I’ve had weight struggles all of my life. Taken as a whole, you could say my weight has yo-yoed. But it’s not that simple. I’ve been heavy, truly heavy, four times in my life: 2000, 2007, 2010, and 2021. And three of those times, I lost that weight.

As you can guess, the fourth time is now, 2021.

The story each time has been the same. I decided to eat low carb. And become more active. And it’s worked. EVERY time. ALWAYS.

The story each time has been the same. I decided to eat low carb. And become more active. And it’s worked. EVERY time. ALWAYS.

When I’ve stopped eating low carb, I felt crappy. And gained weight, more importantly fat.

So I have no excuse for illusions. When I eat properly, I feel great and stay trim and healthy. When I don’t, I get fat and feel like crap. I can’t blame my health and physical form on anything other than me and my actions and habits.

You’d think this would be depressing. But for me it’s a very empowering thing. If you accept sole responsibility for yourself and your health, it means that you have the sole power to change it.

I’ve let certain factors in my life affect me, and my current weight is the result. I could blame it on COVID, but in truth it’s taken me over three years to get into this shape (or lack thereof). In November, 2017, I was 207 lbs. Not my lowest, but a good weight and fat percentage (22%) for my physique. Over the next two plus years, I slowly rose to 245 lbs, by March, 2020. When COVID hit, my activity dropped to virtually zero. And my weight rose to almost my all time high: 273 lbs.

Yep. Only once in my life, 2007, have I been 273 lbs (275, to be specific). And it was not fun.

So, I have about 75 lbs. to lose, pretty much all fat. I’m putting this here to not only hold me accountable, but to help share with readers the strategies I use that always (ALWAYS) help me get and stay fit. When I use them, that is. So the rubber hits the road, now. This weblog, aside from sharing these strategies, is a living document of my own progress, and if you’re reading, I hope your own progress as well.

Everyone is different, and each person needs to listen to their own body and what it’s telling them about their choices. I’ll point these out. But I’m also asking you to be honest with yourself and not to mistake wants and desires with excuses to stop improving yourself. And I’ll ask you to stick with something when it’s temporarily uncomfortable. For instance, whenever I start low carb, I get a headache a few days in. But I persevere, and a day or two later I wake up and I feel AMAZING.

So try this journey with me, and I promise it’ll be worthwhile. With the potential to be life-changing.

And so it begins.