Gettin' by with a little help from my friends.

Weight: 299.8
Mood: TGIF

Ahh, Friday. I'm so glad to arrive at another weekend. This week has been good, but I'm glad it's over. My job can get pretty busy, so I look forward to two days at home with my wife and son.

One thing I worry about the weekend is it's lack of routine. Jade and I never really make big plans, and normally I find myself stuffing my face all day because I can't think of anything better to do. If you give me the option between eating my way out of a fort made of ice cream sandwiches or mowing the lawn, I'm pretty sure there's going to be a crap-load of cookie crumbs in the living room. So I really need to be deliberate this weekend about staying away from the kitchen. I'm proud of my progress this week, and would hate to ruin it with a weekend of making bad choices.

I already decided early on that I'm not going to deny myself anything while I'm making this change. If I really want a particular food item and there's no way I'm going to take my mind off of it, I am going to eat it. I'm just going to be very careful not to overdo it, and to know my limits. For example, I know that Sunday I'll be going out for breakfast with Jade's parent's, as well as doing dinner at my parent's house. So if I step on the scale and there's no change or I even gain a little, I'm not going to let it get to me.

I've fallen into that pitfall before -- where you rely so much on the scale that when it doesn't show you the result you hoped for, you lose all motivation in trying. This isn't a diet for me. This isn't a program. The scale is just one tool that measures my progress. What I'm attempting is a lifestyle change. I've made 25 years of poor choices for my body. 25 years of pizza and video games and ice cream have made me what I am today. I know it's going to take more than a week for me to undo that. My main goal is to simply do a little better every day, regardless of what the scale reads. Eventually, the number on the scale will catch up with where I am going.

I have a great support system helping me through this. My best friend Drew is sending me health tips that he's used and learned while in the Army, and my friend Barron has sent me motivating messages as well. My brother goes to school during the day, and works a full time job in the evenings, and although I haven't even said but three words to him since I started this on Monday, he left a note in the fridge at my parent's house that read "Way to go Lou!" It totally made my day. I am just so terribly thankful for the people that have come alongside me.

As much as I'm doing this for myself, I get a true sense of satisfaction in knowing that there are people out there watching me do this. And I don't want to let down any of them either. I feel like everyone who comments on what I'm doing, gives me motivation, encouragement, tips, or anything, is investing in my success. And that's something that reaffirms my resolve.

Besides, it's gonna look really bad if I start this thing at 305 and end up a 400-pound monster with all of the world watching. I've done some pretty fat-kid things in the past, but that would just be absurd.

On a side note, a little bit of a rule change. Since I haven't established a regular weigh-in time, I'm going to change my weigh-in time to the morning. I'll also be using my scale upstairs instead of the Wii. It's rude. I'll post more on that another day.