FatBloggers.net A little push to lose the tush.

Well, I certainly wasn’t expecting to actually be in the group.  It’s been fun the last several months just reading and keeping up with the success of all these other bloggers.  Now I am actually on the team and hope to contribute, not just to the team, but to everyone else on the sidelines or in the stands cheering all of us as we strive for our goals.

Now for an introduction.

My name is Charles Martin, I’m 38 years old, live near Fort Worth, TX, married to a wonderful woman, Amy, own a cat and a dog (Koko and Jack, respectively).  I work as a database analyst and web-developer for a Time Warner Cable.  I also manage several websites and love the Internet and all it does for those who feel alone.

I’ve been posting about my successes and stumbles for the last 18 months on my personal blog, www.webcudgel.com.  I’ve made some headway, but I really need to push myself harder.  I think that this will contribute to my motivation (it’s one thing to be doing this with my wife and family and a few friends, it’s another to be doing this in front of all of you).

And now about my journey.

For starters, I had never really been one to watch what I eat and just continued to balloon over the years.  My wife had been in Weight-Watchers for a few years, but lacking the success she had hoped to have, we had a serious discussion and I asked her, “what do you want me to do?”  That fateful question was followed by the equally important answer, “go to the meetings with me”.  I had been tolerant of the change in our diet at home, but I still picked up stuff at the grocery store that would “wreck” her plans to stay on track.

So, because I love her and would do anything to make her happier (and, thus, keep me happy too), I agreed.  It was originally for her that I went to my first meeting.  However, I realized later that, deep down, it was for me.  I had recently passed the 300 lb barrier and I was having some internal concerns, but not actually doing anything about it.  We went together and have been going ever since (in fact, I sometimes have to push her to attend when she doesn’t feel like it and I have even attended by myself when she was sick).

That was 18 months ago when I was at 319 pounds (the photo shown was taken just a few months before I started WeightWatchers).  At week 35, I lost my first 10% (32 pounds).  I’ve been as low as 34 pounds (just a few weeks ago and the 42 pound loss must have been a fluke with the scale that week).  However, since the 10% loss, I’ve fluctuated back and forth.  We switched from Flex plan to the Core plan about 4 months ago and saw some improvements, but we’ve been slacking on our commitment to keep to the core plan. 

This is where I’m at right now and now you get to come along for the ride as I continue down the road to a healthier me.