A TwistedChristian Dad

I’m a big proponent of social media and the online community. I think it has a vital role to play in our society, and it shouldn’t just be passed over like many try to do. When it comes to the online world I am not merely a consumer, but an active participant. I tweet, I’m on Facebook, Linkedin, and a regular on a number of various forums. For every hobby I have I am a member of multiple forums with little communities devoted to those hobbies. Bowhunting, bass playing, gardening, computer stuff, WoW, straight razor shaving, and the list goes on.

The online community I am most involved in is a group of Dads, and on a larger scale parents in general. There is this amazing community of dads that blog and tweet, and it is a place where very real relationships develop. It is a community of guys that are there for one another, to provide support and guidance, to cheer you up when you’re having a rough day and to celebrate the little achievements and milestones that come with being a dad. A great example of just how amazing this community is can be found in this post, where we all expressed our love and support for a fellow dad and his wife who lost their unborn child to a rare disease.

What really got me thinking about this though, was a conversation (if you can call talking in 140 char a conversation) on Twitter, between Chris (@paparocks6) and John (@thedaddyyodude) and subsequent blog posts (here and here) about dads helping dads. We all want to be better dads, and we all have things we can improve on, but it can be hard going at it alone.

So as a dad trying to make positive life changes, I thought I’d jump on the Dads Helping Dads bandwagon. Accountability, I believe, is a key part of making changes, so having the support of fellow dads, along with the accountability of checking in with people, and having them check in with you, is essential to making successful life changes.

I’m tired of being overweight. It happened a few years after high school, and I just can’t seem to shake it. This year marks 10 years since high school, and I’m 40lbs heavier now than I was back then. Now I understand post-high school weight gain is pretty typical, especially as other things begin to take priority over exercise. But I want to change that. I don’t want to be one of those dads that gets all out of breath just running around playing with their children. It is something that struck me a couple of years ago, before becoming a dad, when I was playing with my nieces and nephews and I would get out of breath and sweaty just playing with them. I figured I should make a change, but never really committed to it. Last year my wife and I started Weight Watchers and I dropped almost 35lbs! I went from almost 260 to 225ish (I would hover between 225 and 230) in about 5 months, though by May my wife was 4 months pregnant and I lost the motivation to continue WW on my own. So a year later and I’m hovering just under the 240 mark. As a dad this is unacceptable, and I am committed to making a change.

A few months ago I attempted to do the C25K (couch to 5k) running program designed for someone with zero fitness level to progress to run a 5k in 9 weeks. After 2 weeks I had to stop due to bad knees (a problem that has plagued me since junior high). But with my new job I’ve started biking to work. It is 6k each direction, which isn’t a huge distance, but that is 12k a day, and for someone who hasn’t been on a bike in 3 years, this is a good start. And with the ability to shower at work, I am much more inclined to actually bike to work.

So here’s my goal: I want to be 200lbs by Christmas. I’m committed to this goal. I am going to make it happen. But I can’t do it alone. I know this. I’ve tried and failed many times, so I’d like to leverage some of this Dads Helping Dads support to power me through it. There are 22 weeks (including this week, which is half over). I weighed myself Monday morning and I was 240. This means I need to lose approximately 2lbs a week for the next 5 months; a perfectly reasonable goal, I believe.

Now I understand this weight fluctuates depending on how much I ate/drank prior to weighing myself, and when I last took a dump. But I figure if I weigh myself at the same time every Monday morning it will eventually average out. I also understand that it could take a week or so for my metabolism to kick in before I start to see the weight drop.

Will you guys give me a hand with this? This isn’t a call for support to just my fellow dad readers, but to anyone who reads my blog (all 12 of you). Help keep me accountable. Ask me on Twitter how the weight loss is going, or on Facebook, or in the comments, or send me an email. I will have a weekly update post as well. So what do you think? Are you on board? All my little blogger and twitter friends?

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