I believe there comes a point in most Americans' lives (several points, if they are being completely honest) where they examine their body, weight or overall health and say to themselves, "I really need to make a change." I've recently reached one of those points in my life. My weight was the highest it's ever been. My clothes were beginning to get too tight. Dietary constraints had relaxed to a point that I was eating and drinking much, much more than I should. I was overdue for a lifestyle change.

This isn't the first time I've come to this realization. (You'll notice I said "one of those points.") In the past, both Deb and I have taken steps to, at the very least, eat better. We tried eating a more plant-based diet, regularly choosing vegetarian options over meat options. Additionally, we tried the other side of the spectrum by following guidelines laid out in the South Beach Diet. (In fact, we began Phase 1 right before the Thanksgiving holiday. A challenge, to be sure, but we did extremely well.) Deb and I had success with both of these plans and still follow some aspects of each today. However, like most plans, consistency is the key and over time I grew lax and fell back into many of my old habits.

The greatest success I had ever had in regards to weight loss was following a simple plan of counting calories and exercise, using a website called SparkPeople to help me keep track of my progress. (Deb and I referred to it as "Sparking."). The first step was to come up with a weight loss goal and calculate the calorie range necessary to reach that goal. My modest goal was to lose a pound a week. While I wasn't following any specific diet plan, the beauty of this system was that in order to stay within my limit and still feel satisfied, I had to make smarter, healthier food choices. You can eat a lot more salad than you can french fries smothered in cheese and bacon.

Because I had success in the past and the freedom to eat what I wanted, providing I was smart, I began Sparking again several weeks ago. I set an initial goal that, as it turns out, requires me to lose less than a pound a week. So far I have been doing pretty well, losing over 10 pounds in about six weeks, a pace that is actually ahead of my goal. The one thing that I was having trouble with, however, is exercising. Exercise was important to my earlier success and, because of my schedule, I was able to work out three to four times a week without any problem. These days my schedule is much more chaotic and the time I do have to exercise seems very limited. Okay. Some of that is simply me making choices to relax or do something more enjoyable instead of working out. Regardless, I was having trouble finding the motivation to at least start some kind of exercise program.

I finally found that motivation. As it turns out, that motivation came from work. Every year my company forms a team to participate in a local Corporate 5K run that raises money for local food banks and youth athletic programs. This year's race is scheduled for late April and, as always, an email went out looking for people to participate. I thought what better motivation than to sign up for the race. I did put it off the final decision till the last minute, but in the end I signed up. Not only that, I signed up as runner to push myself even more (runner's time expectations are faster than those who walk, obviously). Part of the deal is that my company prints t-shirts for the run with a list of all the participants. If my name's on the shirt, then I guess I'm committed. No backing out now.

So, I ordered some jogging shorts, bought some better sneakers and fired up my walking/jogging app Zombie's, Run! again. I've been out walking/running several times and plan on training at least every two to three days. My current time is well below the goal (no surprise there). However, I'm already seeing improvement in just a week (not to mention an increase in weight loss). Of course, as I'm huffing and puffing down the road I think to myself, "Am I crazy? Why in the world am I doing this?" But I keep going.

Please continue to follow Half Air as I post updates on my progress and the final race results in April.