Full Disclousure

Let me start with just a brief introduction.  I am Manny De la Mora.  I am 34 years old and work as a chef at the Chevron corporate headquarters located in downtown Houston.  I am happily married.  I am fat.  I have, as far as I can remember, always been a big guy.  When I was younger this was just inconvenience.  I sometimes had a hard time finding clothes that fit or the pretty girl did not really look my way.  Nothing really life changing.  However, as the years went by my health was affected by this problem.  First I was diagnosed with diabetes.  Then I noticed that my left hip was giving me problems. When I went to see the doctor he diagnosed me with severe arthritis in my hip.  And while my weight was not a direct cause of it, it was certainly not helping matters. The arthritis is so severe that I now require surgery to fix it.  The doctor also told me that in order to ensure the surgery and recovery would go more smoothly I need to loose weight.  That was when it really hit me.  I am too big and really need to loose some weight.

You see, even after being diagnosed with diabetes (which I know is serious) I just never really felt any consequences.  It sucked and I knew I had to avoid eating too much sugar, but it still felt like I could manage.  After my hip started hurting I could literally feel the need to loose some weight.  I knew that if I wanted to have a better quality of life, that if I wanted to have kids and play with them or just be around, that I was going to have to loose some weight.  This was back in January of 2012.  When I told my wife we both decided to join Weight Watchers.  We officially joined on Feb. 21, 2012.  My weight at that time was 343 lbs.

My current weight is 302 lbs.  My total goal is to loose about 80-100 lbs.  As you can see Weight Watchers is working.  But as with anything in life you have to put in the effort.  At my lowest weight, I was 297 lbs.  However, over the past 6-8 months I have slipped.  I have gotten complacent or lazy.  In some cases life events (like the illness and subsequent passing of my father) have interfered with my goal.  This is one of the reasons I am writing this blog.  I hope to use it as motivation and to help me stay on track.  Kind of like an online journal other can, and hopefully do, read.

So in this blog I will talk about and discuss some of the difficulties and challenges I face throughout the week, especially given that I work in the food service industry.  Whether it be at work, at home, or just being out in the world.