After reading the first part of this post found here, now it’s time to learn how I’m planning to do better.

Health and fitness are important parts of everyone’s life. When you’re an Autism parent, it’s even more important. Every parent wants to be there for their kids, at least long enough to see them build their own lives.

When you’re an Autism parent, things don’t always work out that way. In many cases, the parent will be caring for their child, for the rest of their natural life.

This is true for my wife and I. Our oldest Gavin, will never be able to live on his own. We will be caring for him until the day we die. It’s crucial that we make our lives last as long as humanly possible because we never want him to be placed somewhere. 
This is my motivation and a huge reason for me wanting to lose weight. As a father and husband, I want to give my family the best version of me possible. In order to do that, I need to find a path I know I will be able to follow.

This path will lead me to health and wellness.

I’m working on a plan for myself, and I want to be very careful that I set goals that while challenging, are also reasonable. Setting unrealistic goals will likely end in failure, and since failure isn’t in option, realistic it is.

I also need to keep in mind that I’m not the same person I was when I was a fitness nut, and it’s going to take time, patience, hard work, and probably a few setbacks as well, before I get where I want to be.

Here are some of the things I’m putting into practice:

1. Getting to bed at a decent hour, whenever possible.
2. Make better use of the equipment I already have.
3. No eating after 7 pm.
4. When I can’t get out to the track, I’ll use the treadmill at least twice a day, for fifteen minutes a pop to start.
5. Add strength training back into my life using TRX, which uses bodyweight resistance.
6. Better manage my dietary intake, and continue using MFP to track everything.
7. While steps don’t translate to fitness, I can use them as a general way to set goals for myself.
8. I’m going to continue injecting humor into my daily life, anywhere I can.
9. Take more time to write, because that helps me manage my stress.
10. Forgive myself for any setbacks, because they will happen from time to time.

That’s a very basic outline of what I’m going to implement into my life and re-commit myself to.

There obviously will be more details that go into making something like this happen, but some of this I’ll need to figure out as I go. My overall approach is to make small, meaningful changes in my life, and build upon that as I go forward.

These changes need to be sustainable long-term term, and so a realistic approach is my best chance for success.

As I move forward, I’ll do my best to do weekly updates on my progress. There’s nothing wrong with a bit of accountability. ☺

I know I may never get my old body back, but that doesn’t mean I can’t transform where I’m at now, into something better.