When I was in high school playing football, I never had to worry about what I ate. Apparently, being that young and being as active as I was, my metabolism rate was pretty high.
I have told this story to many of my friends but it is still the best example of how bad my eating habits were in back then. One Friday night, I went out to dinner with my family to a restaurant had a half-pound burger with fries and split 25 wings with my two brothers. As we were leaving, a friend called to let me know a bunch of them were going to Cheeburger Cheeburger downtown, I said I would take the trip with them even though I already ate. When we got there about 30 minutes after my first dinner, I couldn't help myself but attempt to eat the pounder. The one-pound beef patty was barely a challenge that 10 minutes after eating that I decided to indulge in some gelato. I capped off the night with stop at 7-Eleven for a snickers bar, sunflower seeds and a gatorade.
This was not a regular occurrence but I would hardly call this out of the norm, considering I regularly did all-you-can-eat wing nights where I would consume 40-60 wings.
Despite how poorly I ate, I never weighed more than 185 pounds.
Tonight I started my goal of getting back under the 185-pound mark.
At some point, I got lazy. And not just a little lazy, but I don't even want to walk to the garage to do a quick workout lazy. My brother built a gym with a squat rack on a platform with a bench, dumbbells, plenty of weights including rubber ones and a bunch of accessories. There was no excuse for me not to be working out regularly this past year. At times, I did workout often, but I have also taken hiatuses, including my current one of close to six months.
I recently decided it had to end. I had to get myself back in shape. By no means did I maintain my physique from high school throughout college, but at no point did I feel like I was far away from getting back in that shape. However, I barely recognize my body in the mirror.
I am not proud that I let myself go, but I still feel like I can back to a healthy weight in just a few months with a lot of dedication. I don't care what the people who came up with BMI believe, 130-140 is not my ideal weight. I would like to weight between 165-175, but for now the goal is 185.
I am committed to make this last and not just work at it until I am back at the weight I want to be, then just let myself go again. Despite that, I want to lose a lot of the weight quickly because not only do I feel like I need to just jump in but I want to save myself the money it would take to buy a new suit.
To do that, I need to be back at 185 by my birthday, October 10. That is less than two month away and I have about 20 pounds to lose. But about a week and a half after my birthday, I am going to Houston for my girlfriend's best friend's wedding.
I made the mistake of buying a suit when I had just lost a bunch of weight during the summer after my freshman year in college. I was 175. I figure I can still fit into the suit at 185. If I cannot get back into the suit, I will be forced to buy a new suit. I do not want to spend that money.
It is more than just a financial decision to lose weight. I want to like the way I look in a mirror again. But most importantly, I want to feel healthy again. I have started snoring, which I never use to do. I assume this was caused by my weight gain. And I hate the fact that I get winded doing simple tasks. I don't ever want to have to worry about getting a diseased cause by my weight. No, I am nowhere near that point, but if I don;t do something, there is nothing stopping me from getting there.
This always isn't just about looking healthy again. I want to feel athletic again. I still can run relatively fast for a stubby-legged, pudgy white kid, and I am still coordinated enough to pass as athletic. But I know what I use to be able to do, and it is depressing not to be able to do that anymore.
My goals are simple. By October 10, I want to weight less than 185 pounds, bench press 150% of my body mass, run two miles in less than 20 minutes and sprint a 40-yard dash in under five seconds.
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