Well, tomorrow marks the three month anniversary of my bypass surgery. Since then, the following has happened:

We've added a new baby to the family.


I've gone from 250 pounds to, as of this morning, 210 pounds.

I have been cleared by my cardiologist to do anything I want to do.

I've bought a treadmill and I walk between 3.5 and 4.5 miles per day six days a week.

I bought a used bowflex and will begin my second exercise regimen Saturday in hopes of firming up this nearly 40 year old body.

My resting heart rate has dropped from 90 beats per minute to 62 bpm.

I drink way less. It's not the carbs but the empty calories that get you.

I have only had two Mountain Dews since Halloween. Those who know me have probably seen me drink 10 of those in a day on several occasions in my past. I hadn't gone a day without a Dew since about 1986, so quitting that seemed more foreign to me than quitting smoking.

(What made it easier was reading the label on a Mountain Dew. It has 170 calories and 46 grams of carbs in it. A Budweiser Select has 99 calories and 3.1 grams of carbs. I think you see where I am going with this...)

I have become aware of food labels. I don't claim to know what they all mean, but I try to eat less bad carbs and bad fad and have increased my intake of fibre, good fat, good carbs and whole grain anything.

I have met with a nutritionist who measured my body's resting caloric intake per day. That's about 3200 calories. That also means there's room for me to eat better to continue to lose weight.

My goal is to reach 200 by Memorial Day weekend. If I don't it's no big deal as long as I keepworking out and eating better and eating smaller, which is (in my opinion) the biggest key of all.

I have realized how shitty I felt for the past 18 months and probably longer. I am astounded at how much better I feel by changing relatively little in my life. I eat what I want. I simply eat less. I don't order pizza nearly as much and when I do, I try to stop short of bloated. I eat a slice of cheese for a snack instead of a can of pringles. I eat far fewer chips and the like for snacks. I drink a glass of orange juice a day. Don't know if that helps anything, but it makes me feel like I'm making a difference.

I hope that three months from now that I'm writing this at 202 pounds and feeling better still. But if I'm not, it won't be due to a lack of effort on my part.

I'll never go back to the way I was. I want to be around to torture my children when they are adults.