About 6 months ago, I got sick of what I looked like in the mirror. I smoked, I drank moderately, I was 45lbs overweight and was suffering from supraventricular tachycardia episodes multiple times a week. I couldn't do much of anything. A small flight of stairs left me winded and out of breath. And, getting winded all the time, my sex life was in the crapper.

I finally did something about it September 16th of this year. You hear those radio adds all the time about this supplement store, or that one. I bit the bullet and went into one. It was the best decision I ever made. I walked out with a multi-vitamin that I could actually take and NOT vomit back up, a protein powder to be mixed into a shake to help with between meal munching, and a supplement "specifically formulated to increase testosterone levels". In 9 weeks, I lost 27lbs. Too fast? Yes, but finally started to feel better.

I signed up for a gym membership and set the goal of quitting smoking before I started at the gym. I quit smoking the following Monday and started working out the Monday after that. While reacquainting myself with the weights, and the usual "just quit smoking weight gain", I put on 12lbs, which was mostly fat due to my appetite returning. I've been fighting that 12lb gain for the past few weeks, with no significant movement either way.

So, I'm currently in a calorie deficit with the goal to get down to 175, while doing everything I can do maintain what little muscle tone/mass I have at the moment, or at least minimizing it's loss. After hitting the weight loss goal, I hope to go into a slight calorie abundance while weight training in order to put on some muscle.