1,000 excuses

A good friend of mind said there were thousands of excuses to avoid exercising, but great reward in finding the reason to go ahead and exercise anyway.

Wise words that -- when followed -- always seem to make my day better.
 

"Holidays The Healthy Way" Weight Loss Challenge

Recently at work, we had a "weight loss challenge" that started in early December and ran through February 13, 2009. With the expert help of my live-in chef and nutritionist (aka, Terri), I won the competition by a healthy margin. I started at ~208 pounds and finished the competition around 176, losing around 32 pounds (a little over 15% of my total body weight) in ten weeks. The big secret to my success was watching what I eat and exercising regularly. I know that's not a particularly revolutionary idea, but it's one many of us - that is, me - seem to struggle with. For the most part, however, once I paid close attention to what I ate and how much exercise I did week-to-week, the process managed itself.

The goal now is to keep working on converting fat to muscle and not fall back into bad habits. :)