When I was 19, I starved myself to get into the Army, and for three days before my final weigh-in, denied myself water as well. I didn't make it; the scale was at 180. I started to cry, and the nurse taped me instead, which I passed. Two months later, I got shin splints from running. Of course, I kept running, and ended up with hairline fractures spiraling along both tibia. From there, everything went downhill. Orthopedic defect in my ankle, bursitis in both knees, and a sudden sickness and fatigue that came from nowhere. I put on sixty pounds in about four months, and over the last decade, have struggled to keep the scale from jumping up with each new life trauma. I passed 30 and then neatly passed 300 and had, unsurprisingly, a meltdown.

Now it's 2015 and I'm aiming towards paleo, but I'm unable to work, broke as all get out. I'm doing what I can with what I got, trying to get back down to a place where I can walk up and down the stairs without wanting to cry.