Mid 40's success! (95 pounds down, 5 to go....)

Sorry to re-post this from my blog, but might as well take the effort of writing something and re-use it.

My name is Greg, and I'm a 45 year old formerly morbidly obese guy from the Twin Cities of Minnesota. I've struggled with weight all my life. Even from my pre-teen days I remember having to buy Lee jeans since Levi's weren't cut right for my husky size. I was never athletic and used it as an excuse to never pick up any sort of consistent exercise program.

I've yo-yoed up and down in weight in my adult years as well. In the fall of 2010, my doctor, an endocrinologist by trade, sat me down and gave me "THE TALK". He said, you came in here almost 4 years ago weighing 266 lbs,, you went down to 237, then back up to 270, then back down to 240, and then back up, and then back down, and now you're in your 270's. If you can't keep your weight under control, I would like you to go get a bariatric consult! I even got a call from the bariatric place, but then dismissed it when my health plan took it off their formulary.

Through 2011, I had friends who had experienced weight loss success, but I'm not sure what it was that caused my paradigm shift. Part of it was seeing my friends' success for sure, and part of it was that I saw a neurolinguistic programming performance coach about business issues and I guess it just flipped that switch on in my brain. I guess I was just READY to be in the right mindset and to get rid of these extra pounds.

In November, 2011, after meeting with another trainer who made me feel sold on a bill of goods, that is, giving me a "this is what we do here" sort of approach rather than how it would benefit me, I met a 6'10" Congolese trainer who owned his own personal training studio. After giving me a "test" workout that made me sore for 3 days afterward, he sat me down and said, you are 44 years old, you are 5'9", and your weigh is (gag!) 280 lbs. You have a 41.3 BMI and are 35% body fat. You can't keep this up!! If you eat and move in the way I tell you, you will lose 70 lbs by the time you turn 45 in May 6 months from now. Although I dismissed that I could be that successful, I signed on the dotted line and made a commitment to 6 months of personal training. It was not easy -- it challenged me mentally and physically in ways I hadn't experienced ever before in my life.

Although I had trained with a trainer in the past, I never had been in an environment where what you ATE was monitored so closely. I was given a food journal and was told to manually log all my food. There were days that I was on the go so much that was hard to do, so I found MyFitnessPal to be an invaluable adjunct to this logging. My trainer didn't like the idea, but he acceded a bit once he realized how serious I was.

I will tell you, I had a slow start and especially with the initial weeks of my training being between Thanksgiving and New Years. Regardless, over time I did continue to lose weight, and indeed, by my 45th birthday, in May, 2012, I was down 70 lbs and saw 210 for the first time since probably 1999 or 2000.

The summer of 2012 was hard. I rode a big long FRUSTRATING plateau. Although I didn't gain a lot of weight -- staying between 210 and 215 mostly with occasional forays up to 218 or so, my body WAS changing. I know I didn't keep my food plan in order -- even with all I had learned and done, there was invariable one cheat day a week that undid everything I had done to succeed. I also broke my big toe in August and that set me back about 2 months -- a month rehabbing from the injury and a month to get my cardiovascular endurance back.

Although I wasn't losing pounds then, I found that I WAS losing inches. During this period of time, my waist size went down from 40 to 38 to 36... and shirts from 18 to 17 1/2 fitted. I always have told friends battling with plateaus that "when you're not losing pounds, watch the tape since you're losing inches". And sure enough, I was.

Flash forward to 2013. I really felt good and motivated to pick up where I had left off. I threw myself with vigor back into an exercise plan. And I saw immediate results. I saw the south side of 200 for the first time since I was a college student in 1985 and 1986. Although I slacked back over 200 for a few days in early February, I took the 90-day challenges offered by my trainer's studio (where I still take group fitness classes) and my "big box" gym (where I also take group classes) to heart.

I am now off three meds, and in fact, the same doctor who told me to go get a bariatric consult is so inspired by my progress told me in our last meeting that he has upped his own activity level and lost a few pounds himself. I never expected to inspire my own doctor, let alone get a hug from him!

I am now under 190 lbs. on the way to losing 100 lbs. total by my 46th birthday at the end of May, 2013 (Though I want to get there sooner!!). I still find weekend eating to be a challenge, and trying not to find excuses to succeed. Regardless, I am such a different person than I was 95 lbs. ago, that I can only say I know how to move forward, and confidently move forward in the direction of my goals. I'd love to encourage you to do the same -- to make it through the tough days toward that ultimate goal. Be willing to succeed!