Man! This sucker was an elusive prey. But it makes the acquisition just that much more sweet!

Anton… May I have a drum roll if you please…

Starting Weight (Dec. 22, 2006): 392 lbs.
Starting BMI: 51.7
Weight Today (Dec. 6, 2007): 316.8 lbs.
Current BMI: 41.8 (oooh… so close!)

Weight Change This Week: -2.8 lbs.
Total Weight Lost: -75.2 lbs.
NEXT GOAL: Halfway to GOAL! (5.8 lbs. to go)

** Take a look at my progress charts and goals here.

This post is cross-published on Rejecting Your Reality

I am sure you have all heard the story this week of the woman who lost 530 pounds!

Just in case you’ve been living under a rock, Nancy Makin is a woman who lost 530 pounds. She started at 703 lbs and over the course of 3 years got down to 170.

To those of us on this weight loss journey this woman is like our Michael Jordan or Johnny Unitas.

There is not a lot that I could say about her story that hasn’t been said a thousand times this week. But I want to point out one qoute that really touched me.

“I’ve heard so many times, I said it myself, if I could only lose 40 or 50 pounds, I’d be so much happier. I’ve found on this journey that the opposite is true.”

“Unless you focus on what’s going on inside and start to feel better about yourself you won’t be able to stop the cycle. The key is to find contentment and value in yourself by reaching out and doing something not for you, and the weight will come off as a side effect.”

I really like that . “Find contentment and value in yourself.” It can be a lot harder than you think, but it is the crucial first step. For me it has made all the difference in the world. It’s why I can say with confidence this is not a diet this time around. It’s a whole new life!

Tony
12/5: 223.4 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
3.4 lbs. to go

It was all Christmas all the time at our house this weekend.

We had a visit with Santa, got our Christmas tree, decorated the house and woke up to a winter wonderland on Sunday morning. It was the kind of magical weekend that memories are made of. Naturally I was in a nostalgic mood.

I love Christmas. This month leading up to the holidays is my favorite time of year. I love the music, the lights, the hustle and bustle, the shopping, the crowded malls, the hunt for the perfect gift. I love it all. But mostly I love the time spent with my family and the memories of all those Christmas’ past.

Give me a second to wipe the tear from my eye.

So like I said I was in a nostalgic kind of mood this weekend. My lovely wife and I have been talking a lot about how this will be the girls real first Christmas… at least the first one they will understand. Which got me thinking about the first Christmas I remembered.

As I was thinking about it, I was overwhelmed with memories of my Dad with a mustache. When I was growing up my dad was a dead ringer for Tom Selleck, only like 30 times less cheesy. Even though my Dad hasn’t had a mustache for more than 20-years, all of my Childhood memories feature my dad wearing the “Selleck”. Those first impressions of our parents are hard to change… and I wouldn’t want to.

This gave me another thing to be thankful for this holiday season. My girls Christmas memories will not feature a father with a tummy like a bowl full of jelly. If I can continue to make this healthy lifestyle work (and I will) my girls will never know the fat guy that I was for most of my life. To them I will just be Dad, good, old silly dad.

That is about the greatest gift I could ask for this holiday season.

Now I’m getting misty again.

Tony
12/3: 223.4 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
3.4 lbs. to go

tomorrow is a big day for me. it’s also a sad day.

it’s a sad day, because all of the pumpkin muffins, cinnamon muffins, and molasses cookies we have in our house are being taken away. don’t worry mom, ryanne is going to take them to work… so they’ll get eaten.

we’re getting rid of them, because i’ve decided that it’s time. it’s time to recommit to my life change (read: diet). i’ve been saying for the last month “i’ve lost 57 pounds since i started my diet.” i have been idle for four weeks. it’s time to start forward progress again. i know that i’ve said a few times that it’s time to get back on the train, but i never went through with it. this time will be different. i am not quite sure how or why… but it will. i feel it.

i really believe that i underestimated how difficult it would be to stay motivated to lose weight. i really can’t even begin to say just how on fire i was for the whole process when i started back in august. it made so much sense, it felt so good, and honest to goodness it was easy. it was really easy at first. i didn’t expect that. i thought it would start out difficult, and get easier as time went on. well for me it was the exact opposite.

so tomorrow, i’m going to weigh myself (moving weigh-in day to monday), and go from there. i really don’t want to exercise in the cold, but i think i am going to force myself to at least try it. i’m also lightening up on my expectations a bit. i’m going to go back to 2,000 calories a day, and just two miles a day walk monday - friday. i know it can be seen as a cop-out, but i really feel as if i just need to get a couple wins under my belt.

so let’s see how this goes. join me on my re-commitment journey. after all, i’m going to need all the help i can get.

[cross-blogged on loveisthemovement.com]

Lets get the taunting out of the way… (see more at Rejecting Your Reality)

Go Beavs!

Now… On with the weigh-in…

In light of Thanksgiving , traveling, and another crazy week at work… I would rate this week as “not too bad”.

Anton… A drum roll if you please…

Starting Weight (Dec. 22, 2006): 392 lbs.
Starting BMI: 51.7
Weight Today (Nov. 29, 2007): 319.6 lbs.
Current BMI: 42.2 (almost 10 pts!)

Weight Change This Week: -1.0 lbs.
Total Weight Lost: -72.4 lbs.
NEXT GOAL: the 75 lb. magnet (2.6 lbs. to go)