I’m very close, and I think it is very doable, but I need to put it out there, because it absolutely needs to happen.

It’s not really for me though, I mean it is in the long run, but I need to do it for her.

Michelle (the one kissing Duncan, one of the most awesome dogs on the planet) is getting married on Friday.  You all got a little glimpse into her life last year, when she was blogging for a bit.

We have known each other for almost (if not just about now) 10 years, and she has been one of my best friends for nearly as long.  We’ve had a lot of great times together, but, regrettably, there have been a lot of times where I should have been a better friend (and honestly, a better person in general) to her.

Still though, she has always stuck by me, and she has never judged me.  She is a beautiful person inside and out, and I am really proud to be able to call her my friend.

And on Friday she is getting married to a pretty awesome guy (Bill, the guy holding the awesome Duncan), and I am in their wedding party.

She has seen my numerous ups and downs weight wise, and she has been rooting for me on this journey from the get go, as well as the many journeys before this one.

So I want to be able to show her that I am finally getting back on track with this, and I want to be able to assure her that I will be healthy enough for us to grow old together. That way, we will be able to hang out in the nursing home, playing Mario Kart 76548 on our Nintendo Brain Implant Systems while the nurses dab the drool from my chin.

And there will be drool, dammit!

Trying to look a little more kickass in my tux for her wedding photos doesn’t hurt either.

So yeah, I don’t think this post is reading nearly as well as I thought it would in my head, but Michelle, know that I love you, and I want to lose the weight and be healthier so that our reign of awesome can continue for a VERY VERY long time, and I will start by getting out of the 300s by your wedding day.

The mic is yours, Scott!  

“Sweat the Small Stuff”

I know the saying is suppose to be “Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff” and yes, I think that’s a great way to look at your overall weight loss and a great way to look at life in general, but when it comes to your diet and what put in your body, I like to use the saying “Sweat the Small Stuff” because it’s the small stuff that matters.

If you’re wondering what I mean by “the small stuff”, it’s all the little things that can sabotage your diet and healthy eating without you really even knowing or thinking that they do.  Things like pop, juice, mayo, cheese, salt, coffee cream, salad dressing, bacon, skin on chicken, sour cream, barbeque sauce, beer… The list goes on and on.  You could be busting your ass every day in the gym but if your diet isn’t bang on as well, you’re fighting a losing battle.

My life, as is the case of 90% of the people in the world, is hectic.  Working long hours, painting the house, yard work, commitments to sports teams or committees and everything else that goes on during the week hasn’t left me with much time to workout.  In the past two weeks I’ve gone for a few very short runs here and there, I’m doing the hundred pushup challenge three times a week and I’m trying to kick my own ass at least once a week with a bodyweight workout like this one, but besides that I’m not training like I use and I’m not really getting much exercise in my life.  This is where sweating the small stuff has saved me.

Over the past two weeks, with minimal exercise, I’ve lost 2.5 lbs solely by watching what I eat.  Now when I use the words “minimal” and “solely” please don’t assume that what I did was easy. It’s been a two-week period with no mayo, no cheese, light dressings, no skin on my chicken, portion control, calorie counting and measuring and weighing of my food, but it’s all been worth it.  I’m feeling good, and healthy and it’s literally all because I’ve been watching “the small stuff”.

I’m currently on my second week of the Awesome By August challenge  where I want to lose 10 lbs in 4 weeks.  This is a HUGE goal but by sweating the small stuff I’m already 1 lbs towards reaching it. I know if I want to actually hit my goal, I have to get my ass in gear and get sweating in the gym, but sweating the small stuff and watching what I’m eating is a great place to start.
I could really go on and on about the small stuff and how it really does affect your diet but I’ll give you this one example and end on it.  When I started my weight loss the journey to lose 100 lbs, the first thing I changed was something very small and attainable.  I changed my large Timmies “double-double” (for you non-Canucks, that means a large coffee with two cream and two sugar in it) to a large one milk and one Splenda.  That one change alone helped me lose my first 10 lbs and was the beginning of a new life for me.  Think about that and tell me that one small squirt of mayo on your sandwich doesn’t matter…

You can find Scott at Yourinnerskinny.ca.  He is also on Facebook and Twitter.

And one of the first times, ever really, that I didn’t eat the whole thing in one sitting.

Small successes, people…small successes…

Have a great weekend!

…and this morning, I weighed in at 276.4 pounds.

I am going to lose 20 pounds this month.

That is all…for now.

Alot of pretty awesome things have happened on this day throughout history, The Declaration of Independence was signed, Alice in Wonderland was published, Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum helped defeat the alien invasion…

…and I have decided to get my life back…

…again.

For those of you who follow my blog, you know it’s been a pretty rough couple of months.  I resolved to make things better come June, but in the end that didn’t really amount of anything.  While I did have some great times these past couple months, and I accomplished A LOT, I’m afraid I’ve just about gained back almost all of the weight I’ve lost since the beginning (will post the official weight on Tuesday though, as always).

I’m ashamed of that, but I don’t want to dwell on it, and I’d like very much to move forward.  For the past few months I let emotional/boredom/stress eating get the best of me, and overall I did very little as far as working out goes.

But that ends today.  I am declaring my independence from obesity (corny, but go with it) and I am getting my life back.

WooT!

Regular weigh ins will be coming back on Tuesdays (no skipping), and I will be doing more with weekly goals for myself.  I also need to think about my overall goals and what I’d ultimately like to see come out of my life.  It won’t be easy (it never is), and I will probably still have slip ups, but hopefully this time around they won’t knock me completely off track. 

So stay tuned…