From 420.2 pounds to 219.6 pounds. (Picture.)

I'll put the picture first. LOL.



I weighed 420.2 pounds on January 1, 2013. Since I was a little kid, I enjoyed eating large quantities of food. I wasn’t always extremely overweight. I was “normal” size during my early years of Elementary School. It wasn’t until fifth grade, when my father was diagnosed with terminal Colon Cancer that I really packed on the pounds. He passed the summer after fifth grade, and that was when I really began to gain weight. By the time I reached Junior High, I was significantly larger than my peers, and I think this was a huge reason why I was extremely shy growing up. I just preferred to keep to myself when I was younger. When I would get home from school, I would often indulge in some type of food that I thought was yummy, and then spend hours and hours watching television. My weekends consisted of eating more large quantities of food and watching more television.

While I was unhealthy, I did make decent grades. That was the one thing I had going for me. To an extent, I think my peers thought I was a lot smarter than I really was. It was really the only thing I had going for me, so I sort of just went with it. I was extremely overweight my senior year of High School, but I started to become at least a little bit more social. When I began college, I actually thought I wanted to be lawyer. I didn’t do too well my first few years of college. I eventually decided law school just wasn’t for me, but I chose to pursue a Master’s Degree in Political Science. While in college, my weight continued to increase. In 2006, I heard from one of my friends on campus, that a quick way to earn some extra money was to donate plasma. I went to the facility, and they put me through an extensive medical screening. Part of the screening included a urinalysis. After I gave my sample, the nurse asked me if I had diabetes. I told her “no,” and she told me she asked because I had traces of glucose in my urine. I then scheduled an appointment with my doctor, and he did some blood work. I did not have diabetes, but my A1C was high but he said that I might develop it if I did not get my weight in order. He put me on metformin. Even though I had a diabetes scare, I didn’t really take his advice on becoming healthier.

I continued to work at my office job while I pursued my Master’s Degree. It was weird, because while I obviously loved to eat, I’ve always felt uncomfortable about eating in front of other people. I think it was embarrassment. When we had food days at the office, I always tried to make sure that I was the last person in the line to get food, because I didn’t want people staring at me. I would go out of my way to only take a little food, because I didn’t want to be judged. For some reason it always surprised me when I would see other overweight people take two or three plates of food in public. I guess I was a “self conscious overweight person.” While I was ashamed to eat large quantities of food in public that certainly wasn’t the case when I was alone. During this time, a “normal” meal for me consisted of three double cheeseburgers and two orders of small fries from McDonald’s. Sometimes I would also get the two apple pies for $1, if I felt like it. I received my Master’s Degree in the spring of 2011. I’ve yet to find a position which utilizes it to its position, so I’ve continued to work at the same job. I’ve never really felt that my weight has held me back professionally or personally. Maybe I just don’t want to believe that. Who knows? As an overweight person, I loved my family and friends, was a nice guy (Most of the time. LOL.), and earned a Master’s Degree. For some reason though, I had not been as successful when it came to my health.

I was sitting at home on December 31, 2012 and eating pasta and breadsticks. I’m not exactly certain what went on in my head, but I decided that I was going to lose weight, and 2013 was going to be the year I do it. I woke up on January 1, 2013 and weighed myself. I was of course disheartened to see that the scale said I weighed 420.2 pounds. I decided that my goal was to lose 200.2 pounds. If I was to accomplish that, I would weigh 220 pounds. At 6’3”, I thought this was a reasonable goal weight. I wasn’t sure how I was going to go about accomplishing this, as I just made to decision to do this the night before. I don’t like to exercise, and I thought I might fail if I initially took on the nutritional and fitness aspects of this endeavor concurrently. I decided I was going to focus on nutrition. My strategy was to find low calorie/high volume food that I wouldn’t mind eating everyday. I know this probably sounds like a silly idea to most people, but I appreciate consistency, and its worked out very well for me.

It started off smoothly, as I was able to identify those foods I mentioned, yogurt, oatmeal, chicken breast, some fruits and vegetables. I decided I was going to weigh myself every Sunday, and I was shocked that I lost about 10 pounds the first week. I’m sure it was mostly water weight, but it sure was a great motivator for me. In the first month, I lost about 25 pounds. I didn’t tell a lot of people when I first began this journey, mostly because I was not sure that I would be successful. I was extremely fortunate to keep up my consistency during this journey. There were times in the beginning, where I would be extremely nervous to even be in situations where yummy food was available. I started off weighing 420.2 pounds, so I had little self control. The nervousness about being around yummy food eventually got a lot easier, as I was essentially able to ignore it, as I was perfectly pleased with my 1,300 calorie a day menu. I know a lot of people would frown upon a guy only eating 1,300 calories a day, but its worked very well for me.

People really started to notice my weight loss at the beginning of June. At that point, I had lost a little more than 100 pounds. I had been wearing all of my old clothes up until then, which included 6X shirts, so I guess a lot of people weren’t able to tell yet that I had lost weight. I went shopping the last weekend in May for some new clothes, and this was when people really started to notice. The responses I’ve gotten from people have been great. I had people constantly ask me what I was doing. I told them that the only thing I was doing was eating healthy and counting calories. Some of them seemed shocked that I wasn’t exercising. I’ve had several people ask me if I’ve had surgery. LOL. I guess that shouldn’t surprise me, as the weight has come off really quickly. One of the things I’m most proud of is that I’ve accomplished this without surgery or pills. When I went to the Doctor at the end of July, he was shocked. He ordered some blood work, and he was able to take me off of the Metformin and blood pressure medicine. I saw this as a huge accomplishment, considering the reason I’m doing this is my health. I asked him to review his records, and he shared with me that my highest weight was 455 pounds. That was recorded in April of 2010.

As of today, exactly one year into my journey, I’ve lost 200.6 pounds, and I now weigh 219.6 pounds. I started off with a BMI of 52.5, and its now 27.4. I feel GREAT. There have been so many benefits to losing weight. First and foremost is health. My doctor said there was a chance I could have a heart attack in my thirties. Another great benefit has been a huge boost in self confidence that I’ve had. I’m no longer nearly as shy as I used to be. I actually approached a VP in the company I work for a few months back, in order to learn more about potential future opportunities. He actually offered to take me to lunch. When we went to lunch, he got the buffet and I got salad. LOL. My weight loss came up as we were leaving the restaurant, and we ended up talking about for about 15 minutes. I’m happy to say we’ve kept in touch, and there might be some great opportunities for me in the future.

One of the most interesting things I reflect on is how people treat me now, compared to how the treated me when I was morbidly obese. I of course had friends when I was obese, but I’ve certainly noticed that people are now more willing to approach me. I’m very weary of those who have recently taken an interest in me, but showed no interest in me a year ago. I sometimes think about what could have been if I wasn’t overweight for 20 years. I try not to look back at the negatives, and remember that I walked across stage to accept my Master’s Degree weighing more than 400 pounds.

What is next for me? 2013 was the Year of Nutrition for me, and I hope that 2014 is my Year of Fitness. I’m considering joining a gym in the near future. I really need to start lifting weights, since I have so much saggy skin.

There were so many people who have helped me along this journey. Special thanks to my little sister Kristen, who first told me about MyFitnessPal. I’ve been a proud member since February 8, 2013. I would also like to thank all of my friends hear who have done so much to encourage me in this journey. You all know who you are, and you have helped me immensely.

I hope that 2014 brings all of us great health.

Poster Guy