Where have I been? I don’t even know where to begin…but let’s start with the first project. After extending my donation period for sometime, I was finally able to get $200 raised for Free Arts of Arizona. I want to sincerely thanks those who donated and helped motivate me to keep working. Though I hoped we could have made that amount larger, I hope that it helps Free Arts in some way. Small it may be, but we have to start somewhere, right?

The past several weeks have been devoted to my doctoral work. Just yesterday I presented and defended my dissertation prospectus, passed my exam, and reached ABD status (or “all requirements completed but the dissertation” for those not familiar with the academic lingo. And though the real work begins now with me finishing my dissertation and finding a job, the time has also come to bring my focus back to my health. It’s time for a new project, so if you have a worthy cause, or a favorite, smaller charity that would appreciate a donation, I would like to know! Just comment below or send me an e-mail at john [at] fitlanthropist [dot] com.

Also, I have decided to make two concrete goals with my wife that are going into effect immediately:

1. Eliminate carbonated beverages from my diet.
2. Eliminate sugar from my diet.

Holli has never been much of a consumer of carbonated beverages, but I have. I gave them up once, and don’t know how I managed to incorporate them so heavily into my daily consumption. In terms of sodas, those were heavily reduced some time ago, and now they’re completely gone. However, in lieu of Diet Coke and other diet sodas, I drank a lot of the calorie-free, flavored sparkling water-type drinks. As “healthy” as they may seem, I just don’t think my body needs them. It’s going to be water, water, water from now on.

And in terms of sugar…it’s just horrible. I mean, I applaud those of you who can regulate it just fine, but I don’t want to crave it anymore. So, Holli and I are going to do a sugar detox first before introducing foods back into our diet that have natural sugars in them (like fruits).

Sorry for the long pause, but I’m back, and Holli, Christy, and I hope to post some interesting and vital posts over the next few weeks!

And again, give me your recommendations for our next fundraiser!!

I will be dropping pounds and raising money for Free Arts of Arizona!! It was close and came down to the wire, but it was fun to watch. Thanks to all of you that voted. I wish that I could raise money for all of them at once, but this first go around, I need to make sure I can make a legitimate attempt to earn money with weight loss in mind as well. I would not count out The Andre Agassi Foundation or Nuci’s Space for future goals.

So, now the real work begins. Time to step up and find the donors. Who will match me? Who’ll take my challenge? Who will at least give a little? And who’s willing to send me a cool product for a giveaway?

Stick with me guys, this is going to get interesting!

The word is out! I have contacted Free Arts of Arizona, Nuci’s Space, and the Andre Agassi Foundation to let them know they are in the running for the first fundraiser. I hope the response is positive, and I hope that more votes start to come in.

Speaking of votes, because of the slow start, and because I wasn’t able to notify the organizations until today, I am going to extend the voting until Monday, November 9th. Voting will cease at 6 p.m. EST (or EDT…or whatever the East Coast is on. Hey, I didn’t grow up with daylight savings time, sorry!)

A big thanks to those of you that have taken interest so far…it’s very inspiring, and more importantly, MOTIVATIONAL!

Apologies for the length (5 minutes)! I promise that subsequent videos will not be as long!

First Weigh-In Wednesday – October 28, 2009 from The Fitlanthropist on Vimeo.

All right. Monday, October 26, 2009. That’s the date I’m going live with this.  I’m going to tell everyone I know. I’m nervous because I’m letting everyone in on something that is highly personal…but I promised myself I wouldn’t keep it in. The people who know me know I’m fat…so really, what’s the big secret?

There’s a lot to be done, and I conteplated not starting until I had everything in place, but in heeding my wife’s suggestion of, “You’ve got to start someplace,” I am going to proceed…and hopefully be able to incorporate some others’ help in making some decisions. Like which organization I’m raising funds for…

In the words of the not-so-immortal Jimmy Buffet: “Come Monday, it’ll be all right…”