Fat Boy on a Diet, Don't try it.

So, as I stated before, I am an awful blogger. But here is a post about progress.

In the past two months or so, I have lost about twenty pounds, I have been working on quitting smoking, which has not been the most successful of ventures, but I smoke significantly less than I used to.

I have started a jogging routine, as mentioned before. I do longer distance on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday (between 5.4 and 8.0 miles, depending on how I feel) and then do about 3.2 miles on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday.

The jogging has done a lot, not only has it helped cut a lot of weight off, but it also has done a lot to tone my leg muscles. It has also done a lot for my overall emotional well being. I feel a lot better after a jog and I feel better overall throughout the day. It has been great to cope with stress.

One pound of fat is approximately 3,500 calories. Get to burning them.

Here are three facts:

1. The Philadelphia Marathon occurs each November.

2. The Mayan prediction for the end of the world is December, 2012.

3. I am fat and out of shape.

What do these three facts have to do with each other?  In this crazy post-modern world we live in: everything.  While I am currently fat and out of shape, this blog is about my attempt to change that.  Here is my plan: In November 2012, I will run the Philadelphia Marathon.

Will it be the full or half marathon?  I have no idea.  I hope to God that it is the full marathon, but with where I am starting from, the half marathon would surely work as a harbinger of the apocalypse.

Here is for hoping.  I have started working on doing a jog/walk/jog routine around Media, my path (1.6 miles) can be seen on the map below.

View Larger Map

I plan on soon investing in a good set of running shoes and begin to jog/run the same path, slowly working my way up.  Once I am comfortable doing 3.1mi/5k, I may start trying to run some local 5K events until I feel comfortable doing a marathon.

Wish me luck.

I am the worlds worst blogger and I apologize for that.  Count this blog as the third attempt to blog, failing horribly on one in the past and moderately awful on the other (as in I still update it once every three months or so).  Fat Boy on a Diet is not down for the count though, so here is an update.

In the last three weeks, I have:

Lost 16 pounds.

Quit Smoking.

Reduced my Drinking.

Started Jogging/Walking 3-5 Miles a Day.

So, all-in-all, things are going well.

As strange as it sounds, the main inspiration behind this diet is a shirt.  Not just any shirt.  I have an older friend in Media who I met one day on my way to work.  I was wearing a Clash t-shirt and we passed by, exchanging “How are you?”s.  A few steps later, I hear him say, “What ever happened to The Clash?”  After a fifteen minute conversation about The Clash and about how his daughter’s went to the school my boss’ wife taught at, we were friends.

So, about two weeks ago, I am on my way back from Trader Joe’s and I see him.  He motions for me to stop and I stand and wait for him.  It turns out that he had been doing some early summer cleaning and had happened upon a few boxes of old clothes, mostly belonging to his daughters.  However, in the mess of clothing, he had found a shirt that he bought in 1982 at a Clash concert.  He told me that it was probably a tight medium so it wouldn’t really fit me, but he wanted me to have it, to give to a girlfriend or just to keep around.  About a week later, I was having a cookout as he and his wife walked into town.  He talked to me for a few minutes and about two hours later showed up at the cookout again to give me the shirt, which it turns out is a large.

I don’t know if I’m built to wear a medium sized t-shirt even if I were at an ideal weight for my height.  They say the best test to gage your build type is to wrap your fingers around your wrist.  If they overlap, you have a small build.  If the tips touch, you have a medium build.  My finger tips are about an inch and a half apart.  The fact that the shirt was a large and not a medium gave me hope that I could wear it one day.  Thus this weight loss rampage was fueled.

That is a long introduction for me to talk about my goals, but it work because the first goal is to get down to wearing large t-shirts so that I can wear the vintage 1982 Clash t-shirt with pride.

Anyway, when I first stepped on the Wii Fit the other night, I weight in at about 255lbs.  A lot, but about ten pounds less than what I was expecting.  In order to be in the “Normal” category for BMI, I would need to drop down to about 153lbs.  At this point, my first goal is to fit in that t-shirt, after that, the next big goal is 180lbs.  I haven’t weight 180lbs since middle school.  Because of that, I have no idea what 180lbs would look like on the 24 year old version of myself.  I have more muscle mass and I’m taller (not much, but some).  At 180, I’ll re-evaluate my goals, see how much more weight loss and muscle toning might be needed.  I’m less interested in what a number like BMI tells me than in actually looking and feeling healthy.

With that said, since my initial reading on Tuesday night, last, I have lost 9.6lbs.

I had thought about joining a gym round these parts.  I even went as far as to spend two or three days comparing about fifteen different gyms in the area and had one picked out to join.  Then I figured I’d make things interesting.  I am absurdly nerdy.  Absurdly nerdy might not even scratch the top layer of just how nerdy I am.  I am surrounded by bead art made by my roommate (it is damn good art, check it: http://www.doctoroctoroc.com),  I have boxes on top of boxes of books (a lot of literature and more RPG handbooks than are healthy for one person to won),  and between my roommates and I, we have over 20 video game systems.  It got me to thinking, going to the gym is fun, but it is not anywhere nerdy enough.  So, I went out a few nights ago and bought a Wii Fit.  Who needs to go to the gym when you can run in place, gyrate your hips, tree pose, and generally look like an asshole in the privacy of your own home (well, maybe not privacy if you have friends like mine who like to watch you and laugh, but at least I know them).

So, my main exercise routine is going to be comprised of an hour (or more) of Wii Fit each day.  Thirty minutes before work for an early metabolism boost and a half an hour before I cook dinner.  I have a feeling from my early thoughts on Fit, it might turn into way more than an hour a day, but we’ll see.  I am also going to start taking half an hour or so walks after dinner, which will hopefully turn into jogs or runs as I get into shape.

To make this blog more interesting, I have plans to try and get some folks I know (a few of which have lost a weight thanks to the Fit) to join me in recording ourselves looking like idiots on a balance board for the entertainment of anyone who may start reading this blog.