Did I ever tell you about the time I went to the ATL on God’s dime??

So back in September I had decided to visit my sister’s family, they live down near the ATL and that is where I lived & worked for about 2.5 years before moving back to good ole NC.  At this point in 2011, let me remind you, I had been officially without any sort of full-time or even really part-time work since January – thus making it about 9 months with no real income.  I was about to begin my trek as the Head Men’s Basketball Coach for Mid-Atlantic Christian University (GO MUSTANGS) and my schedule would become INSANELY BUSY.  So I decided that this would be my last opportunity to return to the ATL to visit with family & friends, for quite some time.

I have been known to have the spiritual gift of squeezing more bang out of a buck than most people you will ever meet, but what was about to transpire was truly one for the ages.  I knew I didn’t have much money to work with, but I had saved up some miles on Airtran in order to have a free one-way flight from NC to the ATL.  Then due to some flight delay troubles on a trip earlier in the year I had also received a $25 voucher to use on another flight.  So the return trip I was able to book for about $60 and then when you take off the voucher – I was going to be able to fly ROUNDTRIP to the ATL for about $45 TOTAL.

Since I was visiting with family I knew we would eat a lot of meals at their home – always a HUGE BLESSING and I have some friends that were gonna let me borrow a vehicle (THANKS BLOEMKER CAR CARE CREW ha ha ha) so all I’d have to pay for was gas.  While I was there I also experienced extreme generosity from some others who paid for some meals along the way.  Once the 6 day trip to hang out with family & friends and travel all over the ATL and even get in some awesome sand v-ball with friends – was all said and done, I totalled up the money spent and it was about $99 and some change.  I mean come on can you believe that?  All that travel & fun & frolicking for less than $100!  It was AWESOME.

But that isn’t where the story ends – in fact this is just the part where God’s greatness begins!  Now let me be careful cause I do not like to be one of those people that shouts out the motto: “God is good” for someone else to holler “All the time” and then respond with “All the time” for them to echo “God is good!” only when something goes my way or when I’m living it up on easy street.  You see I must be convinced that even in the midst of drunk-driving deaths, cancer-stricken saints, devastating bouts of depression, unexpected unemployment and the list of difficulties go on and on – GOD IS STILL GOOD and we must never forget that what we are going through – does not determine His greatness!

But it just so happens that in the midst of this invigorating vacation I witnessed just another blip on the radar of the beauty of his bounties.  It happened when I took some time to go and visit one of the beloved ministry partners with whom I worked closely and built a wonderful relationship during my time in the ATL.  I stopped in to their workplace to catch up on what God was doing with their incredible & powerful ministry in the urban center of the city.  I also shared what God had going on back in my life in NC.  We chatted and chuckled and just genuinely enjoyed our time together.  When it came to it’s end – much like all other times we have visited – we finished with a powerful time of prayer.

It was at the end of this prayer time that it happened – that God smiled upon me through the heart of this sacrificial saint.  As they went back over to their desk they began to excitedly scramble around in the desk for some items and started to tell me that they felt God prompting them to do something.  To give me something – to encourage & help me.  I was a bit confused and uncertain as to what was about to take place.  In a flash they had whipped out their pen & checkbook and was scribbling out info on a check.  I thought to myself that they were gonna give me a check to take back to the church where I had worked in an effort to help support some of the ongoing ministries or maybe that they wanted to send money back to help with some of the work I was blessed with doing back in my hometown.  But then to my surprise they tore out 2 checks – and quickly replied that they wanted to do something to bless me – to help during the tough financial times.  That they believed in what God had me doing and wanted to ease some of the burden of being without full-time work.

They reached over and stuck 2 checks in my hand – made out to my name.  They explained that they had dated one to be deposited immediately and the other was to be deposited at the end of the month.  Each check was for – wait for it ………….

$50 each – totaling $100 – that’s right – the exact amount, within pennies – of the TOTAL COST of my travels to the ATL.

So you see – some people may believe in a God that only has time & energy & interest to take care of the “much bigger” things in this life, but I know better, I know that I serve & worship a God, that on occasion, even wants to see some of his kids get the chance to travel to the ATL and it all be on HIS DIME!!!

I was blown away to see that it has been about 6 months of “dead air” on my blog – now I was never so on-the-ball that I was knocking out a post a day but I did do a lot better till I hit the latter part of 2011.

Seriously I checked it out – I have posted ONE time in the last 191 days – that is 6+ months with only ONE update from me!

Leads me to ask the question – HOW THE HECK HAVE YOU ALL SURVIVED??  I mean months of digital darkness leading to depression for both of the people who follow me on here!

This probably all has led you to the question – just like was asked of Sinbad – “WHERE U BEEN?”

Well I figured there is no better way to kick off the new year than to play a lil game of catch up -

SO

HERE

WE

GO…..

At the end of July I attended an AWESOME reunion from the local Elementary School I attended here in EC.  I went to grades Kindergarten through 7th before moving over to another school here in town.  Some of those people I had not seen in 20+ years it was crazy.  That same weekend, continuing on the nostalgia train, I began preaching a revival at my home church – Holly Neck Church of Christ in Roper, NC.  This is the small country church I attended from birth till I went to college.  My dad was the preacher there for 22 years!  It was wild getting the opportunity to return there and share with the fine folks of HNCC.

Speaking of speaking – I had the wonderful pleasure of doing my fair share of that over the last 6 months.  I spoke at 9 different places/events for a total of 17 messages.  This included Elizabeth City, South Mills, Roper, New Bern, Washington and Providence all in NC – as well as Chesapeake, Virginia Beach and Yale up in VA.  This kept me hopping and doing bunches of travel but I truly enjoyed it!

Kids playing knockout at Summer Camp

I also had the pleasure of helping to plan and present a 3 day summer camp for elementary children here in Elizabeth City.  This was put on by my wonderful Rehoboth Victory Christian Church family to minister to the kids of the community.  I helped run games and lead sessions on Peer Pressure and Bullying.  Speaking of Bullying, I’d like to tell ya about another WONDERFUL opportunity I was invited into that would help the youth of our community.  I was asked to be a part of a committee that helped execute a 1 day Conference-type event for local high school students.  Various local community leaders came together to produce a 5 hour event entitled “Building Functional Friendships” (get it?  you like the “BFF” idea for effect ha ha).  We invited 80 high school students from the 2 area high schools.  There were about 40 young ladies and 40 young gentlemen in attendance that day.  I worked alongside a good friend to do a workshop on Bullying.  I believe that it was received very well.  It was shocking and sobering to hear some of the very real life stories that these young men and women were facing.

As if these above items and engagements were not enough – I also had the pleasure of doing some more “personal” things.  I took a “delayed-all-expense-paid-trip” to Atlanta in September to see family and friends.  (post about this crazy story).  I began training for my first ever 5K run.  If you know me you know how much I detest, nay – LOATHE to run.  But it was for a great cause, to raise funds for the local school system.  I actually then completed my 5K event – hitting all my goals of – 1) Not dying – 2) Finishing in under 30 min – 3) Running the entire way.  I also had the chance to visit friends one weekend in the Wilmington, NC area and another weekend went to visit friends in the Charlotte, NC area.

I had the joyous experience of performing a wedding for a terrific couple of friends in the Raleigh area.  I got the chance to be a part of an 8-week small group study with some friends here in E City that challenged us to really work harder at rethinking & refocusing on the way we view the Church and the world around us.  To begin to see things more the way that God does, it was a good time to grow together and learn from each other.

Neal with kids from his class at Sheep Harney

Another one of the other major time factors for me over the last couple months has been my time volunteering at Sheep Harney Elementary School.  I head over there typically on Tuesday & Thursday mornings for a couple hours to work with a Kindergarten class.  We do everything from playing games, to reading stories, coloring, and working on math.  It has been an awesome experience just getting to know this class full of wild and crazy kids!  I also finally attended my first UNC Basketball game of the year with my cousin Tara just recently around Christmas.

Speaking of basketball – I’d be INSANE not to mention what was probably the LARGEST reason that I have been blog-world-MIA over the last few months.  Some of you may remember a couple of posts back in MAY and JUNE about me becoming the Head Men’s Basketball Coach for Mid-Atlantic Christian University.  So basically from about September until Christmas break things were moving at lightning speed overseeing all that comes with that role.  It’s been a wild & mostly wonderful ride.  I’d be lying if I said that there were not TONS of obstacles to climb and hurdles we have had to hop but I honestly believe that we are getting things on the right track.  You really should CHECK OUT OUR SCHEDULE and try to find a time to come “BACK THE HERD” and see the MACU Mustangs in action!  At the semester break we are a meager 4-10 overall but have a 3-1 conference record!  We have won 3 out of our last 5 games and are excited about the semester ahead.  We are also ecstatic about hosting the conference tournament at the end of the year right here on the campus of MACU the weekend of Feb. 16-18!

And then who in the world could forget one of the GIANT STORIES of the fall – HURRICANE IRENE and the way she battered Eastern NC.  You can even see some of my LIVE VIDEOS of “on the spot” reporting during Irene.  Which was most definitely “Weather Channel Worthy” I’m sure you would agree!

Okay people – WHEW – sort of made me tired just reading back over it all!  But now you have the 411 – we have answered the question of “Where U Been?” – I hope this helps everyone to rest more easily this evening!  I also hope to do better at staying more on track with 2012.

Hope you all had a great end to 2011 & are excited about the possibilities in store for this year to come!!!

SERIOUSLY has it been an ENTIRE MONTH since my LAST POST??

That’s right June 26th was my last one and today is July 25th and WOW what a last month it has been.

It may just rank right up there as just about THE BEST MONTH EVER!!  As you can read in my LAST POSTI was just about to head out on an epic journey.  I was speaking for an entire week of camp that was bookended by preaching at 2 churches.  Well ironically enough I’ve just gotten back from working another week of camp (Sr. High week at Woodland Christian Camp outside of Atlanta, GA) where I spoke for 2 of the evening sessions and once again bookended the week of camp by preaching for 2 different church families.

Fortunately after I got back from the first trip on July 5th I had about 8 days before I rolled out again – so for those of you who enjoy some of the details here is a lil bit of the rundown.

June 26th preached in E City that morning – then left for Camp Rudolph in Yale, VA.  I worked there all week speaking for the evening sessions.  I left camp and headed to Chester, VA (near Richmond, VA) to spend the weekend with some good friends.  I also got the privilege of speaking for Chester Christian Church that Sunday, July 3rd.  Stayed a couple more days just visiting with friends in the area.

Drove back to E City on July 5th.  Stayed there doing work and catching up and writing new sermons for about 8 days.  Headed out-of-town on July 13th to Newport News, VA where I was catching a flight to the ATL.  My flight got delayed by about 2 hours due to storms and then maintenance issues.  BUT THE GOOD NEWS is that I was rewarded with a FREE ROUNDTRIP FLIGHT ANYWHERE AIRTRAN FLIES to be used anytime in the next year.  AIRTRAN ROCKS!!!!  They have great customer service.  So I didn’t get into the ATL till Midnight.  My brother-in-law picked me up and we got back to the house early that Thursday around 1 AM.

I stayed with my sister’s family over the weekend – caught up with some good friends from the ATL on that Friday night.  Then, on that Sunday, July 17th -I preached for the church I worked with down there for the last 2.5 years – LifeBridge Church.  I grabbed a quick lunch – packed up my stuff and headed to a week of Sr. High camp at Woodland Christian Camp.  I got to speak for 2 of the evening sessions, was a cabin group leader for some GREAT GUYS and also ran the “Field Day” activities on the final evening.  It was a tremendous week of camp full of great stories!  I Left camp around Noon on Friday, July 22nd and then caught a flight out of the ATL that evening, bound for Newport News.  Got back in – picked up my car and drove over to Chesapeake, VA.

I spent the night with a cousin I hadn’t seen in quite a while – finally caught up on some more e-mail and computer work.  On Saturday I went over to visit some friends and spent the night with them.  Then on Sunday AM, July 24th I got the chance to preach both AM services for Real Life Christian Church there in Chesapeake, VA.  After church I caught up with some good friends who I haven’t seen in a long time and have had a brand new baby boy.  We hung out that afternoon and then finally – just a lil weary – I headed back to E City.

I made it home around 7:15 PM and sort of just crashed for the evening.  And now after looking back and reading over the last 30 days or so I am not so shocked that it has been a WHOLE MONTH since my last update.  Crazy times but I am loving all the visiting, traveling, preaching, seeing old friends and making tons of new ones.

So for any of you who enjoy seeing where I am headed next or just where I’ve been or might like to be a part of these whirlwind travel experiences – check out my “Travel & Speaking Calendar” right here on this blog:

OR

Go to my Facebook page “Passionately Speaking with Neal Alligood” and “LIKE” it so you can stay informed!

Whew – what a wild & wonderful month – thanks for all who have been such a huge help & encouragement & May God be Praised & Glorified through these events!

Starting this morning – I had the privilege of preaching for my home church family of Rehoboth Victory Christian Church in E City.  This afternoon I’m headed to begin a week with some middle school students at Camp Rudolph.  I will be the evening worship service speaker.  We kick things off tonight by talking about how Jesus is THE WAY and then all week we will look at different “Ways” of Jesus and how we should live in THE WAY.

Next weekend I will leave camp and drive on to Richmond, VA to spend a few days with friends and get the chance to share a message at 2 services on Sunday AM for Chester Christian Church.

All in all – over the next 8 Days I will preach/speak 8 Times!!!
NOW THAT IS SOME CRAZY EIGHTS!!!

As always keep track of where I am & what I’m up to on my “Travel & Speaking Calendar”

As indicated on the graphic above I am setting out some EXPECTATIONS for my present and future MACU Mustangs.  I want them to understand with great clarity what I desire for them to SHOW if they expect to be a part of our team as well as the areas in which I desire for them to GROW while they are a part of our program.

“WHAT YOU SHOW!”

I call this the 4 – C’s and these are the traits that I desire for young men to SHOW as they expect to be a part of our team.

CHARACTER – A young man showing great character with things like honesty, integrity, diligence and loyalty helps me to know that I am able to rely on them and that they will do whatever is necessary to excel in the classroom, on the campus and on the court.

CHEMISTRY – This is one I believe gets greatly overlooked so often.  While it is important that a player has talent and can compete (see the next trait) I believe it is of greater value for them to fit well & mix within the TEAM concept.  In TEAM sports it is tremendous to have a great player but I’ll take a team full of young men that get along well and fight for one another (as opposed to fighting against each other) over this “1 Star Team” any day.

COMPETENCE – There is definitely a role in this list to be played by pure talent and ability.  We definitely desire that as well, to make this machine run more smoothly, but it needs to maintain its proper place on the list after Character and Chemistry.  It is an important factor & needs to be focused on.

COMMITMENT – The final “C” is one that is truly lacking more and more each day.  To be absolutely committed to putting the TEAM first by taking care of themselves again in the classroom and on the campus so they are not disqualified from completing the season.  The commitment to studies, to working hard to improve their game, to being ON-TIME if not EARLY – all of these are a part of true Commitment.

“HOW YOU GROW!”

I call this the 4 – S’s and these are the traits that these young men should expect for ME to help hold them accountable in which to GROW while they are a part of our University and Basketball Program.  It will be an ultimate goal of mine to see them GROW in all four areas.
I also call this the “2:52 Principle” as it is based on the scripture found in Luke 2:52.

We see here an early example from the life of Jesus – He was said to GROW in SAGACITY (yeah it’s a word look it up!) = Wisdom, STATURE = Physical ways, SPIRITUALLY = favor with God and then finally SOCIALLY = favor with men.

It is my desire to find ways, once again, in the classroom, on the campus, in the community as well as ON THE COURT to help them GROW in:

SAGACITY = Wisdom – finding those teachable moments to not just seek to help them gain knowledge, but to take that knowledge and put it into practice, making the applications to their life in order to gain greater wisdom.

STATURE = Physical – helping them through conditioning and workout programs to be in peak physical condition in order to be at the top of their game as well as handle the rigors of life.

SPIRITUALLY = Connecting with God – creating avenues to help each individual connect with God in greater ways.  Helping them to develop plans that will benefit their relationship with God and putting them in environments that will encourage this spiritual growth.

SOCIALLY = Connecting with People – encouraging the importance of living in community with others.  How to relate to and rely on the people on the team, around their campus and those they will come in contact with during their time at this University.

Now you can consider yourself INFORMED – in fact at this very moment there is a group of young men finding this out for themselves and hopefully taking the first steps to becoming a part of our MACU MUSTANG Family – and now they know & yes of course “knowing is half the battle”.

WOW – I’m not even sure where to begin – ONE WHOLE YEAR??  SERIOUSLY??

It’s hard to believe I began this journey ONE YEAR AGO on this Wednesday in June, it’s pretty interesting to go back and see my thoughts and plans for this adventure back then.  If I had to evaluate based on some of the things I had written in that post last year – I’d say I’m doing MUCH better with the weight loss and eating better (a lot of that has to do with more home cooked meals by my mom now that I’m back in E City as opposed to eating out as much).  I have not stayed as active with regular heavy doses of drinking water.  I still basically ONLY drink water but not drinking as much of it each day as I should.  I was sort of caught off guard by what I wrote about getting to bed earlier & getting up at a regular time each day.  That one has TRULY fallen off track – so it was a good jolt to my memory.  I definitely need to work harder at that.

All in all I’ve felt pretty solid with where this has gone.  I am not so sure if I am more proud of sticking to something like this for an ENTIRE YEAR (including the actual blogging about it as well!) or the fact that I have lost over 10 pounds and kept it off – well that is depending on what the readout for today is!

So now the pressure is on – I had set a goal of 225 to get under and stay under.  Over the last 12 months I had done so, but in the last few weeks had bounced back up around that number.  I have set a new goal – simply so I don’t just plateau and get lazy and then lose momentum – of being & staying down in the 215-220 range.

At last week’s post I showed how I had dropped another pound and now I find myself at the VERY LAST WEIGH-IN, at least on a weekly basis anyway.  So how will this all end – will I bounce back up above my original goal?  Will I have just leveled off?  Will I have kept up the positive downward momentum from last week?

I guess there is nothing to do but jump on the scale and find out….

Drumroll please…………………………..

As of Wednesday, June 22nd 2011 my weight is:  223 lbs.

THERE YOU HAVE IT FOLKS!!
It’s 1 Year Later & I’m 1 Year Lighter!!!
I did it – I finished with a slight weight loss once again (yeah less than stellar finish but it’s better than ending on a weight gain FOR SURE!)

Overall I have lost 12 pounds and been able to keep it off.  I am successfully under 225 and staying there for weeks on end.  Now it’s time to keep up the good work & even increase it a bit by taking steps to get down in the 215-220 range.  I’ll keep you posted once in a while, since I know you ALL will be DYING TO KNOW! ha ha

Thanks for taking this journey with me – hope it has helped to encourage or challenge you in some way in your own life.  We DO HAVE CHOICES – we can sit back and let life run us down OR we can take control and make vital changes that will truly make a difference in not only our own life but in the lives of others.

As they say – it’s been real and it’s been fun, but it hasn’t always been REAL FUN – one thing that is fun is always finishing out with a final flurry of hollering this happy phrase – come on let’s all do it together now –  “HEALTHY OR NOT, HERE I COME”!

You know it is a good Father’s Day when the following things occur:

(disclaimer – all of the following items are deemed “facts” not due to a statistical nature but because they all took place on Father’s Day to me – someone who does NOT have any children)

#5 – After spending 2 hours working alongside of a couple of friends on the condo rental property you own a couple of days before – replacing multiple electrical outlets due to them being so worn out that no plugs will stay in the outlet, you receive an e-mail stating that all the plugs you fixed are fine but after you left 2 more outlets that had been previously working NO LONGER HAVE ANY POWER COMING FROM THEM!

#4 – I really DID HAVE FUN getting a chance to hang out and eat lunch with the Moulden/Woolard/Cox crew for a Father’s Day Feast in Plymouth before rolling back to the big E City!

#3 – At the end of the church service in this small town congregation where you have just preached a message – one of the ladies announced they were going to hand out special treats to honor all of the dads in the room.  As she spoke words of kindness and encouragement and made her way around the room handing out the cute little bags of goodies – I heard her pause and offer up these words to me sitting on the front row, “Neal are you a father?” – to which I sadly hung my head in shame (not really but it makes #1 on this list even better ha ha) and I simply replied that I was not.  All the while it took every ounce of self-control to not blurt out “well not according to the last 2 paternity tests I took!  In your FACE MAURY POVICH!” ha ha ha – to which I could have headed out to my vehicle and never looked back as I would never be asked to speak there again.

#2 – Upon arrival at the small rural church where you have been asked to come and guest preach while their minister is out-of-town – the man in charge of getting you the check to cover your cost of travel and speaking says to you, “What is your last name again?” – After you reply “Neal Alligood” – he then sort of chuckles and holds up your check while saying, “uhm I guess you aren’t the astronaut then?” only for you to realize it has been made out to “Neil Armstrong” – that was ONE SMALL STEP to prevent me from cashing that check and ONE GIANT LEAP for him to remember who the heck I am!

#1 – When you arrive home that evening to check your e-mail – the reality of your lack of social life is highlighted by the receipt of the following e-mail:
“Neal, find love this summer on SeniorPeopleMeet.com” where at the ripe old age of 35 I can meet 50+ singles FOR FREE and share my few remaining days on this earth in pure geriatric bliss!

I came across these 2 guys – Hugh Halter and Matt Smay, at a recent conference I attended in Florida.  I was intrigued by some of the things they had to share about their own battle with the frustrations of simply going through the motions and “playing” church.

I’m not going to lie to you – what they will say will be a tad hard to hear for those of us who have grown up “in the church” and have certain standard mindsets about how it will all run.  I will also so that some of their theological stances might not completely align with where I am – but they are RIGHT ON TARGET with much of their assessment of how we “do church” instead of BEING THE CHURCH.

I believe this issue is important enough that I wanted to highlight the 2 books here in a specific post – more than just listing them on my 2011 READING LIST for everyone to see.

So if you are looking for a couple really solid reads along with some much-needed humor and even a few swift kicks in the seat of our suit-pants, then I encourage you to check out:

“THE TANGIBLE KINGDOM”

as well as

“AND: The Gathered and Scattered Church”

And trust me – you will thank me for it – or at least want to fight me – or maybe them – or maybe all of us – but anyway it will get something stirring inside ya and that is always a good thing!

OOPS!  I did it again – I played with your heart …. um oops sorry, nevermind – I actually did it again by not stopping last week-long enough to give you my HONHIC update.  While I DID miss writing about it I did NOT miss doing my weigh-in.  The problem was that last week was pretty hectic as I was a part of a pretty cool basketball camp for some young ladies over in Plymouth, NC.  So last Wednesday I got up early enough to do my weigh-in but not early enough to jump online and write about it.  I was gone all day long and then had the same routing going on Thursday.

By the time I got to the weekend I headed off for an awesome “college age & young adult” retreat up in Virginia and did not get home till Sunday afternoon only to find myself busy with other things I had to catch up on from being gone.  Next thing I know it is now almost Wednesday again, so I just decided to get a 2-for-1 special.  I’ve had times in the past where I had to skip a week from posting, but this might be the first time I’ve ever actually had the weigh-in total but just not stopped long enough to give the results.

But all that has changed – so now that you all have waited so patiently – finally you get your 2-for-1 WEDNESDAY WEIGH-IN SPECIAL…..

Drumroll please…………………………..
As of Wednesday, June 8th 2011 my weight is:  224.5 lbs.
As of Wednesday, June 15th 2011 my weight is: 223.5 lbs. 

Okay, Okay – yeah I hear you – this was sort of a let down – the old digital scale numbers were moving all over the place.  After doing some serious celebration back on June 1st – I unfortunately jumped back up 2 pounds on the 8th, hovering back up around my old goal of 225.  Needless to say I wasn’t happy about that one, but then I got back on track a little bit better this past week, and was even able to get in a couple solid hours of volleyball last night.  All of this helped to bring me back down a whole pound, but still keeps me at a pound higher than what I was on June 1st.  Definitely leaving me with mixed emotions.

As I come into the final week of my year-long journey I really want to work hard at getting closer to the 220 mark or below – which is becoming my new goal.  I want to be in the 215-220 range to sort of “hangout” for the years to come.  This has been a crazy battle and at times while I am slightly frustrated that in just about an entire year all I really came down has been a little over 10 pounds from the original 235 mark.  I am VERY MUCH ECSTATIC that I have fallen from the 250 mark where I had been at one point in my time in the Atlanta area and I think all in all I am a bit healthier.  Being healthier and solid weight loss was the goal, so I am happy with those results.

So don’t forget to TUNE IN NEXT WEEK to catch the final episode of HONHIC (okay maybe not the “FINAL” as I will probably keep posting a random update every few months as a reminder that even though this was a year-long journey – it was ONLY the beginning to some serious life change).

So here I go with 1 of a final couple times of hollering, “HEALTHY OR NOT, HERE I COME”!

Today was to be a truly intriguing experience due to a real lack of exercise the last few weeks – I’ve been on the road a LOT and with classes at MACU shutting down for the summer there have not been many people around to play ball.  So I’ve had to try and be more careful about my eating habits due to some of this lack of exercise.  I felt pretty good about how I had maintained things since last week – but I’ve learned never to ASSUME I didn’t gain weight! ha ha

So there was nothing to do but jump up on that scale this morning to see…

Drumroll please…………………………..
As of Wednesday, June 1st 2011 my weight is:  222.5 lbs.

HECK YEAH!!  That’s right people – I decided to CELEBRATE JUNE 1st IN STYLE – what style might that be you ask?  The LIGHTER STYLE – that’s right – another whole POUND bit the dust this week – even without much going on in the exercise department!  Which will hopefully be changing tonight as a crew of friends is hopefully getting together to play volleyball.  This makes 3 straight weeks of dropping some weight – which is always encouraging!

Now there ain’t nothing to it but to DO IT – by finishing out these last few weeks STRONG – trying to get below that magical NEW mark of 220 and forging ahead in this new lifestyle of screaming “HEALTHY OR NOT, HERE I COME”!