You can never go back but man, I'd like to.

Over the weekend I began weeding through a box of old photographs. I don't know what made me do it...maybe the upcoming diet. Regardless, I found myself pulling out the "skinny" pictures of myself and realized I had kind of a photographic essay of my weight losses...and gains.

The picture on the right was taken right after I lost a bunch of weight on my own using what I like to call trauma trim. In a previous post I detail my unfortunate breakup with a young woman who ran off to Miami with the local morning man on the radio. She was his "news chick" at the time so obviously they were spending more time together than we were. I found a bunch of old pictures of her as well...no need to post those here, I guess. The woman seated to my left is now my wife but this picture was taken New Years eve of 1988 shortly after we began dating. We rang in 1989 with her sister and a friend of mine...also standing with a tie. I still see my sister in law quite a bit. Him; not so much. You gotta admit, that guy in that car...pretty hot! Granted, the car didn't come along until later but in the mean time I managed to beef back up while working at a station in Biloxi, Ms. Nutri System came knocking and knocked a good 38 pounds back off of me.

The photo on the left is me sitting on the sea wall in Biloxi do a "call-in" back to the station. I used to walk that sea wall at the crack of noon daily. See, I was the 7-midnight jock known as "Wildman Walker." It was my job to tuck the kiddies in each night and then go find trouble. I did pretty well doing both with a 30 plus share in the ratings and probably 30 plus nightclubs to visit. The picture on the right was after Jenny Craig. At the time I was training for a marathon in Alaska called the Mayors Midnight Marathon. You see, during the summer solstice in AK. it's daylight around the clock. Unfortunately I lost my father to a massive heart attack in April of 1996 so my motivation left me to train. I still completed the half and it was a glorious 13 mile walk/run but I managed to put back the weight withing a year of his death. You'd think I would have learned something from a man who dies at 59 years of age with all of the problems I'm developing now. I miss him terribly still.

Above is when I did Nutri System #2 around 1990. As you can see I did lose the weight but I looked awful. I lost a lot of muscle with it because I was cheating the diet. I should have settled for less than stellar results over a longer period of time but I felt like I was being pressed to deliver so I figured out how to follow the diet most days, cheat a few and then starve or worse before the weigh in. The photo on the left was taken at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. That's space Shuttle STS 50 on the launch pad behind me. I got thrown off the air for reasons I won't disclose here so instead of staying home whimpering a buddy asked me if I wanted to go see the shuttle lift off...are you kidding me, of course. It's still a memory that raises the hair on my arms to this day. very cool. I'm skinny though, right?

Above is around the same time, maybe 1991. This was an event at the local mall for a CD and poster signing with the girls from Wilson Philips. That's me mugging with Wendy, Chynna and the one that was forever referred to as "the fat one" Carnie Wilson. As most of you know, Carnie, like Oprah, Rikki Lake and most of us lost a bunch of weight and then gained it all back. I think she has since had a kid and lost it but Oprah is now over 200...even with a nutritionist and personal trainer. Just goes to show you, money don't buy skinny...

The detailed info on my delivery email says my food won't get here till Thursday. I find it hard to believe that a 30 pound box mailed in Va. takes 3 plus days to reach its destination but it appears to be on tour stopping in every town in Virginia before landing in Knoxville, TN at 3pm today. That better be one very insulated box this food comes in or it is frozen solid like a rock before its shipped...details and maybe more pictures to come.