I join the millions of New Years Resolution makers today………….

And so it begins. Like last year this year promises to see me kick a habit and get healthier. Last year I quit smoking (yay me!), and in the process of kicking that God awful habit I gained 20+ pounds of FAT. My smoking habit was replaced with a munching habit. When I would have stepped outside for a smoke, I stepped into the kitchen and got a bowl of chips or Cheeze-its. Instead of stepping out and walking around the yard with a smoke, I would sit down at Mac and surf. You can see how smoking actually kept me on my feet and moving more than NOT smoking did. And to be honest, that little bit of movement 15-20 times a day must have been just enough calorie burning to keep me at a steady 180 lbs (which by the way is still to much). But over the course of a year, by removing that little bit of extra activity, and adding those extra “snack calories” I have packed on enough weight to become disgusted with myself.

So when my old friend Jeremiah proposed a wager between himself,his brother and I, a little bet to see who can lose and keep off 30lbs (or more) by next year at this time I was in! It helps to have competitive motivation to lose weight.  There IS a bit of irony in this contest (but then again Jeremiah is known for ironic acts), the winner buys the losers dinner. LOL…Trying to lose weight to win a dinner. Go figure. I just suppose that the winning dinner will be at Subway or something. Maybe a sushi joint would work.

So I guess as part of MY weight loss program I am going to blog about it the way I did about my smoking cessation. It kind of helped to “put it all out there” so to speak. I also think that at the end of it all I am going to post some photos that show where I started and how I go to my final weight. It ought to be an interesting (if not slightly disturbing) pictorial. LOL. The other part of the program is split into two common sense approaches. One is portion control, I am going to start eating HALF of what I normally would have at each meal. That starts this morning. The other is movement. I need to make sure that I am in motion MORE than not. So if you see me on Facebook outside of my normal working hours of 7a.m. to 3:30p.m. then tell me to get off my ass and do something. We have a very nice expensive treadmill that is just sitting here waiting for some attention so I plan on using that EVERY DAY, for two 30 minute jogs (cardio) and I will of course be spending time outdoors doing things.

So with the new year…..I resolve to lose AT LEAST 30 pounds. My goal is to weigh in at 175 pounds.. That would still be “over weight” but I would never want to look skinny…I don’t even think my body is capable of skinny….But my starting weight is (brace yourself) 210 pounds. TWO HUNDRED AND TEN! I’m only 5′ 6″!!!!

So there…I told you how much I weigh..now the whole world has access to my obesity (ewwww), and now that it is public knowledge, it is time to change it!

Good luck to me.