First, A Little Background

I'd like to share my weight loss journey with anyone who will listen.  I'm 55 years old and I've been a software developer since I was 20.  I was never overweight in my 20's and 30's.  In fact, I was in pretty good shape, running a lot and lifting weights.  In the 80's and 90's I ran road races regularly along with couple marathons and a few sprint triathlons here and there.  I'm just shy of 6'1" and my true 'fighting weight' is around 205 pounds.

As I entered my 40's I found that I was becoming much more sedentary and I began travelling quite a bit for work.  The travel caused my exercise patterns began to fade and, thanks to a generous expense account, I found myself eating rich restaurant food on a regular basis.  I gained dozens of pounds in an 18-month span.  Before I knew it I was 48 years old and I was just shy of 300 pounds.

But it got worse.

Even though I began to travel less and less, the eating pattern continued.  I had to abandon scales that maxed at 350 pounds and opt for a 'bariatric scale' that handled up to 500 pounds.  At 51 years old I had passed 400 pounds and then some.  My doctor gave me a lecture at every visit so I avoided him whenever possible.

At 54 years old I reached my highest weight of 471 pounds.  I felt like crap 24-7.  I couldn't sleep, I couldn't walk more than 25 yards and every joint in my body hurt all the time.  In a word - I was miserable.

I had a few scary health situations that motivated me to lose about 100 pounds.  Basically I stopped drinking alcohol and ate only non-processed foods.  I felt a lot better but my weight seem stuck in 350 - 370 pound range.

For the past year or so one of my daughters had been telling me, "Dad, you have to try Paleo".  I finally paid attention and started Paleo about 3 months ago.

And so the journey was underway.