Day 1:

I didn't always have a daddy belly.
I was in shape. played football in high school and college. Got married to a really attractive woman. Had really great kids. Fortunate to have a job I love that keeps me on my toes. Life is good as it is for most dads. We love our families and work really hard to provide, hoping that we can give our kids a better life than we had. Isn't that the goal? To be better than the generation before?

But something happens when you go from life without kids to life with kids. You put the we before the me....and you don't really take care of yourself. So, you continue to eat as you always have...okay, maybe a bit more. And, you exercise less because you have to be at work earlier...and work later. You try to get the time in on the weekends...but that never works out, or it never sticks and becomes a habit.

So, you gain 5 pounds one year...and then 5 the next...and 5 the next....just enough each year that the weight creeps up on you...so when your oldest is 14 years old and starting high school you find yourself almost 45 pounds over your ideal weight...and the wii fit is calling you obese.

I don't feel obese...but, I have bought new clothes to hide the daddy belly. and don't tuck my shirt in anymore unless I'm wearing the suit jacket. I'm fat. My mother in law would be the first to tell you that's true.
I've done the diet thing...and even did a biggest loser contest where I lost 52 pounds and could see my "acting days" cheek bones again....only to gain it all back again a year later.

So, my goal...to get to my wedding day weight of 189 pounds in a healthy way...by September 3rd, 2010....and make it stick by changing my mental view of food as well as finding that long lost six pack.
I was inspired by three things...a workout book by tom venutto that touted the physical and the mental aspects of weight gain and weight loss, a book called The End of Overeating that exposed how the food industry is engineering food to make us fat....and the movie julie and julia...which showed me the value of setting a goal and being held to that goal by a commitment to myself and others...through blogging.

So, this is not so much a blog to tell you how much weight i lost every day.  it's hopefully a dialogue for anyone who like me...is looking for a bit of the past in their future. 

I'll try to be funny...entertaining...and maybe even a bit helpful...but mostly...i'll be honest.

I hope my daily thoughts on food, fat and fatherhood will help if you have a goal of getting rid of the weight creep that your kids also affectionately refer to as "the daddy belly".