There are many reasons why I have decided to start this blog. For the most part it is to help keep me in check and in line with the goal of weight lose. But more than that I want somewhere to journal my path, the struggles I will have while in progress, I also want to explore my realization that I don't eat because I am hungry or I need to.
I am starting this journey as I enter 2014, I turn 36 this year, I am 340 pounds, and I am in bad shape. I understand that to get to a goal of 220 I have a long multi year journey to the promised land, in it is hard work, and dedication. I don't intend to lose weight too fast, nor do I intend to cut out all of lives luxuries, I still will get to go out to dinner, I will still have candy once in a while. I need to learn and do some simple things to achieve the goal. 1) I need to eat less, I define this as I should only eat when I am actually hungry. It is surprising how little this happens. 2) I need to exercise more. I do have a tread climber at home, and it is amazing exercise, but 2 minutes on that is not enough, my wife is hoping to walk the dog after dinner. I need to be less lazy about this, she is right about walking the dog being good for me and the dog. On top of this I need to build muscle, so I intend to use the work gym and a couple of times a week weight train. 3) I need to keep focus on why I am doing this. I want to be around for many years, I have the best wife and I want to grow old with her. 4) I will have points where I fail, I will eat that McDonalds just because, but I should not let that derail the journey. It is not an excuse to eat even more unhealthily food that day or that weekend.
I expect there are going to be times I have issues, when work brings in Indian food is going to be a big one, where I eat way too much. I should not compensate nor should I beat myself up over it. I should just move on and continue the journey. I will have weeks where I don't lose any weight, I should not stop. I will use this blog to highlight and talk about the issues, again I am just using this as a way to be able to reflect the problem to learn from it and remind myself I have been through it successfully before (hopefully!).
I have been realizing recently a couple of really important things, first I don't eat because I need to. I am not often hungry, I just don't get to that point. I eat so often, that I forget what hungry is. The question is why do I eat so often and so much. Well I think it is in part just habit, I am just use to eating a packet of chips when I get to the office. I also think it is psychological, I associate food with happiness, so if I am bored or unhappy I eat. There is also a part of it that going to get food is a break away from work for a few minutes. I think the answer to that one is the most simple, if I want a break walk around the building.
So here we go, starting on a journey that never ends, a fight that will be important to me and my family.
