Half The Man I Used To Be (Part 1)

Wow, a second posting! That must be a victory in itself

I suppose this is somewhat obligatory, but the photo helps explain a bit of where I used to be and where I am now. About six years ago, I had pretty much reached the point where I couldn't carry that extra poundage around. My joints ached, I was on two high blood pressure meds, and I couldn't walk a flight a stairs without losing my breath.

When you suck in your gut in the mirror (in my naive attempt to convince myself that things weren't that bad) and nothing moves, it's pretty much time to do something about it. Thus, I started my quest.

My mind is a bit of a tangent-loaded minefield. Thoughts, ideas, tasks will pop in and disappear at a whim, only to reappear within a myriad of time periods. But when I do need to focus, I can get stuff done quite efficiently, as was the case here. I started off this quest at over 280 lb; right now I hover right around the 135 lb mark.

People who knew the past and present me ask me if I have some secret diet, some nutritional supplement, some gimmick or secret that helped me out. I wish I did. I'd be marketing it right now, making loads of cash, and probably buying up residences across the country in this down housing market.

What I respond with isn't terribly sexy. "Didn't aim high (I went what seemed to be a relatively attainable goal of 1-2 pounds per month.) Ate less. Exercised more."

Obviously, it's not as easy as that. I've encountered many people on my journey who are doing the right things and have the most difficult time knocking off that little extra. And there are those jealousy-inducing folks who can seemingly eat a cartload of food and not gain a single ounce.

Maybe one of these days they'd be able to take into account your genetics and be able to construct the best dietary regimen on an individual basis. But until then, there will always be a little guesswork involved. I know I'm still trying to perfect things (I still need more veggies & fruits in my diet, though I am starting to work more of those in) myself, but I'm pretty happy at the results so far.