About

It started one evening in early October 2011 as I was munching on various foods that have been deemed unhealthy by doctors and delicious by me. I said to myself in between the shoveling of food, "I'm getting fat again."

(Note: Full disclosure, I'm about 10 pounds over weight from what I deem my normal size. So when I say "I'm getting fat again", that means my size 36 jeans are fitting better than they should and if I'm wearing a belt with a shirt untucked I can feel my gut doing battle with my belt buckle.)

I know how to exercise; I don't know how to diet. I mean I've gone on diets and had success...but the whole "staying with it" thing is where I always drop the ball. So I thought; how can I force myself to stay with it? I decided to use one of the oldest weight loss tricks in the book. Make your pursuit of weight loss public. Thus, I came up with these three ideas for this blog.

1. It's been a long time goal of mine to really get my waistline back in check, and by "back in check" I mean where it was when I graduated high school.
2. I'm turning 30 in 8 months.  If I'm ever going to do it, I better do it before 30.
3. I could totally channel Bill Simmons and call it "30 by 30".  Which means I need to lose 30 pounds by the age of 30.

Like I said above, 10 pounds ago is where I say I'm comfortable.  As of the writing of this, I'm about 230 pounds.  My goal is to get down to 200 pounds, which would be the lightest I've been since 2001-2002, my freshman year in college.  Which I think is a blog-worthy goal.

Also wrapped up in the weight loss goal is the idea of me turning 30.  I'm not feeling the "mid-life crisis" melt down, but it does feel weird.  "30" was an age only my older brothers could be.  "30" is an age where you really are putting your college years behind you.  I can no longer pass as a college student in a bar anymore (and I probably haven't for about 5 years...even though I think I have).

So I figured I'm no longer going to achieve these monumentous goals before I reach 30.  Probably not going to jump out of a plane (I have a kid now), not going to see Machu Picchu (too expensive), and definitely not making a million dollars (all my ideas sucked).  So the LEAST I could do is shed some excess weight!

How am I going to do it?  The good ol' fashioned way, diet and exercise.  No tricks, tomfoolery, skulduggery or malfeasance.  That means no supplements or steroids.  Here's a break down of my plan:

Eat Healthy

I have a post regarding more specifics for my food plan, but the nuts and bolts of it are NO fast food or soda.  A daily dose of fruits, veggies, and whole grains.  And more fish and poultry and less red meat.

Aerobic Exercise (a.k.a. Cardio)

I will be joining the UNI Wellness and Recreation Services Center to assist with this.  Because I am married with a child, I have no free time to work out.  So I will be utilizing my lunch hour to accomplish this.  3-4 days a week will be devoted to cardio.

Weight Training

I plan on 2-3 days a week will be devoted to weights.  This will be centered around low weight, high repetitions.  From my days as a high school athlete and a college gym attendee, this should promote toning and weight loss.  I don't want to bulk up, I want to be slim and trim.

And I realize starting this on November 1st with two of the greatest holidays on Earth approaching is dumb, but I'm doing it anyway.  I refuse to let a diet get in the way of enjoying the holidays.  Maybe I don't need to gorge myself, but dammit I will eat sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes with butter and sour cream, pretzels with almond bark, peanut butter star cookies, homemade turtles, etc. etc.  It's the holidays for crying out loud...I'm not a machine!

I'll just have to make up for it with more exercise during those times...

So that's the plan.  I got 8 months to accomplish it.  Wish me luck....and follow the blog!