Life

Weigh In: 277
Calories Counted: 2300-ish

There's a lot to be thankful for today, but not much when it comes to weight loss. Honestly, weight loss has been fighting for my attention lately. I've been trying to keep it in perspective, but because of everything that's going on, it's been on the back burner. That's probably why the weight has been sneaking up the last week, but it's one of those things where I know I just have to keep it contained and in control, but be pretty accepting.

First off - this weekend was horrible for my eating. I had my buddy home from Oklahoma and it was like old times. My eating wasn't HORRIBLE, but it wasn't great either. You compound that with the amount of alcohol I had this weekend, and it makes for a not so great weigh in.

Also, I just want to mention that I'm super proud of Jim for walking the 3-day. Also, Melissa, but it sucks that we weren't able to meet up. Crazy weekend for me, so sorry that I didn't get ahold of you on that. Really intended to. Jim (and the other walkers) did 60 miles in the 3 day period, and when I caught up with Jim at the 55 mile point, he seemed like he was going strong as an ox. I was damn impressed. I haven't had time to check his blog lately (or any of yours.. sorry!), but I'm sure the stories will come and be worth reading.

As for today, I'm not sure if any of you are religious, but if you are, I'd appreciate any extra prayers that can come our way. We had quite the day today in our family. Erin's Uncle Jack is 51, and just had to have a triple bypass surgery today on his heart. Long story made short, the entire family has a history of heart problems, he had already had a quadruple bypass 10 years ago, and this week he was told that the risk of never making it off of the surgery table was a very real possibility. He was in bad shape.

Long story made short, he's in recovery now after about 6-8 hours of surgery. He made it through, and the doctors and surgeons were simply amazing. But it gets me thinking about how important our health is. I mean.. when I lose this weight, it's about how I look. I mean, sure.. I do it for my health, my main motivation has been to lose this weight for my wife - to live longer, but when you actually *SEE* something like this happen, it really puts it into perspective.

I mean .. a year ago, that could have been me. Almost 400 pounds, my heart had to have been working overtime on a daily basis. Even now, I'm 60 or more pounds overweight. I fall into this trap of feeling like I've accomplished something by losing 100 pounds, but I'm still a health risk. I forget that sometimes through the compliments and congratulations I get about how I look. But I'm so far away - and today was one of those days where I just saw myself sitting on that table, being put under the knife and having a 1 in 10 chance of never living a day without my wife.

That scares the hell out of me.

So the fight rages on. I may have a bad day, or even a bad weekend, but this is going to be a lifelong struggle to get this right. I'm definitely not perfect, and frankly, I've really been struggling lately being able to keep the "streak" alive, but even if I haven't put a full 30 days in a row like I want to, I won't stop until I'm where I need to be. I'm not just doing it so I can have the abs and chest. I'm doing it so I can be there for my family for a long, long time.

Sometimes it takes a miracle like today to remember that.