Fat Blogging

Back in August of 2006 I decided I’d better get my act together and begin exercising more and eating a healthier diet. For the next six months I was hard core with my diet. The biggest changes I made were:

1. Replacing Coke with Diet Coke
2. Drinking lots of water
3. Removed sugar from diet
4. Closely monitored carb intake

The first few weeks were miserable. Giving up breads and pastries was the most difficult. Even today it’s still not easy. But I noticed that once I stopped eating sugar, my strongest cravings disappeared.

Eventually dropped my weight from 260 lbs to 205 lbs. I replaced nearly every clothing item I owned. I lost 5 inches in my waist and dropped two shirt sizes. It was great fun to walk into Nordstrom and pick out a couple size LARGE shirts!

I felt so much better about myself. I had more energy to play with my kids. My clothes fit so much better and I could wear things that didn’t look very good on me before.

So it’s hard to admit this but I slipped up about 6 months ago and gained a good chunk of that weight back. I stopped doing those things that helped me lose the weight in the first place. I had a couple of big changes take place in my life that contributed to me slipping up, but had I been more committed I wouldn’t have let it happen.

When I first started my quest to lose weight, I wasn’t sure I could do it. I’d think about my weight every single day but wasn’t sure I was able to do anything about it. This time around I know I can lose weight. The challenge is keeping it off and continuing to eat healthy foods and exercise so the weight doesn’t return.

For the past two weeks I’ve been doing well with my diet and the exercise has been more frequent, although still not what it should be. I’ve dropped 9 lbs. in the last two weeks to bring my weight to 235. My goal is to get to 180 by the summer. I created a spreadsheet at Google Docs to track my weight and bought a new scale that keeps track of my weight and body fat.

It seems strange to put so much focus on a number. In fact, I don’t really know what my ideal weight should be and I may adjust my goal at some point. When I married Kim, I was around 190. My body just “feels” right when I’m around that 180-190 range.

I’m going to reach my goal this time.

This is probably the most selfish blog post I’ve ever written because it’s hard to imagine anyone other than myself (and maybe Kim) who care what I weigh. But I hope by posting my progress occasionally that my blog will work as a motivator and keep me on track. And maybe some of my coworkers won’t place the candy dish right outside my door.

BTW, Jason Calacanis was the first blogger I read who mentioned the concept of Fat Blogging.