The Story

So you've seen the start.

Here's the story.

As I've said before, I've been overweight most of my life. I've never liked being overweight, I just never really imagined myself as being someone slim. I've lost weight in the past, but it's always ended up coming back on. There was never anybody there to give me a swift kick in the ass till it was just too late.

And even now, there won't be anyone to kick me in the ass until it is too late. But I don't want it to be too late. Never again.

You've seen my profile shot below. Disgusting, isn't it? And if I don't start doing something now, it'll get worse.

A bit of back story. I mentioned that last time I weighed in, I was at 452lbs. Well, that's one thing. Here's another...when I weighed in, it was just after I lost my last job. I was a manager at a RadioShack store in Warwick, Rhode Island. Despite what you may think about Radio Shack, the job was really pretty friggen stressful. I'm a licensed ham radio operator so I know a thing or two about electronics...I have an FCC license that says I understand concepts, principals, and formulas that would make most people feint upon seeing, and I got that license at age 8 (for those following, this was my Technician Plus license. I didn't get my Advanced license till age 13). So to be looked upon as an idiot by every Tom, Dick, and Harry that came in the store kind of got to me after a while. Then there was all the pressure from above to outperform Best Buy in a 2000sqft footprint. These are the things that led me to RadioShackSucks.com, and upon its closure, to become a moderator on www.RadioShackSucks.biz.

Anyways, I left that job after two and a half years. If the threats from above and belittlement from the customers weren't enough, the 60-70 hour weeks were surely going to kill me eventually, especially for a 28k salary. At the time, I had another job lined up with a company called ATS Mobile Electronics. However, halfway between leaving RadioShack and starting at ATS, I get a call saying ATS has been bought out by AT&T and all pending hires are cancelled. Now I am officially unemployed, and as such I remained for roughly a year while I looked for a new job.

To be honest, I probably could have found work earlier if I really tried. But I didn't want to try. The doctor prescribed me Chantix to help me quit smoking not long after I left RS. While it did help me quit smoking, it also left me really, REALLY depressed...to the point that I stopped talking to friends entirely, stopped talking to my parents, really, I just stopped talking to just about anybody. My only contact with the outside world was through World of Warcraft. It wasn't until about a month and a half ago that I started feeling better, which was several months after I stopped taking the Chantix. Even now, I'm not feeling 100% normal, but I'm feeling a hell of a lot better than I used to.

So not having a job, combined with depression, led to a pretty sedentary lifestyle. Very sedentary, actually. As a fine example, when I lost my job I had a 68 mage and a 35 priest. When I started working again, which was almost one year to the day after I quit, I had a 70 mage and a 70 priest, both in full epics. I also had a 70 hunter and a 62 druid, as well as a few characters that were leveled up to mid-30s. Like I said, I barely ever left my room. It was just me, by myself, almost constantly. After a while I even started planning my sleep around the times when I knew my parents wouldn't be home, just so I could avoid talking to them.

My last weigh-in was over a year ago. I'm sure I've gained a bit by then just by the sedentary lifestyle. Even with my new job, I'm going to be fairly still...I'm working in a call center answering calls at the Tech Support Help Desk for CVS. At least now I'll have an income, so I'll be able to afford to eat somewhat healthier and also buy a gym membership.

I'm thinking about joining at NextLevel Fitness, they have two branches nearby...one right down the street from my house, and one right down the street from my work. Can't get much better than that. And they also have "no-contract" plans, which could work well for me because I am technically a temp and as such I'd be the first to be laid-off...and the gym would probably be the first expense to be cut. But it's only $49 to join and $30/month...I paid more than that each week in cigarettes.

Till then we shall see...I'm open to exercise and diet suggestions in the meantime. I don't think I want to try gimmick diets anymore. Low-carb worked well but it was hardly sustainable for the long-term. I'm half-Italian...I love bread and pasta and this will never change...it's hardcoded in my DNA. I think a core part of my diet will be in moderation, as I am pretty used to large portions. I also think I'm going to try to cut out High Fructose Corn Syrup, from what I've been reading it seems like just about anything that has that in it shouldn't really be considered "food". Also, I will probably be cutting back a lot on the soda in favor of filtered tap water. This I've already started doing.

Now if only I can kick this damn Altoid habbit.