Every Saturday morning since the beginning of February this year, I’ve stepped on a scale to check my weight loss progress. This weekend’s total weight was 225.8 lbs (102.42 kg). That’s a drop of 77.2 lbs. (35.02 kg) in 42 weeks.

Forty-two might seem like an insignificant number (other than being the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything), but it dawned on me that I’m 10 weeks away from completing the first full year of my mind and body transformation.

So, I wanted to give you an update on how far I’ve come.

Stick around for 10 more weeks and I promise to show some pictures.

Hitting goals

In July, I wrote an article with my thoughts on goals. In that article, I put myself on a 12-week plan, which involved adding money to a “wardrobe fund” for each goal I hit throughout those 12 weeks.

I’m a little late on updating you with the results, but I’m happy to announce that my wardrobe fund is pretty full. I managed to hit a number of weekly and overall goals, saving a total of $840 USD.

During that 12-week span I managed a few physical changes:

• Dropped 18.2 lbs. (8.26 kg).
• Lost 6.125 inches (15.6 cm) from my waist (belly button).
• Lost 4.625 inches (11.7 cm) from my waist (hips).
• Lost 2.25 inches (5.7 cm) from my chest.
• Finished a 5K race and starting training for a 10K.
• Got quite a bit stronger in my weight lifting.

As I was clearing out my closet to make room for new clothes a few weeks ago, I was reminded of a comment that Nathan Rice left on another blog post of mine. Rather than spending the $840 on new clothes for myself, I made a few decisions:

• Put the $840 toward my Christmas fund so that I could get my friends and family a little bit extra this year.
• Give away all my old clothes to others in need. Basically, this meant giving them to my grandmother so that she could pass them out to less fortunate people in our family and in her neighborhood.
• Tell my family members my new pants and shirt sizes and hope that they’ll get me new clothes for Christmas.

Overall updates

Since February, I’ve completely transformed my life. So, here’s a few fun facts:

• My beginning weight was 303 lbs. (137.44 kg).
• My current weight is 225.8 lbs. (102.42 kg).
• In February, I couldn’t walk up a small hill without being short of breath.
• I completed my first 5K race in September.
• I finished training for a 10K run just this past Thursday (November 17).
• I can now squat 405 lbs. (183.7 kg) and deadlift 450 lbs. (204.12 kg), which is twice my body weight. This is a true 1RM, not an everyday max.
• I haven’t had an alcoholic beverage since January 1, 2011 (not that I was a big drinker anyway).
• I’ve only had three sodas to drink (and nothing other than water, milk, and juice) since February.
• I pig out every Saturday, usually eating pizza, hamburgers, or whatever my grandmother has cooked up if I’m visiting her.
• I don’t count every calorie in every meal, but I do follow a pretty simple diet plan for most meals: Animal, Plant, Water.
• I haven’t missed a single day of planned exercise since I started in February. However, I did miss one weight training session due to other obligations, but I fit in a 30-minute run that morning to make up for it.

The future

When I started, my main goals were to have better overall health and beach-ready abs. However, my goals have been changing. I still want great health, but I’ve learned to enjoy other things such as the 5K race I competed in. I’m even getting back into powerlifting again. A year from now I might have a weight meet or two under my belt.

I definitely plan to keep better track of changes to my body to help others in the future. There are some things that I only recently started tracking such as blood pressure and body-part measurements. Weight loss isn’t everything.

My immediate plan is to start the Smolov Squat Routine, which is this crazy squat program written by a Russian powerlifter. I’ve been mentally and physically preparing myself to take on this 13-week cycle for the past few weeks. I’m even taking a complete vacation this week so that my body and mind can handle the load. I’ll save the details of this for the next post though.

I’m not sure what I’ll be doing about cardio work in the near future. I’ll probably have to cut back for a couple of weeks at the very least to readjust to the Smolov squat plan, so that’ll give me time to evaluate what I want to do. I’m open to suggestions though.

That’s my story after 42 weeks. Stay tuned as I near the end of my first full year.

“What’s that?” he asked.

“I’ve eaten fish for two meals this week.”

“You can’t make that a goal.”

“Why not?”

“It’s too easy.”

This was the catalyst for a discussion in which I explained the value of having easy-to-accoplish goals. I began to realize from this conversation and talks with others that many people think that goals need to be far-reaching, hard-to-obtain things. This might explain people’s inability to reach goals that they’ve set up for themselves — they’re making goals that are too hard.

Stepping stones

For me, eating fish twice in a week is not a tough goal, but it’s a goal nonetheless. I rarely eat fish simply because I just don’t think about it. By making it a goal, it served as a reminder that I should add it to my menu for the week. If I had not set this minor task as a goal, it’s not likely that I would’ve eaten fish.

To the casual observer, this might not seem like such a big deal. To me, it’s a stepping stone to my much larger goal of getting into the best shape of my life.

The point I wanted my housemate to understand was that goals don’t have to be things that are tough to reach. Small goals such as eating fish twice a week are only stepping stones to much larger goals.

Imagine that you wanted to bench press 300 lbs. How would you go about that? Would you simply try to bench press 300 and give up if you didn’t get it? No, you’d set smaller goals for yourself. This week, try bench pressing 200 for 5 reps. Next week, move up to 205 for 5 reps. You’d continue setting these smaller goals to help you achieve your larger goal.

I long ago realized that my housemate was not setting these types of “stepping stone” goals for himself. He was simply going through the same motions but not having anything to work toward but those elusive, hard-to-reach goals. He’s also been stuck at the same point for over two months.

Creating and tracking goals

Admittedly, I sometimes forget that I need to make smaller goals to help see my larger goals through. With that and my housemate’s dilemma in mind, I entered research mode to find the perfect workout planner/logbook. I wanted something that fit our eating and workout plan.

I couldn’t find anything that was perfect, but the next best thing was a something called Fitbook.

Fitbook is a portable workout and nutritional planner that covers you for a 12-week period. It lets you set up daily, weekly, and overall 12-week goals. It even has a rewards system, which is my favorite feature.

I’m not saying you need to go out and get a Fitbook (I highly encourage you to do so if you want a good workout/nutrition planner). A plain ol’ notepad and pencil will work just fine.

The idea is to start setting achievable goals and reaching them. The simple act of writing a goal down will make most people more likely to actually hit that goal. Rewarding yourself for accomplishing goals will make it even more likely that you’ll get there.

The responsibility of creating and tracking goals is on you though. No one can do it for you. My housemate’s progress with his Fitbook? Nada.

My goals

I’ve been on a vacation this week. Part of this vacation time has been dedicated to reevaluating some of my goals both personally and professionally. The most important thing for me has been to evaluate my fitness level and make a realistic plan to execute over the next few months.

I’m using my newly acquired Fitbook to keep track of my goals. I’ve even created a dedicated fitness goals page here on the site so everyone can see what I’m up to.

Since the Fitbook has a rewards system, I figured I might as well take advantage of it. I decided to keep my rewards pretty simple. I’ll be putting money into a personal fund for myself if I hit the following:

• $10/weekly goal reached (10 – 15 weekly goals).
• $50/overall goal reached (10 – 15 overall goals).

Over a 12-week period, I could save anywhere from $1,700 – $2,550, assuming I reach all of my goals.

Where will all this money go? I’m designating it as my new wardrobe fund. I’m running out of clothes I can actually wear. It won’t be long before I’ll be forced to get new clothes anyway, so the more goals I reach the more clothes I can buy.

Also, if you didn’t quite catch it, I’ve also had to set up a few financial goals in order to fund my fitness goals.

Make a plan. Execute.

Reaching goals is not hard. Simply make realistic goals.

There’s nothing wrong with having major goals. Those are great too. However, your daily, weekly, and monthly focus should be on smaller, more immediately achievable goals. These goals should help you work toward your big goals. I’m currently focusing on fitness goals, but this advice applies to anything you want to achieve.

I know tons of people who have dreams, but those people don’t quite understand the difference between a dream and a goal. A dream is something you want to do but likely never will. A goal is something you’ve written down, prepared yourself mentally for, and have made a plan to execute. It’s something that’s achievable.

So, here’s your homework:

• Get a pen and pad.
• Write down your dreams.
• Write down everything it will take to achieve those dreams.
• Make daily, weekly, and monthly stepping-stone goals.
• Execute.

By the way, you no longer have dreams. You have goals.

Not everyone is up to the task. I’m afraid my housemate is amongst that group of people, but I’m working on him. Wish me luck.

I’m now writing my WordPress tutorials over on DevPress.com. I encourage you to head on over and check out some of the tutorials I have written and subscribe to the site’s feed.

Why write for DevPress?

I’ve always wanted a more permanent home for my WordPress-specific tutorials, something apart from my personal life. While my personal blog has served well for this sort of thing, I’ve always felt that WordPrss defined me, Justin Tadlock, too much. My WordPress content seemed to take over my personal life. I wanted to have a little separation between the two.

This separation should give me an avenue to actually write about my other interests while allowing people who just want to follow my WordPress work a way to more easily opt-out of following my personal life.

It should give me the freedom to write about anything now. You might even read a post or two about my cats!

Content on JustinTadlock.com

I’m not completely doing away with WordPress content on this site though, so don’t go removing me from your feed readers just yet.

There’ll be times when I want to write about WordPress-related things that are unrelated to DevPress. Or, there might be things I want to write about that my partners running DevPress don’t agree with. Whatever the reason, I’ll still be posting WordPress awesomeness on this blog. Most of the tutorials will be on the DevPress site though.

The plan is to simply shift the focus of my personal blog a bit. I hope you all continue to read the blog here, even if it’s not all about WordPress anymore.

This year, things will be different…yada…yada…yada. Yeah, you’ve heard that one before, right? (Bonus points to anyone that can guess why “yada” is one of my favorite words.)

Last year’s goals

Let’s take a look at last year’s goals and see how I fared.

• Be healthier: Somewhat. I’m healthier than I was at this point last year, but I’m nowhere near where I want to be.
• Become a teacher: Fail. I co-authored a book (Professional WordPress Plugin Development) instead.
• Build an online empire: Of course! Really, this one was done in a half-joking manner, but I covered a few of the sub-points I wanted get to for this goal but not all of them.

I’m not disappointed that I didn’t fully reach all of my goals last year. I got some awesome opportunities that led me in some different directions, especially the book. I was able to create some new goals as the year went on, which kept life interesting.

This year’s goals

Here’s a look at what I have planned for this year. Feel free to call me out when you see me slipping on any of my goals throughout the year.

Read more

I probably read more than anyone I know — emails, support questions, blog posts, etc. However, I don’t read as many books as I used to. My schedule is hectic, but I need to put more time into enjoying one of life’s most relaxing pleasures.

The goal: Read at least two books a month. Ideally, I’d get in a few more. I averaged about one book a month last year, so I’m stepping it up a notch.

Write more

I’m always telling myself I should write more blog posts. There are quite a few ideas and thoughts bouncing around in my head that I need to unleash upon the world. Of course, some other commitment usually gets in the way. I really do plan on blogging more this year though. Don’t be surprised if you see a few posts on something other than WordPress.

The goal: Make sure I post something on my blog every month, preferably a few posts.

More design, less development

When I first started using WordPress, I wanted to be a Web designer. It didn’t take me long to realize that I needed to know how to develop with PHP to actually do anything cool. Most of my work in the past few years has been largely focused on development.

Now that the Hybrid Core framework is at a stable point, I don’t have to spend as much time writing PHP code and thinking of solutions for problems. I can return to design.

The goal: Put more energy into design and less into development.

Family time

I missed out on a lot of dinners, dominoes and rummy games, and just hanging out at my grandmother’s house last year. I should put in a few more weekends spending time with family instead of working.

The goal: Schedule at least one weekend a month to spend time with family and friends.

Be healthier

Health should always be a priority. I spent two years in the nutrition and food science program while in college and have been a part of numerous sports teams in the past, including winning three state championships in powerlifting. I have the knowledge, so there’s simply no excuse for me not being as healthy as I need to be.

This time around, I’m setting up more concrete goals. Instead of just being healthy, I’m mapping out daily eating plans and workout routines.

The goal: Eat properly six days a week and work out at least five days a week. My target weight at the end of June is 215 lbs. and to put on more muscle weight after that.

Your goals?

That’s a roundup of my goals for the year. Do you have any goals or resolutions? Feel free to link to a blog post you’ve written on them or let me know your plans for the year in the comments.

I’m not going to go completely crazy though. I just want to enjoy a couple of things I love doing but haven’t had the time for lately.

• Play a round of golf.
• Kick some ass on Halo 3 multiplayer for about 12 hours straight.

I will not be doing these things:

• Reading or replying to emails.
• Working on the Hybrid theme.
• Getting involved in WordPress-related arguments.
• Checking my Twitter stream. Yeah, right!

If you want to celebrate the birth of me, keep reading. I’ve got two options for you.

Halo 3 online multiplayer

Since I can’t invite you all down here to Alabama to play golf with me, I thought it’d be fun to slaughter you in an online game. So, if you’re into Halo, feel free to add me as a friend and join me and some of my friends Saturday evening for a night-long Halo bash.

My gamer tag is justintadlock. Yes, it’s a boring gamer tag, but I couldn’t retrieve my password for my older, cooler, hardcore-gamer name.

I only have a few rules:

• BYOB.
• Bring custom maps (that don’t involve ninja moves to avoid falling to your death) if you have them.
• Someone must invite this guy.

Buy me something pretty

I only find books and movies pretty. Just so that’s clear.

I don’t usually promote my donation links or wish lists online, but I get asked once a week or so about donating for one of my plugins or a tutorial I’ve written. So, if you’re feeling generous, don’t like Halo 3, or will be attending WordCamp San Francisco instead of playing Halo with me, you’re certainly welcome to get me something from my Amazon wish list.

If you’ve ever wanted to hear a drunken Justin cursing because he can’t remember which button switches back to his sniper rifle, I’d go with the first option.

My list of goals usually has too many things on it, and those goals change throughout the year. This year, I’m going to try and keep it simple.

Be healthier

I’m steering clear of the “get in shape” line and getting back to what’s important — health. This means I need to eat better and exercise more.

I’ve already dropped nearly 10 pounds in January by just eating better.

It’s not all about physical health. I need to get out and enjoy life more than I did last year. I spent more time than necessary behind a computer screen, and that’s not good for the ol’ social life. Just in case I’m feeling unmotivated, I’ll keep my copy of Yes Man near the TV. That movie always gears me up for a whirl out in the real world.

Become an English teacher

Last year proved to be rough in the job hunting process. I had never walked out of an interview and not gotten a job until last spring. It wasn’t the last failed interview either.

I’ve learned from my experience and have wedged my foot into a few doors over the past year. This time around, I’m going to give it everything I can and land a teaching job.

If you feel like wishing me luck, I’ll take all of it I can.

Build an online empire

Honestly, I want to blog more this year. Of course, I tell myself this a few times a week.

One of the reasons I don’t blog as much is because it becomes tiring. I sometimes spend hours working on a single blog post. Doing that on a regular basis isn’t much fun.

I need to reorganize some things around this site. The biggest change I’ll be making at some point this year will be the incorporation of a few custom post types. This will allow me to build the type of site I’ve been thinking about for the last couple of years and post content in ways that better suit my passions in life.

I’ll post more about my thoughts on this (and probably some tutorials on how I’ll be doing it) in a future post. For now, I’ll give you a preview of a possible new home page.

I also want to try my hand at a few art-directed posts, which I hope will keep my creative juices flowing.

No more goals?

Sure, I have loads of smaller goals. While the smaller goals are sometimes just as important as the larger ones, they’re usually steps that lead up to the major plans. So, I wanted to provide an overall outlook at what I want to accomplish this year.

It’s one thing to try and convince your family that you’re doing the right thing. It’s an entirely different beast trying to get other people to take the plunge with you.

Over the summer, I’ve been talking to a few folks about expanding my projects online. Sure, many people are interested in the idea. But, when you tell them that you have no financial backing for certain projects and that the projects can fail at any time, they lose interest fast.

Motivation is key

If you’re not entirely convinced you can be successful, you won’t be.

Even if I convince people that things will work out financially in the long run, it’s tough instilling self-confidence and motivation into everyone. The thing people most often tell me is, “I don’t really have the time.” They want success, but they don’t have time for it. Or, they want someone to hand it to them.

If you don’t think you have enough time, let me introduce you to a few people I know. How about a single mother with two kids, two jobs, and college classes to attend? I know few people with busier schedules than her.

Not having time means you don’t have motivation.

I can’t even begin to tell you how many people I’ve referred to Ian Stewart’s website There Really Is No Secret. If you haven’t checked out that site, it’ll tell you all you need to know to be successful in all things.

Finding the right people

My journey to find the right kind of people for my team has been tough. I have a handful of people that are on board right now for some upcoming projects.

I know plenty of folks online that have the right amount of determination, but right now, I want people that are close to home. I like being able to meet people face to face and having the ability to have weekly meetings where we can all get together and run over ideas.

To find the right kind of people, you have to put yourself out there. Get out there and make things happen. Be open and honest.

My selling point is: If you’re not willing to put your heart and soul behind a project, we’re not going to be a good fit. That’s what it all comes down to for me. I don’t care if you’re a genius or have never even touched a computer. You need to be willing to work hard and see it through.

What the heck am I talking about?

These are just a few thoughts I’ve been playing through my head lately.

I’ve been building a team of people that are willing to work hard and have fun on some online projects. I’ll keep everyone updated on the status of these projects (and what they are) as they near their launch.

In the meantime, if you live or know someone that lives around Montgomery, Alabama, that might be interested in working on the Web, shoot me a message through my contact form.

My best friend and I were having a conversation the other day about people like me. He’s a teacher. Basically, he said gifted students (those too smart for their own good) have trouble sticking to one thing. They get bored or want to do too many things. In short, they’re not focused enough. I’m not personally calling myself gifted; that’s just what they labeled me in school.

The conversation we had made it feel like someone truly understood how my mind works at times. It’s easy for me to lose focus. This is especially so when I don’t have structure in my life. A large part of this has to do with me having worked from home for these last few months — no structure. So, I get bored and lose motivation.

Another part of me feels like I’m living in the wrong place.

Where my passion lies

Since about the time I could hold a pencil, I’ve been writing. This mostly started because I wanted to be like my father. He’s a song writer. This has neither brought him fame nor fortune, but that’s not what it’s really about.

When I talk about losing focus, I’m mainly talking about my writing. But, my writing is a reflection of my life. If I had to choose a number one goal in life it would be publishing a novel.

I haven’t been working toward this goal as much as I’d like. I understand that there’s no one to blame but myself. I’m the type of person that says, “If you want to do something, then do it.” I try to apply this to every aspect of my life. And, I tell anyone that says they wish they could do something the same thing.

I need to simply tell myself, Write a novel, Justin.

Home is where the heart is

I left my hometown (Highland Home, Ala.) nearly six years ago for college. I had my own apartment within a month of my high school graduation. I was ready to step out of that world and never return. If you’ve grown up in a small town, you can probably relate to that feeling of needing to leave, to explore the world, to have a life outside of where you grew up.

Something’s always drawing me back there. So, I’m packing my bags. Alabama, here I come.

Part of me feels like I need to return. I feel like I’m out of touch with my roots, and that hinders my writing. I don’t know if I’ll find what I’m searching for there. There’s probably no great mystery of the soul that I’ll unravel. I understand that one can never go home again.

Alabama is peaceful. I hope it at least gives me a chance to reevaluate my goals and focus on the important things in life.

It’s not all about my goal of writing. I have a family that I haven’t truly spent time with in years. A little brother and sister that are growing up too fast. Friends that desperately need me for Friday-night bonfires.

Making a change

Since I’ve already decided on this change, I’m not going to wait around. I should be completely out of Georgia and back to smalltown Alabama in a few weeks.

Sure, I won’t be living five minutes from Wal-Mart anymore, but I can live with that. I hope.

I hope you all look forward to some of the things I have in store as much as I do.

Life-related goals

I suppose I’ve come a long way since the days when my best friend and I would make resolutions about things we planned to accomplish with girls for the year. Ah, the good ol’ days.

I did set my sights a bit higher this year.

• Get my ass back into shape.
  I had to start with a classic. Isn’t this everyone’s New Year’s resolution?
• Meet WordPress users and other bloggers in person.
  I’ve met so many people online in the last couple of years that I’ve become friends with, but I’d love to meet some of you in person.
• Travel to a foreign country.
  I’d really like to go to back to Japan, lie on a beach in Thailand, or visit a ton of other Asian countries. I’d also like to visit some of my Canadian friends.
• Participate in a charitable event.
  I want to be a little more involved this year in events that help others, such as the Alanta Breast Cancer 3-Day in October.
• Save more money.
  Last year, I managed to pay off $8,000 of debt from college. This year, I’d like to pay off and save at least as much.
• Help others in their quest to work from home.
  What we don’t see enough of is practical tips about working online. I want to share more of my experiences and how they apply to my life offline to help others.
• Continue studying foreign languages.
  I’ve got a little Spanish, German, and Korean under my belt, and I like to continue improving my skills with those languages and maybe start adventuring into one more.

WordPress-related goals

I have plenty of goals dealing directly with the WordPress community as well.

• Continue fostering the growth of Theme Hybrid.
  Our community at Theme Hybrid is growing daily, and I can only imagine what it would be like in a year’s time.
• Write more about WordPress.
  Most of my posts here on this blog are about WordPress, but I’d like to write more tutorials, give more tips, and start more discussions than last year.
• Attend at least one WordCamp.
  Unfortunately, I came home to Alabama only about a week after WordCamp Birmingham in 2008, which would’ve been a perfect opportunity for me. I’d like to attend one this year.
• Design some BuddyPress themes.
  I’ve been tinkering around with BuddyPress for a while (whenever I have the time), and creating specific themes for it would be cool.
• Provide bbPress alternatives to my WordPress themes.
  bbPress is a fast, lightweight forum software that I’ve fallen in love with. Expect to see my WP themes getting bbPress makeovers.
• Make more WordPress plugins.
  I tend to focus on themes, but creating plugins is another passion of mine, which are typically ideas I get when developing a theme.
• Create quality WordPress themes, of course!
  I have loads of theme ideas in various categories that I plan to release this year:
  • Magazine/News
  • Store/E-commerce
  • Photo/Portfolio
  • Video
  • Book/Movie/Etc. Reviews
  • Lifestream
  • And many more!

Any goals this year?

I’m always interested in hearing what other people plan on doing for the year. For me, a large motivational factor is announcing my plans to others because I’m much more likely to follow through with them.

Please share any goals you’ve made for the new year. Or, you can just discuss mine.