3 Months Later....

So...it's been almost 3 months since my last post.  My last post was April 2nd and the title of that one was, "It's Been Quite Awhile".  I could have used the same title, but I thought that would be a bit lame.

There's no way I could re-count the past three months, so I'll try to just highlight a few things.

The last two weeks of the school year and these past two weeks that I have been on vacation have been the worst/most difficult since I began this process back in January.  I make no excuses because I have to have the will power and keep the commitment I made, but the stress of the end of the school year and the lack of routine during my time off have definitely been contributing factors.  Needless to say, I'm looking forward to getting back to work.

One of the main reasons I began to blog was as a way to keep myself accountable and to let everyone know how things were going.  Once I got to a point where the changes I made were routine and a regular part of my life I felt like I didn't need the accountability because it was just a part of who I am now.  I was also use the site Calorie Count for the longest time, but stopped because I had learned what foods had what calories.   It just go to a point where things were easy and I didn't have to be so rigid with the process (i.e. the blog and counting calories).

Recognizing that I had gotten off track this past month I made the decision to get back to what I was doing...blogging and counting calories.  Today was the first day back to counting calories.  I did get an IPhone and calorie count as an App. so that's nice to have anywhere I go.  It will definitely make things easier.  It's a very cool App.  It has a bar code scanner so I can use my phone to scan a bar code and it will input all of the nutritional information.  Welcome to 21st century technology.

The other highlight of the last few weeks is that I finally bought a bicycle.  I'm so glad that I finally got one.  I've had it for about 2 weeks and have gone for about 4 rides.  I'd like to get a little more riding in each week, but it's been a good start.  My longest ride has been about 10 miles.  Wendell park has a trail that I ride, but it's pretty short.  I actually found a path of the main trail, which was cool.  It took me several places and I'm going to do some more exploring there.  Eventually I would like to go to Umstead and ride.  They have an 18 mile bike trail.  A 10 mile ride burns about 500 calories, so that's a nice workout.  Here's a picture of my bike and the trail I ride at the park:

I just went back to read my very first post, on January 19th.  In that post I discussed how I began the journey on January 2nd and weighed an embarrassing 316 pounds.  I made a post some time later where I shared that I had lost about 35 pounds.  I have not been on a scale since.  I have really gone by my clothes, how I feel, and how I view myself physically.  Here's a recent picture that I think really shows just how much I've lost.  This was at our awards ceremony for Benjamin's baseball team.  Alexandria was my little helper:

In closing, time is drawing near to the big date.  My goal was to be down to 250 pounds by my birthday on July 7th.  It's just about 1 1/2 weeks away.  I think 66 lbs in 6 months may have been a bit lofty, but I was determined to do it.  Like I said, I haven't been on a scale so I have no idea where I'm at.  If I had to guess I would say I will probably not reach that goal.  While that disappoints me a bit I realize that I've reached a bigger, broader goal; to make a lifestyle change so that I can live a healthy, happy life. 

I'll be sure to make another post...as the very least on July 7th and let everyone know where I ended up.  We'll see where I'm at and then I will make another goal.  I'll probably do a 3 month goal, which would put me at October and then another 3 month goal and that would take me to January.  It's motivating to think about where I could be at in one year.  I wonder if I could get down to 216 lbs.  that would be 100 lbs. lost in 1 year.  Seems a bit lofty and it's far away, but hopeful thinking nonetheless!

Hope everyone enjoys the update and thanks for all the support!!