My Fitbit shakes me awake before 4AM each morning. With a groggy gusto, I shake off the tentacles of slumber, grab a carbonated water, and enter my private gym. I flip on a UFC DVD, fire up Spotify, and climb aboard my treadmill for a 20-minute warmup. I'll work over my bag for a bit―but never enough— and then return to the treadmill until it's time to drive into town for an hour-long trip on a elliptical and more UFC. After a loop or two of cool down, I return home. Later, there will be a 30-minute cardio session for lunch and a 45-minute one for dinner.

That's my typical workout day.

It'll change in due time, but it's great for consistency. I don't run much. That will change, too, when it's time. I walk a lot. Even if I'm in my 250's (I really have no idea until weigh-in), that's a lot of weight for feet—I'd speculate even for healthy feet. And while I could start a running regimen today, increasing my endurance, is it something that I could do it everyday? How long would my feet hold up?

Sure, ABSOLUTELY, I'd love the calorie expenditure an hour of running would give me compared to an hour of walking, elliptical, or whatever. But, could I do an hour of running, Monday through Sunday? And if I have to skip sessions to heal, how many each week can I afford to lose before the calorie expenditure is LESS than walking? See, the weightloss game is all about one thing: consistency. Consistency in eating, consistency in activity. One huge moment, one huge victory does not—cannot do it. It's the little successes, all strung together that ascends to supremacy.

And I don't want to plateau. I'm not happy hitting one speed and staying there. As my stamina climbs and my feet lighten, I push the pace.

I offloaded the responsibilities of connecting to my Verizon Jetpack and sharing it with a wifi router from my 2009 Dell to a headless Raspberry Pi. Not only am I saving all sort of space, I'm also saving electricity as I run it 24-7. I've got three Raspberry Pi 3's and while I think they are the neatest thing, I never do anything with them. So, it's good to put one to task.

As for now, my Dell workhorse is in a semi-retired state in the closet. Is it time for me to move on from a desktop? I can't do any (serious) image editing with my other tools. But, do I need to do that anymore? There are some serious web design limitations, but I'm content with what I created for this site. I really like Gnucash, and trying to use Google Sheets as a replacement has some obvious limitations. Yet, is a desktop-less world a transition that I'm ready for? It's been such a HUGE part of my life leading up to now.

I referenced consistency in a prior blog as an approach for weightloss success. What I neglected to detail, is that it is a consistency consistent with Bill Murray's Groundhog Day. I basically just live the same day over and over and over again...until one day when I either snap my diet streak or I transition to a maintenance approach. I don't ever stop improving on what I'm doing, consider approaches and so forth, but is that really any different from Bill Murray's character?

When I train in solitude in my own gym, I feel...like I am playing in rhythm to what I watch. And when I go to my town's gym, the inspiration of watching something like UFC bouts via my iPad is still there. It's good that it is, because if I were to draw from the energy of those at my gym in those early mornings—well, it's just a step above hanging out at McDonald's knocking back the coffee with the old men. Too much standing and jibber-jabber going on as I look below from my second floor cardio perch. When guys do finally muster enough vigor to take a break from the conversation and lift, they do so in their workboots and blue shirts with embroidered names. I get a sense that they don't respect their training.

Friday night, I spent 85 minutes on the treadmill at home. Sure, I had 45 slotted for the evening, but I was just feeling good and watching the main card to UFC 172 from April 2014.

Come to think of it, a LOT has happened since then in my own life, considering it doesn't seem that long ago—just down the street in the ol' DeLorean. It's almost like I can reach out and grab it.

I'm upping my supplement game. I'm removing the following from my rotation...

• Iodine, 225 mcg
• Zinc, 25 mg
• Solgar B-Complex Stress Formula, ¼ serving

...leaving these in the starting lineup...

1. Vitamin D3, 5000 IU
2. B12, 5000 mcg
3. Calcium with Vitamin D3, 800 IU & 600 mg
4. Choline & Inositol, 250 mg
5. Triple Strength Green Tea Extract, 750 mg

...and the NEW from Vitamin Shoppe as I take these horses out of the stable:

1. Kelp
2. Cayenne Extract, 450 mg, 80,000 hu
3. Ultimate 10 Probiotic, 13 billion
4. Vitamin Shoppe Ultimate Man Multivitamin
5. Ginkgo Biloba Extract, 120 mg

I'm really stoked about the additions. While I'm stilled keyed up about fat loss, I'm looking toward the future with better health and performance.

In a prior post, I referenced how much I've lost this year and the lbs I'm going to lose by New Year's Day 2019. But, I need to return my focus back to where I find myself, The 4th Expedition. Sure, the past is great and the future in the distance is fun to dream about, but it is imperative that I stay locked into the present.

I entered this expedition at 288. If I can get down below 247 ½, I will have beaten The First Expedition's lb success. Now, clearly, it's easy to get big numbers with initial weight loss and a larger start—the math just works that way. I feel really good about this 4th Expedition and it should outclass The First Expedition—just my involvement at the new gym alone can drive that sort of success.