Ish's 2011 Blog

Disclaimer:  Those of you who know me know that I am a blunt, straight-to-the-point kind of guy.  I am going to try to write this blog in the same manner as if I was talking to you or telling you a story.  If any of you are offended by anything I say, I am truly sorry.  I am speaking from the heart and letting you know how I truly feel about the subject we are going to be talking about.  However, one thing I do suggest is to take anything that might offend you and use it as ammunition to start your own personal goals for weight-loss or anything else you want to accomplish.   

     Hello everyone!  I would like to start this blog with a little bit of background information about me and then I will fill you in on the reason why I created this blog.

     My name is Brian Palmer, but many of you know me as Ish.  I was given that nickname around the 1st or 2nd weekend of my freshman year in college (~early September 1998).  The story behind the nickname is as follows:  When I was in high school I never drank or smoked cigarettes or anything like that.  When I came to college I started taking part in some weekends parties with my friends and doing "college" activities.  When my friends found out that I never did any of that stuff in high school they compared me to Ishmael from the movie Kingpin.  In the movie, Ishmael is Amish, and obviously he does not drink or smoke.  However, he goes on a cross-country bowling tour with Roy Munson (Woody Harrelson) and Claudia (Vanessa Angel from Weird Science).  During this trip he picks up all the same habits a freshman in the college would.  He starts drinking and smoking and he even gets a tattoo (which I never did).  That is how my friends came to the conclusion that I should be called Ish, and that nickname has stuck for a little over 12 years now.
     Those of you who knew me when I was a freshman in college, or when I was in high school, probably remember a tall, skinny, maybe even lanky, kid who did not have an inactive bone in his body.  At the beginning of my Freshman year at Virginia Tech I weighed 160 lbs fully dressed and soaking wet.

A picture of Michael Killi and me outside of my dorm room.  Not sure when this picture was taken, but since we both have pants on I would say sometime during the late winter.  I probably weigh around 165 pounds.

This picture is from a TKE formal.  I'm not sure when this picture was either, but judging by the X's on my hands, I would say it was sometime during my Sophomore year.  If that is the correct time period, I probably weigh about 170-175.

      To be honest with you, I dont know exactly what I weigh now but one thing I do know is that the last time I went to the gym was in January of 2010.  At that time I was going to the gym pretty regularly.  I would say between once and twice a week, on average, for roughly a year.  Also, at the time, I weighed 259.5 lbs.  I actually remember thinking to myself, "Thank god I don't weigh 260 pounds."  I vowed to myself that I would never weigh this much again in my life. 
     It has been almost a year since that day and I haven't been to the gym a single time.  My work out regiment consists of playing in two softball leagues a year.  I would say we play around 20 games a year and the games last around 45 minutes.  So that is 900 minutes of "exercise" a year.  Do you know what that means?  2.47 minutes of exercise/per day for literally an entire year.  Needless to say, I am fatter than I have ever been. 
     It f'in sucks being fat.  Looking at my triple chin, my bitch-tits, my huge gut, or my gigantic thighs in the mirror is disgusting.  It's awful having to switch shirts a couple of times before going out because I'm afraid the shirt is too tight against my man-boobs.  I lose my breath when I sit down to put socks or tie my shoes because my belly is so big it crushes my chest when I bend over.  My apartment is directly across the street from where I work and walking to and from them sometimes makes me winded and light-headed.  Being fat is exhausting and it's time for a change to my lifestyle. 
     A lot of my weight gain, especially at this point in my life, is because of my eating habits.  I do not think that I eat particularly poor, I just eat a ton of food.  For instance, here is a typical order for me at Wendy's:

     One Large Classic Double Meal, usually one Junior Bacon Cheeseburger, sometimes two, and either an order of nuggets or large chili (depending on the weather).

1/2 lb Double w/ cheese: 750 Calories (42 grams of fat)

Large Fry: 520 Calories (25 grams of fat)

Large Coke: 270 Calories (0 grams of fat)

5 piece Chicken Nuggets: 230 Calories (14 grams of fat)

Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger: 350 Calories (19 grams of fat)

Large Chili: 330 Calories (10 grams of fat)

     As you can see, I eat a ton.  The other day I ate a huge plate full of Chinese.  It was General Tso's Chicken, Fried Rice, Vegetable Lo Mein, and an egg roll.  Less than 20 minutes later Chris Clements and I were at Burger King where I ordered a Whopper Meal, 2 chicken sandwiches, and a piece of Hershey Pie.  DISGUSTING!!!

     It's time to get to the point so here it goes.  Starting January 2nd, 2011, I will take part in a challenge that I have created.  I will not eat fast food.  I will not eat fried food (Chinese is exempt from this rule).  I will not drink soda that is not diet.  I will do these three things for an entire year.  I will also be adding in different work out regiments on a monthly basis to see which seem to be the most efficient.  I may also add different food items into the mix on a monthly basis as well.  In my next blog I will post my current weight with some pictures of my fat ass (look at your own risk).  I will continue to blog weekly progress along with weekly pictures to track the process. 

     I have verbal commitments from Justin Oyler and Mike Eastty to test their willpower for the month of January.  Eric Grant will be participating in the month of February.  Chris Clements said he will also participate, but he does not know for how long, maybe a month, maybe longer.  I encourage everyone who thinks they may be fat, overweight, or out of shape, to include themselves in this little experiment.  I have posted my phone number and email it case anyone wants to get in touch with me about anything I plan on doing.

    I also encourage anyone and everyone to follow my blog.  This is going to be a hard process for me and anyone else who tries it and it will be nice knowing that we have followers routing us on.  Nobody likes to fail and failing in front of people is even worse.  Think of yourselves as our system of checks and balances...

Thank you for reading, more to come shortly!

Brian Palmer

(540)588-3781

IshVT@yahoo.com