I Lost 168 Pounds
Written some years ago, and left up because it is part of the story. Where things stand now is in the post that starts The 200 Year Life Project.
If you know me, you know I gained some weight.
That is me being generous with myself. What I should say is that I got fat. Three hundred and fifty two pounds fat.
I never had a problem calling myself fat at three hundred and fifty. I do not have a problem calling myself fat now at two hundred and forty one, either. But two hundred and forty one means I have lost a hundred and eleven pounds, and that is worth writing down.
I did not gain it overnight. I did not lose it overnight either.
The Two Questions Everyone Asks
People who have not seen me in a while notice. I get the wide eyes and the “have you been on a diet?” And then, without fail, the same two questions.
“Do you feel a lot different?”
Yes. But not in the ways thin people expect.
Here is the one that stays with me. A few years back I was getting on a flight and I had to ask the flight attendant for a seat belt extender. Out loud. In front of the row.
I was too fat to buckle an aeroplane seat belt.
That is where I feel the difference now, and I could give you a dozen more like it. It is never the number on the scale. It is the small daily humiliations that quietly stop happening.
“How did you lose so much weight?”
Weight Watchers. That is the whole answer.
It was not fast. But it worked, and the part I liked most is that I can walk into almost any restaurant in the world and find something on the menu I can eat. No special orders, no explaining myself, no packing my own food.
Still Going
A hundred and eleven pounds down, forty one to go. I started at three hundred and fifty two and I want to see one hundred and ninety nine.
It still sounds like a long way. It sounds a lot more reachable than it did a year ago, though.
Wish me luck.
Where It Actually Ended Up
I wrote that in 2017 and never came back to update it, so here is the ending.
I got past one hundred and ninety nine. Today I weigh one hundred and eighty four, which is one hundred and sixty eight pounds down from where I started.
I want to be honest about what that actually means, though, because the number on its own is misleading. Staying here is still work. It is work every single week. Nobody tells you that the maintaining is harder than the losing, but for me it has been. Losing weight has an end point you can see. Maintaining does not end at all.
What changed is what I am measuring. Somewhere in there I stopped caring what the scale said and started caring what my bloodwork said. The weight was never the real target. It was the thing standing in front of the target.
Nine years on I am 71 years old with a biological age of 56, and every number I use to track that is published on my test and stats page. What I take is on my protocols page and what I do to stay strong is on my fitness page.
Losing a hundred pounds was not the finish line. It was the thing that made the next twenty years worth planning for. That plan is The 200 Year Life Project, and I am documenting all of it in public.
These are products I use on my push to 200. I only put something on this list after I’ve tested it on myself. The links are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no cost to you.
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