{"id":1143,"date":"2013-07-18T06:04:31","date_gmt":"2013-07-18T10:04:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.darkfluidity.com\/?p=1143"},"modified":"2013-07-31T08:37:06","modified_gmt":"2013-07-31T12:37:06","slug":"55-pounds-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.darkfluidity.com\/?p=1143","title":{"rendered":"55 Pounds Down: Introduction"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A year ago today — this very hour — I went to the hospital with chest pain. Heart attack.<\/p>\n

I did not die. Since then, I’ve lost 55 pounds (and am still going). To celebrate this anniversary of the day I didn’t die, I thought I’d start telling you, through a series of essays, how I’ve lost that weight.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It started hard.<\/p>\n

It started with a heart attack.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d tried to lose weight in the past. In fact, I\u2019d lost about 10 pounds over a period of 6 months when, one July morning, as I sat down to eat my Fruit Loops, I felt suddenly and overwhelmingly unwell. There was a pressure in my chest and in my head, a feeling of weakness, cold sweats. I went back to bed for a few minutes, just to lay down and let it pass. When I returned to my cereal, I couldn\u2019t do it. A minute later, I was on the couch, barely aware of anything outside of my pain.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t remember the Emergency Room. I was rushed through, tested, brought in, tested again, given a variety of meds, prodded, injected, stabbed, eventually admitted, and kept for three days.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d been smashed in the chest with an old iron bar.<\/p>\n

And it left its rust inside me.<\/p>\n

The cause of my heart attack? Uncontrolled diabetes.<\/p>\n

After that, everything changed. My hope is you can change it before the old iron bar crushes you.<\/p>\n

As I write this, it\u2019s been almost a year. I\u2019m much improved, much healthier, my diabetes is completely under control, and my weight is down about 55 pounds. What follows is all the things I\u2019ve done to accomplish this.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not on a diet. But I have changed the way I eat. I\u2019m not focused on trying to lose weight; I\u2019m trying to be healthier, to make good decisions, and to both look and feel better. I\u2019m not tied to an end number. I don\u2019t have a goal weight in mind; I still further to lose and am lower than I\u2019ve ever been in my adult life, low enough that I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d still have further to go from here.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no trick. It\u2019s not easy. But it\u2019s also not very hard. It just requires the application of forethought, willpower, knowledge, and effort.<\/p>\n

What follows is not necessarily the perfect route for everyone. It\u2019s my route. And I know it\u2019s worked for me. Take what you can from it, use what you\u2019re able, make adjustments as you need \u2014 your specific requirements will be different than mine \u2014 set a goal, and achieve it.<\/p>\n

Couldn\u2019t be simpler, right?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n