Redemption!!!

Wow, talk about your roller coaster ride.

After a zero week last week, I couldn't wait until after the show today. I went to Clemson early, hopped into the training room, and weighed myself.

The result?

Lost nine more pounds.

That brings the total to 24 in the first five weeks.

This up and down mental ride is exhausting. But weeks like this make it worth it. Now I've got to make sure I keep it going in the right direction.

So now, the scoreboard update:

Week 1 - 9 pounds
Week 2 - 3 pounds
Week 3 - 3 pounds
Week 4 - 0 pounds
Week 5 - 9 pounds
************************************

Adding this to today's entry. Some recent emails have asked how/why this weight loss issue got started, and why I'm doing it in public? The following is part of a column I wrote for TigerNet back on Dec. 13. This should explain it all:

Finally, a rare personal note.

I want to clear up some confusion about something I said on my radio show today. I want it in writing so everyone knows what I said.

I'm not dying. I'm not sick. I've got nothing terminal. Yet.

What I did get was a warning shot fired in my direction after a visit to the doctor Wednesday.

Blood work has revealed that I'm in a pre-diabetic stage, and that my good cholesterol number is about 12 points too low. Not surprising for a guy roughly the size of a Volkswagon Beetle, eh?

I always kid about my weight. I'm not sensitive about it, and nobody makes more jokes about it than I do. People who otherwise can't win an argument and fire away at my weight when they criticize something I write or say think they are bothering me. They aren't.

I'm fat. We've documented that point. I did it to myself. I'm not suing McDonald's or anyone else for making me this way.

What I am doing, though, is finally saying enough is enough. Those warning signs came from tests I took after finding out my dad is having much more serious issues that are also weight related. It was a wakeup call for me, because I want to be around long enough to become a burden on my children (thanks Jeff Foxworthy).

In seven years of hosting my own daily show on WCCP and even a time or two in other on-air capacities before that, I tried weight-loss tactics that were nothing more than publicity stunts. Well, I can promise you this is no stunt.

I now know that if I don't do something, and quick, not only won't I be around to bug my children in my old age, I may not be around another 7-10 years to heckle all of you. And goodness knows how much I love doing that.

Anyway, Friday I go for a stress test. If all checks out well, I begin work with both a physical trainer and a nutritionist inside the next couple of weeks. Serious work. No publicity stunts.

It's the drive to stay alive.

Why am I saying this publicly?

Two reasons. One, perhaps there are others in a similar circumstance. If talking about my problems inspires someone else to take the same steps I'm taking, then I've accomplished something.

But I'm also asking for your help, asking you to become something of an extended support group. As much as I'm on the road and out in public, visible to many of you, I want you to help be my conscience until I get this thing rolling strong in the right direction.

If you see me eating or drinking something I shouldn't be, call me out on it. Smack me. Put me in a headlock. Do something.

Temptation is around every corner, and as you can see I've turned more than a few corners in my life.

I have a great wife and two beautiful daughters. I have a job I love, a number of wonderful friends, and a readership/listenership that keeps me on the straight and narrow.

It's all worth living for, and it's time I make sure I'm living for them for a long, long time.

I appreciate your support.

Keep me, and my dad, in your prayers.