No Longer Obese!

I have never been what you would call a slender person.  For most of my life I have struggled with my weight.  I can trace the beginning of my weight problems back to the summer between 3rd and 4th grade.  As summer break began, I started to develop stiffness in my legs.  They never were sure what the problem was but thought it was either rheumatic fever or a reaction to a rubella shot.

As a result, I spent most of the next 9 months in bed.  For a 10 year old boy who was used to running around playing ball all summer, to be stuck in bed was awful.  There was nothing to do but eat and watch television.  I couldn't even walk.  My father would have to carry me to the car to take me to the doctor.  By the time it was all over, I had gained a bunch of weight and my muscles had atrophied to the point that I had to learn how to walk again.

When I went back to school, I was no longer an average looking kid.  I was fat and wearing husky sized clothes.  Add to that having to get glasses and it was a tough time for me.  Eventually, I went through a growth spurt and grew taller.  My weight stayed the same, so I was able to slim down a good bit as I entered junior high and high school.  Though slimmer, I was never thin.  I guess you could describe me as sturdy.

During those days and college, I became a lot more active.  I participated in a lot of sports and did a lot of weight lifting.  All of that activity kept me in pretty good shape, though I never really ate right.  I just felt like it afforded me the opportunity to eat and drink what I want.  Eventually, after college, I got my first 9-5 job.  My activity level decreased, and I started to gain weight again.  I think I gained 30 pounds that first year.

The problem was that as time went by, my responsibilities grew at work. I became less active overall but kept the same eating habits.  So the weight started to pile on.  It used to amaze me to see former professional athletes gain a bunch of weight after they retire.  They kept the same calorie intake, but didn't have the output.  Let's face it, even Michael Phelps would look like Jabba the Hut if he stopped training kept eating like he does now.

A couple months ago, I decided to take the plunge and start a new was against the battle of the bulge.  I decided to once again use the MyFitnessPal app on my phone to keep track of my calories.  I decided to set a goal of losing one pound per week to calculate the amount of calories that I could consume each day to lose weight. However, I also have made a conscientious decision to try to stay far enough below my goal to try to lose a little more each week.

I set for myself an overall goal to lose 60 pounds.  This would be enough to put my BMI into the healthy range.  Whenever one takes on the task of trying to achieve a monumental goal it helps to break the goal into smaller individual goals.  My first goal was to get my weight down to where my BMI was under 30 so that I would no longer be clinically obese.  That goal was achieved when I weight in this morning.  Now I am just overweight.  It is a nice psychological barrier.

My next goal is a little bit closer to hitting than the first one was.  I needed to lose 21 pounds to get my weight out of the obese range.  My next goal is to get my weight down to under 200 pounds, so I only have about nine pounds to go.  Beyond that, I have either one or two goals remaining and I reserve the right to adjust them somewhat.

I feel as if 180 pounds would be a nice healthy weight for me.  It is definitely much better for me than the 230 pounds I was sporting six weeks ago.  Technically, according to the BMI charts, 175 pounds would be the upper range of the healthy range for my height.  That is why I have set 170 pounds as my initial overall goal.  So far it is going well.  I just hope that I can keep with it and then keep it off when I get to where I want to be.