So it seems like for majority of my life I have been “The Fat Kid.” The proverbial punching bag for the insecure who had issues so they would take it out on me by making fun of my flab. From elementary to about 7th grade, I was made fun of at least once a day for being fat, the rest was for just being awkward. Eventually I learned that if you were just nice to people it would go a long way; and if you could make them laugh they would be too busy thinking you were so awesome that they would forget to insult you so that’s what I tried to do and it worked. When I was a Freshman in High School, I came to this realization that were two kinds of fat guys: the ones who were depressed about being big and the ones who didn’t care and wouldn’t let their waist size determine their attitude; so I went with the latter and it was the best decision I have ever made.

Let’s fast forward to 2010 shall we. Earlier this year Megan and I decided we were going to run the Mayor’s 5k in Abilene on Megan’s birthday, April 10th. To prepare for that we did a 12 week training through Nike+. You would run 3-5 times a week and the shortest distance was 2 miles and the longest was 7. I had it so when I would run, it would send the information to Facebook and it would say something “Nathan ran 4 miles at the pace 12:30/mile.” The general response was positive except for a few put downs, one of which linked my running to the earthquake in Haiti. After that I started to notice this odd negative response to a fat person working out trying to better themselves. In Abilene we would work out at this Anytime Fitness that was right next to this amazing Mexican Restaurant which was torture because you could smell its amazingness at the gym. Anywho, the treadmills faced this window by the sidewalk to the stripmall it was in so a lot of people walked by to go to the restaurant.  There were a ton of times that people would look in see me running on the treadmill and just give me this “Look at this fat idiot!” and then they would walk away. I feel like some people think it’s ridiculous for obese people to even try to work out and they feel sorry for them. Why would you ever put down someone who was obviously trying to get in shape? It’s so wrong!!!

Whew, okay the last two paragraphs were cathartic and were not intended for you to pity me, just for you to understand a little more about me. They were also things I needed to say pseudo out loud (are things you say on the Internet “Out loud?” Anyways…)

Now to the artery-clogged heart of this blog. Megan and I are taking the first steps to try to be healthier and ultimately thinner people. We have been fighting this healthy fight for about a year now and it has had it’s ups and downs. Abilene didn’t have really any healthy eateries (ala Little Panda and Pizza House) so it was hard to eat out so we started to eat at home a lot more which was great, but as moving day  grew closer, the convenience  of eating out usually won. Then when we moved to Tallahassee, there were hundreds of new restaurants that we had to try out so that temptation has continually won. Now that we have our lives a little more in order, we are on a new mission to undo all the indulging damage we have done to ourselves since July (and in my case, undoing the damage since… birth.)

So here’s the deal, Megan and I have started Weight Watchers sans the meetings because you have to pay for them. Thanks to the internet, anything you need to know about WW is online which is so legit. For those who don’t know, the way WW works is you have an assigned points that you are allowed to eat per day and it’s based on how much you weigh, I have 34 points a day. Everything you eat has a certain amount of points and it’s calculated by calories, fat and fiber amount so you calculate it with a points calculator like this http://ow.ly/2FBjd and then you have to weigh cost of whether it’s worth eating it… which sucks at first but then it eventually changes how you look at food. For example, tonight we went to Chick-fil-a and we each had an 8 piece nugget (6 points) and then shared a large fry (5 points each) and a Coke Zero (0 points). Now 11 points isn’t bad for eating out, but we kept it manageable by being smart about the little things like the sauce. I had BBQ (1 point a packet) and Megan had Honey Mustard (1 point a packet) but usually Megan gets 2 packets of Chick-fil-a sauce which has 110 calories and a whopping 13 grams of fat for one small packet. One packet has more fat than the 8 piece nuggets which is just bonkers!!! I used to think making switches like that were sacrifices but now I look at them as being smart and that that’s 13 grams of fat I won’t have to lose at the gym.

So here’s the real deal (I promise I won’t be this long winded everyday because I would develop carpal tunnel.) Starting tomorrow, I am going to post what I’ve eaten, how many points I used, how much I’ve exercised and any tips I have learned that day so I can help you out there who want to lose weight. I have been on diets before and they always fizzle out around the 6th week. I think that blogging something this personal will hold me accountable which is what I need.

What I need from you: I need your support, not just on here but everywhere. If we are out at lunch and I’m reaching for the fried pizza or the chocolate covered porkrinds, ask me if it’s worth it. It might sound harsh, but it’s what I need for this thing to work. Hopefully in turn it might help you look at food a different way as well. Also I’m asking for your prayers. This is something that is a struggle for me and I know that through God, anything is possible even me kicking this food addiction.

So thanks for listening, if you read this whole thing, you’re legit. See you tomorrow.