Welcome


Thoughts on fitness, health, good nutrition ... and running.


Welcome to Bald Man Running, a blog launched by Frank Murphy on January 1, 2015.

In March, 2013 I was selected as a contestant for the sixth season of Fort Wayne's Smallest Winner. Through this amazing program, I learned about good nutrition, sound exercise and accountability. By October, I would lose over 88 pounds (almost 37% of my original weight)! One of the many things I acquired through FWSW was a love for running. You can retrace my weight loss journey and discover how I became a runner by reading those entries labeled "fwsw" ...

Note: Many of the blog entries on this website predate 1/1/2015. Prior to launching BMR, I had written articles for various projects, and I have imported many of them into this blog (labeled "retro").

Thursday, January 1, 2015

AccomplishmentS

I've had a lot of conversations over the past two years about weight loss. People often want to know how I did it. I enjoy these opportunities to talk about my journey. Inevitably, these conversations end with a comment that goes something like this: "you must be so proud ... losing all that weight is quite an accomplishment!"

No, it was not. It was not an accomplishment ... it was accomplishments.

Don't miss the "s" on the end of that word, because in that single letter, you'll find the secret to losing weight, improving your running pace, or accomplishing any other major goals you set for yourself.

You see, it took me about six months to lose that weight. It was not a single accomplishment. It was a series of accomplishments. Every time I woke up before 5:00 a.m. to get ready to go the gym, that was an accomplishment. Every time I pushed myself and completed a workout, that was an accomplishment. Every time I passed on eating a free doughnut, that was an accomplishment. Every time I logged a meal in my food journal, that was an accomplishment.

Do you see the pattern here? Reaching a goal like this is not a single victory, but a series of victories ... and each one of my small victories laid groundwork for future successes.

If you're one of those folks who make New Year's resolutions, I hope you'll adopt this perspective. Maybe you're planning on going to the gym more often ... or eating more responsibly ... or any other of a million different admirable goals.

I believe you'll be far more successful if you take a piecemeal approach to reaching your objective. Your success is not found in making a single good decision on January 1st ... you're going to need to make a series of decisions every day. And when you climb that mountain and have an opportunity to reflect on your success, I hope you'll recognize what an amazing series of accomplishments you've made.