The Biggest, Baddest, Battle Yet

May 2003. My wife and I were so utterly disgusted with ourselves for having gained so much weight that we knew something had to be done. My mom had recently had a lot of success with the Weight Watcher's program and raved about how great it was. My wife and I took a look at the points system and saw that it would make calorie counting a lot easier. But we did not want to attend meetings.

So we bought the Weight Watcher books and began counting points. We also both began exercising. For the first time ever we were combining an eating program with an exercise program. The results were very positive. We each lost about 45 pounds of fat. Our goal was to lose 60, so we only had 15 pounds to go. We were so close to finally winning the battle of the bulge.

We had never been happier. We had more energy. We felt stronger and healthier. Everywhere we went people told us how great we looked. We would look at our "before" pictures from May, 2003, and marvel at how we had allowed ourselves to gain so much fat. We were convinced that we would never, ever, be like that again.

Then, in February 2004, we went on our first (and so far, only) Carribean Cruise. It would be easy to blame the cruise for our relapse. I gained 14 pounds in one week on that cruise! However, I shortly lost that weight again and kept it off for the next six months. In August, I hit a new low of 183.5.

This is where it gets confusing. Although I felt better than I had in years, I somehow managed to gain 55 pounds over the next nine months. And not being of that sex, I'm pretty sure I was not pregnant. But rest assured, by the end of that nine months, at my new all-time high of 238, I sure looked like I was nine months along!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how my wife and I nearly won, and then tragically lost, the biggest, baddest, battle yet.

But the war is not over . . .