Throughout high school, I weighed right around 165 to 180lbs, depending on my general level of athleticism at the time. I ballooned to 215 while on a mission for the LDS church, and returned to around 200 by the time I returned from the mission. Then, through a focused program of poor nutrition, spending all my money on stuff other than food, and an incredibly busy schedule, my weight diminished to 178lbs on the day before my wedding.

Of course, the first year and a half of marriage, bringing with it enormous quantities of excellent food lovingly prepared by my wife, saw my weight rise dramatically. 220, 230, and I eventually landed a position as a meter reader. A pedometer told me I was walking somewhere between 10 and 15 miles every single day. I came to be in pretty good shape -- eating like a horse and weighing right around 200-210lbs -- but I always looked back at 178lbs as my healthy, high-school and college weight, thinking I was just too big and needed to reduce