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My epiphany on being healthy

I weigh 202.5 pounds.
This is big news from where I'm sitting because the last time I weighed that few pounds was at least seven years ago.
And let me give you more perspective.
I weighed 235.5 pounds at the end of July, 8 1/2 months ago. I recorded that weight during the last week at my job before quitting to become a stay-at-home dad.
I didn't really set out to lose weight. As a matter of fact, before the big weight loss, I told my wife to ditch the smaller clothes I'd been holding onto in case I lost the weight again. I thought I'd weigh around 230 the rest of my life.
But when I started staying home with Willow, I immediately became more active, going to the park and walking and playing with my infant girl. By January, and without much intention on my part, I'd lost 10 pounds. So I was around 225, which is where I've been almost all my adult life.
I was content with that and prepared to stay there.
But then I read a column on the opinion pages of The Tennessean that changed everything for me.
I don't have the column anymore, nor do I recall who wrote it, some government health advocate, I think. I tried to look up the column with no luck, so forgive me for not providing a link.
The message was simple (or at least my interpretation is): Don't try to become healthy, just be healthy.
I was a fit boy until I discovered Dairy Queen Blizzards, and I'd worked myself back into shape late in high school and early in college before discovering the chili-cheese dogs at K-lair Grill (damn you, chili-cheese dogs!!!). And everything got worse after I graduated college (I wasn't playing pickup hoops anymore; nope, I was sitting at a desk all day then heading home to watch TV). Et voila, 225 pounds!
Of course, I tried several times to lose the weight, but I think now I was going about it all wrong. I was working myself into a frenzy trying to lose the weight, trying "to BECOME healthy." Don't get me wrong; goals are good, and I still have them, but my mindset was wrong. The goals weren't coming fast enough, so I'd give up before getting up the gumption again a year or two later.
But upon reading that column in January, my perspective changed.
The author said, as I remember it, instead of worrying about making a resolution and setting a deadline goal, simply make a decision every day to be healthy. Just be healthy that day. Make healthy decisions that day.
Instead of worrying about becoming healthy, be healthy.
And that's what I started to do.
I didn't start walking every day, but I did on most days. Then I started waking up early with Che, and we walked in the mornings, at dawn.
I didn't start eating better every day, but I did on most days, mostly just cutting down on my portions (by using an app, mostly, called myfitnesspal, which is also a calorie-counting website, myfitnesspal.com). And that's when I started choosing THIS over THAT (an un-sugary drink over a sugary one, for example).
And then my walks turned into runs.
And then I started doing other things here and there: shooting hoops, hiking, bicycling, gardening, mowing more often. And on and on.
And on top of all of that, I've had some real, true fun.
I simply started doing things for me each day.
And three months later, I've lost another 23 pounds.
Now like I said earlier, I still have some goals. I'd like to lose another 10 pounds or so before hitting the beaches this summer. And I want to run a mile on the beach with my sister and brother-in-law.
But that's about it for now. (heck, I need to lost another 30 pounds, according to the experts, but I think I'd get bogged down with worry trying to reach that mark, don't you think?).
I'm taking it one day at a time for now. I'll see where I get to later.
And maybe, just maybe, I'll keep it up. I know Little Miss Willow is going to keep me going.

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