One year on MFP, lost 75 lbs (with pics)

It was 1 year ago and my 34th wedding anniversary I was learning how to use my new Android smart phone that my wife had gotten me. I was perusing the free apps and happened up and downloaded the app called MyFitnessPal. “That moment changed my life.” This is not an exaggeration but a statement of fact. From that moment on here are but a few things I have been able to accomplish:
- Lost 75 pounds, thereby increasing my health and staving off things like diabetes and heart disease. My original target was to lose 1 pound a week for 52 weeks.
- Lost 12 inches around the belly (going from a size 50 to 38)
- Learned how to eat the proper amount while still eating all the good things in life.
- Learned how to enjoy and consistently execute physical activities including:
- Run 3 miles. When I started I could not walk much more than a mile without great difficulty.
- Swim greater than 0.5 mile. When I started I could not swim one length of the pool (25 yards), I was deathly afraid of the water and had never swam in water over my head (except once in Marine Corps bootcamp).
- Signed up for my first ever Triathlon. It is a “Sprint-tri” which is 0.25mile swim, 12-mile bike and a 5k (~ 3 mile) run.
- Got a number of my friends and daughter to join MFP and they have begun to have success.
I have made the best friends on MFP. They have been a constant voice of support and suggestions. I have been inspired by so many success stories.

I have had so many Non-Scale Victories (NSVs). Here are a few of them. My daughter joining MFP and putting in her list of inspirations that it is her Dad. A close friend of mine was inspired by my accomplishments to join MFP and has lost significant weight. So many friends of mine have commented so positively about my weight loss. Able to buy pants “off the normal size” rack again.

I initially started this journey as a science experiment so here are some observations I have made:
1. Weight measurements increase 40% of the time but still weight goes down. I weighed myself everyday (except the last week when I was on vacation). I observed that 40+% of the time my daily weight measurements are higher than the previous day. For example during one 30 day period I weighed myself 30 times (same time, place and scale). Of those 30 times, 13 of those times (43%) the measured weight was higher than the previous day. The largest increase was 1.0lbs. So there were 13 days that I could despair about the lack of progress or about why am I doing this or that I may as well just quit. But wait, there were 16 days (53%) that measured weight was less than the previous day. There was one day that there was no difference in weight. The largest decrease was 1.8lbs. So there were 16 days that I could rejoice. So do not despair if your weight measurements show short term increases simply continue to log and stay under your calorie targets and you will lose weight.
2. Perfection is not required for results. What is required is consistency and dedication on the LONG-TERM.
3. It is a small calorie amount over our daily target over a long term that is the primary cause of weight gain. For me it was an average of 28 calories over my daily target for 30+ years that put me almost 100 lbs over a healthy weight. I believe that this is true for most everyone. It is also one primary reason why when asked if a person should log for the long time I say yes because I do not believe it is possible for someone to track to 28 calories.

Without further adu here are some pics:
Here is a plot of my weight loss over the past year with a few key items annotated. This past year has been with many emotional swings not the least of which is my beautiful bride of 35 years being diagnosed and operated on for breast cancer. Also, my business has had lay-offs for the first time in decades and I have had to lay-off a number of my own staff. As I type this it is possible I will lose my job any day. But I will not let these negative items keep me from being personally healthy and in fact it is even more critical that I am healthy so I can better help my family and friends.


I have bones!! Who would have thought that! I do not have many pictures at my peak weight. The one on the left was taken just after I started on MFP at my daughters college graduation. I was near 280 lbs. The middle picture is one of the pictures along this journey. The picture on the right was taken on my one year anniversary.