How I Lost 50 Pounds in 7 months

As I sit down to write this, I am weighing in at 174 pounds. I’m down 50 pounds from my high of 224 in May of last year.

How did I do this?

I am a programmer and retired military. I treated this like an algorithm and incorporated the daily habits needed into my ‘battle rhythm’. More on this in a moment…I think it’s important we talk about the why. To do this, you need a why.

My Why

In the span of one week in May of 2023, a couple of things happened. First, my daughter called me ‘Jelly Belly’ (this wasn’t the first but in conjunction with the other items, it landed). Second, the same week I was at lunch with a friend and our lunch arrived at the table. My loaded baked potato(e) was on the small side and my friend asked, “Will that be enough for you?”

I was a little taken aback and said, “Yep, why do you ask?”

“Oh, just asking,” he said, “you’re a husky guy, wanted to make sure it was enough for you.”

Husky? I thought. Not me. I carry myself well, I told myself. But even as I said it, I knew things weren’t adding up. I was feeling poorly, from acid reflux to knee and back issues, to stress.

The final straw was that I accompanied my wife to the gym, not with the intent to launch what happened, just to get ‘a couple of miles in’. I’d been telling myself I was maybe 205, maybe. More like 199, I kept saying.