Chapter 1: A Fresh Start

I had never been a morning person, much less someone who would get up easily. Seeing that nothing could get me out of bed, anyone that tried to wake me would just give up. I was pretty hopeless when it came to being on time, so I got a little desperate. I had tried special apps, melatonin, sleep studies, you name it. I just couldn’t resist that snooze button no matter what.

Because I was so awful at waking up, my job prospects were limited. I’d been working at a bar for the past couple years just to keep myself afloat, but I was really trying to go back to school to get my degree. Trouble was I could never wake up in time for class.

After a pretty dead Tuesday night shift, I was about to lock up when suddenly a small trinket on the bar caught my eye. It was an old fashioned alarm clock, one with the metal rod and bells on top, with a note that said “for a much needed wake-up call”. I was sure none of my regulars left this for me. There was one guy I hadn’t seen before, but I didn’t catch his name. I shrugged and thought “What have I got to lose?”.

The walk home was quiet, apart from the occasional rattling of the alarm clock as my arms swayed. I guess I was pretty lucky to be within walking distance of work, but it was over a mile away. Over the past few years, the walk had definitely helped keep me around 160 pounds. I’d never really been much bigger than that, but always hovered around that range.

Once I got home, I was pooped. My apartment is on the second floor, and after the long walk, those stairs always kill me. As soon as I got inside, I brushed my teeth quick, got changed, and jumped into bed. I wore my favorite t-shirt, one I bought from my first concert. Definitely the comfiest shirt I owned and it fit me perfectly.

It took a second for me to figure out the alarm clock, but I got it working and set an early alarm for 9 AM. “A little ambitious”, I thought to myself, but I wanted to start waking up early for a change. I was hopeful this clock would help.

~~night one: overslept 2.75 hours~~

When I finally was able to wake up, it took me a second to read the time on my new clock. With the bells ringing and my eyes still squinting, I made out that it was 11 AM. I felt groggy as hell and slammed the snooze button. Who knows how it didn’t wake me up with how loud it was. After hitting snooze two more times, I finally rolled out of bed at 11:45.

I rubbed my eyes and headed to the bathroom to take a leak. Half-awake, I stumbled to the bathroom and thought to myself “I must have forgot to turn the heat on” because of how cold I felt. When I looked in the mirror, I stopped for a second.

Had I been putting on weight?

I guess I had stopped going to the gym recently, but I didn’t expect the results to be this bad. My gut was peaking out of my favorite shirt a bit (explaining the draft I felt) and I ran to my scale to see the damage.

171

“Damn, that CAN’T be right” I thought to myself. I just weighed myself last week, and was at most 160. I sized myself up in the mirror for a little bit, and noticed that while the majority of the weight settled around my belly, my butt and arms did look a little bigger too. I didn’t really mind all that much. I’d always been underweight, so maybe this was a good thing.

Little did I know this was only the beginning...