it be on-ith, like donkey kong-ith

today I made a big step forward. i joined or rejoined you could say, the gym. yup, that's right, you heard it directly from me. I am now a member of Gold's gym, formerly Fitness Connection, before they got bought out. Why you might ask? Well today for lunch, I drove up the street and got me some nice unhealthy Church's chicken. As I finished my meal I felt sick. And as I layed on the couch and watched afternoon tv, it hit me. I'm becoming a fat, lazy, slob. Exactly what I never wanted to be. Here I am, a newly 25 year old, single, with a decent car and my own place! I should be out and about, mingling and meeting new people. When I say people, I mean women of course. But as I sat there, my stomach churning from the chicken, I thought to myself, what girl is going to want this fat slob? Now I understand love is blind (on occasion) and real love is not based on external qualities. I know that. But I have to be realistic with myself. When I first meet a girl, I don't know her, so I don't know about her personality and her sense of humor and all those internal things. The first thing you see is the outside. That's what I think attracts you right off the bat. True, that's not always fair, because a lot of great funny girls aren't given the time of day because they don't have the looks. But then again, if a guy ONLY thinks about looks and doesn't go for the not so pretty girls, then really it benefits her. Better she doesn't deal with that kind of guy. Ok, back to my point. Well whatever my reason may be, to attract girls, to make myself healthier, I decided to get off my butt and go to the gym. I actually fought myself on this one too, first I called the gym to find out the specials. That way if they said they didn't have any, I wouldn't have to go in. But of course, they don't tell you the specials, that way you HAVE to go in. So I just decided to. I HAD WON THAT BATTLE. But being the lazy stubborn guy I am, I went there dressed in jeans and a polo shirt, that way there was NO POSSIBLE way I was going to actually work out while I was there the first time. See it's funny, because when you haven't been to the gym in a while, you forget how it is. You start to think that because you haven't gone, you have suddenly become the fattest person in the entire universe. You think that when you walk in there is going to be nothing but male and female supermodels there, and they are all going to laugh as you walk in. "Yah, youza need to pump some iron, you little girly squirelly man!" I don't know what it is, but that's the fear that you tend to get with gyms. But as I arrived, I soon realized that is completely not the case. As I was walking up to the front door, I could see the people running on the treadmills. And I didn't see one supermodel. If anything, these people were much more heavier and out of shape then me. Ofcourse there were people there that were in great shape, but the majority of the people there were not. So as I officially joined and signed on the X, I breathed a sigh of relief.

I went back home and decided to chill out for bit, and then actually go back for a workout. I waited until 9 PM and then made my way to the gym. As I walked in I noticed there was significantly less people there now. Cool, I don't have to wait for any machines. As in the past, I headed for the treadmills for some cardio and to loosen up. I realize I'm not where I once was, so I can't just start off running like I used to. So I did a fast walk on random elevations for 15 minutes. After the first one I decided that wasn't enough so I did another one. I think it came out to 2.15 miles. Not bad, considering most of my days are spent on the couch, the only steps being to the computer and the fridge for a coke. I did some of the machines, mostly focusing on the abs. Yeah, I gotta get this gut under control, it's got to be tamed. I didn't want a really hard work out, because I figure I would slowly build back up. Tomorrow I'm going to do the same, but probably hit some free weights and other machines. But abs, abs, abs, I have to focus on them. And with that, comes dieting. That's going to be hard. No more sodas. I know some say to drink Diet sodas, but not me, I rather not have any. So that's one thing. Next, no junk food. I actually don't eat much cake and sweets, well except for the Uh Ohs! so that shouldn't be too hard. And the worst thing I will have to cut out is cerveza. Like I said, I rather not drink any at all, then drink the Lite stuff. It's not that I like beer anyways, I can stand the taste, but I never crave it or actually enjoy a nice cold beer. All together I think it's going to be hard to say no, when everyone around me is going to be eating wings and drinking beer. That will be hard, but not impossible. I can do it, I know I can. I've done it before. I just have to get in that mindset that I was before, that nothing is going to make me cheat on my diet. I wish I actually had some sort of motivation like I did before with Gaby, but this time it's just for me. I'm my own motivation this time. So we will see if I can keep that. So now, I feel good. My arms feel a bit tight already, and my legs a bit sore. I know if I keep my workout going, I'm going to be in a world of hurt, but that's ok. I've lived through it before, and I can again. The soreness goes away, and the pain dulls. So tomorrow and for the next couple months it's on.

Official Day One Weigh In: 223 LBS

(I'll keep updating my progress periodically)