Kiwi Farms

So about 4 and a half months ago, I got a scale. It was an impulse buy. I have no idea why.

I'm a big guy. I work full time, but past that I'm not terribly active. An ideal weight, with my age, height, etc. Would be about 200 (pounds. Sorry metric users)

I was at 367. The absolute worst I've ever been. My sleep apnea was terrible, according to my girlfriend, and I had frequent back spasms. I decided that I was done with that.

My aunt is a gargantuan woman. When I told her I planned to lose weight, she suggested we lost weight together competitively. I agreed.

When she found out I intended to lose 167 pounds, she gave up, and presumed I was doomed to failure. In the first month, I had no support. I got the sarcastic smile and awkward laughter from others - I don't blame them. How many people announce plans to lose weight and actually succeed?

My workplace is a starving man's salvation. Food flows in like water. People show up with pizzas and burgers as gifts to the employees. I made a habit of declining this food, but it's a willpower game. I decided to count my calories.

Calorie counting is hard to pick up if you've never done it. I like to be as accurate as possible. For me that meant no items without nutritional info printed on them. I haven't tried salads - I hate green stuff - but I stopped eating noodles. Eventually I limited my items to four main items : Eggs. Fish. Soup. And crackers.

A person my size needed 3600 calories to maintain my weight. I cut them to 2400 at first. It was easy really. My only rule was that if I felt hungry, I ate.

At the two month mark, I cut those daily calories to 1200. To the uninformed, that's about 6 packs of Ritz crackers. Or 5 cans of mackerel. I was also walking regularly.

It's been 4 and a half months, and now I'm down 70 pounds. If I had been told it was possible 5 months ago, I wouldn't have believed it. Now I'm almost at my halfway mark. People come in to my job and remark about how much I've lost. My clothes feel like boat sails.

Just felt like sharing. Honestly, I have some idea on why I've been successful, but it still astounds me thus far.

Edit because I didn't feel like bumping my post back to the top: I'm nearly at 100 pounds lost now, 12/19/2019

1/27/20: 115 pounds lost. 52 to goal