I‘ve been writing here at this site for almost 3 years now, and during that time I’ve had quite the roller coaster of fitness and weight. I’ve been as high as 270 lbs, and as low as 210 lbs. I figured today I would fess up to the struggles I’ve had over the past couple of years, and talk about what I’m doing to fix things now.
I Was In Good Shape… What Happened?
About a year before I started this site I was in my best shape since high school – having lost over 50 pounds, and dropped from about 260 down to about 210 or so. I was only about 10-15 pounds away from my goal weight. I had done it through a combination of healthier eating, and exercise – lifting weights 3 days a week, and running or doing other cardio 3 other days. It was working pretty well. And then disaster struck.
In April of 2008 my wife had a catastrophic blood clot in her leg. The clot could have killed her, and for many people something like that does – but thankfully by the grace of God she made it through. She was in the hospital for about a month, during which time I never left her side. It was touch and go for quite a while.
While I knew I had to be by my wife’s side, during that time I stopped working out completely. I was eating fast food 3 times a day at the hospital McDonald’s restaurant 0r cafeteria, and during that month alone I gained at least 15 pounds.
My Eating Habits Never Got Healthy Again
While my wife ended up getting better and going home, we were both extremely stressed out during that time, and the last thing we wanted to do was cook healthy or exercise. So we started eating out more often. We ate out a lot, as in a majority of our meals. Neither one of us exercised.
I knew it wasn’t healthy, and I knew I was slowly gaining weight, but I honestly just didn’t think about it too much. I was just so stressed out with all that was going on in our lives.
The Motivation We Needed
At the end of 2009, my wife got pregnant, and we had a little one on the way. We were both excited, but as the pregancy progressed, we both continued gaining weight. In June of last year little Carter John was born, and we became parents.
Having a little one in the house meant that we both realized that we needed to change. Neither one of us wanted to be this unhealthy anymore, and we wanted to be there for our little one, and be able to run and play with him, without being out of breath. That wasn’t going to happen with where we were.
At the end of last month, we joined Weight Watchers. I joined mainly as a support to Maria, but found that it was actually a good program for men as well. I think it gets a bad rap as a “women’s only program” when in fact if you join the meetings or online program, it works really well for men as well.
So far we’re both losing weight. Only 4 weeks in I’ve lost almost 10 pounds, which is a bit more than what Weight Watchers says is typical (1-2 lbs a week). I’m down to about 260, from a starting weight of 270.
Read my review of the Weight Watchers program
Stick With Us As We Get To The Dirty Business Of Weight Loss
So here we are. We’re back on track, working out regularly, eating healthier, and we’re starting to lose weight. Stay with us as we progress through the weeks, working towards our goal of losing a lot of weight. I’m looking to lose 70 lbs, down to a mean trim fighting weight of 200 lbs. Hopefully I’ll get there within 7-8 months. Wish us luck!
Have you had a weight roller coaster like we have? Are you losing weight again now, or have you already lost all the weight? Tell us about it in the comments.
Share Your Thoughts: