2) The Beginning

I wish I could say that day one is already in the record books, but there are still far too many hours in the day for me to say that.  I just got home from the gym and I forgot how a) good it felt and b) how much it hurts when you are out of shape.  I am in no way saying I was in shape while I was going regularly, but it had stopped hurting a bit.  But I suppose, so far so good.

So here is what I want to get out of this whole thing:

1. Lose 50 pounds by May.  That's 7 pounds a month and I feel that is very do-able.  Sad thing is, with my height that still puts me at an overweight BMI.  
2. Run in the Pittsburgh Marathon 5k for the Mario Lemieux foundation (in May)
3. Be a better vegetarian/pescatarian (I do eat fish on a very rare occasion).  I rely far too much on pasta and boxed meals for my food.

At first, I plan on going to the gym every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday or Sunday.  Days that I do not go to the gym, I will ride the bike or use the gazelle here at home for 15-30 minutes after dinner.  I figure that will be the first two months or so, then I may actually be mentally ready to head out and do some real running.  I need to get better running shoes first, I fear for my knee.  But then again, if I lose the weight the knee probably won't hurt so much.

I plan on staying around 1200 calories per day, one cheat day of closer to 2000.  I am not going to obsess over carbs, but I am going to watch salt and sugars.  And I am not going to beat myself up if that does not always happen; some days you just have to have a cupcake.