Under 20 to go!!!

So, I started this p90x thing about a month ago. I had some expectations, but I did not think it would do everything that it has. Eighteen months ago I weighed 241 lbs, I was disgusting. I was watching this show on television and it said, to lose weight you have to diet and exercise. This is the only healthy way to lose weight. Did you hear that HCG users? What about Atkins supporters? You need a balanced diet and exercise to lose weight and be healthy. The guy on the show flat out said, dieting is hard, it’s supposed to be. The things in life that are easy to attain are never the things that are the most prized. Is no one suspicious of HCG? There is no miracle drug to make you lose weight. We've seen them before, Phen-Phen, Hydroxycut, many others, they either do not do what they say they are going to do, or they end up harming your body in very serious ways. People have died on Hydroxycut, died. For those of you taking HCG, 500 calories a day is not a healthy way to lose weight. It just isn't. I was talking to a woman on HCG and she said, you're not really only using 500 calories per day, your body is burning the fat deposits it has stored up, and thus, it gets calories from those deposits. Oh really? So like, when you're starving to death? Yeah, that's what happens when you're starving to death, your body starts to eat at your fat deposits, your stored energy. HCG is a starvation diet, no, I'm going to take it one step further, it's anorexia! So, I was ready to take on the dieting challenge, the guy on the show said the easiest way is to start small. Make sure you have at least one serving of fruits and one serving of vegetables a day. Try to cut out as much sugar as you can, don't eat too late at night, the last thing you eat should be about three hours before you go to bed, eat breakfast, and, get this do not be afraid to eat a moderate amount of carbohydrates. They are good for you, people. He also said to buy a calorie counting book and keep track of everything you ingest, food, ounces of water, everything. I had made up my mind. I was going to do it, I was going to start a diet. I did some research and found that the absolute lowest amount of calories a man my age and height could take in a day and still be healthy was 1500. Yeah, three times as many as the HCG diet allows. So, I decided to stick to 1500 calories a day. The diet was the hard part. The physical exercise I needed actually came easy. This guy, who I later found out was a nutritionist, wish I knew his name, went on to say, you need to get exercise, it's crucial, at least five hours a week. Great! I thought to myself, I hate going to the gym and struggling in front of all those meat heads. Then, the guy said something that really stuck with me. "You don't have to go to the gym and struggle in front of strangers." Ha! That was almost exactly what I was thinking. He said I needed to think back to what I would do as a kid for physical exercise, since kids are much more physically active than adults, and do that. Basketball! It was so simple. I put myself out there, I got myself invited to every game I heard about. It was fun, and it was easy. In five short months I had lost around 55 lbs. I was down to 185, the lowest I had been in four years. I didn't use drugs, I didn't go on any miracle diets or take any kind of miracle pill, I did it, me! I understand there are people out there that need chemicals to help them lose weight because they have imbalances. I also know this number is not consistent with as many people using chemicals to help them lose weight. I had achieved my goal, and surpassed it, to get under 200 lbs for my wedding. The honeymoon, seven day/seven night cruise kind of put the kibosh on the diet. I rocketed back up to 195 lbs and I was getting as much physical exercise as I was since I started playing basketball. See! Diet and exercise go hand in hand! I had hit a wall. I was stuck at 195 lbs, wasn't going up, wasn't going down. I had heard countless times about an extreme fitness program called p90x. I had been wanting to try it, but never really whole-heartedly. Suddenly, it was everywhere, billboards, buses, web site banners, even my favorite radio talk show host was peddling it. I figured I'd give it a try. It's a 90 day program of which I am right now 27 days into. Let me just give you some statistics, 21 lbs down, drops in both cholesterol and blood pressure, less stress, higher self-esteem, more positive outlook on life and oh yeah, one more thing, increased activity in the bedroom. Ha ha ha! Seriously, there's only one way to be healthy people; diet and exercise. No two ways about it. You're not too busy, you're not too lazy, just get started, you'll get addicted and end up loving it. I'm not saying you have to take the same route I did, you don't have to do p90x, find what works for you. I owe Tony Horton a lot, and I'm really looking forward to the next 63 days. I take my 30 day pictures tomorrow, if I'm brave enough I'll post them on here. As Tony Horton would say, do your best and forget the rest.