Time To Get Serious

I was recording the show with Rish the other night. As usual, we'd gone on for a long time, so long that the screen saver on my computer kicked on, and it started showing me pictures from my hard drive.

One of the pictures that came up was of me dressed in my zombie regalia for the Zombie Walk 2012 that Rish and I attended together.  My screen saver is set do do the Ken Burns effect, which means that the pictures zoom in and out, and there's a dissolve in between each one. So, this picture of me was zoomed in a lot.  It was pretty much just showing my face, and I was struck by how thin my face looked.  Was that really me?

I suppose it's probably hard to see, what with the blood spattered all over my face.  But my face is pretty dang skinny.

That picture was taken 18 months ago.  I don't look like that now.  Now, I look like this:

You can really see the difference around my face, all the extra rolls of fat there.  Sigh.

I went back to figure out when that picture was from, and discovered that it was from the end of the time that I was working really hard at losing weight.  If you've read my blog for a long time, you might remember this post: Fitness Challenge: Final Update.

That was the end of the first round of the fitness challenges that we were doing at work.  I ended the first round at 245.  The second round wasn't quite as good for me, but I still lost another twelve pounds, ending at 233.  That was right about the time of that zombie walk.

Right now, I weigh almost the same as I did when I began those fitness challenges in March of 2012.  It took me six months of self-control to get to that state.  It was hard, but I did it.  And I can do it again.

This year is one of those milestone years for me.  I hit an age that is hard for me to believe I have reached.  I don't feel like I'm that old, but the calendar don't lie.

Unlike most folks, who set resolutions by calendar years, I tend to set them for myself by birthdays.  The years of my life instead of the years of the calendar are the ones I measure by.  So, before arriving at that milestone, I wanted to achieve some things.  I made some goals.  One of them being to get to my goal weight of 200 pounds and friggin' stay there.

The first three months of the year...remember we're talking my year, not the calendar year, and my birthday's in October...I've been unable to get motivated.  Instead of losing weight, I've gained it.  I've had bursts of motivation, but they've been followed by long stretches of not giving a crap.  And I was doing a lot of running in December, which kept my poor eating habits from catching up to me too strongly.

When I made it to 500 miles, I decided to rest so my shin splints would heal, and I've packed on a good ten or more pounds this month.

That picture (and other pictures of me from that same era) seems to have given me the motivation I need to get back on the horse and go for it.  This is what I weigh now:

I'm going to report each week on how I do, and how much I weigh.  I think I may challenge Marshal Latham to a contest to see who can lose the most weight (he was saying he'd probably be up for that), and I'd be willing to do the same with any reader of the blog who wants to participate.  We can report our progress in the comments, and talk smack and everything.

I started eating good today, and was 100% faithful.  Hopefully, I can keep it up tomorrow, the next day, and for the rest of the year, until I reach my goal.  I was going to start back into running this morning as well, but I woke up with a sore throat, so I went back to bed instead.  It doesn't help to wear yourself out when you're sick, so I'll get back to running when I'm fully healthy again.

I've learned from past experiences that exercise and healthy eating are the only way to lose weight without regretting it later.  So, that's what I'm going to do.