely made it. They had even taken the Tallahassee sign off the board at the gate. Being the ridiculous social media dude I am, I aired my grievances with US Airways. And they won the internet with their response.
So we got back to Tallahassee around midnight and it was exhausting but it felt good to be home!

This Week’s Weigh In
I wasn’t sure what the scale was going to say the next day, but I wasn’t feeling hopeful. Somehow, I had only gained 6 pounds which really isn’t that bad. You can gain that easily after a night of sodiumtastic Mexican food. Plus, I’m pretty sure it was 4 and a half pounds of brisket and a pound and a half of kolaches. Anyway, Megan and I went back to the basics of eating and I did some serious exercising every day. When I weighed in on Sunday, not only had I lost everything I gained on the trip, I weighed less than before the trip! So I weighed in at 254 pounds and at this point, I’m just glad that the scale is going in the right direction. I’m really ready to get out of the 250’s and to make some killer weight loss progress!

2015 Disney Enchanted 10k!!!!
A few weeks ago, Megan and her cousin Chelsie talked about running one of the Disney Princess races in February 2015. When they decided on the Enchanted 10k, I wanted in on the awesomeness! So…WE ARE OFFICIALLY RUNNING A DISNEY RACE!!!! Running a Disney race has been a pretty big bucket list item for me. I really want to run the Disney World Marathon on my 30th birthday since my birthday is always during my birthday weekend. But I want to reach my goal weight first before I do that. Thankfully, I still have a few years to go (3 to be exact…)