Monday, December 3, 2007

First Post - 50 lbs to go!

Seems like I've always been in a weight loss mode. I've been overweight for as long as I can remember.

As an adult, I've fluctuated between 205 and 275 pounds (the peak was during the beer-drinkin' pizza-eatin' college days). However, for the past two years or so, I've stayed mostly constant in the 240 - 250 range. I guess that's a good thing, as going up-n-down in weight isn't healthy.

I've decided to log my weight and exercise progress here on my blog. I've created a Weight Loss category just for these posts. This is the first one. Below is a quick summary of my progress in the previous week.

Week 1: Nov. 26 - Dec. 3
Miles Walked: 18
Weight / Waist: 246 lb / 44.5"

My goal is to make one post per week reporting some sort of progress: either losing weight, reducing my girth, and/or walking many miles (my primary form of exercise).

To date (for 2007), I've probably walked 250 miles. This includes the 60+ miles I've hiked in Big Bend :-) and most of that was with a heavy pack. When I walk during the week in my neighborhood, it's usually 4 to 6 miles at a time, averaging 14 minutes per mile. Yep, that's right - I hual ass! :-) my big fat ass, to be exact. I can't run or jog worth a fart but I can walk until my legs fall off.

My plan is simple. Since my diet is fairly good and healthy (except for the too frequent over-indulgence in beer :-) I'll focus on eating less. The major component of this "diet" is just to exercise a lot. This has many benefits aside from weight loss: I feel better, exercise burns off stress, I can do more because my endurance is higher, I sleep better, and I enjoy my hiking/camping outings much more because I'm in better shape. It's a complete reversal of the vicious cycle.

Does my plan work, you ask? You might be wondering why I'm still overweight if I've already put so much effort into exercise this year alone. Well, it works when I keep doing it. I've gone through alternating periods of activity and inactivity. I'll walk a lot and eat less for several weeks (and dump several pounds) and then follow that with several weeks of inactivity and eating a lot (and gain back the pounds).

When I started 2007, my goal was to loose 50 pounds by the end of the year. Well, here I am with less than a month to go before 2007 is gone, and I'm almost the same weight in which I started this year. Pppfffttt.....

I won't reach my 50-pound goal before 2008 is here, obviously, but I can pick up the plan again. That's always been my problem in the past. I'll get serious about it, stick with the eating less & exercising more program for a couple of weeks, and then fall off the wagon for a time while I eat myself silly.

I've got to stick with it - FOR GOOD. This isn't a diet, it's a lifestyle change. So follow my progress here. Taunt me, challenge me, tell me my ass is too fat or my spare tire is too large or something. I've got to lose it!

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