The Stars Have Aligned

It is Sunday and it is the first of the month. I always love when the first of the month lands on a Sunday because that is when the stars align and I am going to embark on yet another “diet.” Now, we don’t call them diets anymore because that would be bad. So I call them, “healthy eating plans,” “nutrition realignments,” “watching what I eat,” (this one is my favorite – I can watch myself eat A LOT of garbage), “calorie reduction plan,” “decrease calories, increase exercise regimen.”
This is the first time, though, that I have made a major change and that is quitting watching television. Granted it has only been four days but I don’t think I’ve gone more than 24 hours without television since I was in diapers. This is a big step for me. I think (hope, pray) that this is the step I need to finally get over the three and a half year “plateau” I’ve been on.
Back in February of 2005 I weighed 252.5 pounds (if you do the math you’ll figure out how much I weigh now but I’m not going to make it easy for you). In fact, that is what I looked liked in the picture above.
I had lost forty-eight pounds about five years earlier but obviously gained it all back plus a couple of pounds for good measure. In February of 2005 I decided to go to a “fat doctor.” Long story short I lost fifty pounds by about October of that same year (I actually lost a little more than that but gained some back for various reasons like bad relationship, Bar Exam, trying to find work – little things like that).
So here I am now sick of my constant whining about wanting to lose fifty more pounds but not actually making the necessary changes to do it. This is where the television comes in. I’m addicted to it. It comes on from the minute I walk in the door at night to the time I go to bed. I’ll even stay up way later than I should watching some rerun of something I’ve already seen and then I’m too tired to get up and work out in the morning. So the t.v. has got to go.
As of this morning I am down 54.5 pounds from my heaviest weight four years ago. I’ve managed to keep off “around” fifty pounds for those four years so that is good but it is not good enough. I am registered for the RKC II workshop in June. I want to get the four Z Health certifications. I want to complete a ½ Iron Man in the next few years. I’m signed up for the Triple Bypass this summer (for those who don’t know that is bike race that goes from Evergreen, Colorado to Avon, Colorado which is about 110 miles and goes over three mountain passes – one being the Continental Divide). I can’t do any of those if I don’t take off this extra weight. So this is it. I have four months until the RKC and in those four months my goals are to lose enough weight to be able to do a pull-up (‘cause there ain’t no way I can do one now!) and get in tip top shape. Here’s to day one – I’m going for a bike ride.