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Hi! My name is Robert, and I'm 48, married to a wonderful woman, Martha,
with four
monsters (17, 15, 9 and 9) that keep me on my toes! I have two jobs -- my
primary job is a
paramedic/firefighter for our local fire department, and I work as a flight
paramedic at my second job. In all, I'm a pretty busy boy -- too busy to eat
right and exercise, or so I thought. I'm changing

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Hi! My name is Robert, and I'm 48, married to a wonderful woman, Martha,
with four
monsters (17, 15, 9 and 9) that keep me on my toes! I have two jobs -- my
primary job is a
paramedic/firefighter for our local fire department, and I work as a flight
paramedic at my second job. In all, I'm a pretty busy boy -- too busy to eat
right and exercise, or so I thought. I'm changing that.

I got tired of feeling like all of my pants are glorified sausage skins, and really
got tired of all the guys at my station constantly ribbing me about my weight
and eating habits, which I admit, were lousy -- to the point where I was
carrying 280 lbs. on my 6'2" body. My nickname at work is "Shrek," and it's
not just because I'm big and bald. I think the belly has something to do with
it.

At the end of June 2008, I decided to put myself on a low-carb diet, and have
been doing pretty well on it (lost 27 lbs so far), but Dr. Atkins said that
if one diets without exercise, one isn't really doing the Atkins plan correctly.
So, in August 2008, I decided to start exercising, using Power 90, which I had
bought several months ago after having seen a P90X infomercial, but used
only once. I want to eventually
graduate to P90X and have everyone gawk at the change! So now, with your
help (should you decide to accept this mission, Mr. Phelps), I'll keep this up
and lose the fat, gain the muscle, and get the guys at my station to stop
poking fun at me, or at least find something else about me about which to
poke fun (there's probably quite a bit).

I'm also doing this in concert with my 17-year old daughter, who is, as
all teenagers are, self-conscious, and wants to look great for her upcoming
senior year in high school. I need to keep it up, because I think that if she sees
that I'm no longer doing it, she won't keep it up, either. So, in addition to
pushing myself, I'm also pushing my daughter, and not just for our
appearance, but for our health.

In my line of work, I constantly see people whose diets and sedentary
lifestyles lead to diabetes, heart disease, strokes, heart attacks and death --
it's especially disturbing when someone young is affected by these. I
have a family history of heart disease, hypertension and diabetes. My
cholesterol has always been high, and I want -- no, I INTEND -- to change
that so that I can be around to see my children -- and my future grandchildren -- grow up. They say that
heart attacks are the number one killer of firefighters -- I don't want to be
just another number added to that statistic.

So, here I go on this journey which I hope will take me to a new life of feeling
good, energetic, confident, and able to do whatever my kids or job require of
me. Wish me luck!

UPDATE: I'd already changed the ages of my kids. Other than that, not much has changed, except for the fact that I'm not doing the low-carb thing this time. And I weigh 5 pounds less than last time. I'm just trying to eat less now. Let's hope it works at melting the goo I carry around my belly. Wish me luck!!!

UPDATE: Okay, I'm starting yet again today, August 22, 2010. I'm a little discouraged because I'll start and I won't continue -- I'm always making excuses. Yet the goo grows. I'm up to 280 again. I'm the male Dolly Parton: I can't see my feet. I'm having problems with the van, so I'll have to start riding my bicycle to work now. Let's see if I can keep this up. I especially have to eat well; that's my Achilles' heel. I guess we'll see. Wish me luck!

NEW UPDATE: Well, I started low-carb dieting at the beginning of November, 2010 because I'm involved in a four-month contest to see who can lose the most weight. I started at 280.6, and as of yesterday, was down to 253.0. I still have a long way to go. When I started, I was trying to get back to Power 90, but wasn't being too good about doing it. I also tried jogging and weightlifting, with the same kind of results. Last week, I got a copy of INSANITY, and this is the end of week one (January 30, 2011). I have yet to see a change, but I can feel my body changing due to the intensity of the program. I'm excited enough about this to want to keep it up -- I just hope that I do. I think I'll be okay, as I missed this past Thursday and Friday, but was a good boy and made up Thursday, Friday, and Saturday yesterday and today. I wasn't too keen on doing two workouts yesterday to make up for Thursday and Friday, so I'm gonna do my best to NOT miss a day! Wish me luck!!

UPDATE: Starting Day 1 of Insanity! yet again. Beginning endlessly, as the Prince song goes. Some day, I WILL continue AND complete the program!! I have this much to say for myself -- I'm NOT giving up, no matter how many times I re-start!

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: September 28, 2011. I've been running for the past month or so, and haven't been losing much because I haven't been eating right (I fall off the wagon a lot), but to my credit, I have to say that I haven't GAINED any weight. Now that I'm starting the Beachbody Challenge, let's see if I can keep up with the workouts (I'm doing Insanity right now, and will keep running, as well). Wish me luck! Again!

YES, YES, ANOTHER UPDATE. BEGINNING ENDLESSLY... January 22, 2012: I'm starting again, but this time, I'm gonna start with Hip Hop Abs, gonna do it with my daughter. Then I'll go to Insanity, and then P90X and P90X2. Well, that is, if I can keep it up. Wish me luck. Since January 2, I've lost 15 pounds just dieting, so I hope I can keep on doing what I'm doing. I feel better, just have to FEEL better with exercise. I thought I'd take a picture each day of my progress. I guess tomorrow is as good a day to start taking those pictures. I still have a lot of goo to lose, so I suppose the pictures won't show THAT much of a skinny guy. Let's go!! Oh, I'm gonna start running again, too, or perhaps taking up a rowing machine at work. We shall play it by ear.

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