Week 16

200.0/204.4

"We have perhaps a natural fear of ends. We would rather be always on the way than arrive. Given the means, we hang on to them and often forget the ends." - Eric Hoffer

It's time to start considering how to eat and exercise when I reach the weight I want to maintain. I am 15 pounds from my stopping point of 185 pounds, and have lost 55 pounds, over 20% of my starting bodyweight! Each day I feel better (if you discount being wiped out the day after a soccer game or a heavy workout), and am more and more pleased with how I look in a mirror. Already it is shocking to say to people who didn't know me back in March "I used to weigh 255 pounds." And now I have to figure out how to put the skids on weight loss when I hit my goal, without rebounding back up.

I look forward to being able to eat 2400 Calories per day again. Or more. I look forward to figuring out what my new fitness level will do to my Calorie needs. Will I need 14 Calories per pound? 15? I have the right tools to figure it out: a feel for the Calories in most of the foods I eat, weight tracking spreadsheets from The Hacker's Diet, and discipline. I am no longer a slave to hunger or the smell of food, and I consistently make time to exercise.

Those are the means. The ends are getting to my ideal weight and fitness level, which doesn't really end. You have to stay vigilant to avoid going back to where you started. I plan to hang on to the means, just tack on more Calories to keep from starving myself to death. And even though I'm feeling super-confident right now, getting to my goal is still a month or two away, with unknown setbacks. I'm trying not to be cocky, but I'm really happy to have progressed this far.

It's been a heart-warming week (although some of that may be endorphins, I don't know) as I was able to last longer on the soccer field, lift heavier weights at the gym, and make my doctor happy when he saw me for a physical earlier this week. I had lost 49 pounds since he last saw me (some 2 years ago), and my BP was 110 over 70. In my mind, that made my progress official.

Lastly, at this point I'm finding I have less to say about my quest. "Still losing, still working out, still feeling good, doing good at soccer," etc., does not good reading make. I'm going to limit my updates now to every two weeks, or when something interesting happens. I'm debating what to do after I reach 185, maybe write my book and get famous, or start training for the UFC or Mr. Olympia. Who knows? Since I did a lot of eating at McDonalds during my quest, maybe I'll be their version of Jerod, clownishly pimping myself for money. More likely, I'll simply enjoy my healthier lifestyle in peace, and meet some new friends on the bike trails or at the gym. That would be reward enough.