Jeffrey’s Journey – Weight For It: Prologue

All my life, I’ve struggled with weight. My parents were beanpoles in their youth, my sister still is and I inherited my Grandma Lil’s broader, easily-prone-to-be-stocky frame.

I looked like this when I was 19.

2000. Too Big.

And then like this when I was 20.

2001. Too Thin.

So I’m about to get courageous here. I’m going to step on a scale and let the hundreds of thousands who visit this site monthly see it.

And since the net can be cruel, I’m ready to be called every body-shaming name in the book. (Plus it always helps doing a before and after session looking your worst in the “before” and your best in the “after”).

So last year, I lost 40 pounds by eating more healthily and exercising rather frequently. This did NOT mean sacrificing foods I love nor becoming Rocky Balboa. It meant eating more indulgent foods in moderation with portion control while mostly making wiser food choices and not eating super late at night before bed. Because that’s a HUGE player in weight loss. If you eat a big meal and go to bed on a full stomach, it’s a one-way ticket to feeling like there’s a brick in your stomach the next morning and, very quickly, going up a few sizes. And fitness means doing anything that makes you active be it a walk around the block or a hardcore gym session. Anything but being lazy.

Jan of 2017 on left. June of 2017 on right.

But this year, I gained it back. I got lazy. I ordered take-out. My job stressed me out. I would go without eating most of the day and then ate huge meals at 11PM. Not to mention, I just came back from 2 weeks eating my way through Italy & Greece. I felt bloated, uncomfortable and didn’t fit into most of my clothes. Oh, and I avoided the scale like it was going to the dentist to have a root canal. I knew I had gained weight, but I certainly didn’t want to see a NUMBER on a scale telling me that, no sir! That makes it REAL.

July of 2018

But sometimes you need a dose of reality to put you into check. It was time to do something. And I am taking that journey now. Each week, I will release a video with my progress as well as a blog entry detailing what I weigh, what I ate and what I did each day to help combat the fat.

I will STILL be making PLENTY of indulgent recipes because that’s not what causes weight gain – how much and how frequently you eat it coupled with sitting on a couch does.

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