Part 1 - How did i get here?

We'll start out by saying that I am pretty lazy. I am not a morning person. If i wake up before 10am I feel as though i deserve a medal. For the most part I hate cardio because it is a million degrees in Thailand and if you decide to go for a run you need to start your run towards the direction of the hospital to increase the chances that the ambulance will get to you before you die of heat stroke once you collapse. I also don't really pay any attention to what I eat. If i want pizza, i eat a pizza, period.

I never really got fat from any of this until the past 3 years or so.

The reason why I am this way is because i suppose i was very lucky. I was always one of those people that was fit without really trying. When i was in college, with very little effort, i was able to acquire 6-pack abs whilst maintaining a diet of beer, pizza, and chicken pot pies. However, I suppose that it goes without saying that age tends to change things.

I moved to Thailand weighing about 175 lbs (80kg or so) and I believe this to be my ideal weight. I was 27. I lived my life the same nonchalant way once I was over here as I began working in scuba diving.

Some people might be thinking that this means you get to exercise every day! You could not be more wrong. The idea behind scuba is to exert as little effort as possible in order to extend the time you can spend underwater by not using much air. The equipment is also very technologically advanced to limit the amount of work you do. You plan your dives so if there is any current at all that you are swimming with it, never against. Plus nearly everyone in the dive industry likes to unwind after a not at all difficult day of diving by recharging with 12 beers or so. A lot of the instructors (at least around here) were fat.

my greatest enemy and my best friend

not too bad, but still younger

My life carried on like this for a while and later I ended up owning a bar and restaurant. I had also become one of the best customers of both. The local expat community liked to come by my place because they knew that I was always up for a beer - which to be honest is still true today. However, the bad thing for me was that they got to leave after a few beers and i was stuck there for the rest of the night and normally kept on drinking until we closed. I can handle my booze so don't think i was staggering around annoying the customers. I had this position in some capacity for the next 7 years or so and every single day was exactly like this. Let's just say I made a lot of friends. :)

noticeably larger, and sitting at the same table

I know it just seems dumb to not realize this but I didn't really notice that this obviously self-destructive lifestyle was making me a chubby-butt. It happens so gradually that you can't really see it coming until it has already become a problem. The expat culture of Thailand is very much one of drinking.... a lot... when you meet someone who doesn't drink or just has a few drinks and then go home it is very rare. I would imagine this is true in much of the rest of the world but I think we live lives of perpetual youth over here and don't really "grow up." Like the old saying goes:

The first 40 years of childhood are the toughest*

About a year ago a 5-year relationship ended for me and I suddenly found myself alone. I hadn't really paid that much attention to how big I had become because these things happen gradually, you don't just eat a bunch of pizza one night and wake up 20 lbs heavier. The person I was with never said that my size was a problem. Quite the opposite - she said she liked it so this was a bit destructive.

I looked in the mirror, newly single, at 235 lbs (106kg), big bushy beard, and hadn't had a haircut in months. Basically I had the same appearance as a fat homeless guy. At that moment in my life there was no one in the world that hated me more than I hated myself - which is not a good place to be.

I'd like to say that I immediately jumped up and strapped on my running shoes and changed my life that day but no, that is not what happened. What first happened was a period of self-loathing and depression that simply lead to partying more and then feeling worse the next day and then partying EVEN MORE to make that feeling go away. This is a vicious cycle and I am not trying to blame Thailand, the ex gf, or anything else. I knew I had only me to blame and that is a far more awful situation to find yourself in.

still not at full capacity fatness in this pic but getting close

Then one day something happened that changed my life for the better and is still part of me today.

A local friend of mine that knew was once a competition swimmer in high school from a conversation that we had years ago. He also knew I was a dive instructor for many years. He contacted me out of the blue and asked me to join him and a another friend (one of these guys was also fat) in a team competition for the Phuket Triathlon in November. I would be doing the swim portion. It was August when he asked me. I had 2 months to train.

I said "yes"

And this is where we will pick up the story later on this afternoon when i feel like writing again.