Starting Over This "Starting Over" Thing

I guess I should just start with the basics...  My name is Rick. Nice to meet ya. I'm a 34 year old father of 3 awesome kids, and I'm too fat and out of shape to actually play with them. I'm glad I got that out of the way. Now I'll give you a few details.

Like many obese people, I have always been big. Sure, they might have called me "husky" as a kid, but I'm not dumb. I knew exactly what that meant. I mean, I wasn't the biggest kid in school growing up, but I knew I was always a few pounds away from holding that title. As I got a little older, and puberty took the reigns, I evened out a little bit, proportionally speaking. I got a little taller, my shoulders widened, and I started getting muscles in places I thought were reserved for muscle heads and athletes. I tried to take advantage of it for a short while with the occasional backyard football game, pick up game of basketball, or an evening at the ball diamond. I felt great for the most part, but I never reached my potential. Eventually, "life" set in. High school was almost over, and I was working as much as I could at the local Taco Bell. There just wasn't as much time to participate in my normal extracurriculars and it started to take its toll on my body. I was stuffing myself with self-made burritos at work and chugging Mt. Dew like it was going out of style. I never looked back. 

After high school, I got married and landed a really good job with an incredible pay scale. Before long, we were eating out at least 5 days a week with my new found fortune. Little did I know, I should have been saving that money for more important things... Like a gym membership. Fast forward 14 more years through 3 kids and 2 failed marriages and you'll find this mess I am now. 

I have plenty of stories I could tell about how I tried and tried and tried to lose weight in the past. How I lost 30 pounds a few times only to give up after a misstep or two and gain it all back. Chances are, they are the same stories you've heard 1,000 times before from yourself or people you know that have struggled with their weight. So I'll just end with this instead...

"My name is Rick. I'm done being what I've always been. This is my fresh start. Hang around a while so I can blow your fu*#ing mind."

I think I may end each of these entries with some kind of quote I have enjoyed recently, so here is a good one to start with.

"Be so good they can't ignore you." - Steve Martin