Ughhh! I am so tired of having a spare tire!

Like many grown-ups, I’m trying to lose weight before summer arrives. The community pool opens at the end of May, so I’m running out of time. Last year, I was so embarrassed by my body that I took the kids to the neighbors’ pool instead. As I’ve gotten older, I have become increasingly self-conscious about my physique.

Growing up, I was always active in sports, so I never really had to worry about my weight. Exercise was a part of my daily life. I ate a balanced diet, and I never got stressed out about too many things. I didn’t eat too many sweets, but I did enjoy chips and other salty snacks. For about 10 years, my body weight stayed between 215 – 220 pounds. I’m 6′ 3″ tall, so I felt good about myself at that weight.

Things started to change when I turned 28 though. I got promoted at work, and I had to commute several hours each way. I left the house early, and I came home late. I drank several cups of coffee in the morning; a couple more during the day; and, one on the drive home (I worked for Starbucks – the coffee is very addicting). I didn’t have time to exercise, and I snacked a lot in the car to help me stay awake.

After 6 months, my metabolism was all kinds of jacked up, and my weight went crazy with it. It’s been a battle ever since. Now, 7 years later, take a look at my butt! —>

The least I weighed as an adult was 190 pounds. The most I’ve weighed is 250 pounds. Currently, I weigh 235 pounds. My goal is to lose 20 pounds by June 1st and get back to 215. If I can do this, then maybe I’ll take the kids to the community pool this year.

So, how am I going to do it? Well, in the past I’ve lost weight by cutting everything ‘white’ out of my diet, including all breads, rice, potatoes, chips and everything else that tastes really good. In its place, I substituted mostly green things, like lettuce, celery, cucumbers, asparagus and other stuff that tastes like crap. It was a modified Atkins diet, or so I’m told. I called it the suck-it-up-and-suffer diet plan for summer.

I’ll probably try to do something similar this time around, but I need a little extra motivation. So, instead of filming my journey like PG at Annoyingly Boring and Jim at BusyDad, I’m going to do something a little different.

Every Wednesday evening, I’m going to share with you the ‘Discovering Dad Diet Plan‘ list of foods and activities that will hopefully get my metabolism out of hibernation and bring my weight down to my goal.

*Disclaimer – I definitely do not recommend following this plan, as it may cause unintended side effects like hair loss or spontaneous trips to the bathroom.

Discovering Dad Diet Plan – Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Liquids
Coffee – 3 regular cups and 1 large Iced coffee, Total = 80 ounces
Diet Pepsi – 7 12 ounce cans, Total = 84 ounces

Solids
Breakfast – see above (coffee)
Lunch – see above (Diet Pepsi)
Dinner – 2 Everything Bagels w/ spicy mustard and roasted turkey
Dessert – 2 dozen Cherry Twizzler bits

Exercise
2 hours of mowing the lawn for first time this year

Sleep Last Night
6 hours

My doctor says that my body is confused. Apparently, it has learned to store fat because of my exemplary eating and drinking habits. He said I need to eat regularly, cut out the caffeine and exercise to get things back on track. I’ve tried this before, and the lack of caffeine put me in a stupor. I already talk slow based on my southern roots, but you should hear me without caffeine (Forrest Gump on sleeping pills).

I need your help to get in shape! I need people to kick my big booty and tell me to suck it up!

I want to be loved and accepted, but I understand that it’s hard to be friends with someone who is diet challenged and chooses to live off of caffeine and Twizzlers. I need to set a better example for my family.

I promise to do better over the next 6 weeks, as I strive toward a trim belly and tighter butt. I hope you will hang with me through it all – show me some tough love, and give me a hand when I fall. I may need to spend less time on Twitter, Mixx and cre8Buzz, but you’ll understand…right?

Thanks for your support! I’m confident that I will have good news to report next Wednesday. Keep me in your thoughts when you have a Starbucks or Diet Pepsi, and feel free to drop me a line or leave a comment with any pointers you’d like to share.

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