Bad Weekend...

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of my father's death. He died from bile duct cancer and I miss him so much. He was 75 years old when he died. Way too early for some one that was as healthy as he was. Yesterday, I thought long and hard about my life and how unhealthy I am and how much more I am at risk for a number of things at my weight. I thought about how hard this has been for my mother, my sisters and myself and I do not want my wife and daughters to have to go through the same thing so early in their lives. That's why I cannot give up. That's why I must succeed. If that is not motivation enough, I don't know what is.

I did not eat well this weekend. We ended up having pizza three days in a row. I would like to blame on the fact that we were out and about with friends and family but in reality...I was just plain laziness. Tonight it's chicken and vegetable stir fry.

Restaurant Nutrition Info

Along the side of the blog you will see two lists. One list if links to each restaurant's nutrition information. The other list is restaurants without nutrition. These is mostly for national chains. I don't expect locally owned establishments to have nutritional info on their sites...but it would be nice. If anything, it is a great tool to decide where you might be going for dinner and have a plan of what you will be ordering.

Whew....I Made It

Getting though day one was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. I ate pretty well considering that I had a burger and fries for dinner. We took my daughter to Rainforest Cafe for her birthday dinner. I had the Rainforest Burger with fries and a water. The waitresses came out and sang to my daughter and gave her an ice cream sundae. She ate a little and offered the rest to me. I was tempted but declined the offer.

Aside from eating better and exercising, the one thing I need to make sure I do is calorie count. I need to start being accountable for the foods I eat and the quantity that I eat them in. For instance, if a $1 Burger King double cheeseburger is 460 calories, then I cannot eat three of them along with some fries (540 kcal) for a total of 1920 calories in one sitting. That is almost the entire amount of calories I should be consuming in one day. So, documenting will not only keep track but it should also open my eyes to what and how much I eat each day.

Tonight I start exercising. I plan on 30 minutes on the stationary bike at least 5 times a week. Then, once the weather warms up, I'll Incorporate more outdoor activities like walking and eventually jogging once I drop a considerable amount of weight.

I did spend a few moments yesterday thinking about what life will be like when I get to my happy weight. I want to start playing sports again. I want to travel more and my ultimate goal would be to do an Ironman competition. Now, I don't want to get to far ahead of the game but I think goals are important. So I am going to think long and hard today and post some short term and long term goals that I want to accomplish along this journey.

Lent...It's Not Only For the Religious

So I was brought up Catholic and went to Catholic school so lent has always been a yearly ritual for me. I am not Catholic anymore. In fact, aside from being invited to a baptism or wedding, I have not been to any church in over 6 months. I do feel this is a great time to try to change something in one's life for the better. So, with no religious convictions attached, I am giving up fast food and desserts for Lent. The goal is to change my dependency on foods that are killing me and what better way than to quit cold turkey for at least 40 days with the goal of changing my eating habits for life.

Better Off Alive

I have always had a desire to be skinny, but my love of food has always overtaken that desire. As of this morning, I weighed in at 451 pounds. That is just 4 pounds less than my fat person scale allows. I probably eat anywhere from 3500-5000 (if not more)calories a day in fast food and sweets. I am probably going to die soon if I do not make some major changes ASAP.

I am 36 years old, and have a loving wife who sticks with me even though I am morbidly obese. I have two beautiful daughters (5 years and 6 months) that I do not want to be an embarrassment to. I don't want to die before my kids grow up and have families of their own. I don't want widow my wife and I definitely don't want her remarrying someone else because I am dead.

So I am making a commitment to lose the weight and to get in shape. I am not sure how...but I am confident that calorie cutting and exercise is going to be involved. I am also making the commitment to be as real as I can be in this blog. If you are offended by what I say...well this blog is not for you.