I don’t trust diets, and the gym has always been my enemy. Why do they have so many mirrors?  My goal is to someday replace each one with semi-motivational posters of overweight people.

Couldn’t quite get that last sit-up? It’s all good…

So, how did a guy who is allergic to pushups and loves good food lose a bunch of weight?

I ate fried chicken.

Not every day of course, we’re not in Heaven yet. I just stopped caring so much about losing weight. Instead, I decided to get healthy. There were two things that helped:

1. I took my time. It wasn’t a matter of “learning how to eat right.” I knew the difference between an apple and a doughnut. The trick was discovering good food, not just healthy food. I like to eat good food.So, for two or three weeks, I tried every sort of nutritious breakfast out there. Lunches and dinners were still chocked with unnecessary calories, but it didn’t matter. I had to figure out what was good.  Once I tackled breakfast, I moved to lunch. Three more weeks of finding good lunches. Dinner was the same. A few months later, I had around 30-40 nutritious things that I liked to eat.  There is no diet. I will never slander my relationship with chicken wings by using words like, “cheating.” We’re committed to each other and our love is eternal and steadfast. Life is too short to eat baked chicken everyday. Take your time finding good food.
2. I joined a gym. Despite my animosity towards gym-culture (and gym bros), buying a membership helped me get healthy. I started lifting weights (meaning, just the bar at first) and have worked my way up to far more weight than I’d ever thought possible. It became a “detox” part of my day. I found a podcast, and let my workout be a window of time where I could check out from the world for 30 minutes.

That’s it. I wasn’t going for a six-pack. I just wanted to get healthy. Two years later, I’ve lost over 40 pounds (and gained muscle). And, because I took the time to discover good food, I can eat whatever I want. Honest.

Even fried chicken.

Especially fried chicken.