A husband she deserves: Day 1

About six months ago, I received DDP Yoga. I figured, "heck, I'll give it a shot, it's done by DDP." And I did. I did it for about three weeks, pretty regularly. Wasn't doing bad at all, but then, I had my vasectomy....

All those people that tell you that a vasectomy is a simple, painless procedure are FULL OF IT. I tried to work the day of....pain. Day 2, pain...finally I took a couple of days off, but it was a full week before I was even close to normal, and therefore was out of my routine with nutrition and DDPYoga.

So, this is day 1, take 2. But this time, the stakes are much higher, because I have a set goal in mind. An "end date" so to speak. Although it would probably be better if I called it a "goal date."

The goal date is 8/30/14. That is the day that I marry my best friend, my drinkin' buddy, the love of my life, Jodi. Over the last year or so, Jodi has seen me fluctuate weight, workout plans, nutrition plans and then just give up on all of them until I get really frustrated and decide to start over with something else. Well, that ain't happening this time! This time, the end result is going to be the in-shape, chiseled, damn hell of a man she deserves, standing up at the other end of the aisle waiting to marry her.

To make things clear, Jodi loves me exactly the way I am and while she is being extremely supportive of this 364 day journey of mine, she'd also love me every bit as much if I was 364 pounds and I know that. But she knows why I want to do this and has said she will help me every step of the way.

So here on day 1 is the mental change. I didn't just wake up this morning and decide I wanted to do it, I've set my mind to make this a long-term change, not just a quick one.

Along with the workouts and nutritional changes, I will also be quitting smoking. I've heard people for years say "if you quit smoking..." yeah yeah yeah....well, you have to want to quit to be able to quit and I've never want to. I'm not sure I still want to, but it seems like it would be pretty counterproductive if I didn't. Also, alcohol intake, I will never completely give up drinking. However, it will be limited to extremely special occasions. For me, that's a pretty big step.

So, without any further adieu, I present what will forever be know as the "before" pictures...