The Mother of all NSV's at least to me.

October 31st, 2010 I had reached my peak of portliness at 5'8" and a profound 284# I was out of shape, sick and well on my way to an early grave. I started having issues with everything from cognitive reasoning to walking from my car into my work; a whopping 1600 feet or so. So, I half-heartedly started losing a little weight.

By December, Chest pressure was the norm, I had accepted High Blood Pressure as one of those things that comes as we get older, Achy feet, a sore back...you name it and I was feeling it. It became apparent to me that I was having some issues. To cap it all off I have always been a bit of an insomniac but even that had become unmanageable and my sleep was down to 3, maybe 3-1/2 hours a night.

Finally after some prodding by my lovely bride, I went to see a doctor. He looked at the sleep issue first, did the sleep study thing and found that I had full blown Apnea to boot. So, not only was I only getting 3 hours of sleep but not even sleeping when I was sleeping.

In that same week I earned myself a CPAP machine and had BP meds changed suspecting that they might be contributing to the sleep problems.

Due to the chest pressure I was sent to a Cardiologist who looked at everything and decided my meds were all wrong and changed them yet again...she got it right. HOWEVER, she also suspected I might have other issues and had me tested for diabetes...I was diagnosed as Diabetic and put on meds for that.

That day I decided not to live in a cell. I had seen too many friends and family members go down the path I was on.

I actively sought out an app on my phone to help track progress and my newly acquired glucose monitoring plan.

I FOUND YOU. Just by chance I stumbled onto MFP. It looked as good as anything for tracking what was going in my pie hole. I started reading and looking and was amazed by the friendships and openness and caring nature I saw here. It spurred me on every day.

On Dec 3rd when I went to the Cardiologist's office I could not walk at a decent pace for 8 minutes to finish the echo-stress test. a month ago I rowed 20,000 meters on my rowing machine (12.1 miles). Two weeks ago I road 28 miles on my bike, just for the hell of it.

Today I went to the Doctor's office, 66 pounds lighter than 10/31/2010. I am officially removed from all medications my BP was 118/72, my HbA1C (indicator of diabetes) was normal. My resting heart rate that was high 90s is now low 60s...I could go on but he fact that is important is that this is a victory, not only for me, but for everyone that comes to MFP especially my lovelies that I am in near constant contact with.

Motivated, you bet. I am not at my goal weight yet (34 more to go, maybe more) but its easy from here because of my MFP peeps. I love them all and owe them my life.