I’ve been struggling with my weight for years. I’ve gone on diets before, sometimes with success but more often not – especially in recent years. And – obviously – I’ve never been able to maintain the weight loss.
For the last couple of years, I haven’t even been able to motivate myself to make the requisite “I’m going to lose weight” New Year’s Resolution. A lot of spiritual, emotional, and psychological factors figured into that, and really, 2009 didn’t begin any differently.
Me with my daughter Emma at the Houston Zoo in October. I’m the big gray blob on the left – the one holding the baby. I weighed in at a hefty 260 pounds.
In fact, this is not a New Year’s Resolution. This is just me coming to the realization that I want to be thinner. I need to be. Strangely enough, we spent some time the first weekend of this year with some old friends who are big fans of The Biggest Loser. I’m not a big fan of reality TV, so I wasn’t really excited about watching this with them, but I did. And watching these people sometimes lose 100 pounds – 40 or 50% of their body weight – I was inspired. So, when Kacy and I got home, we laid out a plan.
I set up an account on FitDay.com to help me set up a healthy weight-loss goal. I set up an account at SparkPeople to help me calculate the calories of homemade foods. (Incidentally, if you’d like a pretty healthy and very flavorful recipe for Chicken Pomodoro, check it out here.)
As of Jan. 5, I weighed 260 pounds. My goal is be down to 180 – five pounds less than I weighed when I graduated from high school in 1991 – by Oct 12, 2009. (The odd date is so that I can maintain a healthy rate of weight loss – trying to keep it around two pounds a week.) That’s 80 pounds.
As of yesterday, I weighed 251 pounds. So, I’ve lost nine pounds, and I haven’t even really figured out how to stick to my diet plan (1,582 calories a day) consistently yet! Nor have I begun an exercise regimen. (That begins soon.)
So, please keep me in your prayers, and give me some encouragement. This is going to be a long, hard road. And, if you – like me – are struggling with weight loss, I hope this blog can be an encouragement to you.
