Stepped on a scale for the first time in years. Not good.

Up until 2016, I was a pretty active guy. I’m still a pretty active guy, at least in my mind. But once I retired from the military and the formal structure I ‘grew up’ in with regard to exercise, I’ve apparently been less active than I thought.

I knew I was gaining some weight. My knees felt it. My pants felt it. But I was telling myself a lie. That lie was, “I’m not gaining that much weight and tomorrow or next week at the most, I will start a diet.”

Combine the loss of formal structure, getting older, a series of job and life stressors and bam…30 lbs later, I finally stepped on a scale, to discover I am the heaviest I have ever been. And it’s not muscle.

Where do I go from here?

Well, I started running again. I used to be an avid runner but I let life get in the way of that. I’ve logged more miles in the last two weeks than in the preceding two years.

I also started tracking my calories on a spreadsheet. EVERYTHING is going on there, down to the saltine I had last night. I read that a 500 calorie deficit per day will lead to a 1 lb weight loss per week. 1 lb of fat equals 3500 calories.

I’ve almost entirely eliminated soda (I had a half a coke last week). I have had more water in the last two weeks than probably in the preceding year.

I’ve begun as a result looking at the actual calories I was consuming, too. It’s actually kind of scary to think about. In a…