Have you ever sat in front of the tv and watched The Biggest Loser while eating a bowl of ice cream? Better yet, how about a full order of General Tso’s chicken… 2 egg rolls… a hot and sour soup… and then some ice cream? That was pretty typical for me several years ago.

I was very athletic as a kid. Grew up playing traveling soccer and then went on to play tennis at a high level (Div I in college). However during those years in college I developed some very bad eating habits. A lot of it stemmed from boozing all night, coming home and ordering a steak and cheese sub or pizza at 2 in the morning. Nothing like ending your day with an extra 1500 calories… after throwing down 12 plus beers already. Ever heard of the “Freshman 15”? How about the “Freshman 40”?

Yes, that’s right. I put on forty pounds my freshman year in college. That would be while playing tennis for approximately 2 hours a day for a good part of the year. To clarify, I did have mono my senior year in high school and shed almost 20 pounds. However, with that being said I went from 175 pounds when I started college to graduating at 240.

My immediate family have all at some point in their life struggled with their weight. For the last 20 years I have continued to build on my bad habits breaking the cycle from time to time, but overall not living a healthy lifestyle. The toughest part is that I know what to do.  With that being said, I have still tried just about every fad diet at one time or another.

Leading up to my wedding, I went on the Atkins diet and dropped 50 pounds. The trouble is, since that time I gained that weight back and then some.

The most I have ever weighed is 350 pounds (a few years ago).  I woke up the morning of July 10th and decided that I needed to make a change… but not a diet. It was time for a lifestyle change. Now this wasn’t the first time I decided to make a change. But at 320 pounds… it had to be done. I no longer wanted to do it for myself. I didn’t even want to do it for Anne. I had to do it for Matthew. I wanted to… no, I needed to make sure that I would be able to play with him for years to come. Hopefully we will have more children and its not going to get any easier as time goes by.

I made a decision that morning that I was going to lose 100 pounds over the course of a year. I decided in that moment that on July 10, 2012 (my 40th birthday), that I would weigh 220 pounds. I knew when I made that decision that it would not be an easy goal to obtain. However I feel I have set myself up for success… but more on that later.

My first official weigh-in is on October 10th. I need to weigh under 290 pounds at that time. I will weigh under 290 pounds at that time!

Now back to the title of this post. I used to love watching The Biggest Loser. At one time I even considered sending in a audition tape to tryout for the show. But the show has taken off in a different direction. Gone are the days of personal stories that I could relate to. Now they seem to only cast the biggest people for the most dramatic weight loss. I get it, it’s essentially a makeover show and the more dramatic it is at the end… the more attention the show will draw. What my wife and I always laugh about, and has seemed to stick for years, is that everyone on the show refers to their “journey”. Anne and I joke that if we played a drinking game during TBL, and took a sip every time someone said “journey”… we would be hammered by the second hour of the show. By the way… the show could be cut down to about 12 minutes per episode – but that’s why DVR’s may be one of the great devices at out disposal.

I think it will be helpful for me to write and maybe even someone reading this to hear about my “journey” – GULP.

For the record… I have now doubled my journal entries from 2008, already in the second day.