Battle of the Bulge

One of the facets of this crisis is my weight/health.  Earlier this year, it dawned on me that I was going to be 40 next year.  While I don't feel 40, it still loomed large in my mind.  I can't say I decided on the spot that I was going to do something about my health but it was probably within the week.  My actual thought was "I don't want to be fat and lazy when I'm 40."

Being lazy, I went after the fat first.  I had lost weight before with the help of my lovely wife and Weight Watchers.  I took what I learned those many years ago and started off on my own.  After a couple months, I hit a plateau and couldn't get anywhere.  Honestly, I think I wasn't eating enough to keep my metabolism going.  Back to WW I went.  Signed up for their online service and I've been, very slowly, losing more weight ever since.  So far, I'm down about 35 pounds.

To help with the weight loss, I dusted off the bike and started riding it.  It wasn't long before I decided that was fun and I wanted to keep doing it.  Unfortunately, it gets dark every night and I don't like a lot of traffic.  After a while, we bought a stationary bike so I could at least get some exercise during the week.  I've been using it semi-regularly and I can feel a difference on it and on the real bike whenever I go out.  It's nice to actually get some feedback from my body on how it's feeling and how it's working.  The bad part is, that good feeling hasn't translated into losing weight any faster.

Where does that leave me right now?  Well, I'm at another plateau.  I haven't lost much, if any, weight in the last 4 or 5 weeks.  I went into this wanting to be healthier by eating right, losing weight and getting some exercise.  I told myself that a specific number on the scale wasn't the end all, be all of this endeavor.  That's slowly changed as I got closer to my goal weight.  That realization ended up with the idea that it's time to start the fight against the lazy.  More on that later.

Periodically, I'm going to give you updates on how my diet/exercise routine is going.  Not sure exactly what those will consist of but this is all about trying new stuff, failing and trying again, isn't it?