It was then and there that I decided to give up my then cherished Mountain Dew. And cold turkey, at that. For fact or not, I blamed my little Dew addiction on rotting out my teeth for all those years. From what I remember, I was chugging about 2-3 24oz bottles a day between work, home, dinner, etc. I had thought dropping the habit would have been pretty hard, but it actually wasn’t that terrible of an adjustment.

That’s when it ended, and when it started. That habit ended, and a new part of my life started.

After about 2 weeks of giving up all soda, I honestly impressed myself. I thought, why not more?  I decided to give up things like french fries, potato chips, and other forms up junk food.  I dusted off the exercise bike in my office at home that was being used as a coat rack. Once the weather got warmer, I broke out the rollerblades and hit the bike trails. Everyone started to notice a small(er) difference.

Skipping to the results, here’s a photo that Cindy and I took just last week during our trip annual trip to Maui.

Like our trips to Maui, this photo is an annual tradition for us, too. Our last trip was in April, which was just after I started my little life altering experience. Here’s the same photo from last year.

Kind of a difference, can’t you tell?

All told, I was about 260 lbs at the most when I started this last year. Last check, before we left for this most recent trip to Maui, I was weighing in at 185 lbs. That’s a pretty big change for over the course of a year. It’s taken a lot of commitment and tons of support from friends and family, but it’s all been worth it.

Now that the weather (any day now, I hope) is gonna be turning warm again, I’m really looking forward to getting back out on the blades again. My initial goal was 180 lbs, but is 160 out of the question this summer?  We’ll have to see, won’t we.