A picture is truly worth a 1,000 words...

It started with a single photo. A snapshot taken by my sister's phone, of me, receiving an award at a banquet. The event was held on Thursday evening, Feb. 27, 2014, and I received the photo this morning. Upon opening it, I was shocked to see... how fat I had gotten. It wasn't the smile on my face that caught my eye, it was the gut peaking out from under the bright yellow tie I was wearing.

Sometimes that is all it takes. A single glimpse of yourself as others see you. A reality check of how things really are as opposed to how you want them to be. Or wish they could be. Or trick yourself into ignoring. That photo was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. Although, from the photo it appears that I was the one who had eaten the camel!

While looking at the photo I had a number thoughts running through my head. Part of me wanted to simply delete it. Another part was hearing my wife's voice tell me that I had reached the largest pant size available in the "normal" stores and if I kept getting bigger I'd have to shop at the big & tall men's store. Ouch. She wasn't passing judgment, just merely stating a truth. None of my suit pants fit right, I can't button my suit coats and either my neck has gotten thicker or the dry cleaner has been shrinking my dress shirts. Unfortunately, I think it was the former and not the latter.

I knew when I saw that picture that something simply had to change. I desperately needed to lose some weight. How much, I'm not sure. Frankly I'm not even sure how much I weigh at the moment. My best guess is above 230 lbs, which was a far cry from where I need to be.

The real question is not how much weight do I need to lose. It's how I'm going to actually do it.