Alexander J Oberlender
340-198-324-?
I’ve been overweight for as long as I can remember. I’ve tried almost any type of diet you can think of at one point or another. At 22, I weighed about 340 pounds, at least that’s the number I saw on the scale in March of that year; I had started to work out right before that, so who knows where I really started. I went to the doctor for a routine checkup, and he told me that if I didn’t do something, I’d never see 30.
I took a break from my job at Apple thanks to my amazing boss at the time, Steve Caliendo, who didn’t hesitate to help me when I needed it the most. I went to a weight loss camp and got a great head start while knowing that my job would still be there when I came back. I came home at like 260 pounds and a renewed goal; I wanted to run a half marathon.
Well, first, my goal was to fit into a medium shirt (vanity never fails). I worked my ass off, literally, and got myself down to 198 pounds for Thanksgiving 2011.
Then I went to Israel in the winter of 2011 for over a month and ate a lot, and boy, was it fun, but I also didn’t work out a lot because the weather was cold and sometimes rainy.
I got home and got down to work, getting ready to run the Disney Wine and Dine 1/2 Marathon in December of 2012. My body was not made for running; I finished that race, and you can’t tell by the picture, but I was out of commission for a few weeks.
Things just weren’t the same anymore. So, in the summer of 2013, I decided to go back to camp to work and talked a friend into going also. One week into that summer, we were dating, and I stayed fairly stagnant that summer at about 240 pounds.
By July 2014, I was only at 266 pounds (I have logs still); in January 2016, I was 295, after breaking my wrist before my wedding (a story for another post). After that, I just kept slipping with married life and work; I just wasn’t being as careful as I should. Now my wife is due in 2 months, and I feel like it’s time to get back on track, for myself but more-so for my baby girl. This past week I worked on getting my food intake in order and started weight training again.
The 324 in the title is the weight I was at when I made that decision. In the week since I started, I’ve gotten my calories and macros into what I (and my trainer friend) think is a good place, started a weight regimen with the help of a trainer at my gym, and lost 9.6 pounds. Like any journey, this began with one step, and I’m sure there will be blocks in the road, but I’m going to try to update this blog at least once a week on how this is going, the good and the bad. Sorry for the long post.
As a reward for going this far, here’s what I’m listening to right now:
I started from the beginning, so I’m still in 2020, but I feel a connection to Ethan’s journey and his vices, like Domino’s Pizza.
