My Story, 55.7 lbs later, and Onderland!

I hit onederland last week but did not have a chance to show some pics and my story.....

I did not have any plans to take this journey to become healthier and lose weight. I was fine, or so I thought. On December 7, 2010 I went to work as normal. By 9:30 I had excruciating pain in my left side. It was a kidney stone that was too big to pass on its own. I was scheduled for surgery December 9 (my youngest son’s Birthday). I weighed in the day of surgery at 255 lbs!

This surgery would change my outlook on life, as when I woke up from surgery, I developed a fever and infection was suspected. This infection became sepsis, total blood stream infection (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sepsis) . My body began to shut down, my heart rate was all over the place, my blood pressure was as low as 45 / 31 at one point. I was told this was not a livable blood pressure. A rapid response team was called, including a chaplin. They stabilized me and I then proceeded to spend the next 2 days in ICU and two more days in a regular room. It took me almost a month to start feeling like myself again. All the doctors have told me I am lucky to be alive and not have any organ damage from this ordeal.

This was all due to a kidney stone, which I probably caused by not drinking water and a poor diet. It could have been prevented, Instead I almost lost my life.

At a follow up appointment the urologist wanted me to track my food for two days and collect urine to test to see what could be changed to prevent future stones. I then searched to see if there was an online tool to use for tracking my food. Thats when i stumbled across myfitnesspal.com. I used it and then kept using it! I began to exercise a few weeks later and have never looked back!

As of today I am down nearly 56 lbs since January of this year!

Here is a before picture.....



I did not take any comparison pictures until i had lost about 12 lbs already......





Thanks everyone! Without this site I would not have seen the successes i have so far. I am not sure yet what my ultimate goal will be but I am going to keep going!