My Motivation

I know that I have mentioned this a few times, but I am getting married in August 2012. I fiancee is a wonderful woman who has been by my side in good times and bad, prosperous and times when I didn't have a job, and no matter how big I was, she has loved me and I her.

In early October, we went out with a few friends and as friends with fancy smart phones will do, they took a picture of us. When I looked at this picture, it was the final straw. I needed to lose weight. Not for myself, but for Ashley. Ashley who has done everything she could to make our wedding wonderful. I know that wedding pictures last lifetimes and I wanted to look back on our wedding photos with pride, not "Oh my God!! Ashley is beautiful and I am a blob in a tux next to her."

I wanted to post the picture that finally got my butt off the couch and into the gym.

My face was rounder than I have ever seen it and a shirt I had just purchased and wore one time prior, no longer fit.

This weekend, we went out and got smart fancy phones of our own. With it, my fiancee took a picture of me. While I still need to lose weight, the 20 + lbs that I have lost is evident.

While not looking directly at the camera, you can see that my face has lost some weight and believe me, clothes are definitely fitting better.

Cost and Pain of the Routine

Creating a routine and going from inactive to super active to lose weight can be costly, especially if you don't know what you are doing. I learned the importance of shoes over the past week. When first starting out, I was lectured by my brother about shoes.

'You have to get a new pair of shoes,' he said. 'You don't have shoes designed for running.' And right he was.
After a week and a half, I began getting blisters on the bottom of my foot. A really nasty one kept me going full pace the last few days last week, and was causing enough pain to have me give up the treadmill after 10 minutes on Monday.

I am not one to spend much on shoes, but I went out and bought a pair of new gym shoes for *gasp* the gym. Shoes designed for running and not to hurt my feet. After buying these shoes, I started adding up all of the costs for this new lifestyle. It adds up quick. Be warned, if you are going to attempt this, you should know what it is going to cost you in advance.

Thus far I have spent:
Gym- Membership: 21.00
Gym- Annual fee:- 50.00
Clothes- Shorts: - 28.00
Clothes- new socks and underwear (boxers and working out don't mix) - 20.00
Clothes- Shoes- 30.00
Gym Lock- 5.00
Total: $154 not to mention $20.00 a month for the gym

All of this cost has been worth it thus far, as long as these shoes prevent more blisters. ouch.