It’s 9:45 AM on November 13th, 2008 and I weigh 264 lbs.  Seriously.  I wear a size 42+ in pants.  This is the biggest and unhealthiest I’ve ever been.

Wonder why?  Well, let’s look at today’s breakfast.  Early morning at the office, so I swung by McDonalds on the way in and got a sausage biscuit wiht a small coffee to which I added copious amounts of cream and sugar.  Right now, as I type this, right beside me ismy second cup of office brewed java with even more cream and sugar.  And that has got to stop. 

The question now is, “What’s for lunch?” and will it be a good decision or a bad one.  Sure, right now, it’s easy to say I’m going to make the right decision, but once I leave the building, it’s like everything changes and suddenly, I want lots of Chinese food or a combination 27 plate at one of the local Mexican food joints.

But at least I’m thinking about it, and I owe that to a conversation I had with a friend last night.  He’s just taken up smoking again, and was feeling bad about it and recognizing how bad it is for him.  I told him that I wasn’t going to throw stones, as I had my own unhealthy addiction: Food.  And while I might’ve been joking just a little, on the drive home, it really started to get to me, and it sunk in how true my statement to him really was, though.  I mean, mid-abdominal fat is one of the leading factors in heart disease and high cholesterol, and guess where I carry most of my weight?  You got it, the gut.  So, here I am at 29 (30 in four months) and well on my weigh to being medicated and miserable for most of my adult life, or worse, dead.  There’s no real difference in being a smoker and an over-eater.

A year or so ago I started this blog to chronicle my weight loss and completely fell off the train before I got started good.  But it’s time, I think, to make a true and earnest effort to fix things and to change who I am, how I look, and most importantly, how I feel. 

Watch Chad Shrink is back, and this time something’s got to change.

Okay, here’s the update… scales showed minus four pounds this morning for a total of 243 lbs.

So far this week, I’ve avoided a box full of honey buns left by our Lance vending machine guy and a moon pie that someone left on my desk yesterday (that someone was me – bought it, then didn’t eat it).

Last night we had dinner at my in-laws.  I had a spinach salad, some chicken and rice with steamed vegetables, and closed it out with a smooth and easy root beer float (not too much, though).

Despite all my talk yesterday, I didn’t feel like having another panini for lunch today (would’ve been, like, my tenth in as many days) so I’ll be going out.  I’m thinking either Subway or Atlanta Bread Co., where I can get one of several low fat sandwiches.

Good luck, me! 

This week I’ve been doing my best to not eat out for breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner, and no surprise, I already feel better after just three days of eating at home.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t missing my Burger King/Rush’s/Hudson’s Barbeque fix, but it’s worth, I think.

Last time I posted, I mentioned a starting weight of 247, I’ve maintained that, for the most part, so that’s where I started from this past Sunday.

My official goal now is to lose 40 pounds by Christmas, and to maintain (and maybe lose some) through the holidays.  No doubt it’s going to be difficult, but that’s the goal.

Things that I’ve recently changed about my eating habits:

Lean Cuisine Paninis! - Love these things.  Out of all the day’s meals, lunch is my biggest downfall.  I’ve pretty much always eaten out for lunch because I don’t like packing my lunch in the morning before work.  But these little paninis (each somewhere between 280 -340 calories) are perfect for me.  I can grab ’em up, right out of the freezer and I’m gone.

No More Sweet Tea – All right, this one hurts.  I’ve never been a big fan of carbonated sodas.  So, whenever I go out, it’s either tea or water… and 99% of the time, it was tea.  But tea’s loaded with sugar and terrible for your kidneies, so I’m cutting it out of my diet.  For now, at least… 

 I’m now drinking lots of water, Diet Coke (which I understand is also bad for me, but for a whole other set of reasons), and coffee.  None of which are terribly satisfying, but you can’t go thirsty, right?

I’ve been doing Special K for breakfast, or all-natural Quaker oatmeal, and those have been pretty good… so long as I don’t go back for seconds.

I’ll be getting back on the scales tonight to see if I’ve shed anything since Sunday – I’ll post the results tomorrow.

Don’t know if anybody’s reading this thing, but if you are, this is my attempt at getting back to posting regularly.

Today’s weight (and what I’m considering my starting weight) is 247 lbs.

That’s what I weigh, and there’s no getting around it.

I went to play golf yesterday with my father-in-law, and ended up shanking some balls pretty wide and having to kind of jog outside the beaten path to get to ‘em and honestly, guys… I got a little winded.  Just from a little jog.  I was kind of floored.

Now I haven’t been a ”thin” guy since I my second year of college, but even at 200+ lbs., I’ve stayed in pretty good shape.  I even ran a couple 1/2 marathons not three years ago, but I tell ya, I’m in a sad spot here.

But, I went to McDonalds for lunch and had two garden salads with low fat balsamic vinegar dressing and a small diet Dr. Pepper, and I’m not feeling too hungry right now, so here’s keeping my fingers crossed.

I have got to drop some weight.

Work cookout thing went okay.

Yes, there was barbecue.  Yes, there was hash and rice.  Yes, fried chicken. Yes, banana pudding.  Yes, yes, yes, to pretty much everything you’d expect from a shindig cateered by a bar-b-que joint.

I had probably less than a serving of actual ‘que, and a about a serving of hash and rice.  I loaded up on green beans and potato salad, and closed the night out with just a little banana pudding (which was delicious).

My drinks of choice for the evening: water and Diet Pepsi, which I may actually prefer over Diet Coke.

Got home a little before 8PM and was still a little hungry, so I had a Skinny Cow ice cream bar, which, by the way, if you’ve never had, are fantastic little suckers.  Only 140 calories, and they don’t taste like it.

So, what’s on the plate (or not, maybe?) for today: had a serving of Special K with 2% milk this morning, and I plan on eating some Chef Boyardee spaghetti and meatballs for lunch… sounds great, doesn’t it?

I didn’t weigh myself last night or this morning, but I probably will tomorrow morning just to get an idea of where I’m at and where I want to go.

Later.

I’m fat, okay.

And getting fatter by the week.

Today, at lunch, I went to CiCis Pizza buffet and ate, like, seven pieces of pizza, had three or four glasses of sweet tea, and several slices of dessert pizza.

I’m not shy about it, I like to eat… that much is pretty obvious.  But the thing about today is, the food that I had just wasn’t very good.  No dig against CiCis, because plenty of people eat there and love it.  But today, for me, it was something of an eye opener.

I’ve been pretty self conscious about my weight for a littel while now, but just recently, I’ve accepted a new position here at my fulltime job.  For the past two years, I’ve kind of been behind the scenes and haven’t really had to worry about what I look like so much, but this new postion’s going to put me in front of a lot of people, and that’s probably also got me thinking about my weight a little more.

So, with that in mind, I’d like to officially welcome you guys to my weightloss blog. 

Starting today, June 28th 2007, I’m going to be cataloging my attempt at losing at least 45 lbs, but hopefully more.  Currently, I weigh somewhere around 250.  I hear it from everybody that I don’t look it, or that I carry my weight well (what the hell’s that mean anyway?), but believe me, it’s true… I have to live in this thing, so I know.

I’m 28 years old, and come from a family with a history of heart disease and cancer (but who doesn’t these days, right?) so I guess my weight concerns aren’t strictly tied to an image thing.  Sure, maybe it started out that way, but as I get older, and gain more, it’s quickly becoming just as much about my health and my future as it is about how I look in front of a mirror.  Naked:)

Okay, so my plan is to do this the old fashioned way – through dieting and excercise.  And starting right now, from the very beginning, I’m not planning on any slip ups.  And I think that’s definitely the way you have to start this thing, right.  No ice cream Fridays or weekends off… I’ve done that in the past, and that didn’t get me anywhere but the place I am now.  Reality: if I plan on making exceptions then this will never work, so no exceptions.

Uh, but here’s the thing, though:  we’re having this summer cookout thing tonight at work.  There’s usually lots and lots of barbecue, potatoes, slaw, sweet tea, and banana pudding.

Eye of the tiger, CB – it’s the thrill of the fight!