Inside My Numbers: Februrary

When I watch ESPN, they have a segment called "Inside the Numbers", which talks about the numbers associated with a stat/sport.  In reverence for how amazing some of these numbers are, I titled this post accordingly.  I took a look at my numbers from February, and there are some interesting factoids in there that I want to go over, and the format from the ESPN segment seems the most appropriate.  Most of these stats are based on my information on SparkPeople, as this is currently where I keep the majority of my data.  I keep wanting to switch over to TrainingPeaks, but the momentum is a bit overwhelming for me right now.  I have 3 months of data in SparkPeople, and the tracking is easier there.  I really don't like having to enter things in more than one place at a time, which is also a drawback.   That said, the numbers:


1580:  The number of Fitness minutes that I logged during the month of February.
201: Distance traveled, in miles, during the month.  This is both walking and cycling
669:  Daily average calorie burn over the month
45762:  The total calorie differential (estimated).  This is BMR + Exercise - Eaten for the entire month
13:  The amount of weight lost between 2/3 and 3/2

These numbers show just the level of effort that I was blessed enough to put out in February, and just how much work it takes to drop the weight.  What I've realized is that these numbers are not realistic to maintain for an extended period of time, and honestly I don't want to.  At some point I have to gain more muscle mass than fat loss to get to my goals.  And building weight costs calories, and not calories that can be created by stored fat.  But seeing the numbers in front of me gives me a level of effort, and a level of accomplishment for completing it.  I'm still 20-30 lbs from my original "goal weight", and I'm still not convinced it's realistic, but it also means I'm to the half way point of the "weight loss" part of my journey, mentally.

But like any great journey, the destination is never the goal.  The goal is the journey itself.