The Beginning... Again.

Hello there 2016! Look at you, you brand new year you, all bright and shiny, untarnished, full of hopes and dreams. Today is January 1st, New Year's Day. It is a day a lot of us will say "New year, new me!" Blah, blah, blah... I'm gonna do this or that, make a million dollars, publish a book, fold laundry as soon as it's done, I won't let food dry on the dishes, I'll read every night, and do yoga, and meditate, and remodel the house, and learn guitar, and be the best, funniest dad ever! You know the routine. I'm not here to discourage that. It's all very achievable if you hold yourself accountable. That's what this blog is for me... My accountability. I'm not any different than any of you. I just needed a way to keep myself motivated to get better, to become the best version of myself. Follow along if you'd like (I know it's a public forum, but I find it funny that I'm writing as if I'll have an audience of sorts), but I warn you, I'm nobody special. (Well, maybe my boys would disagree, but they're nowhere near becoming teenagers yet.) I'm not a writer, I'm barely a blogger. In fact, this is the third time I've started this blog, the first two have been deleted, removed from blogger land. I'll be updating here with whatever info I feel is pertinent in showing my progress. Let's be honest. I'll probably be posting more often at the beginning of this journey than I will be later on, but 3rd times a charm, right!? I'll try and follow some sort of format, posting towards the end of the day, showing my workout for the day, if any, lol, and food intake. I'm sure this will also start out awesome, making me look cooler than I actually am. We all start off with the best of intentions and I have some big plans for myself, if I can hold on.

Well, I suppose I could give a little more info about me (The quick and dirty, "Readers Digest" version). My name is Dave, I typically wear a black t-shirt, jeans, and probably a hat. I'm 34, and I have what I think is a pretty awesome family, a wife and two boy's (a 6 year old and 9 mo old). We live in a small, humble home (my wife would call it our "tiny house") on the south end of Camano Island in the puget sound of Washington state. I run occasionally, but am nowhere near the runner I was in my youth, (but a hundred pounds will do that!) And now a little history... High school seems a good place to start this since that's a place in our lives I think we can all relate to. I was a sprinter on the track team and graduated at 145lbs and dropped to 135lbs the summer after (other than my legs, I was scrawny), since having an actual job, involving manual labor, turned out to be a bit tougher than track practice. I settled into a routine, a couple years went by, I got a job at the airport where I lifted bags all day (and finally gained a bit of muscle), met the woman of my dreams, got married, moved to Camano, changed jobs again, 5 years went by and I steadily gained... Especially while my wife was pregnant! I gained 50lbs with our first son, topping out at 243lbs... Naked. I felt like such a lardass! It was the happiest and the least happy I've been in my life. I know that this isn't big, considering the state of American obesity, but I needed to feel healthier, I knew I needed/wanted to make a change. The weight wasn't going to fall off having an office job. So I tried a few different programs. All of which worked to a degree, but I'd figure out how they worked for me and I'd settle into a routine of neither losing nor gaining weight. I've essentially been sustaining this for 5 or so years. While I'm happier, and slightly more comfortable with myself, I'm definitely not where I want to be. So, I guess this is where I start. Let's see what happens shall we?