Getting closer to goal, progress since beginning of march 2015

bhokanson2015

So, I am blown away when I look at the threads here, you guys are doing so great. And I decided I wanted to jump in the pool and share some of my journey. Although, now I wish I would have taken more pics along the way, but honestly when I started this I hated the way I looked and didn't really feel like posing for a lot of pictures, and would have a mini panic attack anytime I got a facebook notification that someone has added a picture of me. I would think, ohh no, how bad do I look this time and how many people saw it before I could untag myself.

Anyway, so this is a good indication of where I started out. Its not taken at the exact time I started this phase of my life, but I had been hovering right at around 300 pounds for around 2-3 years. I am 6'6" by the way for those wondering, if anyone was.



It kind of pains me to even look at it, how big I was, how out of control I had let myself be.

So that brings us to today, as I sit here I am down 74 pounds to 226 and I took this pic this last week when I was traveling for work



And this one



I am not yet to my goal. But I am so happy I have done this. Its a huge life upgrade. I went from not being able to run for 90 seconds (when I first started couch to 5k) to now completing 5k in under 25 minutes... I know there are a lot of people faster than me but I can't even believe I typed that last sentence, and on saturday I got a personal best for a mile @ a 7:20 pace.

Maybe this helps someone, maybe it doesn't. It feels good though to put all of this down somewhere and share it.

I am so grateful for MFP and the great people I have met on here who continue to inspire me

kcampbell1969

Holy cow! Excellent job in such a short amount of time! You can't be too far from your goal!

RolemodelmomT

You look amazing and you should be totally proud of your achievements!!

enterdanger

That is awesome. I still haven't gotten under 10 minutes on a mile. Be proud. You look great and I will dance a freakin jig if I ever run a 7:20

tacosandbeerthatswhyimhere

Wow! You look great. Running is so hard. I'm trying to get better at it as well.

BeefSwollington

Great job! With the shape you are currently in, this would be a perfect time to start a recomp and shaping your shoulders / arms. 6 months of that and you will look badass next summer.

CarrieA180

Amazing results! Well done!

efrensgirl2015

Kudos to you!

bhokanson2015

Thank you for the feedback You are very kind

NextPage

Wow - great job.

shrcpr

You look amazing. Thank you for sharing!

IILikeToMoveItMoveIt

Very nice!!

ajgordo150

This makes me want to work harder

neldabg

Wowowow! You've done so well! Thanks for sharing your story!

Blake3693

Freakin' amazing progress, man!

wateryphoenix

O_O are you the same person? Very inspirational! x.x great job!

starryeyedsnoozer

Holy cow! You did that in 6 months?!

FitRoberta

Wow, fantastic job! You look great and your fitness gains are impressive! (I am the queen of the ten-minute mile!)

ellerist

Fantastic results! All your work has paid off tremendously!

sambabyno1

Great man! I m on the same track these days and..viola! half way to it

hsuarez1991

Thank you for sharing!

jamesha100

That is great! - I would have liked to see more progress pictures but I can understand why you do not have them - I am reluctant to take them myself.

Was running your only exercise and at what point did you start feeling slim? - I am 5'11' and have dropped 50 pounds from 254 but still have a belly whereas yours is flat

MarietjieHoward

Great job!!! you look amazing

joinn68

Do people even recognize you??
How much weight did you lose before people started thinking twice before calling your name or people didn't even recognize you anymore. What's been your experience after your amazing transformation?

bhokanson2015

starryeyedsnoozer wrote: »

Holy cow! You did that in 6 months?!

Yes, well just over 6 months

bhokanson2015

jamesha100 wrote: »

That is great! - I would have liked to see more progress pictures but I can understand why you do not have them - I am reluctant to take them myself.

Was running your only exercise and at what point did you start feeling slim? - I am 5'11' and have dropped 50 pounds from 254 but still have a belly whereas yours is flat

Running hasn't been my only exercise, its the hardest exercise I do, but prior to running I was strictly walking. Walking a lot actually, in the past 6 and a half months there has only been a handful of days that I didn't get my 10,000 steps in a day, most days in that time have been closer to 20,000 steps a day.. I started running actually because a good friend here on myfitnesspal reached out to me and encouraged me to start running, and I am ever so grateful that happened, I really enjoy running and how it makes me feel

I also have been using the 7 minute workout app on my iPhone on days that I don't run

As for when I started feeling slim, I don't know its really only been recently that I have had any notion that I am "slim" people tell me I am, but thats different than feeling that I am if that makes any sense..

bhokanson2015

joinn68 wrote: »

Do people even recognize you??
How much weight did you lose before people started thinking twice before calling your name or people didn't even recognize you anymore. What's been your experience after your amazing transformation?

I just traveled for work and saw a lot of people who I havent seen since May, and there were quite a few people who didn't recognize me until they heard me speak. Which was sort of a bizarre experience lol.

As far as my experience now vs when I first started this journey. I feel so much better, I sleep better. Prior to losing weight my doctor was going to send me for an expensive sleep study because I wasn't sleeping well, now I sleep like a log.

Two years ago, I used tobacco and was fat, during a dentist visit when they took my blood pressure it measured at 160/120, now mind you when I went to the doctor after that it didn't measure quite that high, but it was still really high. I just had a physical this month now and my blood pressure measured 103/60, no medication or anything.

And really the past 6 months has been an education, an education in what eating healthy looks like, what having self control feels like, and what feeling good feels like.

Chabela53

Wowzer! You look fabulous. I am always amazed at how DIFFERENT everyone looks at there goals, or all the changes along the way. Great job!

missmelissa919

Amazing! You look great

bhokanson2015

An update on me: In the last two days I set both my 5k personal record and my 10k personal record..

My 5k is now 24:03 and my 10k is 53:12 looking to beat both of those again by the end of the month.. I look back on how I was now and my life is so much different now than I expected when I first started logging my food with myfitnesspal, so much better than I thought it would be.

cmsu64113

Amazing job!