The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

I honestly never saw myself becoming the person I am today, especially when it comes to how I'm now often times repulsed by others' poor eating and drinking habits. Perhaps it's largely due to the fact that I used have horrendous eating and drinking habits 5+ years ago. About 10 years ago, I drank a great quantity of soda. Following some cavities due to that great soda consumption, I switched to Gatorade and that wasn't much better. I also ate fast food on a very regular basis, wasn't coy about eating junk food, yet naively enough, I felt so long as I exercised regularly, I could help off-set all those calories and get into better shape as a result. My naivete was, of course, wrong. I was lucky to break even on the scale in a given week, and would often times add a pound or two. Nowadays, while my eating and drinking habits are by no means perfect, I've learned that one's diet is the most important ingredient to being healthy and staying in shape (or get...

Not long after I moved to Columbus, Ohio from Omaha, Nebraska in the late-winter of 2008, I decided to finally make some changes in my life to improve both my health and appearance, and with that, my confidence. I didn't go to any gyms or hire any trainers. I simply made some common sense changes, like going from soda pop and Gatorade to water, and from fried food (meat) to grilled, and working out more. Just with the water change alone, I lost approximately 5 lbs. my first week. Without even working out a great deal, I lost a good 25 lbs. just with the alterations in eating and drinking habits. Following my health struggles for two years, I put things in overdrive as far as exercise was concerned and lost another 25 lbs. (I had gained about 5 lbs. in those two years where I was ill). I eventually learned that so long as I didn't regress to my awful habits of old, eating and drinking certain things was alright, so long as it was done in moderation. Well, my girlfriend has dec...

Two months after I moved to Columbus, which was about 4 years ago, I remember getting out of the shower, looking in the mirror and not liking what I saw. My weight had increased to 186 lbs. and due to my poor workout and eating habits, I wasn't about to see a decrease in my weight anytime soon if I kept things going as they were. So, on that day, I decided to make some changes. I stopped drinking soda pop and sports drinks and went straight to water and water only. I stopped eating junk food. I went from fried meat to grilled. I also began to work out more. I lost a good 20-25 lbs. over the course of the year through these altered habits. I then became ill for a couple years, which prevented me from working out. Fortunately, while I couldn't work out, my eating habits didn't alter and I only gained 5 lbs. back. When I finally got to feeling better, I felt a motivation I had never possessed before and went on to lose another 20-25 lbs. for a total of around 45 lbs. since the...