Day 1

So it is January 1, 2012, time to set all those goals and resolutions.  I am going to read more, eat less, exercise more, and smoke less.  OK I don't smoke, but I want to be able to say I accomplished at least one of my goals as I watch Dick Clark and Ryan Seacrest count in the New Year next December.  

OK here is the deal; I will get right to the point.  I need to lose weight.  That is the goal for 2012 and the point of this blog.  What is sad is that I am not the guy that only needs to lose the freshman 15 or even just wants to slim down before his high school reunion; I have to lose a ton.  OK a ton is not completely accurate, maybe closer to a half ton.  OK, I am being honest here; I need to lose 100 pounds. 

I have no idea when I became that fat guy, but well I am.  I knew that things were out of control when I had a stranger at comic con come up to me and said "I loved you in Jedi but I thought the CG of you in Episode One and the redux of A New Hope was bull (expletive)” before asking for my autograph.  To add insult to injury the next day at Sea World a young child pointed at me and asked her dad, if all the Shamus’s could walk on land or just the one in the Duran Duran t-shirt.  After taking a solemn vow to stay the heck away from San Diego, I decided it was time for a change. 

On the drive home somewhere along the I-8, I decided right then and there that I was going to do something about my weight.  I was so committed to this proposition that I decided I was going to walk in to the Taco Bell I was stopping at instead of going through the drive up. 

My next stop on the Scott is fat train was in 2011 when I went to Colorado to see U2.  While there, Shawnda, my then fiancé and current wife, and I went to Red Rock.  If you have never been there, go!  It is great to be able to walk on the stage where the Beatles, Bob Dylan and Duran Duran all played.  The problem is that you can drive to the top of the mountain, and even walking down the hundreds of stairs is not too bad, but there is no elevator back up to the parking lot. You have to do it with your feet!  I now hold two world records.  I am, record #1: the only person in the history of Red Rock to be airlifted from the stage to the top of the amphitheater and, record #2: the only one to need two safety harnesses. 

So that brings me to this blog.  I have dieted before, I even lost a little weight here and there, but it all came back.  My mindset was to starve myself and then I can eat again once I am skinny.  At this point where I need to lose so much weight I have decided that slow and steady is the way to go.  I have read (note: “I have read” is code for "I heard it on TV") that you should strive to lose two pounds per week if you want to keep it off.  Two pounds x 52 weeks minus the week of Thanksgiving and the week of October 27 (Simon LeBon’s birthday week), I will be at an even 100 buy Jan 1, 2013.  If I make a life style change and treat this as a marathon instead of a sprint I may reach my goal. 

It also occurred to me if I keep track of my progress and am accountable to all my readers, which will consist of my parents for the first week and my wife every time I guilt her in to reading, it will improve the chances of me sticking with it.  So that is what I am about to do.

Step one / Day one, start the blog.  Check!  Wow, this weight loss stuff is not that hard after all.  I did this while enjoying a Filberto's burrito and taco with refried beans, rice and a Dr. Pepper.  I still have no idea how I got this fat.  Anyway, like I said step one, the blog.  Step two, will be tomorrow and that is where it gets hard.  I will start blogging about the diet that will start on day three.  (Come on tomorrow is New Years Day observed, no one can diet while watching college football all day.)  Anyway I will start to post information on what I weigh, what I ate and what I am doing to progress toward my goal.  Riveting!  (Now you know why only my parents and wife will be my only readers.)

Anyway that is the plan, wish me luck and stay turned as I go forward for the quest for 100.