100+ lbs to lose, this is my story...

Greetings Everyone,

I thought I would come and introduce myself. Back in the day (10 or so years ago), I was in shape and feeling great. I was a runner, I LOVED running. I was 179 lbs and in MUCH better shape than I am now. I was in the military so PT and staying in shape was a must. Fast forward 8 years when I got out, I landed a job as an electrician for a food production facility. I never changed my diet, and my weight stayed about the same, until beer started showing up more often and in greater quantities. The weight started to creep up, but I was still in a fairly active job. Once I finished my computer science degree, I landed a job as a IT Systems Administrator. I went from military to a factory to a desk. Now here I am 284.5lbs (started at 289 just over a week ago) and the only exercise I used to get is getting up for coffee at work, or a beer at home.

There was a wake up call for me though, and quite a scary one. My grandmother went into the hospital as a result of a stroke from high blood pressure (she is ok and doing well now). She is a small woman as well, so diet and exercise for her was no big deal. Come to find out, it runs in the family. Did this wake up call make me take action? No, it sure didn't. It wasn't until a couple days before I started a healthy diet and exercise that I got winded putting on my socks for work. I felt pathetic. Getting scared about my health wasn't enough, but putting on socks putting me out of breath was. Well, at least something started it.

Changes had to be done, and this time I am not doing it alone. My goal here on these forums is to help keep me accountable by keeping in touch as much as I can, I have joined a couple other groups as well. So, this time, here is my plan.

1. The beer has got to go (been gone for over a week now). Perhaps in the future I can find some way to fit it in to a cheat day or something, but for the foreseeable future, its gone.
2. Focus on breakfast. I got to the point where I was skipping breakfast, it's been years since I have had anything to eat before lunch, and there were even times I would skip lunch! For now, I got a pretty decent meal replacement powder in place, and a bring a lunch to work everyday.
3. Back to the gym! I had been out of the gym scene for a while, but it seems muscle memory is working to my favor, after a week I am not completely sore and (while I am carrying an extra 100+ lbs) I can do all my old workouts again with some modification.
4. Count macros and not calories. This may sound backwards for some people, but long ago I was into fitness and meal prep, I know what to eat and how to track these things. I just got lazy for several years and didn't realize (or care) how many calories beer was putting on. Just think, at least a six pack of IPA every night for eight years...yeah.

There we have it. My story and my plan. My long-term goal is to drop the fat, 100 lbs+ is probably what I am carrying around at 5'10". My short-term goal, make it through the first 30 days of my new gym membership with the changes I have made. I will start tweaking things little by little afterwards.

Sorry for the long post, and I hope you all have great success in your goals!