Sharkasm at it's Finest

I weighed myself this morning and I am now 252.5 Lbs. I am knocking on the door of 20 pounds lost since September. My clothes are starting to fit looser and I can see in my face and in my abdomen that I have lost weight. Also, the loss of weight has relieved the pain in my knees, especially at the end of the day. This is a great encouragement. I feel good about my progress and look forward to losing more. On to a lighter me!

This last week I spent 5 days in Hilo Hawaii with my father and brother Eamon. We harvested over 1400 cacao pods. We then cracked over 2000 pods and collected the beans for fermentation. It was a great time connecting with each of them and catching up. I experienced emotions that I have not felt since I was a young boy. Spending time with my dad was interesting. I felt feelings of anxiety caused by his behavior that I have not felt for a long time. I wonder if I do the same thing to Luke and Arra? Overall, it was a great time spent and I feel I connected with each of them in ways I never have before. I would love to do this more often (maybe a couple times a year). I want to prioritize this in order to assist my dad in his business, but also to be intentional about connecting with him. I definitely want to take my family there so they can see all of the stuff I experienced this last week.

I weighed myself this morning and I am now at 260.2 lbs! 😁 Since 9/23/2019 I have lost an additional 10 lbs! My clothes are starting to feel lighter and my body feels good. I am very proud of my progress and I still have a long way to go, but it is feeling more like a routine now. I have been very good about counting my calories throughout each day and I now have logged 40 straight days in the Lose It! app. I am excited to continue this journey and see the results as I move into a more healthy Ryan for my family, my God and myself. Onward... to a lighter me.

I recently weighed myself after a rather long time. It was not encouraging. I weighed more than I ever have. 279.7 lbs to be exact. I was shocked, but at the same time knowing. I had let myself go. This prompted me to start to take my health more seriously. I need to change my eating and exercising habits if I want to live long to enjoy my family and serve the Lord. I have gone through this before, but not at this amount of weight. I knew I needed to set a goal and stick to it. I re-installed my "Lose It!" Android app and began to count my calories for each meal. I set my target weight at 185 lbs and told the app to forecast my caloric intake for 2 lost pounds each week. That was a week ago. As of this morning I have lost 9.5 pounds just by watching my diet and trying to walk more. I now weigh 270.2 lbs. Onward... to a lighter me.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Romans 15:13 ESV I received this passage today serendipitously through my verse of the day notification. It was quite timely as I had a moment with my Father that I have never had before. We had a good moment remembering his sister Karen and it led me to become very emotional. I was in my truck pulling out to leave for work, but I felt I needed to give him one last hug. As the garage door opened, he was waiting for me there almost expectantly. I felt compelled to hug him and I lost my nerve. It was one of the most  amazing moments of my life. I cried, he cried and I just sobbed in his arms did not let him go. It was only a minute, but it felt like a whole life's worth of my emotions came spilling out. I needed it and part of me knew by the glassy look in his eyes, that he needed it too. It was a God moment... One that I could never have imagin