When I was cleaning my bathroom two weeks ago, I discovered my scale under the counter. I’d placed it there many, many months ago during a previous cleaning to get it out of the way, and there it’s sat, dejected and forgotten, ever since. So, I stepped on said scale for the first time in probably more than a year. I knew it wouldn’t be a happy number, I do own a mirror after all, and I look pretty much like shit right now. And, yes, 200 pounds is very much not a happy number.
So I now weigh the most I’ve ever weighed in my life. Well, a tie, actually. I got up to 200 pounds once before, a couple years ago. I started watching what I was eating a little better and got myself down under 180 and was okay with it. This time, it will require more than simply a passing attention to what I’m eating. This time it will require a full-blown diet with a healthy side of exercise thrown in.
I unofficially started the diet last week, doing as well as I could while burning through whatever little bits of fatty foods I had left in the cupboard (I’m too poor right now to waste food, so they had to be eaten!) Then, this past week, the diet started in earnest. Keeping a food log of everything I eat and adding up the calories and the fat, keeping an exercise log right with it to track how many calories I burn each day, and making sure the burned calories column comes out much higher than the caloric intake column.
So far, it’s going quite well. I’ve already lost 5 pounds in the two weeks I’ve been at it, which is just about the right number. Anything more than 2-3 pounds a week can be un-healthy and potentially cause as many problems as it solves. Either some time next week or the week after I’ll slide into an exercise regimen of some kind, so that I can not just lose fat, but hopefully build a little muscle. I’m not looking to turn into John Cena or anything, but it would be nice to have a little bit of tone!