Five years in the making...

Hi. I'm Jeff. And I think I need to lay down a little backstory. Bear with me. It's going to be a long one. Since graduating High School, I've put on a little weight. First it was the freshman 15 (actually more like 25) in college. Then it was 30-40 lbs before getting married. Through my first 5 years of marriage, I added 50 pounds to that total. And then we had our first child.
It was about this point, that my snoring had gotten so bad that my wife was actually scared. It had been intense for years, so intense that we had spent the majority of our marriage in separate bedrooms. But she told me that I had to go to the doctor and get this checked out.

So I did. Now, I deal with uncertain situations by joking and talking. I mess with the nurses and joke with the doctors as a defense mechanism. I always have. Of course, as a proud papa of the most beautiful girl ever born, I was bragging and showing off pictures of my little Olivia. I was told my blood pressure through the roof and that she was almost certain that I had sleep apnea (keep in mind, at this point I was 27 years old), but, and I'll never forget this, she told me: "If you keep this up you won't see your daughter graduate high school."

Talk about the floor dropping from beneath your feet. Sure, I knew my weight was bad, but seriously? I wouldn't be alive in 20 years? It was a slap in the face and the motivation I needed. I left the doctor's office sobbing, and pulled into my local greasy spoon, ordered my regular meal (greasy burger with egg and relish, bowl of chili, and coke, followed by a piece of pie), and said that my life changed now.

And it did.

I started at 341.1 lbs. At first, it was 10 lbs down, then 20, then 30. After about 3 months I was under 300 pounds for the first time since I'd been married.

I tried to maintain a diet of about 1800 calories a day, and every morning around 5:30 I popped in my Biggest Loser DVD and me and Bob would have about 20 minutes together. And the weight just kept falling off. Soon we learned we were going to be parents again (a little more stamina I suppose?!) and by Thanksgiving of 2006 I was down to 275. By Christmas...260, my birthday in January 250. As my wife's stomach grew with our child, my stomach continued to shrink.

In May, I hit my lowest weight: 227 lbs for a total weight loss of 114.1 pounds, and I maintained that weight loss (give or take 10lbs or so) for about 6 months. The first thing to go was the exercising. Getting up a couple of times a night with a screaming newborn was not conducive with waking up at 5:30 to get a workout. Then I started eating a little bit more (and worse). Nothing major. An extra slice of pizza, a bacon cheeseburger and fries for lunch. I had always allowed myself a free meal a week when I was losing. Pretty soon it became a 5 free meals a week. But by Christmas (and a year and a half after I had started my journey, I was still looking pretty good, and sitting pretty at about 240-245. Something I felt comfortable with.

Then I quit smoking.

I started justifying eating as an excuse for not smoking... "I've lost weight before, I'll lose it again". By April of 2008 I was back up to 260. By Fall: 285. My skinny clothes kept getting pushed to the back of the closet to make room for my old clothes. By 2010, I'm back up to 350 lbs, where my weight settled back in.

Fast forward to Christmas 2010. I've had a wonderful time with my parents at a charity Christmas dinner followed by a Christmas lunch with my grandmother's family. For some reason, I spent more time (and good time) with my Mom, then I had for awhile. Early Monday morning (Dec 20th) I go out of town for a sales visit, get home, change into some sweats and tell my wife that I'm headed down (to MY bedroom that I'm having to sleep in because my snoring's gotten so bad again) to go to bed, and my phone rings. Mom's on her way to the hospital and things don't look good. I throw on an overcoat and head to the hospital. By Wednesday we are forced to say our goodbyes and she's gone. Her death, in part, was caused by her weight. She died with me, my sisters, and my dad holding on to her. I vowed then that I would not allow my children to go through that pain with me.

I lose 30 lbs and life starts to get in the way again. Burgers at lunch... Pizza for dinner....

Then a dear friend's son-in-law has a heart attack due to weight related issues, and he leaves two teenage kids and a wonderful wife behind. I'm not so bold as to assume that these events are related to me. But what other kind of wake up call do I need? Families are suffering much like I have suffered through my own loss. It's time to get back on task.

Over the past 2 months I have watched what I've eaten and I'm now down to 304.2. To help commit me to this goal of losing 100 lbs, and getting to a weight in which I should be fit, trim, and healthy I'm making my journey public. I'm going to share my weight, what I'm eating, what I'm doing, and how I'm feeling. Let's see how this goes.