A New Day

And no, I'm not Celine Dion.
I finally gained some motivation.
I know that nobody reads this blog, and of course, by "nobody" I mean the 4 people who check in only very occasionally to see if I might have updated my sporadic randomness.
So that being said, I have decided to change the focus of my blog to concentrate on documenting my new motivation: my fitness.
Ever since I met Steven, I put on nearly 50 pounds, took about 20 off, and put another 10 back on. I have touched on my struggles with anorexia in the past, and while I have learned to deal with my problems with food, I have such a negative self-image that it has been affecting every other aspect of my life. I realize that most people wouldn't look at me and say, "Wow. You're fat." I'm tall, and I've always been athletic and muscular, so I can carry extra weight pretty well. It's not even so much the number of my weight that bothers me, it's the fact that with the exception of a few shirts, I have had to completely replace my wardrobe in the last 2 years. I'm tired of being embarrassed about myself. I'm tired of not being as flexible or athletic as I have always been. I'm tired of not feeling attractive, because no matter what you look like, you should be able to find your own beauty and be happy about it. I'm always happy on the outside, so that this is probably news to some people, because I don't believe in burdening other people with my issues.
Anyway, it's time for a change.
I got a membership at Bally Total Fitness, and earlier this past weekend I went through the battery of body composition testing and measuring to determine my starting point and help to focus my goals. I had my resting metabolism rate (RMR) tested, I had my body fat percentage measured, I was weighed, and I had the old tape measure whipped out. The RMR determines how many calories your body will burn in a day at rest with absolutely no activity, which helps to design a diet. My RMR was 2000, which I guess is pretty good for my age and weight, considering how much I screwed up my body with the anorexia all those years ago. So that means, with a vigorous workout schedule and a diet around 1800-2000 calories, I should be able to drop a bunch of weight very quickly. Therein lies the experiment: How quickly can I get back into my size-32 pants? And how quickly can I get my 6-pack back? I will be documenting my progress in this blog. To begin:
Age: 28
Height: 6' 1.5" (187cm)
Starting Weight: 236lb. (107kg)
RMR: 2000
Body Fat: 23.5%
Chest: 46.5" (118cm)
Shoulders: 52.5" (133cm)
Waist: 39.5" (100cm)
Hips: 45" (114cm)
Thigh: 27.5" (70cm)
Calf: 16.5" (42cm)
Bicep: 16" (40.5cm)
Those measurements actually aren't all that bad (and I'm trying to learn metric, so that's what's with all the conversions.) If I could keep all the other numbers the same, but just get the waist back down to 32, I'd be pretty happy. Well, maybe the hips at about 40 (you know I gotta keep my ba-donk-a-donk!!!), and the thigh around 24. I have these hot little board shorts that I kept from a couple of years ago, and I will be ecstatic when I can fit into them again. I'm not sure I feel bold enough to post some before pictures, but it would be really good documentation of my progress, so I'll think about it.
Now, I'm off to the gym!