In my first post of 2018, I mentioned that I needed to lose some weight. My thought was to start running. Well unfortunately, the temperatures in the negatives put a damper on that plan. In fact, it was so cold most of the time that I barely had a chance to take Samson for walks (he put on a little winter weight as well). When I wrote that post, I weighed 185.5, but I know that around February I was probably crossing 190.
Then something happened. I got sick. I should probably warn you, this is going to be gross. At the beginning of March, I had the worst case of diarrhea that I have had in years. Probably worse than what I experienced back in 2014. That was bad because I could not keep anything down without having to poop immediately. Whereas this was like everything coming out of me and then some. I probably pooped fifteen times one day. And whereas in 2014, that was basically water at the end, this was still…well poop. I told you this was gross. My poor bum hurt so bad by about day four, I actually told Lindsey that if things did not get better, I was going to see a doctor. Fortunately, I got better the next day.
Anyways, this made me curious about how much weight I probably lost. I weighed myself and I was at 180. I thought “damn Josh, you lost probably close to ten pounds, you should keep it up.” Granted, I was pretty hungry, so I ate like a pig that day, but the next morning I woke up and downloaded a weight monitoring app.
The first day I weighed 182.4, I finally made it below 180 on March 23rd, and have not went back over. Now granted, I do not weigh myself everyday. I try to every morning when I wake up, but sometimes I forget. I was down in the 177s for a little bit, but then we went on vacation and I ended up going back up. However, I am staying consistent.
So you may be asking how am I doing it? Well it is pretty simple. I am just cutting out calories. Nothing radical either. For example, I drink a ton of coffee at work. Probably 8-10 cups most mornings I work (I know, that is horrible). I put in WAY TOO MUCH sugar (4 packs!). Each pack is 15 calories, so I was getting between 480-600 calories a day just from the sugar in my coffee. To start, I am just putting in three (so now 360-450). I also skip out on a cup or two. Now I drink between 6-8 (so that gives me about 270 calories or 360). Just like that I cut my caloric intake by about 200.
I know that sounds stupid and I realize some of you are probably like “oh if it were only that easy.” My next goal is to get down to just two packs of sugar. The end goal is to be around 2000 calories per day (I am at 2300, approximately). Another thing I have been doing is when I eat, I try not to eat just one big meal, instead, I have my normal breakfast, then a snack at lunch (I have been eating fruit at work), then I am not so starving for dinner that I have to eat a giant meal.
It has only been a month and the main contributing factor was diarrhea, but hey, you have to start somewhere, right? Now, I just need to start running. I may actually be able to hit that goal of 165. That is my goal for now. My doctor said I should try to get down to what I weighed when I graduated high school. I weighed 125…something tells me that is not happening.
