If you live under a rock, here's the skinny. Since the age of 13, despite participating in sports and eating an "anorexic's diet" (as my trainer yelled at me), I had been steadily gaining weight. Last year or so I was diagnosed with hypothyroid, which means that I have little to no natural metabolism. Since that diagnosis, and since taking the thyroid medication, I've come down nearly 50 pounds and toned up quite a bit. If I skip a thyroid pill, it's a lot like a caffeine addict who suddenly has no access to coffee: I had been living a part of my life at half speed.

I suppose I want to talk about it because a lot of people value a person's self worth on how they look. After being diagnosed, I realized that my self worth had nothing to do with how I looked because sometimes, it really isn't your fault. Sure, I do eat better (I now eat 1500 calories, not 1000, and just fish, chicken, fruits and veggies, no pork and rarely eat beef), and the diagnosis gave me a bit more courage to tackle fitness other than sports. I work out daily, and between the beginning of January and the end of February I ran more than 100 miles. I now go to the gym daily and run on average 3 miles a day on top of 20 to 30 minutes of strength training, and can do 100 push ups without stopping.

So, here's some progress pix. Those of you remember how I looked at last year's Six Flags Mo Fun devmeet:



Size 20

Me now:





Size 16

Sure, I have a long way to go. I have a body chemistry that is working against me and it doesn't fall off overnight. Sure, I wish I had gone to the doctor to ask the questions I had a long time ago. But hey, it's all good...