Heavy: Day 1

Stepped on a scale today. 299 lbs. Okay, so that's my starting point. I'm thinking of targeting 20 lbs by my birthday (April). That's not too ambitious - about 1 lb per week or so.

Today was TGIM at the office (Thank Goodness It's Monday - if it weren't for the fact that he seems dead serious about it, I'd say that my boss has a very sick sense of humour). TGIM means cinnamon buns. Cinnamon buns means temptation. Temptation leads to weakness. Weakness leads to eating. Eating leads to guilt. Guilt leads to fear. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate... leads to suffering.

Ok, so that last bit went a little too far. But I did blow it - had one bun at morning coffee break (with my Diet Pepsi) and another at afternoon coffee break. I hate to admit this, but that is actually cutting back for me - it's often been two at each break. I also walked to and from work this afternoon, but didn't get on the exercise bike.

It's a start, I guess.

Heavy.

"There's that word again; 'heavy'. Why are things so heavy in the future? Is there a problem with the earth's gravitational pull?" - Doc Brown, Back to the Future

There's nothing wrong with the earth's gravitational pull as far as I know, but my gravitational pull is too strong. Yes, that's a geeky way of saying that I'm fat. I don't really like that word, but that's the ugly truth.

This has nothing to do with a poor self-image, not being brainwashed by the world's marketing departments that say I'm not one of the "beautiful people": the fact of the matter is that I could lose 100 lbs right now and still be overweight. I owe it to myself, and to my family, to improve my health by losing weight and exercising. Right now I don't have any major health issues aside from hypopnea, but life is funny in how things can go wrong without warning.

I want to be around for my kids' graduations, their weddings, their accomplishments. I want to meet my grandchildren. Heck, I'd like a chance to see my great-grandchildren. I want to live long enough to be truly considered a grumpy old man (instead of the grumpy 30-something man I am today). If I don't make some significant changes in the way I live, I'm just asking for trouble.

Time for some brutal honesty. I'm going to try to post daily on my blog, talk about what I do (or not) to make these changes. I'm going to admit my failures (watch for this, there's gonna be a lot of them). And hopefully, as time goes on, I'll be able to point to my progress and my successes.

Tomorrow, I begin. Oh no... Monday... cinnamon buns for coffee break at the office... be strong, be strong...