May 16, 2011 - Week 1 Day 1
Well this morning I decided that I'd had enough of being 6'2" 340 lbs. I'm 43 years old and at several times in my life, I'd been in shape. When I was young and a teenager I could play all day or run sprints or play soccer for hours at a time. Then I stopped, went to college and got chubby and then joined the Army. In the Army, I battled my weight but I could run forever (15 miles, that's a lot for me at least) and was in great shape. I got out and the start of a long love affair with food and smoking made me the wreck I am today. It's starts slow, first you go from a 36" waist to a 38" and you think, that's ok. What did you expect? Then you hit a 40" waist and you say to yourself, you know you are a man who is growing older and you're working and not exercising, you still have your hair! Then several years go by, about 20, and you wake up to realize that you have a 50" waist and you can't walk up 3 flights of stairs without getting winded.
Now a couple of times over the last 10 years or so, I've rallied and done the Body for Life program and lost a total of about 120 lbs over the two or three times I've tried. It is great, and it works, but it requires a lot more work than I had time for. First of all for the last 11 years I've been a consultant who has traveled every week to different places around the U.S. and some out of country locations. It's not really conducive for me to maintain any kind of regular discipline or exercise. It's not the jobs fault, It's mine, but I just would fail and keeping a regular schedule and therefore give up. Plus Body For Life requires a closer adherence to diet than I was able to maintain.
So now I'm home and my wife, Laura, has been doing the C25K program for 5 weeks and it is making a huge difference in her. Not only in her appearance but her attitude is much improved. I am supremely proud of her and will do anything to support her. With that being said, I'm also jealous of her ability to stick this out, she hasn't exactly done so in the past so I'm really impressed right now. But I couldn't let her be the only thin parent in the house so I decided to start as well.
First, let me say that during the run I felt like an idiot for all those years of smoking. I still miss the initially feeling of that first morning smoke, but when you're hacking up half a lung or at least feel like you're hacking up half a lung. It puts a different perspective on that habit. I was able to complete the days' program of walk 5 min, then (run 1 min, then walk 1.5 min) X 8 then walk 5 min. My legs are very sore and I feel like an old man, but just like when I was in the Army; I never fell out of a run! I would sooner fall over on the ground than give up running.
I figure I'll also state my other goal here: To Lose 100 lbs in 1 Year. When I get to a weight of 235 or lower then I will feel like I've accomplished something. Now it took me 20 years to gain all this weight and I think it'll take me a year (or more) to get rid of it all. I want to run the "Bolder Boulder" in June 2012 with Brian (brother-in-law) and Laura!
So off I go on this Journey and I hope I see some interesting things along the way!
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