Dan Nied's Fortress of Weight Loss: Day 91

What I’ll Eat Tomorrow
Meal 1
Bowl of Cheerios
Calories: 300
Fat: 0 grams

Meal 2
Turkey Sandwich and an apple
Calories: 250
Fat: 4 grams

Meal 3
Tuna Sandwich and an apple
Calories: 360
Fat: 3 grams

Meal 4
1 orange
1 pear
Calories: 150ish
Fat: 1 gram

Meal 5
Turkey Sandwich
Calories: 200
Fat: 4 grams

Total calories: 1,260
Total fat: 12 grams

How Wednesday went: It went well. Glad you asked, actually. I followed the menu to a tee, and ellipticised for 30 minutes, burning the required 500 calories. So I guess I can say I am healthier for it today.

The Real Reason I Brought You Here Today
So what do we want to talk about today? Feelings? No. I have made it clear that I am optimistic. We could talk about the diet itself, but these days I find that kind of boring. You can only get so much mileage out of turkey sandwiches and salads.

I could, however, talk about how this diet helped me forge a love of tea. But that seems kind of dry as well.

Instead, we’ll talk about body image. In recent years, I have compared my body to that of football players, namely, what position a man of my measurements would play in the NFL.

There’s a pretty good reason for this analogy. See, I was blessed with NFL size. It’s true. I am thick and meaty, a full 6-foot-3 inches, bulging up to 300 pounds by my sophomore year of high school. I was an offensive lineman in high school and even caused a bit of a college recruiting frenzy (three schools sent letters!) after my senior year.

I don’t know that I was ever really looked at as "fat" in high school, there were other shorter, much fatter kids around to play that role. Instead, I was always called "Big." My freshman year of college, I was nicknamed "Big Dan" by the somewhat uncreative but good natured "Sweet" Ray Barger, who took it upon himself to give everyone nicknames (including himself). I am large-framed and broad-shouldered, the kind of guy who girls have always said they felt protected around. Some (many) have called me a "big teddy bear," which is a euphemism for "We can be friends, but I’ll never sleep with you".

Article Author: Dan Nied

Dan Nied is a journalist, of sorts, living near San Francisco. He is a college graduate, but you wouldn't know it by looking at his bank statement.

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