2 Years > Lost 90lbs > Inspiration to others

CoryBastine · November 2013

Hi everyone,

This is the first time I am writing about this so here I go.

Two years ago, I hit the heaviest weight that I have every been. I weighed in at 305lbs at the age of 23. I never knew how bad I was getting until I hit rock bottom, which was when I ended up walking up 11 stairs in my parents house, and realized that I was unbelievably out of breath.

I stepped on the scale and realized that I HAD to change. So at this point I ended up starting out slow to lose weight. I dropped 30lbs really quick and then plateaued. Then I played the game of losing 10 lbs then gaining 20 lbs. This happened for the next year. I finally dropped down to 260lbs for my Wedding last September, in which I felt great. But then I realized that I needed to lose more weight.

So in February this year, after all other diets/excersize has failed, my wife and I decided to try P90X. I was very skeptical at first because this program looked extremely intense and to be honest I didn't know how hard it was going to be. So week one came and went, and I was exhausted. I started to doubt myself and my ability to finish the program, but my wife was right there with me, and I knew I couldn't give up on her. So i stayed with the program for 60 days and amazingly I dropped 30lbs!

At this point I knew I could do anything I set my mind to.

Now this program brought my right into summer and I ended up signing up for the Warrior Dash with 5 of my other friends. So I ended up starting to run with a few friends, and quickly loved running. So after doing the Warrior Dash I also signed up for my first 5k road race, in which I finished in just over 27 minutes, which I was thrilled with! This pushed me to start running longer, and faster. In August I decided to run my second 5k road race, in which i cut off just about three minutes by running in 24:24! I was in awe when I finished with this time because I never thought I would break 25 minute 5k. After I completed this task, and with some friendly encouragement from my wifes cousin, my wife and I decided to sign up for a half marathon. After two months of some pretty intense training, I dropped an aditional 20lbs to complete and hit my goal weight of 215lbs by the half marathon. After completing this goal, I set my own goals for the half marathon, first goal was to finish in under 2:50. Secondary goal was to finish in under 2:30 (which would have been 10 minute miles). My stretch goal was 2:10 minutes which was definitely a stretch for me especially since my longest run was 10 miles. So I started running the race with my wife and finished my first mile in 10:58, which I was ok with, but my legs were feeling awesome, so I decided to break from my wife and go for my goals. After getting into my grove, my times kept falling the further into the race I got. When I reached the finish line, I finished strong despite the weather being chilly and rainy. When I go my finishing time I was astonished. Not only did I beat my goal times, I crush them.....ALL of them. I came in at 2:03:22. :-D I teared up, and got extremely emotional.

At that point, I looked back on the past two to three years and how hard my life was with all that weight on me. At the beginning of the year, if you told me that I would run a half marathon, I would have LAUGHED at you. Then to look back at all that I have accomplished this summer was amazing. Two 5k road races, Warrior Dash, and Half Marathon.

Throughout the summer, people finally were able to tell that I was losing weight. People I have never even met before asking me how much weight I have lost. This kept me inspired to lose more weight. As the summer went on, people I haven't talked to for years, have actually contacted me to thank me for inspiring them. They were thanking me for taking them on my journey. Because of me, I have helped motivate them to keep going. I now have a couple of people that I am coaching to lose weight, and help get them through the dark days of losing. We have all been there, it is having someone to help you get through those dark times to keep you going.

Thank you all for reading my story

It has been an adventure this year, and I hope this will help some people achieve their goals, and exceed all of them!