Day 1 - A beginning.

I am not a skinny man. I don't pretend to be, not anymore. Up until a month ago, I was content eating and doing nothing but sitting around gaining all sorts of weight. I went to college four years ago weighing 220 pounds, and I was overweight then. Two months ago, I weighed in at 275. I stepped off that scale and decided it was time to change.

Change is kind of ambiguous. Am I changing my eating habits? Am I changing my clothes? Am I changing my exercise habits? At first, I didn't even know the answer to this myself. I just knew that SOMETHING had to change.

My dad has been a fairly big part of my whole goal to get into better shape and quit living like a lazy filthy slob. After his hospitalization, he didn't return to his former life of eating out or eating steak covered in awesome four to five nights a week. No, he buckled down and did what his doctors told him to and whipped himself into shape. He inspired(and scared) me into working out myself. I was on a downward spiral to end up in a hospital bed much like him only at a much younger age.

This summer, I moved back home to live with my family in Madison. I am extremely glad that I did. The first half of the summer, admittedly, I spent most of my time doing a whole lot of nothing and eating the same old crap I did when I was living alone. And when I was still gaining weight, even at home. I decided I should probably start accepting my dad's offers of bike rides and start taking some of both of my parents' advice and eating healthier.

After a month of a smattering of bike rides and a definite change in my diet, I noticed results. I felt better, I looked better, and I bet if you asked people I knew, I was better all around. But this wasn't enough. I never really felt motivated to go out and bike on my own, or to keep on eating only the healthy foods. It has been quite hard to do. I have a hard time getting off my butt and making myself go out and get on that bike and ride 30 miles. Its tough. So I decided to write a blog. A blog for the AGES!

Today marks day one of my quest to become a healthier, more energetic, better Eric. I don't have delusions of Olympic medals or anything. I just want to do this for me. I just want to be healthier and hold myself accountable. So I plan to write on this blog every single day regardless of whether or not I worked out and I hope that it gives me the motivation to finish what I have started.

So for today...

What have you been eating, Eric!?

I had a piece of pizza (what a great way to start out this blog, am I right?), a yogurt, and thats it. I should really probably eat some more food, huh? Perhaps I will finish off the other three slices of pizza that are left before I tell myself that there will be no more of that until I have earned it.

What kind of wicked sweet exercise did you do today, Eric?

Oh you know, I went on a bike ride. It was fantastic. I went 21.6ish miles in about an hour and a half. So right around 14mph. Yeah, I know I am slow, BITE ME. I had planned out 40 miles, but A.) got lost and B.) my hamstring started to hurt a little, so I gave up as soon as I figured out where I was. Wicked killer hill on the way home though(well for my standards).

And thats where we are at for today. More tomorrow, I hope...