Starting at the Beginning

I hate exercise. I hate dieting. But you know what I hate more? Being fat. Having high blood pressure, diabetes, and a higher risk of heart disease. I hate the idea of taking a bunch of medicine at a relatively young age. So that's why I knew I had to make some changes.

I guess this all started after I had a physical in June 2009. The doctor told me I was in good shape, but that my blood pressure was higher than it had been. This concerned me (and my doctor) because I have a history of high blood pressure in my family. My grandfather died of an aneurysm in his 50s because of untreated high blood pressure. My father died of renal failure which was a result of untreated high blood pressure. I didn't want to go down that same path. I didn't like the idea of having to take medicine to treat high blood pressure either. My doctor didn't recommend medicine at that time, but she did say I could stand to lose a few pounds.

At the time, I was back up to 240 pounds. I'm 6 feet even, with broad shoulders and broad hips, so I always carried my weight well; but I did have to concede defeat on some occasions and get 40in waist pants. I was overweight, and I knew it.

I had tried in the past to lose weight, and had mixed results. I tried the Atkins diet, but it left me constipated. I tried jogging for a while, but then I hurt my knee. For about 9 months, I did go to the gym at my job pretty regularly, an actually dropped to 220. But then I got caught up with other activities and I started going less and less. Soon enough, I was back up to 240.

So this time, I knew it was time to get serious. So in July 2009, I decided it was time to get serious again about losing weight. I wanted to feel better about myself, and more importantly, I wanted to get in better shape for my health.

As of this moment, I'm down to 206 pounds. I've used a combination of exercise and diet that works for me to get to where I am. I've still got a few pounds to go, and some other fitness goals I want to meet. But I'm happy about losing almost 35 pounds in 8 months.

I'm going to use this blog to talk about my journey. How I got to where I am, how I'm getting to where I'm going, and how I plan to stay there. My hope is that this blog will serve as added motivation for me to continue with my fitness program.

I also hope that others come across it and use the story as inspiration and motivation. I'm in no way a professional trainer, weight loss instructor, doctor, etc. I'm just going to talk about what has worked for me. I hope it helps you too.