An introduction to me

There's always a point. A moment. An incident that makes life crystal clear and overwhelming all at the same time. Your eyes are opened to exactly what is going on, as if the cruise control has suddenly had a brake tapped on it.

I didn't have that. What I had was a mountain that built to such a point that I simply could not deny what was going on any longer. It started in July when I was an adult chaperon for a youth trip for my church. While walking around the French Quarter of New Orleans, I became extremely overheated. I sweat through my shirt (something not unusual for me, but this was more than usual). By the time we stopped for supper, I was shaking. I went to my hotel room and realized that I was not in physical shape to continue on with the night's worship, despite one of my favorite bands playing afterwards. I proceeded to get sick. I took a lukewarm shower, got sick again, and soaked in a cool tub to try to cool my body down. My mother (also a chaperon on the trip) returned approximately 2 hours later, and my body was still very hot to the touch. My eyes were opened.

October, I turned 30. I always set my weight loss goals to be achieved by 30. The age hit without me even working solidly toward that goal. Reality hit.

This week, I climbed two floors of stairs and struggled mightily to regain my breath. I was once in the shape to walk on at a major college university in football. I now am struggling to climb two flights of stairs without nearly wheezing. Shock had been achieved.

Friday, I took my weight. I was flabbergasted to see the number: 480 lbs. I was horrified not that long ago to realize that I had topped 400. Now I was a couple binges from 500 pounds! A baseline had been set.

Over the next two days, I ate as I desired. As I sat down to make supper Sunday evening, I recounted what I had eaten since Saturday morning: a Domino's American Legends Memphis BBQ pizza, a dozen doughnuts, an order of Domino's chicken kickers, a Hot Stuff mini pizza, a bag of ranch Munchies, a V8 Fusion, 3 cans of Diet Mountain Dew, and a total of 4 liters of Mello Yello. It made me sick just to think of the amount of damage I'd done to my body in less than 48 hours, I was sick to my stomach.

Thus came the idea for this blog. I will track my eating and my exercise to have an honest record of what efforts I have made for the bettering of my health. I intend to weigh in weekly to track my progress.

To start this, I am 480 lbs. and have the following measurements: waist - 69", chest - 68", around thighs - 54.5".