This morning, for the first time since probably 2006, I weighed less than 180 pounds: 179.8.
Back in December of 2005, I had gotten up to 233 pounds, and in 2006 I got down to under 180, but over the next few years my weight was generally in the 180s, then the 190s. Last year I got up to 205.8 and realized I needed to start focusing on weight loss again.
The morning after I returned from vacation in Texas, January 2, I weighed 199.2, so I’ve lost 19.4 pounds this year, almost half of it in April: I weighed 188.4 pounds on April 1.
How did I do it? Keeping my caloric output about the same (I walk a treadmill for the length of a TV episode on DVD 6 days a week, but I’m pretty sedentary the rest of the day) and reducing my caloric input, which I track using FatSecret‘s Calorie Counter app for my Android phone. For April, I switched from my usual breakfast of a Sausage Egg McMuffin to just a Sausage McMuffin, I cut out the snacks I was usually eating before and after lunch, and on the few occasions when I went to a nice restaurant to eat, I made sure to limit what I ate.
This month, I’m going to be traveling a lot, so I won’t be able to eat my regular meals. I will probably put a few pounds back on, which is why I made an extra effort to lose weight in April.