Captain_Shakespeare

For context, I'm 35/M/5'11": Wanted to share without dropping my whole life story....sorry there's no before/after, but I'm not done yet! I can just taste my ticket to the century club, and it tastes like almonds and monkfruit powder!

Hit 299 today. Knew it was coming but it was such a morale boost anyway! Have been on the journey for just under two years, but accelerated progress after an off-the-charts A1C and liver enzyme result: The visceral fat around my organs was hobbling my ability to produce insulin, and the weight and excess tissue around my neck and chest was giving me sleep apnea, making it even harder to lose weight and have steady blood sugar levels. I was also in near constant back and joint pain and would regularly be exhausted by everyday tasks.

Since March I've lost 55lbs, using low carb* and Metformin ER, along with daily walking. That makes 85lbs since last year, and I finally feel like I can make it stick.

Fringe benefits!

-sleeping much better, waking up more rested and not anxious.

-Not constantly sweating at work while doing almost nothing.

-not uncomfortable to the point of exhaustion by prolonged standing, walking, hot afternoons, or nights out with friends.

-free of several weight-and-nutrition related maladies: random leg cramps, knee and foot pain, acid reflux, swollen digits.

-no longer intimidated by stairs or restaurant booths.

Unexpected side effects!

-body image issues magnified like a second round of puberty: my body is changing faster than my perception of it, so the mirror is, for now, unpleasant. I feel like a melting candle!

-posture is actually worse than before. Weight isn't being shed evenly, so my gait is all wrong now.

-to-the-gram food tracking is its own source of stress, causes meal planning to consume a lot of time and effort, while reducing flexibility. Higher protein and dietary fat requirements also expensive compared to a majority-carb diet.

-recipe book is a mess (was already a home cook with a drastically different set of cooking habits) and dining out can be a chore

-clothes. Just...man...clothes you guys wtf

I've got a ways to go, trying to reach 225 or so, so I'm not sweating the discomfort too much. I wish I was happier with how I look, but I know that will pay off when I hit a goal and stay there. I can't pretend this journey isn't up-ending my life compared to the ease of ignoring my health from day to day, but I'm starting to see real tangible benefits, and that's made a huge difference in my dedication to the task. Thanks for reading and for all the positivity and helpful conversation over the years!

*[for those interested: under 100 grams/day for the first 90 days with NO starches or other than vegetables, now around 125 carbs and reintroduced rice, wheat, potatoes, fruits in sensible amounts. Virtually no soda, candy, syrups, etc. Gave up the stuff that was easiest for me, and carefully portioning or finding healthier versions of the stuff I couldn't do without]

Despite its failure to capture a significant market share, I really enjoyed the metro UI on windows phone and tablet. One UI on my Samsung was getting stale and has a nearly unusable apps drawer, and standard Android notifications are nagging and ungainly.

So I went looking for launchers and icons to get my live tiles back, and what do you know, these are available and they rule. Sharing here so others can try, plus a killer home screen background for good measure.

Apps: SquareHome and WHicons

Squarehome is surprisingly thorough in replicating live tile functions - all apps which are capable of image notifications will display on the home screen with a pic and summary/text right on the icon. You can dismiss with a long press, and exclude any apps from notifications that you prefer.

The consequence of this is that you don't need to use the android notification list at all if you don't want, and by getting selective you can avoid the bombarding nature of android style alerts. I actually find myself checking the apps LESS, and I consider it a good thing.

The launcher also gives you some interesting options for hiding the ever-present android interface: you can hide the top bar while on the home screen(s), as well as the nav buttons. You can enable scrolling instead of paging for your home. There are built-in shortcuts to storage, settings pages and configurables (silent mode, wifi etc).

Tile sizes are fully customizable. Included widgets are compatible with the major productivity suites. (Switched to outlook as you might imagine). Most users suggest using WHicons for the right look, which has a few thousand icons that automatically apply to the appropriate app.

App drawer has a list function if you hate the Samsung UI app moshpit. And I do. It also has a full suite of software and hardware shortcuts for things like 'activate flashlight' or 'load a file using this application'.

Spent a few days fiddling, but I couldn't be happier with it now.

The background is by u/jmlan