Where I was and Where I am going

When I started in January, I was at my biggest, but not my unhealthiest. Vera, my lovely wife, has long ago started me towards healthier choices. She allowed me to slather my broccoli in cheese gravy for the FIRST year of our marriage. She then kindly informed me that if you fry them or cover them in cheese gravy, VEGETABLES CEASE TO BE GOOD FOR YOU!


We have Trader Joe-ing and whole graining our lives for the last decade. I long ago moved to skim milk as I learned as a grad student that it kept much, MUCH longer than 2%. I was making those types of changes, but I still have a penchant for the gooey, uber-processed white bread and the Wonder Whole Grain White bread just doesn't do the trick.

I digress...

When I started - truly started - in January, I allied myself with WeightWatchers. I remember it from my childhood (as my mother often attended meetings), and they had that new annoyingly catchy Jennifer Hudson commercial. It has been a good fit so far. The new focus on healthier eating, rather than hording of points, is a welcomed relief. But that is only one part of the equation. I gotta move.

Now, I have many long-distance running friends who have always had a natural tendency towards health. They wake up at the butt-crack of dawn for a 5 mile jog BEFORE work and then come in tipper and chipper for the day. I don't do this...I may get up at the butt-crack as well, but it is only after a short 3-4 nap from the night before. I have often said that my schedule of debauchery would do them in and their lives of tofu and marathons would do the same to me.

In Decemeber, I had a friend who needed people to be photographed for an art installation that he is creating. He is the "can't-say-no" types who finagle you into being involved with his work (although he has no model's release so I have him over my knee if I'd like...HA!). Anyway, again, I digress...

Above is the picture from that shoot. It gives a good look at the start of this thing. Big, happy and ornry. I plan to stay all three of those things. I don't plan to become a bean pole; I do not plan to bulk/tan up so I can Jersey-Shore-It; I want to be a big, healthy, happy man. I want to enjoy a steak, a smoke or three fingers of single malt, but do so as healthy as I can. Now that I am 25 lbs lost so far, I think it is time to start planning my continued attack.