Hi, I’m Jeff, and I’m a computer nerd. I work on a computer all day long, and then I come home and play computer games all night long. My wife is a gamer as well, and we’ve spent more time gaming together than we should ever admit. Our lifestyle came with the downside of steady weight gain over the years. Every doctor appointment I had, I was told my blood pressure was too high, and I should start taking medication for it. My cholesterol was also too high, and again, I should be taking medication to lower it. My size 40 waist pants were starting to be too snug on me. My knees were frequently hurting. I had stretch marks all over my stomach. I was suffering from plantar fasciitis, and dealing with constant pain in my left foot. I began to realize that something needed to change.
I spend a lot of time on Reddit, and had stumbled across a subreddit called “/r/loseit“. It’s a place where people can openly discuss weight loss, and share their success or failure stories. The majority of the success stories I was seeing involved a simple weight loss technique called CICO. Calories In, Calories Out. It’s as simple as burning more calories than you eat. You can either exercise a ton, or just eat fewer calories. I of course decided to take the lazy approach, and just eat fewer calories.
It was February of 2016, and I weighed 255 pounds. My brother was getting married in a little over a month, and there were going to be a lot of pictures taken of me. I figured I’d give this a shot until his wedding, and if it wasn’t working, then I’d try something else. I bought a scale. I downloaded MyFitnessPal so I could track my calories and weight. I stuck as closely to my diet as I possibly could. If I didn’t know how many calories were in something, then I wouldn’t eat it. I stopped using creamer and sugar in my coffee. I started measuring and weighing food I’d cook at home, and calculating the calories in everything. I started researching meals at all the restaurants I’d eat out at, figuring out the lowest calorie options that wouldn’t leave me feeling hungry. By the day of my brother’s wedding, I had lost 19 pounds. Since this diet was working, I just kept doing it. My wife was a good sport and joined in as well. So far, I’ve lost 90 pounds, she’s lost 40 pounds, and we’ll hopefully lose a few more!
