Vanity?

Sure. I admit it. One reason to take the challenge is to change the way I look and the fact that I don't like the way my body appears is prime motivation for change.

One fine morning, as happens to all guys sooner or later, I woke up and found my father staring back at me through the bathroom mirror.

Now...don't get me wrong....I love my Dad. He's the greatest man I know and I can't think of anything that would make me prouder than to be compared to him in any way. Yet my Dad was overweight most of his adult life. Also being a southerner, he was prone (as I) to loving any food that came out of a frying pan. Lotsa meat, lotsa fat, lotsa salt, and all topped off with lotsa sugary iced tea and desserts. As a result, he developed diabetes and struggles with a variety of health issues that have put a damper on his retirement years; a time when he should be enjoying to the fullest all the things he had to put off in order to raise a family.

Thanks to a careful management of his diet, my Dad has now recovered a great deal of functionality. In fact, one could say that the onset of diabetes may have extended his life several years by forcing him to start taking care of himself.

My Dad was lucky. He dodged the bullet.

I don't want to press my luck like that. I have the realization that time is running out for me. I don't believe there are too many more days left before I pass a point of no return in obtaining good health.

So....vanity? Yeah. We all want to look attractive. Muscle is much more pleasant a sight than flab. But there is an even more selfish reason I want to transform.

I don't want to die.

At least not for a couple of decades and certainly not by wasting away in a broken down body.