Life is full of key dates and turning points - the birth of a child, the death of a grandparent, the date you get hired at your dream job, the day you get married, the day you get divorced (if you are unfortunate enough to get divorced). There have been all kinds of turning points in my life. Heck, I missed several of the turns all together. For this post I am going to focus on a few key points that deal with one specific aspect of my life – My Weight.

 

The Starting Point - In October of 1987 I was about to get married for the first time (Yeah, yeah, yeah…..getting married should be listed as a Turning Point but it also happens to be the point at which I started noticing what I weighed and when), I was roughly half as old as I am now, I worked at a grocery store and thought I would be there for the rest of my life, and I weighed a sparse 163 lbs. Sounds like a fine number to some until my height comes into play…..6’3”….so you could say I was a little thin. I weighed in on my wedding day for no particular reason at all. I didn’t expect to gain weight and certainly had no plans on losing any. I just weighed in for the hell of it.

 

Turning Point One (not so much a turning point as much as a temporary resting place) -- Exactly one year later I weighed in again – 228 lbs. In one year I gained a hefty 65 lbs. There were two primary reasons for the weight gain – 1) I stopped using some rather nasty illicit substances that were wreaking havoc on my body and 2) Switching from “single, no sleep, party, party, party!” mode to “married, child (no sleep of a different kind), work, work, work!” mode is a pretty drastic lifestyle change. In the latter mode I actually ate regular meals on a regular schedule instead of just eating whenever.

 

I never complained too much about the gain. I am a big guy…. 6’3” and 228lbs is hardly obese. In fact I looked a hell of a lot better at 228 than I did at 163. But over time that weight built up a little more and a little more until about 6 years ago when (Turning Point Two) I peaked at 264, saw a picture of myself in a swimsuit and realized I had to get it under control. I didn’t do anything drastic. I just modified my diet, ate a little better, ate a little less, and within a year I was under 240. I was happy under 240 and never wanted to go over that point again.

 

Turning Point Three – In the past 5 years I have never (knowingly!) weighed more than 240 lbs. Any time I jumped on the scale I was happy to see I was between 230 and 240. But two weeks ago I got on the scale and I was at 244. The most I had weighed in 5 years. I was disappointed but not surprised. I have been traveling (a lot!), not eating well, practically zero exercise for several months and….oh yeah….I am about to be 40 (I was going to make that Turning Point Four but it is still a little over a month away…..let’s stretch that out as long as we can).

 

Going over 240 is an issue for me for a few reasons…..

 

I have never weighed over 240 since meeting my wonderful fiancé (The Nun). We are to be married in April of next year and I would like to be in good health and look well for that occasion. She deserves it as much as I do.

 

240 was an unseen line I had not crossed in 5 years and didn’t want to. I had made a promise to myself to not go over that point and I broke it. If I let 240 be okay……would 250 be next? Then 260? Then ???   Time to fix it.

 

Finally……There were two things I didn’t want to become. First, for long time acquaintances, I didn’t  want to be “That Guy…”.  You know……”That Guy….who started gaining weight and never stopped”.  Second, for new acquaintances I didn’t want to become the “Whoa!” guy……as in “Whoa! That was you?” when they see an old picture of you.

 

But even as I knew I wanted to do something about it, I wasn’t motivating myself to do anything. I needed a push…..

 

Nudge One….

 

Also about two weeks ago (just a couple days after my fateful 240+ weigh-in), my group had a team meeting in Dallas, Tx. There are roughly 55 of us on the team that are “remote employees” – we work out of our homes instead of an office. That means 55 people who are scattered across the US come together for a few days at a time 4 times a year where we notice someone grew their hair out or got it cut. Someone dresses differently. Someone has a tan (or NEEDS one). In my case, I shaved off my goatee of 5 years and I heard a bunch of, “You look different…but I don’t know what it is” comments.

 

Brian LaMee had taken it a step further though….

 

Brian has a blog where he is detailing his path to two goals: Meeting a weight loss goal and entering a bicycle tour. I want you read the blog because I think it is inspirational so I won’t give away too much here. Suffice it to say that when I saw Brian two weeks ago it was not the same Brian I saw at our March team meeting. There was no fumbling for “Did you cut your hair?......Did you Shave?.......Did you get a Pedicure?” to try to figure out what was different about him. His weight loss to date is obvious and inspirational. Read his blog.

 

Nudge Two…..

 

Two other team mates of mine just completed a marathon together – John Baker and Matt Hester. For those of you who know that a marathon is a looooooooong run, but don’t know exactly how long, that is 26 miles. For perspective, grab a map, find where you live and then map out something that is a 13 mile drive from your place. Now run to and from that place in about 5-6 hours. I couldn’t do that now if my life depended on it. John runs a couple of marathons a year just because he wants to. Go figure.

 

That brings me to Turning Point 4 – I am almost 40, I am over 240 lbs, and I have been inspired by Brian, Matt, and John to make some changes in my health.

 

So this morning, The Nun and I started an exercise regimen. The plan was actually forwarded to me by Brian. It sets a goal of going from no exercise at all to running 5k (~3 miles) in two months. Like Brian, I want to set some goals for myself. So…..

 

Goal #1 – Look and feel better than I do now on my wedding day (roughly 6 months form now…)

 

Goal #2 – Down to 210 lbs – Why 210? I haven’t been below 220 in 18 years. Most weight charts say I should be right about 200. I will start with 210 and then shoot for 200 if my doc thinks it is a good idea.

 

Goal #3 – Run a Marathon. John has been bugging me about this for a couple of years now so why not?

 

I have a couple other goals I would like to hit, but I will shoot for these three first. Goals 1 and 2 have an April time frame. The Marathon….well...check my blog one year from today for an update. If you are interested in tracking my progress seperately from the rest of my posts, I have created a category feed for Fitness. I will be updating regularly as a means of keeping myself on track.

 

Wish Me Luck!

 

Cheers!