As Woody Allen said, the heart wants what it wants. So, why are you here?

Weight loss.

I'm putting this information out there because it's time to finally do something about it.

A week ago, I bought a scale; I felt it was time. I'd known that I was gaining weight, since I was working at a desk all day, and watching DVDs in my off-time. And sure, maybe I go out, but a lot of that is going out to eat, or to a movie, or to somebody's house. I very rarely get a call that says anything like "who's up for wind sprints?" Also, my diet featured fried food almost entirely, and sometimes, if I was up for it, ice cream.

So I knew what I was getting into. In fact, I ate a whole bunch of food before I hopped on the scale, so that I would be able to say "woah, what is that? I've never weighed near that much."

Three years ago, I was rail-skinny. I weighed 133, my face was so angular I would often compare it to a wedge, or a piece of candy corn, and amazingly, I was on average considerably paler than I am now.

Two years ago, I was in the shape of my life, not a big accomplishment but still worth mentioning. I was 160, was an adventure course leader, playing intramural basketball, weight training twice a week, and I spent spring break clearing brush and playing with kids at a children's home. After showering I would often flex in front of the mirror for a fairly extended period of time. I felt pretty good about myself.

A year and a half ago, I was 145 and lean, living in Romania working at the orphanage, playing pick-up, and mowing lawns with a rusty mower. I was also not really eating anything except bread, which probably was a factor.

One year ago, I was 165, chunking out a little bit, but mostly in solid shape. I shot hoops once or twice a week, weight-trained once or twice a week, and spent February in the Alps hauling equipment. I was just starting to notice my metabolism slow down, and wondering why I was looking chunky.

Last summer, I was 170 to 175, clearly not in my best shape, but still going for long walks, swimming or rowing as much as possible when we went out to camp or to the town pool, shooting hoops in the driveway, etc. Not in amazing shape, but I would comfort myself that I was "close." I would have described myself as a little "out of shape." I was convinced that if I wanted to, I could lose the weight in a week or two without a problem.

But then I moved to Texas and got sedentary. And sure, I would try to use the treadmill or the exercise bike, but both of them just bored me to tears. I hated it.

And I went from "out of shape" to "Geez, I should really get back out there and get some exercise" to "I'm starting to develop a little bit of a paunch" to "no matter what angle I stand at, I have a double chin" to "I do not have a single shirt that can disguise this figure as muscle." And then I bought the scale.


I weighed in at 190. One-ninety.

So I'm going to start dropping weight. It's official. I'm planning on dropping 10 pounds a month, and be back to 160-165 by May. Most people would worry about that being too fast, or running out of steam, or decide to take it slowly while they're "getting back into it." But I'm not worried. I'm not gonna take it slowly. I'm just gonna do it. It's decided.

I'll keep an update in the sidebar (if you aren't reading this on the main site, click here), and I'll let you know my progress.

165. By May 1st. I mean it.

Labels: 30 pounds in 3 months, no money down, weight loss

posted by Ben Wyman @ 10:18 PM