Well, I wanted to get to everyone today and just touch on a few subjects. First, I came back from my 10-day long vacation and found that I had lost 2 pounds! That’s pretty good considering I didn’t do a lot of working out over those 10 days, other than some taking some walks and moving a lot of furniture. It just goes to show that so long as you stay dedicated to your diet, and do just a little bit of exercise, you can still lose weight. Now, to be fair, I would have loved to lose more than 2 pounds over those 10 days, but without access to a decent gym (yes, I’m a little spoiled!) it was difficult for me to get a proper workout. And, I didn’t take my running shoes, since I already had a full suitcase, so that didn’t help me either. But the important thing is that I stayed focused on my goals and I was able to shed a couple of pounds, which kept me going in the right direction. So for all of you that are planning late-summer vacations, feel free to keep up that diet and do a little exercise, and your summer strives towards skinniness won’t be shot down the drain.

Next, a matter of relaxing by the TV. I do it A LOT! To be completely honest, I probably watch way to much TV to be healthy, but I really enjoying keeping up with all of my favorite TV shows, even if they are re-runs during the summer. But that doesn’t mean I can’t get a good workout in. My best friend Jessi is always telling me to add a workout to my couch potato time, and I’ve finally taken her advice. I do 20 push-ups during the commercial break, which takes me 20-30 seconds. It may not sound like a lot, but with the average 30-minute TV show having 3 commercial breaks, 1 every 7-8 minutes or so, watching TV for a couple of hours will also bring in well over 100 push-ups in a night, with plenty of rest in between. The first couple of sets go by pretty easy, but once I’m at that 4th or 5th set, they get a lot harder, and that’s when you’re getting your benefits. All put together, those push-ups will work the majority of your upper-body muscles, burning calories while sitting on your bum, and if you’re watching TV at night like me, it’ll burn calories while you sleep too, using calories to rebuild the muscle tissue. How about that, losing weight while you sleep! Nobel Prize, please!

Another thing to think about is that diet. I struggle probably more than anyone with overeating, because I’ve been doing it for years. I can out-eat almost anyone (except Joey Chestnut, the world-record setting Nathan’s Hot Dog eating champion), and I’ve been known to put down an entire large meat-lovers pizza by myself, in one sitting. Now, it doesn’t take an expert to tell me that that is neither healthy nor good for my weight loss plan. However, I’ve done it, and there’s nothing that can be done about it now. But that doesn’t mean I should keep doing it! That goes with everything bad for you, like eating a bucket of ice cream or tons of cookies. That little bit of cheating on your diet will take you several steps backwards in your weight loss goals, and you’ll only feel guilt and shame afterwords. Instead, you have to find something to snack on in between meals, and your meals need to be sensibly sized and portioned in order to keep up your weight loss. In the long run you’ll be a lot happier that you had a turkey sandwich instead of a whole pizza.

Finally, just to put everyone in a positive mood and the right frame of mind, as of today I am down 30 pounds from when I started my diet and exercise plan! I’ve had my share of downfalls, pitfalls and stumbling blocks, as well as a few “I quits” in there, but overall I’ve kept at it and have continued to lose weight in the long run, and that’s the important part. I am much, much lighter than I was in January. I may not be where I wanted to be as part of my original plan, but I’m still headed in the right direction, and that’s what really matters! So, even if you didn’t lose your 20 pounds in 21 days (which was my goal over my summer break from school, which I didn’t meet), having lost weight over that time period is still a success, so take pride in that and keep going. Eventually, you’ll reach that goal, and when you do, you’ll be more proud of yourself then you thought possible. Keep it up everyone!

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For most of us, including myself, the 4th of July is a time for vacation and relaxation, a time for cold beers and grilling out.  And that’s all fine and dandy.  But what about that strict diet that you’ve been on for some time now?  Like for me, I don’t drink alcohol any more.  Now, I fully enjoy a burger or two (so long as they take longer than 30 seconds to make), but overeating during the holiday relaxation period is really easy.  Couple that with the easy excuse of “I’m on vacation” to not work out also, and you’re whole weight loss routine is completely out the window, and you’ll likely find startling results when you step on the scale the next time.  All that beer and all those burgers, brats and buns will do a number on your bum, especially if you’re not running a couple miles or swimming a few laps before your days of sun and indulgence.  So here’s my “intra-mural” advice for you: don’t over-do it! It’s perfectly fine to have a burger or two, but don’t pig out on 5 burgers and 30 hot dogs.  Also, when you’re packing all that wonderful beer into the cooler, perhaps grab a few of the beers designed to not have as many calories, like an MGD 64 or Michelob Ultra (just some suggestions, not a product endorsement).  At least that way you won’t be drinking 150-200 calories per beer, and the effects will be minimized.  Or, better yet, don’t drink at all! Volunteer to be the designated driver for everyone you can, and let them pack on the pounds while you drink Protein Waters, staying hydrated and nurished, all the while not working up a killer hangover.  Just a thought.
 
And, just because you’re on vacation, doesn’t mean you can’t work out! I may have left my running shoes at home while I came to visit the parents, but with all the work around the house I’ve been doing I definitely haven’t been skipping my workouts.  And even on top of that, with some of the time I’ve had off while they were at work, I walked around the neighborhood a few times, getting at least a little exercise.  It may not have been the 3 miles I ran the other day (yeah me!), but it was healthier than “I’m on vacation.” Which everyone knows is a cop-out, and that those calories still count.  So watch the food and the cookie intake, walk around the block a few times, and enjoy your 4th of July weekend.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!!

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1,350 Calories. 90 grams of fat, 40 of which are saturated and 3.5 of which are trans.  2,780 mg of sodium.  That’s what’s in my go-to burger at Wendy’s, the 3/4 lb Baconator.  Add the large fries, large Coke along with it, and I’m looking at probably over 2,000 calories in all.  For 1 meal.  That costs me around $10.00.  What am I thinking? Well, specifically the fact that I don’t like to make food, especially complex meals like lasagna or meatloaf (both of which I love) because I’m a terrible cook and I’m lazy in general.  But what about thawing out some burgers and firing up the grill and making my own? Well, that requires at least some planning in advance, which as a bachelor I tend to not do very well (you can ask my BFF Jessi, she’ll tell you all about it).  So instead I walk over to Wendy’s every couple of days or so, and guiltily order up a serving of heart attack with a side of obesity.  Let’s be honest people, I’m about 75 pounds overweight right now, and I personally keep the fast food industry afloat.  That’s not good.  So, I’ve stopped.  At first I said I just wasn’t going to eat beef for a while.  Well….that didn’t work because my roommate kept firing up the grill and grilling burgers.  Which was great, because he’s a way better cook/grill person than me, and his burgers taste way better than mine.  So the whole “no beef” thing didn’t pan out.  Then I said, “I’ll just eat less fast food.”  Well, when one of your meals is over 2,000 Calories then less is still not enough, especially when you want to lose weight.  So for the last couple days I’ve eaten no fast food, and less in general, and my weight loss has picked up again.  So hurray for me!

Furthermore, the whole fast food thing is expensive. Over the past month or so, I’ve spent over $382 at fast food places.  That’s disgusting! That’s almost 2 months worth of food at the grocery store for my whole apartment, which has 4 people in it! What am I thinking?!? Well, it ends today.  I’m back on my no-fast-food diet in an effort to save money and lose weight.  I’ve also stumbled upon an article that says that fast food can actually become addictive, decreasing dopamine receptors or something, so that’s probably not good either.  Regardless, the amount of science and nutritional information and financial information is all overwelmingly against fast food, and my only justification is laziness.  Well, laziness never got anyone anywhere in this life, so I’m going to stop.  Time for me to turn the page over and start a new chapter in my life.  I mean, I just turned 28, what better time?  See you all later when I rant and rave some more about how I suck at dieting.

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Some time has passed since I finished my diet with remarkable success. What has happened since then? Well my weight loss has certainly slowed, and I’m sure a lot of that is due to the fact that I now eat fast food when I please (which still isn’t very often, but more often then never), and drink soda, and for a short while there I was drinking alcohol again, which is fine, except that alcohol contains a lot of empty calories that I really don’t need in my diet. However, an interesting thing happened during my diet. I learned that it’s possible to have fun without alcohol. So, because of that realization, and the fact that alcohol is a primary suspect in making me fat, I am no longer going to drink. It’s time once and for all to focus much, much more on my health, and that is one of the best ways to do it. But it’s not the only thing I need to do.

So basically, although I’m still wanting to lose weight, I haven’t been putting in the work to do so. I’ve been hoping that it would just magically happen because it was looking so easy before when I was on my diet. Nothing comes easy, and nothing is given to you. If you want to lose weight, you have to make it a serious priority, something that I had forgotten. Re-evaluate how important losing those pounds is to you, and if you still want to lose weight then push it up the hierarchy and make sure you dedicate some time as often as possible. Things like an hour-long walk can really help out, though not nearly as much as a half-hour long run. The harder you work, the bigger the benefits will be, and the more weight you’ll lose. But if you won’t put in the work, then you won’t receive the results.

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Well, I’ve completed my “Lent” diet.  46 days without fast food, soda, alcohol, and minimal burgers and other things not so great for me.  And more exercise, mostly in the form of walking everywhere since I no longer own a car.  And where am I at now? Well, Sunday morning I surpassed the 250lb point to 249.5 pounds, which is pretty remarkable for me.  Granted, it’s just a number, but it’s a significant number, nice and round.  Also, it’s only a few pounds away from my monthly goal of 245lbs.  So I can honestly say that my diet worked, and worked way better than I expected.  I’m really proud of the weight loss I accomplished; having said that the diet is over and I’m going to begin to allow myself some fast foods and alcohol again.  However, not nearly in the capacity that I had been consuming before.  Seeing the results, and how astonishing they were, I’m going to only eat fast food and drink alcohol on weekends.  During the week it’s going to be healthy only.  I’m going to continue to walk everywhere, and in fact now that I bought new running shoes I’ve started running again, which will help out even more.  Today I ran 3 times further than yesterday (which was the first time I had run in quite some time), and I’m hoping that tomorrow I’ll run even farther.  If I keep at it, I know that I’ll get back into my runner’s lungs before I know it, and then I’ll really start stripping the weight off.  Combine that with some weight training, healthy eating and good friends to keep me at it, and I’ll be nearing my goal much faster than I had planned, maybe I’ll even make my goal that I had set for myself on January 1: to be at 170 pounds by Dec 31.  I think I may be able to do it, but we’ll see.  One step at a time.

So for the rest of you, how is your “new” New Year’s resolutions going? Are you still working out? Are you still dieting?  If so, then good on ya.  I’m living proof that it’s never too late to start (or restart).  If not, then I urge you again to finally make that promise and stick to it.  It can be difficult, sure.  But nothing worth doing is ever easy.  If you put in the effort, the results will not be far behind.  I personally promise.  And if you need motivation, or advice, or have questions, by all means contact me and I’ll help you out the best I can.  Because we’re all in this together, and together we’re strong enough to succeed! Until next time, keep at it!

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This week, I want to touch on two subjects.  The first, and foremost, is that having good friends to watch my back while my relatively strict diet has been crucial to my success.  Just last night I was tempted to cheat by eating a Philly Cheesesteak, because technically I hadn’t declared Jersey Mike’s as fast food.  My friend Bruce refused to stop nagging me on how I was quitting my diet and my pledge to not eat fast food.  His dedication to my diet reminded me that I’m in this for more than just the thrills of dieting, I’m in this to prove to myself and to everyone that it’s possible for me to lose the weight.  Even though my weight loss has been good thus far, I have to keep focused, and he reminded me of that.  So instead I got a much healthier sandwich at Jersey Mike’s, and I was very proud of both myself and him for demanding such perfection.  Likewise, my friend Jessi is constantly making sure that I’m working out, even if I’m just watching TV at home.  Her dedication to my weight loss reminds me of why I’m doing this in the first place, to be a healthier person.  It’s great to know that I have friends that care this much about me.

The other thing I wanted to talk about today was the constant standing on the scale.  For years I’ve been told not to weigh myself every day because weight loss isn’t instant, and that it could be discouraging to stand on the scale and see that I’d only lost a half a pound over a couple of days, or worse, gained weight.  While it is certainly true that your weight can fluctuate quite a bit, I’ve found that keeping a month-long calendar in my bathroom, and weighing myself the first thing in the morning EVERY morning has been quite wonderful.  I’ve talked about this before, but it’s never been more evident than now.  In the course of a month I lost 20 pounds, and on the days that my weight went up from the day before I made sure to double my weight loss efforts.  On the days that my weight went down, I patted myself on the back and thought about what it was that I had been doing to help me lose that weight, like walking to school and working out, and I made sure to do it more often.  Basically, so long as you take the positive look at your weight, no matter which direction it went, you can’t be defeated! So I challenge everyone that’s trying to lose weight to start stepping on a scale every day for a month.  I prefer to do it in the morning, because you don’t have the fluctuation of what you ate that day to affect the outcome.  Yes, some days you’ll weigh more than the day before, that’s normal.  But watch your weight loss over the course of that month, and if you’re honest with yourself and work hard you can see a downward trend that will have you grinning from ear to ear by the end of May, just in time for beach season!  So until next time, keep at it people!

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So this weekend I made my goal for the month.  I wanted to start with that right there.  My goal by April 30th was to be down to 256 pounds, and on Friday I weighed in at a svelte 255.  Not bad, considering earlier this month I had ballooned to 272.  So I’m really proud of myself for having met my goal, and now that I did, I think it’s a good time to look back at the last few weeks and see what I was doing right, what I was doing wrong, and what I need to do for the next month to keep losing weight.

First off, what I did wrong.  As much as I really hate to admit it, I have to officially place both Philly Cheesesteak & NY Pizza, a restaurant near my school, on the fast food list.  I had initially avoided this move, since it wasn’t a Burger King or a McDonald’s, and therefore wasn’t obviously a fast food place, but the fact that the pizza is extra greasy and the Philly’s are made short order (read: really bad for you) is undeniable, and therefore it goes on the banned list.  My friend really was the one that pointed this out; that basically I had been cheating on my pseudo-Lent promise.  So now I’m officially putting that restaurant on the fast-food list, meaning I can no longer go there.  Probably a good thing, because as good as their food is, it’s really pretty bad for you, and I began eating there more and more lately.  Next up is pizza in general.  It’s great to have a cheat day every once in a while, but this week I think I ate pizza 3 different times, and that’s really not good for anyone.  Sure it’s convenient, but it’s also expensive in comparison to say Subway or making a bowl of soup and a sandwich, which is even cheaper.  Plus, eating an entire large Meat Lovers pizza from Papa John’s just can’t be healthy.  So, ordering pizza is out as well.  Now, grabbing a slice if you have some friends over or are at a friends house watching the game is another matter.  1 or 2 slices won’t really be that big of a deal.  My problem specifically has been that I order an entire pizza for myself, and then eat it myself, and I’ve been doing that more and more lately too.  So, no more ordering pizza.

Now, the good.  I haven’t had a drop of alcohol, and I really don’t miss it at all.  Same goes for Soda.  The fast food, as discussed above, is kind of a gray area, but I haven’t stepped foot into a Burger King or any other traditional fast food place since I placed a ban on them.  Also, I’ve been eating a lot less burgers (my friend’s wedding reception BBQ notwithstanding) which has been good for me.  So I am meeting, on all points, everything I said I wouldn’t do, which is good.  And obviously it’s been paying off.  However, I can’t say I’ve been working out 4 times a week.  I have been walking a lot more places now that I sold my car, so that is healthy, but I haven’t set aside much dedicated time to actually work out, and that’s something I need to do.  30 minutes on the treadmill followed up with some decent weight lifting will do wonders for me, and that’s really what I need to do.  But, I can’t say I haven’t been working out at all, since I do walk to and from school everyday, and some days I will walk around my block (which is exactly a mile) several times over the course of a little more than an hour, which is really nice for clearing my head or listening to some music that I’ve been meaning to listen to.  So all in all, the workouts could be better and more frequent, but I haven’t been skipping them either.

Overall, I’ve definitely slimmed down some.  It’s noticeable, and that’s important.  More important than numbers is how you look.  If you’re 5’5″ and 200 pounds, but you have a trim tummy and well-toned legs and whatnot, then your muscles just weigh a lot (I have no idea why this would happen), but so long as you’re happy with how you look, that’s more important than some arbitrary number.  That said, most people, including myself, have a magic number they want to reach, and that’s based on knowing that at that weight we will look a certain way, which is our ultimate goal.  I want to reach 170 pounds, and with the help of DesignerWhey, I’m well on my way of getting there.  So take a look at what you’ve done the last month and what you’ve accomplished, and keep going at it.  Because there is a pot of gold at the end of this journey, but only if you work hard to get it.  Thanks for joining me, and I’ll see you next time.

Nate

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Welcome back to my blogosphere everyone.  We are going to make this super sweet, because that’s how my weight loss is going–Super Sweet.  15 pounds since the 1st of the month.  That’s an additional 5 pounds since I talked to you last.  I’ve finally gotten down further than I started, meaning that I’m starting to get a head of my weight, by which I mean I now weigh less than I did on New Year’s Eve.  So I keep going, and I will eventually reach my goal.

So how is everything else going, you ask? Still no alcohol, fast food, or soda.  Had some burgers last night with some friends, but that’s still only 3 for the week.  Not drinking alcohol hasn’t been nearly as hard as I would have thought; a lot of my friends are very supportive of me trying to lose weight.  The big test will be this weekend at my friend’s bachelor party, but I think I’ll be ok.  Soda is real easy to not drink, especially when you have delicious Protein Water to drink instead.  And not eating fast food is really, really easy when you don’t have any money, so instead I eat Progresso soups and things of that nature, ensuring to watch how many calories and how much fat I’m taking in.  To be honest, this whole thing has been a lot easier than I thought it would be, and that has me thinking I may do it longer than the 46 days I said I would.  We’ll see when we get there though.

So, for all of you out there that are working on your new New Year’s Resolution, I say this: I am living proof that it CAN be done.  If you’re struggling, then take a good serious look at your workout regiment, your diet, and your “cheating” and see if maybe there is somewhere to improve.  There’s room for all of us to improve, perhaps a little less “cheating” and a little more exercise (I should go for a workout right now, but I have a ton of things to do), maybe a little smaller portion of steak.  Every little bit counts, and all those little bits will eventually add up to either weight lost or weight gained.  So be positive, be motivated, and let’s keep losing that weight!  Thanks for joining me, and I’ll talk to you later!

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Well everyone, I’m back for another exciting episode of “Weight Loss”.  Since my last post, I would love to proudly announce that I have stuck to all of the guidelines I set forth in my new New Year’s Eve Resolutions: no fast food, no soda, no alcohol, only 5 burger patties, and working out more often.  I haven’t stepped inside a fast food joint, nor touched any alcohol, or sipped any soda since the 24th of March, and boy do I feel…well, good actually.  I’ve been eating smaller meals more often, so I’m not really all that hungry, although sometimes a hunger pang does hit me.  I haven’t missed alcohol or soda at all, thankfully.  And my wallet is certainly happier from me eating at home instead of eating out all the time.  So, what negatives have I been seeing from my new, healthier lifestyle? Well, once in a while I do get quite hungry, which is hard to ignore.  A tall glass of water will help for a short while, but eventually you have to eat something.  For someone like me, it’s going to be a battle for a while as my stomach will actually start to shrink in size to adapt to the smaller portions that I’m eating, and it will be a sort of uncomfortable time of adjustment.  But, a banana or some baby carrots go a long way, as well as all the water you can drink (I love that 0 Calorie substance).  Combine that with more exercise, including walking to school or to the movies instead of driving, and I’m already seeing the results. 

One drastic measure that I did take is that I weigh myself EVERY DAY.  Although a lot of people will tell you that weighing yourself every day isn’t really a good idea, since your weight will fluctuate a lot from day to day, I’ve found that on the days that my weight is lower than the day before, I give myself a little fist pump of joy and say to myself, “Self, you’re on the right track, keep it up.” On those days that my weight is higher than the day before, I find myself doubling my efforts and being extra conscious of what I eat and how much exercise I get.  All of this combined has allowed me to lose 10 pounds in this time frame.  For me to lose 10 pounds in about 2 weeks is remarkable, and should be an inspiration to all of you reading my blogs that if even I can do it, surely you can do even better.  The negative side to that is that I also gained 10 pounds from mid-February to March 24th, so the hard work I’ve done has simply put me back to square one.  However, the fact remains that I am 10 pounds lighter than I was two weeks ago, and that’s something to be proud of. 

Now, I can’t guarantee that my weight loss will continue in this trend or at this rate, but I will put a personal guarantee that I will continue to lose weight.  As I said in my previous blog, what’s past is past, and serves now only as a reminder of the time that I wasted.  If I can lose 10 pounds in two weeks, then I should be done closer to 220, instead of at 262lbs.  But here I am, working hard towards a goal, and I hope that those of you who had given up on yourselves, who said it was too hard, have renewed their passion to lead a healthier life and can use my example of the possibilities that exist, if only we choose to accept them.  I have faith that you can lose the weight as I have.  However, only you can put in the work and determination to succeed.  Do it, and be better for it.  Until next time, here’s to living healthy!

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Well, my friends and fellow weight-watchers and weight-(hopefully)-losers, I’ve been gone for a couple of weeks and return to you now to get a look-see at how everyone is doing.  So, if you haven’t weighed yourself in the last day or so, go do it quick and come on back, because we’re going to talk about some stuff today.

Back already? Wow, sounds like you have lost a little weight, and turned up the speed knob a couple clicks.  If so, good on you.  If not, well, don’t feel so bad just yet.  It’s now the 12th week of the year.  We are officially into spring, the weather is finally warming up for some of you, and the rain has finally subsided in beautiful southern California for those of us lucky enough to live down here.  The real question at hand is: how much weight have you lost?  By some doctor’s recommendations, you shouldn’t lose more than 1 pound per week.  I’ve been known to lose as many as 10 in a week, though I was working EXTREMELY hard during that week.  I have always felt safe and comfortable with about 10 pounds a month, or 2.5 pounds a week on average.  I think it’s a do-able amount without straining yourself or requiring some sort of extreme workout regiment and diet regiment and taking off of work regiment.  So how much have you lost? 12 pounds? 20? Perhaps an exceptional 30 pounds, putting you in a category of healthy feelings and vibrant energy that you thought you’d never get back?  For your sake, I hope so.  And I’ve had some requests to show an update on how much weight I’ve lost.  Well, I have to regretfully inform you that I haven’t lost any weight.  Although, at the beginning of my blogging, I had started to lose a few pounds, I quickly plateaued, and then I got busy with other things (like excuses) and soon realized that I wasn’t working out at all.  I had stopped all of my dieting, had stopped all of my exercising, all my swimming, my rock climbing, everything.  I barely noticed at first.  I would sit down to watch a TV show or two before my workout, and several hours would pass before I realized that I hadn’t worked out at all.  Then the excuses would come, like “Well, it’s too late tonight to workout, oh well.”  Then the fast food would start showing up in my hand.  Burger King’s $1 double-cheeseburgers are really tasty, and cheap, and super convenient for me since I go to school right next to a Burger King.  But for the $5-6 dollars I’d spend on burgers fries and a drink, I could have walked an extra 100 yards to the Subway and spent the same amount of money on a foot long sub.  Why didn’t I? Honestly, I forgot that the Subway was that close.  Did I repent immediately when I remembered? Nope, I just stuck with my “Well, I’m already here” mentality, like a fool.  Late nights of working and studying would drag into early mornings at school, and soon I’d find myself with that “all-important” 42oz Coke at 9am or earlier, to keep me awake during my class.  Now, I’m not a coffee drinker, or those probably would have been better, but the best thing for me would have been some solid sleep and a little better time-management on my part.  So now where do I sit? I’m just as overweight as I was before, but with 12 weeks of the year wasted already.  Had I worked hard and given A LOT less excuses, I too could be down 20-30 pounds already, without a problem.  But I didn’t.  And I’m still fat.

So now comes the next step.  Because there’s always a next step.  For those of you that have met your weight loss goals, CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!  Seriously, I know you feel better, and I know how proud you are of yourself.  Think for a moment how great that feeling is, and how you felt when you made your resolution to finally lose that weight.  Now take that, and use it positively to continue that healthy lifestyle you’ve begun to develop.  Keep working out, keep eating healthy.  And reward yourself! Give yourself some ice cream, maybe some super-greasy pizza, and enjoy.  Don’t turn that into a habit, but with moderation very, very little food is all that bad for you.  1 or 2 slices of greasy pizza might look bad on a calorie chart, but with your metabolism up and your workouts regular, and with the new-found glory of your victory, you are welcome to that.  But like I said, this is not an everyday thing.  This is 1 victory lap, not a whole victory race backwards to where you came from.  You are a changed person, remember that.  For those of us that didn’t succeed?  Well, for those people that are losing weight at the rate that they were hoping for, you are succeeding.  Present tense.  So keep at it, because you should be dialed in now to how things are working for you.  You will succeed.  For those that aren’t losing as much weight as they wanted to, but have still lost weight and are still losing weight, you also are doing well.  Yes, it’s become more difficult that you perhaps originally imagined, but that doesn’t mean you should quit.  If everyone quit every time things got hard, then we wouldn’t even be cooking our food over a fire, much less have the wonderful technological advances that we have.  So keep at it, because if your weight is going in the right direction, then you’re still winning.  Just because you’re not beating your opponent by a lot, doesn’t mean that 1 point won’t win the game.  Winning is winning. And if you’re lighter now than you were on January 1, then you’re winning.  Unless you’re goal was to gain weight, in which case I have no idea why you’re reading my blog.

And for those of us, myself I mean, that didn’t lose ANY weight.  Not 1 pound.  Possibly even gained weight.  Well, I hereby declare this day to be your New Year’s Eve.  This very moment that you are reading this, it has just become New Year’s Eve.  So think, real quick, what you want your new year’s resolution to be.  We all know what we’re thinking.  We really do want to lose our weight, but we lost our way.  That’s why it’s a new beginning, all over again.  Those 12 weeks we lost? Forget them, because they’re gone.  Actually, remember them vividly.  Because they’re gone, and we didn’t lose the weight we promised ourselves we would lose.  So enjoy some champagne or some beers tonight.  Enjoy a slice or two of greasy pizza.  Because starting tomorrow is a new dawn, a new day, and I want to feel good.  So here is my pledge to you, inspired by my good friend Jessi.  I will celebrate a late Lent starting tomorrow: from now on, for the next 40 days, I will eat a maximum of 5 burger patties a week (compared with my normal 4-16 a day).  So that’s 2 double-cheeseburgers a week with a single thrown in for good effect.  I will not consume any alcohol.  I will not consume any Soda.  I will workout 4 times per week (I had originally vowed to do 3, but no more laziness for me).  And I will not watch TV until I have done my workout, and my school homework.  <—That also allows me to get a little more sleep.  So, if you want to hold me to my Resolution, feel free.  Anyone who requests it will get my personal email address, my cell phone number, whatever you want so you can tell me to say no to the junk and yes to the gym.  My friend   Jessi is always “bugging” me to work out, eat less, drink less alcohol and soda, and all-in-all live a healthier life.  Wouldn’t it be nice if we all had friends that cared that much about us?  She just wants me to be around for as long as possible, and I aim to be around.  Life is too much fun to lose it early simply because I refused to take care of myself.  So here goes, World.  I’m doing to lose this weight this time.  Hard workouts, weak workouts, whatever, so long as I’m exercising.  Decent diet of mostly just NOT fast/junk food, and more veggies and fruits and perhaps a little less meat.  I won’t go vegetarian because I love meat too much.  But eating as much beef as I do just isn’t healthy.  I’m going to do this.  And if anyone wants a personal motivational coach, I’m more than willing to be him.  Let’s do it, world.  Let’s get healthy.

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