I'm 37 years old and what I thought to be in reasonably good health.

Okay. That's a lie. I knew I wasn't in good health or good shape. I was 37 and 250 pounds and, outside of yardwork and my two efforts to play tennis in the past two years, I hadn't gotten any meaningful exercise since college.

So when I started having chest pains last fall (mild and quickly disappearing chest pains), I wasn't really worried. I mentioned it to my wife and I went to the doctor.

Long story short, that was Halloween morning and in the next seventeen days I had a failed cardiac catheterization, a successful robotic bypass surgery of my Left Anterior Descending artery (front of the heart) and two rounds of thorocentesis which is the draining of fluid from my pleural cavity (half a gallon the first time and just short of that four days later).

Since that time, I have changed my life. I don't work out every day, but I'd say it's five to six days a week. I do four miles on a treadmill at speeds up to 3.9 mph and a 7.5 degree incline. I take the stairs. I eat better. Breakfast is kashi bars, snack is peanut butter bagel, lunch is smoked turkey on multigrain bread with mustard and swiss, and dinner is whatever, but usually half to a third of what it used to be.

I've stabilized in my weight loss now, which is to say that it's stopped. I, as of this morning, weigh 208 pounds. That's not bad at all considering that I was 250 4.5 months ago. I'd like to lose another 13 or so pounds and be at 195.

The thing is, maintaining weight for me appears to be no trouble at all. I am currently rolling between 206 and 208 every day. Since Christmas (when I was 215 or so) the loss has been a pound or so a week, which is frustrating consider the rapid initial loss I experienced.

I'm not kidding myself here. I know weight loss for most folks is harder than it's been for me up until now. And I keep feeling better and (I think) looking better, and I know I'm getting smaller regardless of weight because I find that more and more of my clothes (especially pants and shorts) don't fit anymore. I was in a 38 waist before surgery, and now I'm wearing 36's and they fall off me without unbuttoning them. Only my smallest 36's will do.

Maybe buying some 34 shorts or pants will motivate me to tighten the clamps a little longer. I really feel like if I can get a little more disciplined I can drop the remaining 13 pounds by memorial day (when we're going to hilton head with our friends the fit and cute couple and their chirrens).

I keep saying that if I just quit drinking beer for 30 days, that'd probably be all i needed, but I always seem to find a reason to have a beer or seven on the weekends.

Maybe just writing this will be enough to motivate me. I'm not sure. But I'd really like to see 195 by this year's birthday at the latest, just so I can actually say I met a fitness goal (the first of my lifetime I think).

Anyway, I know this is mostly a purposeless entry, but I thought maybe putting it down in pixels could help drive me a little harder.

We shall see...