The beginning
Well, I've never blog'd before, but I have been told it can be cathartic, even if nobody else ever reads it.
I am a 33 year old father of two. I have been overweght for most of my life, but I think it has really hit me in the last couple of years how much it is affecting my life. I feel like I have been depressed for more than a year, and while the weight was a big part of it, several other factors have been building up. I won't bitch about the usual stuff that everyone faces (job, economy, world peace, etc.) but the big thing that has hit in the last year is that my son was diagnosed with developmental delays.
He just turned two and has been in the Michigan Early On program (wonderful people, by the way) now since May. He is improving, but still pretty far behind the curve in a lot of areas. This has shaken me to my core. God and I are having a bit of a disagreement over what we believe to be acceptable challenges for my family to deal with.
Now I know that a LOT of other people out there are faced with much more challenging, tragic and difficult situations regarding their children. I honestly feel guilty sometimes about being so upset about my son's lot in life when I know that others face so much more. That being the case, it doesn't lessen the pain of watching my son suffer with something that he had no choice or control over. I can't help it, I'm human and this is my kid.
So, after several months of hating God, life, the universe and everything, I decided to take control of something. My wife and I started on Nutrisystem on 8-14-06. As of today, I am down 18 lbs and she is down over 20. This has made a huge difference in my outlook. I'm still cranky as heck most days, but now I am working out to relieve stress instead of snacking or doing something equally self-destructive.
So this is where it begins, I guess. After almost 6 weeks of eating right and excercising, I'm calling it a habit; maybe my only good one. Going forward, I am working on a positive outlook. My goals are to get to my goal weight, spend every minute I can being with my family, get a better job (or at least, learn to like the one I have again) and to get back on speaking terms with God.
I expect it to be a long road, but I suspect it will be worth it.
