Day 1

Yesterday was my first day of implementing my diet and exercise program I have scrutinized over. I have figured out my daily caloric need (found by height weight and age)and based a diet off it. Eating 5 500 calorie meals per day plus two 200 calorie "power block" meals puts me at 2,900 calories per day, which is where I need to be. After measuring how much flax seeds need to be in my Kashi "go lean" cereal I took my first bite into my diet and one thing rings true. I believe I'm going to spend a lot of money at the dentist. It was like chewing cardboard flavored rocks. By the end of the bowl, I got use to it. Tip to those of you who want to try this: wait till the cereal get soggy than start eating, you teeth are worth the wait.

Moving forward for the day, I ate my toasted, dry turkey sandwich and drank water all day. I felt amazing! I had so much energy that when I parked at the mall, I intentionally parked on the opposite side from where I needed to go, so I had to walk the entire distance of the mall! I honestly felt like a million bucks! Eating right wont be this hard, if I feel this energetic all the time. When I got hungry, I drank more water. No need to fear hunger anyway, because I eat every 3 hours. I put my nose in the air to my beloved Taco Bell and moved on.

The most important lesson that I learned today was that wisdom and self-discipline are two different things. For a while I believed that a wise man was self-disciplined and that is still mostly true. That the true sign of an adult was an individual consistently did what he/she had to do over what they wanted to do. I took this into account with my work out regiment. I have committed to 60 days of the self proclaimed hardest workout DVD ever released. Not what I wanted to do but nothing that good ol' will power can over come! False. About half way through my 30 minute fit test I started to have major chest pains. Not the kind that you feel when you know you are getting great cardio, but the kind that forces your body to sit down. Honestly, this shocked me. I'm 22 years old, right? The self-disciplined thing to do now is to stand up and keep working. The wise thing to do is to stop. I caught my breath but my chest did not stop hurting. I realized maybe it wasn't the wisest thing to do this program. I have not stepped foot into a gym in 4 years and I tried an extremely tough program. It is time to re-evaluate my exercises. I'm going to ease into health and try not to shock my body. I will continue to push myself, but push it in a healthy way. I'm also going to visit the heart doctor soon. I have had a couple scares in the past and I can't be too cautious about it. I have realized that I have not committed to the Insanity work out system for 60 days, but rather, health for a lifetime. Let God's plan reign! Not mine!

Every Journey Has a Beginning

Every journey must start somewhere. My journey starts on the scale in my parent's bathroom. After being sick of my jeans not fitting and looking at new pictures tagged of myself on facebook, I realize I have a problem. It isn't a problem that is going to be fixed with ease. I stepped on the scale today and it read 239 pounds. 239 pounds! That puts my BMI at 32.4, which is well into the obesity range. I know the BMI scale is flawed but it does show that I have a problem. I am overweight. I need your help. Follow my journey as I begin to loose weight and learn what Christ teaches me along the way. Support me by commenting, calling, or even working out with me. Today is a new day in my life. I know that I will probably never reach my high school wrestling weight at 171, but I know with Christ I can return to a safe, healthy weight. Here is how it is going to happen . . .

1.) prayer

nothing in life is done in the absence of prayer. Communication with Jesus Christ will provide me with strength.

2.) accountability

I will have a weakly blog post where I will post what I did during the week, how I feel, and how much weight I have lost. This is where you come in. I need you all to comment when I post and call me if I don't! I will try to make this as exciting as possible.

3.) the plan

I will be doing intense cardio with the DVD work out plan Insanity. Made by the same guys that made p90x. Should be . . . well. . . Insane.

4.) smart choices

Dieting makes it sounds like I am taking something away. Instead, I will make smart choices and smaller portions when I eat.

Thank you for reading this and I will post every Wednesday. Here is a "before" photo. More to come