Losing some el bees

I'm a big guy, always have been.  I turned 32 in December, and the day after my birthday, my 2nd son, Evan Jacob, was born.  I decided I should probably get a checkup beacuse I hadn't had one since college, and that has been nearly 10 years already.  Man, time flies.

The checkup did not go well.  I stepped on the scale, and BOOM, the biggest numbers I've seen popped up...290.  Damn.  That's a lot to carry around.  I then went in to the little room, and the nurse took my vitals.  Again, some big numbers popped up that I'd never seen before.  BP of 155 over 95?  Shit.  That doesn't sound good.  The doc came in and worked me over, and I had to go give some blood to check my cholesterol (which I'd never done).  More big numbers, and a strongly worded letter by the doc saying I better get moving and get this under control.  He warned me about diabetes, multiple pills and perscriptions...the whole bit.  I decided I'd had enough of being fat.

I waited out the holidays, getting my last few kicks of unlimited candy and sweets that my mom makes.  You haven't had peanut brittle and English toffee until you've had hers.  No one makes them better.  Candy canes are a favorite of mine, too.

I have a gym membership as a benefit through my firm, and until now have used it extremely sparingly.  When mid-January came around (yes, mid-January...this wasn't a "resolution", so I wasn't going to start with the resolution crowd), I decided to jump in full force.  I'd given myself a few weeks to mentally prepare for this.  I came up with a plan, knowing I wanted (needed) to do something that I could stick to.  I've tried a few times to lose some weight and get in better shape over the years, but I usually aim high, make drastic cuts, and get drained from the process leading to my eventual failure.  This time, I put together an ultimate goal, and then broke that up in to a few intermediate goals.  Perhaps more importantly, giving myself much more time to accomplish them.

My ultimate goal is to get back down to the weight I was when I graduated high school - 225, or a bit less depending on how things go.  My first intermediate goal is to get down to the weight I was when Maryann and I got married 9 years ago, which was around 250.  That's a 40lb first goal, and I'm giving myself until the end of June to accomplish this.  It just so happens this timing is coinciding with a trip we have planned to North Carolina.  My second intermediate goal is to get down another 15lbs, to 235.  This is the weight I was while on the cheer team in college (yes the cheer team, another story for another time).  My time on the cheer team was undeniably my most in-shape years ever.  I was 235, benching 405, military pressing 205, and squatting around 550.  Not too shabby.  At the time I was also doing some sort of a workout 6 days a week, some times twice a day in that span, with practice, lifting, cross-training, and tumbling.  This second goal is going to take a shift in my way of life in terms of diet to get to.  I haven't acheived goal 1 yet, so I haven't put together a timeframe for goal 2.  After achieving goal 2, I will set my sights on the final 10-15 lbs.

So, I started toward my first goal on January 12, 2011.  That was a Wednesday, and the only day I managed to get in that week.  Hey, it was a tough transition.  Throughout this first stage, I'm not changing my eating habits too drastically.  I'm eating less, and not so late at night...that's about it.  As I get used to getting out of bed an hour and 15 minutes earlier than before, going to the gym gets better.  My workout is fairly simple, focusing on strengthening my core and stamina with 20 minutes of cardio and 45 minutes of weight lifting.  Very quickly I notice my strength build and my stamina increase.  Slowly, I add weights and cardio speed to my workout, getting within a month to a place I didn't think I'd be so quickly.  Already, barely into my 3rd month of regular workouts I've managed to lose 30 lbs!  My first goal is very much in sight, nearly 3 months earlier than I'd thought.  Helping my weight loss at the beginning of March I was very sick for 6 days, barely eating in that time.  When I finally managed to pull myself back to the gym, I'd lost 12 lbs.  This week is my first full week back after that sickness, and not only have I kept that weight off, I lost a couple more pounds as well. 

Here's to hoping my workouts and weight loss continue on this track, and I don't lose my interest as I have so many times before.  It certainly feels different this time.  I'm engaged, and actually excited about the changes I'm going through.  I know this is a big me-me-me first post, but darnit, I think that's ok!  My boys need their papa, not just around, but engaged and playful.  I can't continue on the path I was and manage that.  I have another doctor checkup scheduled for June 14.  I plan on blowing the doc's mind!

In the end, I don't really think I'll ever be thin or ripped, I just need to get healthy again.  I've been big my whole life, and always with a bit of a layer of fat that I could never seem to peel.  I remember being 180lbs in only 8th grade, which resulted in me getting my ass kicked regularly in wrestling (due to having to wrestle seniors since that was the weight group I was in), which in turn resulted in me never wrestling again.  That turned in to a light bulb point as well, and when I started hitting the weight room regularly with my brother and his friends (who were 4 yrs older than me).  Not wanting to change weights over and be a bother to them, I just lifted what they did.  Very, very quickly I built muscle, and was soon lifting more than them.  I liked lifting, I was good at it.  Being big finally had benefits.  I lifted all through high school, which helped me be a pretty good center on the football team.  I played a few sports, but lived for football and lifting.  Track was fun, being a thrower.  I took that lifting ability with me to college, which got me noticed by the cheer team.  The cheer team took my strength to a whole new level.  But after 4 yrs of lifting in high school, and 5 years in college, when I graduated I was a bit burnt out on it all.  Not to mention the time slips away by working full time.

Man, these tend to ramble on once you start dropping thoughts.  I hope I manage to keep spewing this much nonsense for some time on here.  Stick with me folks, I may just blow your mind.