My wife is 7 months pregnant.  I am in the middle of reading the 3^rd or 4^th expectant father book that my wife passed along to me.  Mortality.  It’s the subject of this book for this particular week.  I look down, yeah, I am fat.  Close to 237 at that point with cardio good enough to get me to the mailbox.  I’m about to be 36.  Not the youngest, first-time father in the world.  I start thinking about 36 x 2 = 72.  Would I make it to 72?  Oh crud, my pants are so tight.

My first initial wave of weight loss a drop from 237 to 165 pounds over a 10-month period.  I maintained my weight at a level between 160-170 for over 4 years (before wave 2 began).  Why did I get started?

I played the diet roller coaster for 10 years prior to making radical lifestyle changes.  Things would be different this time.  I was determined to get to my lowest “adult weight” and get in shape at the same time.  I was also determined to work out at least 4-5 days per week. 

I had to do this.  I had my daughter’s birth right around the corner and started thinking about my role in her life as a father.  I was 36 at the time, which was more than a decade older that my parents were when I joined y’all on this fine planet.

I needed to get healthy and maintain healthiness to maximize my time with her.  Oh and check this out: my 38 inch jeans were too tight.  All of them.  I purchased the cheapest pairs of 40’s that I could find at Kohl’s.  40 inch waist.  Something changed in my head when the first digit changed from a 3 to a 4.  

My diet was simple over the first 3 months: 20 or fewer carbs a day.  My initial workout plan was as well:  30 minutes on the elliptical on “cardio days” and 30 minutes of weights and pounding the heavy bag on “strength days”.  I also began to take the dogs out on longer walks a few times a week.   Oh and check this out, this snooze-hitting bum was started getting up at 5:30 to get my workouts in.  

My cardio routine changed to running during the 3rd month.  I jumped into week 4 of “Couch to 5k”. This would be my 3rd attempt at “C25K”, but I knew I would complete it this time. If you’re not familiar with the plan, it is a 9 week program to train a non-runner to finish a 5k run.  It worked for me.  Its worked for a half dozen people that I’ve recommended it to.  I was very happy with my quick progress.  I would shed all other exercise from my routine.  I was a full-fledged runner.  And right as I began to hit full stride, winter struck.  I withdrew month from savings very quickly to purchas a treadmill to keep things going.  

My diet would shift to Weight Watchers for Men after 3 months.  I needed to eat carbs to fuel the cardio.  I had used low carb diets to drop weight during my roller coaster dieting days.  I knew that I needed a diet that would also show me how to transition to a “maintain” level so I wouldn’t roller coaster ever again.  

Weight Watchers was great as I quickly learned how to eat much smarter.  WW is the most logical diet to me as it works like a bank account.  You only have so  much to spend, so choose wisely.  Oh, you get more to spend when working out.  Bonus.  I’ll write more about WW down the road, but I think it is one of the best plans out there, despite one flaw that I’d learn of years later.   

I kept running.  I finally got my 5k time under 30 minute!  Bam!  Next goal:  5 miles.  Check.  Next goal: 10k (6.2 miles).  Check.  I had to start waking up at 4:30am to allow enough time to work out as my runs were getting longer.  Next goal:  8 miles.  You see where this is going.  I blew my own mind away when I ran 10 miles for the first time.  

I did two new things 10 months into running that had never been on my radar:  compete in my first race (a 10k) and ran a half-marathon distance (13.1 miles).  I set my alarm clock for 4am one night and woke up determined to run 13.1 before work the next day.  Check.  

I would train to run a half marathon race while competing in several 5k and 10k races around town.  I’d eventually train for a marathon.  I fell in love with running. I weighed 165ish pounds and enjoyed the daily compliments about looking entirely different, 72 pounds later. 

I would continue to run and use weight watchers until 2016.  That’s when I determined that everything I had done up to then came too easy and that I needed to push myself harder.  I settled.  I ate better with my new lifestyle, but still not as good as I could.  I could run marathons but I wasn’t maximizing my fitness opportunities.  My core strength was weak yet I could place in the top 10% for most local 5/10ks and top 20-25% for half/full marathons.  

I settled. 

But I accomplished a lot.  It wasn’t rocket science.  I ate better, found a love for a cardio-intensive workout and I was determined to never give up.  40 inch waist to 31.  Wardrobe had to be completely replaced, Aside socks and ties. 

This is where this story got started.  All told, I’ve told 92 pounds.  72 of those pounds were in this first wave.

I’d getter better.

Let’s not downplay this though.  I lost 72 pounds.  I’ve kept it off.  I went from wearing jeans with a waist line in the 40’s to 31’s in less than a year.  More importantly, I never had to deal with going back up in weight.

I may have settled early…but I was also determined to keep off what I had lost.  I conquered the challenge.  And then got complacent on this new look and body and lifestyle for a few years.  Wave 2 was on the horizon. 

Beast Later Awoken.