2009 Achievements
285 of 1000 8 of 24 Achievements
	Tenth of a Ton Weigh 200 pounds – 25 pounds total weight loss.	40 Acquired 04/16/2009

Starting weight: 226 pounds
Current weight: 198 pounds
Weight loss to date: 27 pounds

WooHoo! For the first time in nearly a decade, I weigh less than 200 pounds. Needless to say, this has been a long time coming. I actually remember back in college the first time I stepped on the scale and saw 201 pounds staring back at me. From there I went into denial and blamed it on everything from a busy schedule to muscle weight to the common phenomenon of big bones.  My weight fluctuated up and down for years until last year when I topped out at 226. Two Hundred and Twenty Six Pounds.  I used to watch The Biggest Loser and think “At least I’m not as big as those people”….until I got to the end of the season and those people now weighed less than me.

Despite meager efforts not much happened until the months leading up to Brandon being born. The stress of realizing that I was soon going to be a father helped me drop about 15 pounds very quickly.  I used that as motivation to keep going.  I continued to work out and started a consistent running schedule.  As further motivation I started training for a marathon which included intermediate 5k and 10k runs. What’s ironic is that at first I used the running as help to lose weight. Now, I want to lose weight to help my running. Carrying 200 pounds around for 6 miles doesn’t do much for the knees. And if I really want to run a marathon at the end of this year, those last 15 pounds have got to go.

Now when I want to make excuses I just picture trainer Bob Harper yelling at Joelle in an episode of the Biggest Loser:
“I’m sick of just words words words, talk talk talk. Shut the f*** up! Just do it! Just stop talking and do it!”

You tell ‘em Bob.