New Year's Resolution

I almost never make a New Year's Resolution for several reasons:

1. I almost never keep them
2. If I try to keep it and fail it makes me look bad and I don't like looking bad
3. I think they are stupid

Well, this year is different. (Actually, it is no different than last year but I am going to make it different.) I am going to make and keep a New Year's Resolution!

My New Year's Resolution will be to loose 100 pounds before January 1, 2009.

I have several reasons for making this resolution:

1. It is difficult to tie my shoes without holding my breath
2. It is difficult to do any kind of rigorous activity without loosing my breath
3. I don't like looking/feeling like a blimp
4. I don't want to have a heart attack/stroke by age 30 (but if I do, it better kill me)
   

Actually, I have not liked the above things for sometime now...probably the number one reason for me wanting to loose weight came last Sunday. An elder at my parents church, whom I love and respect shook my hand after church and asked me if I had entered a weight gaining contest. Now, I know that he was just kidding and I'm not saying that it even hurt my feelings (I mean, common, I am a middle school teacher for crying out loud, I have had much, much worse things said to me than that) but it actually made me realize, "hey, I am fat." I knew it all along, but actually having someone else say it to my face, in such a matter of fact way, was kind of humbling/humiliating (even though this man meant not to do either of the two). So, thanks for the inspiration.

When I left Searcy, I weighed my self and was shocked. For the better part of a year now, I have hovered in the 290-295 range. Thursday, December 20, I weighed in at 304 pounds. So, if I can stay motivated this time next year I will be down to 204 (incidentally, lower than I was as a freshman in High School!)

I can do this if I loose an average of 1.923 pounds per week.

I will have to have some goals in order to accomplish this:

1. Exercise 3-4 times per week
2. Cut out all soda (exception, 1 Mt. Dew in months that I have lost each week)
3. Reduce sweets
4. Drink more water
5. Don't eat in the cafeteria unless it is salad
   
6. Exercise 3-4 times per week

I will be updating regularly, here is my before photo:



Wish me luck!