How I lost 80 pounds and gained a little happiness...

Over a year ago I found myself having a number of problems. From falling asleep while driving to falling asleep during movies, I was having issues just staying awake. Of course that wasn't all. I was having constant and intense back pains, I messed up my knee and had trouble walking, and in general I just felt pretty shitty.

So November of 2011 I spoke to my doctor about my knee and the problems I was having. Big surprise, my weight was the issue. I weighted around 330 pounds and I was finally able to admit to it. You see, weight gain is tricky especially if you don't necessarily eat really badly. Not that my diet was perfect, and while I didn't always over eat, it wasn't necessarily the main issue. I'll get back to that life changing doctor's visit in a moment.

Here is the thing. In this day and age, it seems to be A-Okay to trash people who are overweight. Discriminatory words are generally looked down upon, but if you are heavy, ha ha, fuck you fatty! I had gotten a number of nasty comments from people including a reader or two on JoBlo (hardly ever as JoBlo's Schmoes are generally awesome) and a dude or two on Rotten Tomatoes that said some down right nasty things. So the problem is, if you don't realize how quickly you are gaining, the insults seem to come out of nowhere. Let's be clear here, I am not looking for sympathy or somebody to say, 'oh, poor thing, don't let those guys get to you' I don't give a flying fuck if some cocksucker on the internet called me fat. Anybody who goes on the internet and attacks people they don't know is a pathetic and sad person so please, no pity here. My weight gain was MY FAULT. It wasn't a genetic issue, it was something that I COULD CONTROL and I didn't. So whatever. I can imagine it is harder for some people who have nasty comments thrown their way, but you the sooner you own up to your own situation, the better you CAN CONTROL IT. There are a ton of people out there that weight is not simply an eating issue, it is something that they have a very hard time controlling, so my situation may be very different from theirs. But if some asshole goes on the attack or is just nasty, be strong and try your damnedest to not let it get to you. If somebody makes a stupid and rude comment, they are certainly not worth your time - however if it does bother you, I'm sorry, and yes it is fucked to attack somebody you don't know.

Enough of that, let's get back to the doctors visit. So my amazing doctor said to me, you are having issues because of your weight. He suggested I try some "lifestyle changes" even if a couple of them were really hard. And yes, my crazy soda habit was beyond out of control. I'd be downing five or six Super Big Gulps a day, sometimes more. THIS was my biggest enemy. So what do you do? Well, for me, the doctor suggested I try something else to drink as to not throw my body out of whack. We agreed on unsweetened tea with sweetener. I prefer Stevia or Splenda. After that, he added that I try walking about 10 minutes a day for 3 days a week. This second suggestion may have been a different doctors visit, but it was was definitely early in 2012.

With these simple changes, I found myself inspired to go farther. In fact, I was at 7 Eleven one day and I spoke to one of the guys that worked at the gym across the parking lot. I went in, and decided to get a membership. That was in April. Since then, nearly every single week I go in around five days a week. Sometimes are more intense than others, but either way, thanks to the help of my gym's amazing staff, I've really become very serious about working out and by now, all the problems I had had earlier had gone away. No more sleeping while I was driving. No more back pains. No more feeling like I was going to have a heart attack. Between November and April, I started to feel like a new person.

Recently I started taking a class at my gym called Bootcamp Boxing. Sadly, I have had to stay away the past couple of weeks due to my son being sick and me getting his cold. It would be kind of a dick move to go in and spread around my sickness. Anyway, while I'm kind of addicted to working out, my next goal is to go to boxing a whole lot more than I have been.

So what is the point? Well, for one thing, I wish that I had taken a picture back in November in 2011 to see the difference now. Honestly I was too terrified to do it last year because frankly I didn't think it was possible.

Thankfully, I was wrong. It was very possible. As of now, I have lost over 80 pounds and I continue to lose weight and gain muscle. That said, I am over half way to where I want to be. The more I lose, the better I feel. This wasn't about vanity, if you've ever watched my interviews on JoBlo, it is clear that I don't mind looking a little trashy. Yet with the weight going away, I find myself wanting to change. Mostly I want to be able to be an active father who can handle running around and doing things that I just couldn't do before.

If you've actually read this entire diatribe I salute you. Well, actually I thank you. I've had a lot of support from friends on this journey and am so utterly thankful I have taken it. So this Thanksgiving, I am thankful for the second chance I had. Being a father ultimately gave me the best goddamn reason to get healthy. So really, thanks to my son who is a constant source of inspiration to me every single day!

The Bond Phone - aka I love movie related toys:)

Okay, I just got the new Bond Phone from AT&T thanks to M80 Marketing who contacted me to write a blog (and I got the phone for free) and thankfully it gives me a reason to write another stuff and feel like James Bond:D

Now frankly I'm one of those people who really loves their iPhone... I mean REALLY LOVES their iPhone! However I'm a major sucker for movie related items, always have been! It helps a ton when I actually enjoy the movie and it is no secret that I furking loved SKYFALL!

When I first got the phone I was really excited. It is a Sony Xperia TL and it sure is purty. It's a sleek design and just looks awesome, especially with the bonus James Bond features including videos and wallpaper... I was however dismayed that it didn't come with the new Adele song which is insanely cool. Love that song. At least it came with the James Bond theme ringtone so at least I can geek out on that!

So I've only had a little time to play with the phone but so far, speaking as an iPhone fan, I'm actually loving this phone. The picture quality is fantastic in all its HD glory. Even the front camera is terrific.  There is so damn much to explore on this thing!!! I love toys!

Whenever you get a new phone, or computer or whatever, it is always awesome to get to play with all the groovy new features, cuz I'm a guy and did I mention that I love toys! I'm looking forward to exploring the coolness of the "Bond Phone" because I want to be 007, or just maybe hang out with him... I might put it down a couple of times but I'm so far pretty addicted to it. It's not that bad, but what the hell is a blog without exaggerating something:) I am having a blast with it though!

The coolest part about it was my geek fulfillment when Daniel Craig picked up the phone in SKYFALL and I got all happy about it! Now all I need are Bond action figures...

So who is going to see SKYFALL this weekend?!?

Halloween is over...

This is a fact that is very hard for me to get used to. Thankfully, I can look forward to next year.

Thankfully, it was a terrific one and to think that my wife and I have been married for twenty years is impossible to believe. It doesn't feel like such a long time, in fact things move much too fast for my taste.

There is one reason that I'm glad Halloween is over however and that is that the election is over as well. This past week was so unbelievably monumental that I need to breathe a little. The truth be told, I am thrilled at the election outcome. Would my attitude be different had things been different? Sure, probably! But I don't think I'd be making idiotic statements like Trump has. Fucking douchebag! Either way, I'm almost happiest because there will be no more junk mail trying to get you to vote for things:D

Finally, I am working on another blog because I want to put into words about weight loss. On November 12 (I think), it will be a year since I had lost over eighty pounds. I will probably cover that next week. Frankly, I am just not ready to go really write about it yet, maybe by then I will be in the mood. I just don't like to make these things too long because who the fuck cares;)

That's it for now... Now that the election is over maybe people can start being a little nicer to each other;)

It's come to this...

In an ever changing world where technology is king and correspondence usually is only 140 characters or less, I have decided to start a blog.

How often I write - or how good and interesting it will be - I am completely unaware. But the idea of having a forum outside of the website's I work for, JoBlo.com and Arrow in the Head, seems like an interesting challenge. Well not really a challenge, but more so a chance to talk about other issues that are important to me. This includes but is not limited to being a parent - although I certainly don't want to drag my family into this... they have to deal with me on a regular basis so that would be bad - I also plan to discuss my weight loss, something which I didn't make a lot of waves about early on because I wasn't sure I could do it.

I guess this is an extension of what I already do, just a more personal way of reaching out aside from my regular gig and my guest spots over at JustSeenIt.com and on AMC Movie Talk. The good thing about this is that it will simply be my train of thought sometimes so I could really care less about grammer or type o's... that may change however:)

So here it goes. This is my intro for now. Cheers and I'm sure I'll be writing before Halloween - my favorite day of the year!