Who do I think I am?!?

Wow, this was a long time ago. A lot of time passed since I started, abandoned, and revived this blog. Be sure to check out my revival (Clearing Out the Cobwebs) and my later progress photos (these are the same links as in the sidebar). Anyway, here were my first thoughts upon the launch of this blog:

OK, so how can I be a fat athlete? Truth be told, I suppose my use of the term "athlete" is a bit fanciful if I were to limit myself to the binding constraints of the English language. I, however, am taking a different tact: I am referring to the spirit of an athlete.

It's probably a bit ironic that after spending so much of my life avoiding unnecessary activity (the singular exception being cycling in my youth), I now attempt to embrace the athletic lifestyle. Yeah, so deal with it.

So, at 34 and 216 pounds, I'm running, cycling, weight training, hiking, and yoga-ing. (There really should be a verb for that.) My ultimate hope is that as the term "athlete" becomes more true, the term "fat" becomes less so. Yes, for the record, I'm watching what I eat, but the emphasis is now on eating the right foods, and just enough to fuel myself while allowing for moderate loss.

Oh, and the term "Athena"? No, I'm not naming myself after the great Goddess. For those in the "know" the term Athena refers to a female cyclist or runner that weighs over 150 pounds. I do believe I qualify. Well, if we overlook the being a cyclist or runner part. Please refer to the discussion of "spirit", above.

Now, my dear imaginary audience, please join me on my journey. Oh, but skip the next few paragraphs unless you want to be bored witless. I, however, feel I must provide the following for the sake of completeness, as I'm beginning this blog well into my conversion.

My heighest weight ever was 254 pounds. From September 2004 to July 2005, I reduced my weight to 195 through food control bordering on OCD, weight training, at home yoga (which I now know barely resembled yoga), and training myself to run. See the semi-before and semi-after picture below. (Before is 247 lbs, and after is 200.)



Yeah, good work, eh? Unfortunately, I then went back to my summer job (oh, the joys of being a teacher), proceeded to revert to my slovenly, fast-food loving ways, and "enjoyed" the corresponding weight gain. (Peaking since at 230 pounds.)

So, after a few half-hearted and failed attempts, I embarked on this current journey on June 12, 2006 at the weight of 224 pounds. I'm currently enjoying life at 216.

But again, weight loss not my primary focus. A fit lifestyle is, and I'm certainly doing that right now. But, I've bored myself, so I imagine that you, my dear imaginary audience, are weeping tears of utter weariness. As such, I'll save my exercise schedule and other fascinating details another time.