My Journey: From HS Grad to College Grad!

momonjah · February 2013

Hi everyone!
I would just like to share my story to you guys and my journey to weight loss. High school was a pretty tough time for me. Moving from the Philippines to the US at the age of 14 was a really drastic change on my life. Everything was different culturally and as well as the living conditions. When I first moved to the US, I was amazed on how much food there are. You can get a McDouble with large fries and drinks for less than $10 plus you get unlimited refills! I was blown away on how different portion sizes and food prices here in the US. Back in my country, my mom and I would only go to McDonalds once every month or two because it is somewhat expensive to eat there and we didn’t have much money either. Anyway, this is when I started thoughtlessly consume a lot of food. I remember when I was in high school I would binge so much. I went to buffet restaurants once or twice a week plus eat an 8 piece KFC chicken bucket all by myself also once or twice a week. I also ate a lot of junk foods like chips and chicken nuggets. I could go on forever on all the bad things that I was consuming. The really sad part was I did not realize at all that I was gaining weight even when I already gained 70 lbs. On my heaviest, I got to around 260 pounds. The one who helped me realize that I was going downhill on my weight was my grandma. I was really excited when I graduated from HS and sent my pictures to her. Instead of getting a congratulatory response, I got a very straightforward in your face comment. She told me that I looked that a very fat pig and she then followed that this is not my grandson. I was really hurt from those words at that time but I was glad that she said those words looking back at it now. I guess it just takes a really courageous statement like that to make me realize that I needed to change. My family, friends, and teachers actually never pointed out my weight gain at all throughout the years. I think it was because they knew that it will hurt my feelings and they accept me for who I am. So after graduating high school, I started to change my life for the better. First of all, I started to cut back on my calorie consumption to probably about 2000 from I don’t know how much. It was difficult on the first month. There were a lot of food temptations all around me and I could not stop thinking about my old eating habits. After the first month, I lost about 20 pounds then I realized that I really can lose weight. I started doing some light exercise like walking on the treadmill and doing those cardio machines at the gym. People started to notice my weight loss which made me really happy and just continued what I have been doing until I was off to college. Everyone became really supportive in the process. My parents actually limit our eating out to once every month or two and started to eat less as well. I continued losing weight throughout college. Even though I was losing weight in college, I was doing it the wrong way. As a broke college student, I had the typical college diet. It was a lot of frozen food and ramen. So I sometimes just eat once a day but tried to eat twice when I can. I tried to keep myself active and actually took 2 physical activity classes every semester. While everyone was dreading the ‘freshmen 15’, I lost 20 lbs instead! Today, I graduated college with an engineering degree and now work at an engineering firm near where I live. I was glad that I went through this journey because it makes a really good example when I go to job interviews and they usually are impressed about it. I never thought everything would fall into place. So don’t give up! It might seem like it’s taking forever to lose weight but reaching the results that you wanted is a very rewarding experience. I still have a few more pounds to go but I just need to keep at it and be patient :]

HS Grad (May 2008, ~260 lbs)

College Grad (May 2012, ~185 lbs)

Me and my mom

Today :]

Last word of advice :P

Thanks for reading!

TheLittleOneThatCould · February 2013

Congrats on your weight loss.

RekindledRose · February 2013

What a wonderful story! And you're right; it takes a lot of courage to tell someone the truth, even knowing it will hurt them at first. I'm glad that you heard what her heart was saying and took the steps you needed to, to become healthier.

Congratulations on graduating with an engineering degree and getting your job! I hope you have lots of good fortune in the future. You look a lot like my oldest son; he's twelve but his face is a lot like yours. I wish you the best!

ftballmom9296 · February 2013

You have done an amazing job. Your story reminds me of my sons story and now I am ready for him to get lean and trim just like you have done to live a long healthy happy life. Congratulations on your lifestyle change and Graduating College.