I believe in total honesty on this journey. And I have to be honest that the past few months I feel like I haven’t been at my best when it comes to my diet and exercise. There are a million solid excuses for why. We’ve been overhauling our entire house as I mentioned in prior posts and most of my evenings and weekends have been spent outside building stuff. This has been rewarding in many ways, and honestly it is a form of exercise, but along with my focus on the house I’ve taken my eye off tracking my food as well as I should be and I’ve missed lots of workouts.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years it that on this journey there’s no place for excuses.

One of the key ways to lose track is to accept excuses-even if they’re justified.

For me there’s a specific kind of heaviness that creeps in when I feel things starting to slip — my routines, my goals, my motivation, my grip on the version of myself I’ve worked so hard to build feels like it’s slipping away.

Here are some Red Flags that You’re Losing Focus

You start rationalizing why you skip a workout.
You replace healthy behaviors with unhealthy habits
Your food choices drift back to comfort instead of commitment.
Your “why” feels fuzzy.
You wake up tired in more ways than one.
You stop posting on your blog and podcast as much as you were (this one is just for me)

It doesn’t happen all at once. It never does.
But one skipped workout becomes three.
One “I’ll track tomorrow” becomes two weeks of radio silence on your food log.
One day of letting life get in the way turns into a full-blown detour.

Sound familiar?
This isn’t the first time I’ve felt things getting off track–it happens every once in a while. What I’ve learned that this slipping feeling isn’t the end of the road. It’s a signal. It’s data. It’s a moment to pause, reassess, and recommit — without shame. But it requires some critical steps.

Here’s how to do it:

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1. Name It Without Judging It

The worst thing you can do when things start slipping is pretend it’s not happening.
The second worst? Beat yourself up over it. This only makes the hole deeper and puts you into a negative mental space.

It’s important to note that this isn’t a moral failure. It’s not weakness. It’s life. Stress piles up. Schedules shift. Energy dips. And yes, motivation fluctuates. That doesn’t mean you’re done. It means you’re human.

So name it:
“I’ve lost some momentum.”
“I’m not where I want to be.”
“I’m struggling to stay on track.”

That’s awareness — not failure.

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2. Zoom Out to Zoom Back In

When you’re stuck in the feeling of slipping, everything feels urgent. But urgency without direction leads to panic, not progress.

Instead, take a breath. Then zoom out. Assess where things are now and focus on what was working before.

What was working before?
What changed?
What are the patterns that got you here?

Then zoom back in. Start small.
You don’t need to fix everything overnight — you just need to start again right away.

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3. Find the First Domino

When I feel off track, I look for the one thing I can do today that makes everything else easier.

For me it always starts with honest food tracking. Every meal, every day, no matter what. This is the simple core action that got me going and it is the simple action that I return to when things seem to be slipping away.


For me tracking is that first domino. Once I get that other healthy habits want to follow from drinking more water to exercising with purpose.

Momentum starts with a nudge — not a sprint. Find that first domino. Knock it down. Watch what follows.

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4. Revisit Your “Why” — Not Your Weight

When the scale stalls or goes up, it’s easy to spiral. But your “why” isn’t a number.

It’s your energy.
Your mood.
Your longevity.
Your confidence.
Your ability to show up for the people you love.

That’s what you’re fighting for. And you’re still in the fight.

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5. Use the Slip as a Strategy

Here’s the twist: the slip is part of the plan.

Every time you fall off and get back on — you build resilience. If you pay attention you can use these slips as learning moments. You learn what trips you up. You learn how to get back on track faster. That’s not regression. That’s growth as long as you get back in the game.

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Final Thought: You’re Still the Author

This moment — this slippery, messy, foggy moment — it’s just a page in the book.

You’re still writing the story, and you haven’t lost the plot.

So pick up the pen. Today. Not Tomorrow. Not “when life calms down.”
Now.

And if you need help, like I have lately, go back to your toolkit.

Re-read the old posts you wrote…..

Re-listen to the podcast episodes you’ve recorded…

Remind yourself what you’ve already survived.

What you’ve already changed.

Who you’ve already become.

You’re not the “Used To Guy” anymore.

Let’s Keep Moving Forward — Together.

I’ve spent more than 25 years working for software companies, and for most of that time I’ve been a Product Manager. My job is to envision a better future for customers using my product, then lead teams through ambiguity, break big features into small deliverables, and adjust quickly when things don’t go as planned.

It’s funny that I used Agile principles every day at work but for some reason it took me a long time to se how they translated to managing my own weight loss journey.

I’ve talked a lot about how I’m a master at building grand plans, setting overly ambitious goals, and then… burning out and falling apart.

As I began to reflect on what sustained habits look like in the real world and as I thought about how I worked in small increments (one meal at a time, one workout at a time) it dawned on my that I was really unconsciously using the same practices I had learned over the years at work.

It’s proven very true that Agile processes can be applied to all kinds of large tasks so if you’re looking for some well-researched practices to help ground your transformation journey look no further.

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The Problem with “Waterfall” Weight Loss

Way, ‘back in the day’ most software products were developed with a software process called Waterfall where an entire project traveled through a single step in the process and not until everything had passed that step did the whole project move on. This process required a lot of planning before anything could even begin and because each step took so much effort making any kind of changes along the way was discouraged. In short, the process was design to be thorough but rigid. A typical diagram of the process looks something like this:

Most of us approach weight loss like a classic waterfall project. We set a huge goal—“Lose 50 pounds by summer!”—and try to map out every step in advance: diet, workouts, supplements, you name it. No room for error. No flexibility.

But life isn’t linear, and neither is transformation. Things break. Schedules get messy. Motivation dips. And when your perfect plan gets derailed, what do you do? You quit.

I know I did. More than once.

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Discovering Agile for Health

In the world of Agile software development, we ditch the massive upfront plans and focus on iteration. We test, learn, and adapt. We ask, “What’s the next smallest step we can take toward our goal?”

So I asked myself: what if I treated my health like a product I manage? Not a perfect, fully realized product, but one that is always in development. Much like software or lives require regular updates, debugging, and the occasional patch note that says, “Sorry for the glitch. We’re working on it.”

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Building the MVP: Just Show Up

In Agile, we start with a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)—the simplest version that delivers value to our customer. For me, that meant one thing: track my food using the Weight Watchers app every day. Do it honestly and consistently. That’s it.

Not crush a 90-minute workout. Not eat flawlessly. Just show up today, and do it again tomorrow.

So I did. I tracked one meal. I drank more water. I focused on consistency over intensity.

It wasn’t sexy, and it took time. But it worked.

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Daily Standup

In Agile practice a development team does a quick check-in each day and each team member talks about what they worked on the day before and what they will be working on during the current day. This gives others on the team an opportunity to offer insights or ask questions about the work of other team members and also provides daily accountability.

I brought the same practice of the daily standup to my weight loss process by plotting out my meals for the day ahead of time so I knew where my Weight Watchers points would be going. It’s still true today, most days I plan my workout for the day even going so far as to get dressed in my workout gear as soon as I wake up. I also lock in my meals (especially breakfast and lunch) for the day so I know where my points will be spent. This daily check in keeps me honest and focused. It also lets me get small daily wins and spot areas where I’m falling off track.

Sprint Reviews and Retrospectives

In Agile software development most teams work in one or two week ‘sprints.’ Before beginning a sprint the team identifies the work they will do in the sprint increment and what the key deliverables will be. These are typically memorialized so everyone on the team knows what the goals are. When the sprint ends the team spends time assessing how they did against their goals and commitments. The team reviews what went well and what didn’t, ideally not as a form of judgment but in order to foster honest communication and a learning mindset.

A key point here is that nothing ever goes perfectly. There’s always room for improvement and something to be learned.

Every week or two, I pause to review: What’s working? What’s not? Where am I struggling?

Sometimes I realize I need more sleep. Other times, I notice I’m snacking too much or not eating as clean as I should. Lately, we’ve been doing a lot of work on our house and I’ve been skipping workouts to make time for working outside, building decks or planting gardens or putting in walkways. I know this work burns calories, but I have had to make efforts to ensure I keep my workouts going–even if they are shorter and on fewer days. These little retrospectives gave me permission to adjust—not abandon—the plan.

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Agile Isn’t Just for Software

Today, I’m healthier, stronger, and more grounded than I’ve been in years—not because I followed a perfect plan, but because I gave myself room to iterate.

Weight loss, like any big challenge, is rarely about willpower. It’s about systems. Feedback loops. Patience.

So whether you’re trying to lose weight, write a book, or just build a better version of yourself, try going Agile. Start small. Adjust often. Celebrate the wins, learn from the misses, and keep shipping new versions of yourself.

You might be surprised at what you can build.