How to be a loser for all the right reasons.

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I'm the fat guy, have been since high school. It's how I identify myself. I'm comfortable with it, and I accept it as my chosen lifestyle. Hey, I like food; so this goes hand-in-hand. I've embraced it. It's part of my identity. And I'm not saying that in the high school girl with an eating complex that isn't super model thin but is in no way even remotely chubby but says she's fat because that's what society tells her, I'm saying it as a matter of fact... not opinion. Don't tell me I'm not thinking you're being "nice", or "helpful", by all medical standards, and anyone who isn't legally blind's own eyesight, I'm short, my belly sticks WAY out, and there's isn't an exposed part of my that doesn't have excess "padding" (underneath the thick coat of hair that grows everywhere except on top of my head of course). Trying to say otherwise, no matter how good your intentions, irritates me to no end.
            So why then, would I put time, money, and effort into changing that?

Don't do it!

So why do it? I was comfortable. I wasn't looking for a change. Where did the motivation come from? Simple, it was a challenge. And without asking or needing to be told, I knew most people that know me would think I'd either go half-hearted and give up after awhile if not giving up immediately the first time I got hungry. So proving everyone else wrong, and excelling at something purely out of spite, sounds like the perfect motivation to me. In addition to that, I did receive some good advice from a former coworker (and former fellow big man, Chris T) awhile back when I teased the idea of losing weight. He told me "use your cheapness as motivation".

Punt pounds to pinch pennies.

Now not to brag, but I make a decent living. Enough that when I would go to a fast food restaurant and spend as much as a family of three would on dinner just on my lunch, it didn't phase me; provided it was limited to once or twice a week of course. However, that was before I became a father of three boys who's appetite is growing bigger each year. Even eating at home with a regular grocery bill, I alone was eating the recommended portion size of a family of four. When you actually need to feed a family, that gets expensive. So additional motivation became not so much losing weight, but shrinking my stomach for the sole purpose of eating less and saving money.

I wanna win.

The straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak (fat joke intended), was the annual "Weight Race" held at my new job. As I mentioned in a previous post, I have a new job in the healthcare industry. While there's no pressure from them, I did feel kind of hypocritical working in this industry and not taking care of myself at all. Before starting this job I had gone almost 20 years without having a PCP, never seeing a doctor outside of emergencies, and simply getting lazier and fatter each year. While getting the job inspired me to actually visit a doctor and get a checkup (because I get monetary incentives to do so, see last paragraph) I never made the step to eating healthier or getting up and moving outside of the limited activities I did with the kids. Then came the contest, and my inert sense of competition was the last little bit of motivation I needed to get up and get going. Literally.

Overtime.

At the beginning of that 12-week contest, I filled in a form online which took my age, height, and weight into consideration and said I should be able to lose 12 pounds during the contest with a few slight adjustments to my diet and exercise routine. Again, wanting to prove the "experts" here wrong, and trying to excel at something many thought I was doomed to fail at, I set a personal goal of 20 pounds. That would put me at a weight that matched my average during college, and was something I was comfortable at. Problem is, I hit that goal in the first 3 weeks before I really started to get going. So now I had to set a new goal. A harder one. One I more than likely wouldn't hit. Decided that I'd go for a good round number, something I haven't been at or under since high school. I am going for 200 lbs, That's why despite the contest being over, I'm still going. Still working. Still trying to prove the nay-sayers in my head wrong, and that I do have what it takes.

Like Frankie said, I did it my way...

If you know me, I'm not one to jump on board the latest fads or trends. I mean, I still wear jean shorts and hiking boots almost exclusively. That said, I wasn't going for some "diet" that is trending on Facebook. I'm not cutting out carbs, gluten, sugar, pop (soda), dairy, or anything else. I'm not replacing my meals with a shake, a bar, or supplements. I'm going to eat what I always have... just less of it. For that, the MyFitnessPal app and website really helped me out. I'm still able to eat pizza when I want, I just know to now stop at three slices instead of an entire large pizza. I get a medium value meal at McDonald's instead of an extra large one with an extra sandwich on the side. I especially like how it tracks exercise as well, so the more I walk, run, or actually workout, the more I'm "allowed" to eat. So if I'm hungry for a snack it fine, I just have to earn it. And I got my workout apps SworkIt and 100 Push-ups to help along with that.

Follow my progress.

The ticker below should update as I continue my journey to 200. Follow along, just don't kill my buzz by leaving your encouraging messages or praise; and don't play "reverse psychiatrist" and put me down cause I'll just get depressed and give up. Thank you...

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