Freshman 15

I know that I'm reaching back a bit here, but back in High School, I was in damn good shape. I played basketball (at 5' 11" tall, I could dunk) and ran track during the summer. While you wouldn't have called me "buff", there wasn't an ounce of body fat to be found.

Then came college. Freedom. No parents, no rules. Lots of Mt. Dew and cheap pizza. I stopped doing any sort of physical activity that didn't involve wrestling the espresso machine away from my roommate. (those were the days) That lifestyle gave me the Freshman 15.

Since that fateful year, I've continued to add to that 15 pounds. In my estimation, slowly grew up to about 20-25 pounds over the years. A couple of months ago (just after I broke up with G), I decided that it had to go. I wanted the 6-pack abs back. So I went on a diet.

Now, I've never been much for paying attention to what I eat, so this was new. I got some sage advice from our favorite bald guy in Tulsa, and he recommended simple calorie restriction. He might have given other, more useful advice, but that simple concept is the one that I focused on.

Not being the patient type, I decided to go full-force. I counted every calorie. I ate several small meals (snacks, really) a day. I rode my bike every day after work. Everthing I could think of to sustain myself on the lowest number of calories I could. I didn't really add up my daily intake, but, looking back, I think there were many days that I lived on much less than 1000 calories.

Yes, that was extreme and probably not healthy, but after 6 weeks, I had lost 15 pounds and stopped. (plus, that extreme of a diet was taking a real toll on my energy levels by then)

Now the plan is to get in better shape and replace what fat is left with muscle. I've still got a long way to go to get the 6-pack back, but at least my stomach is flat for the first time in over a decade...