More Time

Well graduation day has come and gone. Now the question of the day is what to do with all of my new found extra time? No more going straight to school from work until 8:30 and then coming home to do three more hours of homework. No more waking up at 6 in the morning on Saturdays in order to maximize my homework time. No more worrying about the next test. No more drinking a thousand gallons of soda in order to stay awake through the day because I only had four hours of sleep the night before. No more excuses. No more next months. It's now. When I started this blog a little over a year ago, I started it because I wanted to find out why I did what I did, and that was put off exercising and overeat.
While I still haven't quite figured out why I overeat, I have figured out the exercising issue. Although I knew that exercise was the key to having more energy, when I came to the next test, or the mountain of homework that I had to finish for class, exercising takes time; and when I was so tired at night that I just couldn't remain awake a minute longer, or my brain was to tired to think of the next solution there comes a point when you have to call it quits in order to get some sleep to somewhat recharge the battery for the next day. So many times I would skip exercising and work on my homework on my lunch break in order to finish what wasn't done the night before. And soon soda became my best friend. Well to be all honest, soda has ALWAYS been my best friend, but more so when I was tired and needed to make it through the day. It doesn't help that soda is free at work and unfortunately that much soda drinking comes at a price, 1. it made me feel bloated most of the time; 2. I now have my very first, and only, 4 cavities; 3. it makes my body retain water; 4. I gained weight for sure.
So what to do now. Well I have been giving it an awful lot of thought, and I am going to start a new lifestyle. Yes, I know I said that last year, but I really can do it now because I can really focus on it now. I have a very hard time spreading my focus over several different things, especially when they are big events like finishing school or taking on the monumental task of losing as much weight as I have to lose. Although 100lbs isn't a ton of weight to lose, when it comes down to it, I look at it and I feel like I am standing at the base of K2. It feels like I am never going to reach the summit. Something that I learned yesterday during my graduation ceremony from one of the speakers, is that even though it may seem ridiculous and overwhelming, I can do it and I can make the change. I am the ONLY one who can make the change. And though it may seem like a monumental challenge, an impossible feat, I can do it because I can do anything I set my mind too. I just graduated from college for crying out loud. That is no easy feat in and of itself.
I have a few goals that I would like to set. By April, I would like to be ready to, or almost ready to run a 5k. I really want to start running, a lot. I know my wife wants to also, and I think we can do it together. Second, I want to start delving into that part of my brain that says, "eat it and don't stop until you are disgustingly sick and you leave nothing there." Yes, my brain does say stuff like that to me. Third, I want to become almost annoyingly healthy. What is almost annoyingly healthy? You know those people that are REALLY healthy and they criticize you for what you eat? I want to be almost to that point, but not quite. I love food, especially meat, breads, fruits, vegetables.....really all of it, except brussel sprouts; so I want to take the things I love and find healthy alternatives to preparing them. Finding ways to cut down on the fat and calories, etc. I know they are out there. Finally, and I guess this is really number one, but I put it here because it really is important to me, is that I want to be an example to my daughter and other future children and also to the rest of my family. I want to prove this to myself. I HAVE to prove this to myself!!