Everything seems to be happening all at once. Seems like this is the time of year when I am busy, busy, busy. It is also the time of year when I want to eat, eat, eat! There is an annual fair about 30 minutes away that I have been going to for most of my life. I remember being there as a little kid, skipping classes in high school to go there when I was a little older and going there on my first date with my girlfriend and mother of my son 10 years ago. It has always been a big part of my life and will always be a big part of my family’s life. The problem is that as an adult, about the only thing to do at the fair is walk around, spend money and eat all kinds of good, good food! Sausage hoagies, cheese steaks, fried veggies, baked goods, Greek gyros, apple cider, pizza, chocolate covered bananas, cheese cake and ohh so many other good foods to eat all in one place and all so readily available just waiting to be stuffed down your throat and make you even fatter. It is going to be hard to control the desire to get all my favorites in one shot, but I think I am up for the task. Plus because we didn’t get the chance to go their last year, my woman tells me she will be dragging my fat ass there every day during the week. It should give me an opportunity to get some walking done, and also give me 5 days to spread my food cravings out over. Let’s hope for the best.

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I have noticed that I tend to eat at a lot of places other than the dining room table. While we generally have a family mean there daily. I tend not to eat my other meals there. Usually I will eat at my desk. Breakfast, lunch, midnight snack, mid-day snack, etc… It doesn’t matter what or how much, I will sit at my desk and hover over my keyboard while eating and not really paying attention to just how much food I am consuming. So, I have decided to make a conscious effort to stop eating anywhere but at the table. The exception might be a snack (in the form of a bowl of fruit or something light) while watching TV, on those rare occasions my girlfriend drags my ass away from working at the computer. So far it seems to be working.

I am also cutting out the junk food snacks and replacing them with things like fruit, veggies or similar items that don’t have massive amount of fat in them. And don’t get me started on soda. I have spent most of my life drinking soda. Some nights at dinner I will drink a litter by myself, maybe even more. That needs to stop. The good thing is that I am also a big fan of fruit and veggie juices as well as water. So I have a good assortment to choose from for replacements. I just need to keep the soda out of the house which should be pretty easy. My biggest challenge will come whenever we go out to restaurants. I will have to wait and see how that goes when the time comes. So far it is going well. I have been having a glass of 100% juice with breakfast and then drinking only water throughout the day.

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After figuring out that I am not just going to be able to start walking 45 minutes each day I decided to look for some stretching exercises and came across some information on Pilates. I started reading and it looked like some darn good exercises to help get and stay in shape and keep fit. It also looked damn hard and not like something I could do. But, after some looking and digging. I came up with a DVD that claims it offers complete Pilates workouts for inflexible people. I put my order in and a the DVD arrived yesterday. It looks promising with a range of workouts that go from 10 minutes to 60 minutes with varied purposes. I am going to try and spend time each morning after getting the kids off to school doing some of these exercises. I figured that would be the best time since no one else will be around except for the dog and the cats. It will be interesting to see how they react to me stretching out across the living room floor. I am hoping to start with the smaller 10 minute sessions and work my way up to an hour a day each day during the week. Hopefully It will help in my mobility and before long I will be taking a daily walk with the family in the evening. It should be an interesting journey.

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One of my biggest problems throughout life has been that I hate to do things that require a lot of physical activity on my part. I have never really been much for sports, other than watching football on Sunday afternoon. If I had the option of walking or driving, I would drive. I have just always hated moving. Which is very much a part of why I am so big. That being said, I have realized that if I want to lose weight, I need to get off my ass and start to exercise and include exercise and physical activity in my day to day life. Otherwise I might lose some weight.. but without being mobile and more active, it will just come back.

The most frequent suggested form of exercise, at least in my case, has been to simply start walking. Forty five minutes to an hour each day should help in getting fit is what I have been told. My problem with that is walking kills me. Because of the fact that I sit at my desk all day long, sometimes until I fall asleep working, and the size of me; I find it hard to walk more than 100 feet at a time. My back and hip seem to be a serious issue because I have been so inactive for the last several years.

Still, I need to start moving and walking is one of the cheapest and best exercises there is. So, I figure maybe if I start slow and work my way up I can get to the 45 minutes a day or maybe even more. My plan is to start out with daily stretching for 30 minutes each morning after getting the kids off to school. Also, there is this old exercise machine out in the garage that his been collecting dust for the past two years. My girlfriend picked it up at a rummage sale with the best of intentions and we just let it sit. It is a rather odd contraption that probably doesn’t do much to help you lose weight. But it seems as though it will at least help me get moving and stretch me out a little, which is what I’m after. Off to the garage I go.

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Met-rx protein shake - 260
4 lg tacos
- 2/3 cup cheese - 220
- salsa - 50
- lg shells
- 3 cups lean ground beef

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1 cup cereal - 230
1/2 cup milk - 75
1 cup Juice - 120
banana
lg salad with raw veggies
6 olives - 30
12 croutons - 90
lg chicken breast
4 tbsp dressing - 200
1 can mixed fruit - 280
1 cup grape nuts - 200
4 cups v8 veggie juice (low sodium) - 200

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Bowl cereal - 230
1/2 cup Milk - 75
1 pear
1 apple
1 banana
4 tacos
- 1-1/3 cup cheese - 440
- 6 tbsp salsa - 60
- 2 cups meat

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So, I have finally got around to putting this site together. I registered the domain a while back and had planned on make the site, Built Big - A Resource for Fat People. I wanted mostly to make a place where larger people, like myself, could come and find information and reviews about products, services and just day to day things in general that would make life a little easier. I got the idea for the site when I was out with my family at a restaurant and found myself unable to squeeze into one of their booths. They had no tables. It was pretty embarrassing and I thought it would be great if there was a place to go online to read reviews by other big folks to see what places were size friendly and what ones were not. There is just so much time in a day though. I never seemed to have the time to put it together. But, I kept thinking about it. When I went to buy a car, I thought, wow, I need to get that site going so that big people can come and post reviews about the cars they like the best. It was a real pain in the ass trying to squeeze my large ass into the drivers seat of some of those cars. When I went to the movies with my girlfriend, I thought about how uncomfortable the seats were for my big fat ass and wondered if some theaters had better seats more accommodating to big people. I thought wow, built big would be a great place to find that information, if only I could get the time to put it together. When I went to buy some new clothes I thought to myself, I need to get that site built so I can see where other large folks are shopping.

Well, I haven’t actually found any extra time to add to the day. But I have decided to make a determined effort to get that site built. But it is with a twist. I decided that while I am happy being big. I will be happier being not so big. So along with a resource for fat people, Built Big is also going to be the Diary of  a Fat Man. It will be my journal kept online  detailing my attempt at losing weight. The products I try, the services I try and the results I get. The food I eat, the exercises I do and the day to day ups and downs of a 460 pound man trying to lose weight. My plans for the site include the addition of a forum where anyone can come and post their experiences with products, services, establishments, etc. Or just to come and chat with other big folks. I also plan on adding in a link directory with links to all types of sites geared toward larger people and a few other things as well. I expect that it will always be a work in progress and hope that it is at least somewhat helpful to other people out there. Welcome to Built Big!

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Last month I was having some problems with a persistent sore throat, so I set up a doctors appointment for the first time in about 12 years. Since I was a new patient, I had to wait a month to get in to see the doctor. My appointment was last Friday. Until that point, I hadn’t really considered even going to the doctor to lose weight. I’m not a big fan of doctors and such. It always seems like they are quick to prescribe some sort of medication for this and another one for that and so on and so forth until you are taking medications to counteract the side affects of the first batch of medication. In the end it boiled down to the fact that I wasn’t looking forward to hearing about all the things that were wrong with me because I am a big fat ass. The sore throat turned out to be a result of allergies which I got an $80 prescription for (ouch!) and I still need to have some blood work done to find out all what may or may not be wrong with me. But, the good part of the trip was that the doctor I saw is going to refer me to a nutritionist, which I am looking forward to. I am hoping that it will help me further understand portion control and calorie counting as well as what might be better foods to eat.

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So, what’s my goal? Well, my current weight is 460 pounds and my target weight is 175, so my goal is to drop 285 pounds. And I plan on tracking every last step of the process I take right here. I am not expecting an overnight success. I am in this for the long haul. I figure If I am halfway to my goal a year from now, I am doing things right. That will be an average of 2 - 3 pounds per week. So, my long term goal is to drop 285 pounds before September 2008. My short term goal is to get my portion sizes under control, learn more about calorie counts and get started with some exercises.

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