Ours is not to reason why...ours is not to eat it fried.

I thought I'd try my hand at making biscuits. First attempt was tasty but wasn't what I was looking for in terms is aesthetics. Thanks to a great tip from a friend (freeze your butter/shortening first then take it to a cheese grater) I got the consistency in my dough as well as the look. And they were pretty tasty too so now I'm gonna try doing a bake over beef stew. Let y'all know how that turns out.

So I had a topic picked out this week but the lovey Mrs. made a suggestion on this week's topic and since she's right about stuff way more than I'd willingly admit? I'll take her up on it. So the question came up as to why I work out or what was different about this time than the other times I tried and failed.

History lesson/personal introspection first. As I've stated before I am emotional eater. Also an emotional exerciser and which hole I fall into varies dependent on a variety of factors. Eating is easier than sweating so...there's that. So it is a slippery slope (probably coated in something yummy). I started getting chunky around 1988. My parents got divorced and my grandmother (maternal) passed. These things happened within 6 months of each other. We ate out alot. A LOT. Fast food didn't have the "healthy" options it does now and between kids meals, super size combos, Pizza, etc. I was on the gravy bullet train riding the "Husky" Line on biscuit wheels. So in this time of fantastic stress where I did find comfort? In the loving, "so thick the spoon won't fall out when you turn it upside down embrace of my first true love, the beautiful Dairy Queen. At least once a week if not more often. Kid you not...I remember I talked my mother into stopping a Checkers to get a milkshake at 8:30 at night cause I happened to bat in the game tying run. This kind of stuff happened often.

The emo scarfing continued during this time to the point I clocked in at over 300 lbs at 14 years old and at 23/24 I was around 375 - 400. Into my 20' I'd date some, not date some, and so on. Every time I asked a woman out and she said no I'd immediately think it was because I was fat and when she said yes I'd think she was going to leave me or not like me because I was fat. If you're beating yourself up if the situation goes your way or if it doesn't for the same reason? There's a problem. I tried twice to lose weight. When I was 23 I joined a gym and half assed it there for about a month. There were some results but I didn't do any measurements so I only knew my clothes were starting to fit better. I got sick, fell off the wagon, and didn't get back on until I was 26. At 26 I tried weight loss shakes and same deal as before....my clothes fit better, no measurements. Missed food after a while and fell off the wagon again. I had the opportunity to travel a bit during this time and spent a couple of weeks a year on a plane. There's nothing like the look of terror in someone's eyes when a big dude comes on the plane and there's an empty seat next to them or squeezing into a coach seat and immediately asking for an extension. Fun doesn't even begin to describe it.

One more time skip to late 2011 I was 31, recently found my faith, and was in a relationship. I got a physical on October 14, 2011 and clocked in at 440. I was beside myself. I turned to food as my comfort. Probably gained another 10 lbs. Some time around December I decide to start exercising every day. I picked Christmas Day as the kick off since it was a Sunday. Within the next couple of days I had a conversation with my then girlfriend where I was asked "has anyone ever broken up with you because of how you look?" I took that about as well as you'd think. It was the final nail in my chubby coffin and because we separated the following week I had now had the time to devote to exercise. During this time I finally acknowledged I needed help and sought the services of a mental electrician. Lemme tell ya gang therapy works. Saw my therapist for around 6 months and it was a transformative time. 

By the end of 2012 I'd dropped around 125 lbs. November 1st, 2013 I hit my goal weight of 250. I chose this as a goal as this had been the wight on my license since I was 16. Took me almost two years to get from 440 to 250 but I was no longer living a lie. On October 18, 2014...3 years and 4 days after that oh so fateful physical I got down to 236.6 lbs or according to BMI finally moving from being super morbidly obese to being overweight. 

Now that I've shared my life history I'll answer finally answer "why". It is three fold. Most important? My health. I don't have the knee and back problems that I once did. My blood pressure has dropped significantly. I take the stairs at work. People want to do things outside and I'm all gung ho. Second? Vanity. Yes....I love the way I look. Not to the point I spend all day looking into reflective surfaces but I have definition I never had. I can see my collar bone. I have a neck. Like an actual space between the bottom of my head and the top of my shoulders. Insane. Third...you ever buy plus size clothing? I spend half as much and get twice as many clothes.