From Rock Bottom to a Year Later down 123 pounds

Hello MFP community. I've just passed a year on starting MFP and I decided I'd post a success story for everyone. I don't participate on the forums much, but I do read them a lot for tips and for motivation. Thank you all for that! Here's my story....

On January 4th, 2014 my wife who was 29 passed away due to complications from an emergency surgery. To say it devastated me is an understatement. Day by day I try to get better, as I know she wants me to be happy. At this time, I was huge. I had been huge for a long time. I was at rock bottom. I knew I had to do something with myself or I wouldn't live to see 60. So, I decided to visit the doctor. My BP was borderline high and my cholesterol levels were high. Nothing too crazy, but high. Instead of putting me on meds, he really wanted me to try dieting first. So he suggested the DASH diet which is a diet to help lower blood pressure. So, I was all in. I got a book to help guide me and I joined the Facebook support group for guidance. It helped me so much. My journey started in the beginning of March. The diet didn't want me to count calories, but I still wanted to track what I ate and my measurements in MFP. I love stats, so the more data I could collect the better. For the first 8 months, it was mostly diet with light exercise added in. I tried to walk a mile at work at least 2 or 3 days a week during the summer. This past November I decided to hit the gym and I've been going ever since. I love the gym.

I'm confident that dieting and working out has helped me mentally with everything. It has taken determination and will-power, but I've stuck to it. I can't tell you how much cake I've said 'no thanks' to at work lol. They did get me a fruit tray for my birthday, so I am having a positive influence to my co-workers. But I can't stress enough, no matter what situation you are in, anything is possible. After everything happened unexpectedly, I could have crashed and just stayed in a rut until I did harm to myself. But, as I wanted to honor my late wife and knowing she wanted me to be happy if anything were to happen to her, I got my butt in gear and made change. I'm so glad I did. I'm sorry for the length of the post, but I wanted to share my story. Also, I was featured in an article on the DASH diet, and that can be found here: Link.

Time for stats!!!
Weightloss: 123.6 pounds currently (Started at 390 pounds)
Neck: Down 2.5"
Waist: Down 15"
Hips: Down 9"
My Blood Pressure is normal now
My Cholesterol levels are normal now

And Photos: