Introduction

Hi, my name is Mark.

A while ago, I'd decided that I wanted to lose to weight. About a week ago, I decided that I was tired of the way I looked, how I felt, and how much I weighed. 

About two years ago I was down to 180 pounds, typically my low weight point for moderate exercise. I was exercising every other day, eating what I wanted, and generally felt pretty decent about myself. And then all of a sudden I stopped working out. I think I stopped then because I felt like I had no time, between classes and work, and an MMO I play, which I'll be honest, is quite literally the most engrossing thing I've encountered in terms of a game.

It's taken two years for my weight to rise back up to 190 pounds, and how I feel now pales compared to back then. I remember how great I felt at 160 pounds though: full of energy, usually up for doing things, and almost always in a great mood. My prospects with women were also a great deal more open than they have been for some time, nevermind my general mood about dating at all, which for years has been bad.


I've tried twice (on my own) in the past to lose weight, and to a degree, those attempts were successful. The first dropped me from 200 to 180, and the second from 210 to 180. This is to be my third, as I find myself on the path to 200 yet again, but am taking action before I get there. My goal in those previous cases was 160, and I'm making it my goal this time as well.

I think, in the past, I've not tried hard enough to lose weight beyond 180. The exercise I was doing was great up until I hit 180, and then the plateau hit, and after no results for some time, I gave up. I think this is mostly due to my lack of motivation at that point. I've always had a hard time motivating myself to do things that need to be done, but if I can find a way to make it seem like I'm being forced to do it, then I do great at what I'm trying to achieve. That's the purpose of this blog.

Previous attempts have never included a mechanism that brings my status out to the public, whether it be progress or failure. With no pressure of any sort, it was much harder to motivate myself to do something, and the results are clear. With this blog, I'm hoping for some real pressure to keep me motivated, but at the worst case, there's always going to be that phantom pressure pushing me. "Is someone secretly reading this? Are they reading this for motivation? Are they waiting for me to slip up?"

I'm going to be starting the first 8 weeks with the Men's Health Belly Off - Classic workout, along with a diet pretty close to what I remember from the first time I did it. I know this program works, I've done it twice. But, it only lasts for 8 weeks. I'll typically find myself at about 180 around week 7 or week 8. After that, I'm not certain by any means what I'll be doing. I will be posting daily about what I eat and what I do for exercise.


On to today though, I had planned to get my diet going right just prior to actually working out. This didn't really go well though. See, I work the 3-8am shift on the weekends, and I only got 4 or so hours of sleep before leaving for work. I got to work tired and hungry, and promptly munched down on a cookie and donut at work. Later, still at work, about 7am, I munched down another donut and a cheese bagel. I'm pretty sure I've destroyed any hope of a decent caloric intake, probably cresting over 2000 with just those items. Self control at the bakery can be extremely difficult. I followed up this particularly bad set of choices with a 3 egg McMuffin I made at home, a hamburger, and a yogurt.


Since I was starting for real tomorrow, Sunday the 15th, I don't feel horrible about it, but still bad. Let the rage commence.