happy birthday

A couple years ago I was banging on the edge of 220 pounds. It did not hang well on my frame. Worse, I was on a trajectory of continuing to grow in weight and girth. My entire wardrobe was threatening to explode, forcing a shift top and bottom to XXL.

NO!

I refused to expand my clothing size,
… and to continue to grow into the new me.

My wife was hugely instrumental in turning that around. The carbohydrates have been minimal ever since. Pasta, pizza, and all forms of bread are very limited in my diet.

Dropping from 219 to 199 came gradually, but with relative ease.

Just under 200 pounds I plateaued.

As last winter’s cool weather set in, my body started trying to increase its insulation. I saw 199.5 arrive with disappointment.

Okay. I’m done dancing on the edge. I need to change something significant and move myself well away from the danger zone.

Effective January 1, 2017, I cut out lunches, desserts and snacks altogether.

Gone was my favorite, meticulously blended trail mix that staved off any hunger pangs that may have flashed across my mind.

Being hungry became an acceptable feeling. I did not like it. Eight months later I still don’t like it. But it is not disabling, in fact, doesn’t even make me weak like it did in the first week or two.

My body learned how to process fat.

Fat is the body’s way of storing energy. It stores other nutrients in there as well. Some are quite important to us, but we never get at them if we don’t live on our fat reserves from time to time.

I’m getting at them every day now.

I also lost another 20 pounds … before plateauing again … this time at 179.5.

Which brings me to the dark cloud that enveloped our lives July 31st with our kids angrily blowing up on us for pressuring them into paying a bit of their own way after nearly a year of living free.

Two weeks later we find more silver lining than black cloud.

We are now moving into The Big House. 😉

Which means A TON of work.

Our lovely cabin on the river has to sell. That is work.

The 10-acre homestead needs to be cleaned up into habitability right away and ready for winter in two months.

Nothing like a lot of physical labor to tone a person up. In the first half of this month I lost another 4.5 pounds.

I checked this morning. I am now down 25 pounds and 1.5 inches at the navel from measurements taken January 1st. 🙂

The homestead is a couple more weeks from habitable by us, but we are moving along smartly.

Happy Birthday to me.