14 months 350+ to 230; size 54 to 36

I started my health recovery journey with a 2017 New Year's resolution to get more active. I didn't have any expectations of accomplishing what I have so far. I am 48yo and have been obese for the majority of my life except about a decade in my 20's. After years of becoming less active and accumulating many bad eating habits my weight continued to creep up with each passing year and my health had started to show signs of deterioration, some of which had become very serious. As one of my photos shows I completed a sleep study to address my sleep apnea in early 2017. This was a big step towards my success. Often, not enough emphasis is put on getting a good night’s sleep and weight loss. I needed more sleep to get the necessary energy to even begin thinking about working out. Getting the proper amount of sleep has allowed me to recover from workouts and allow my body to become a more efficient caloric burning machine. About this same time I began to have severe swelling in my lower legs and had several bouts of staph infections, one of which put me in the hospital for treatment with IV antibiotics. My circulation problems and infections seem to be a thing of the past. Step one, I joined a gym and started walking for 15 minutes at a time before I was out of breath. I continued to only walk for about the first six months gaining longer distances and time. I can now continuously jog a 5K distance. I have also incorporated some body weight exercises for core strengthening, stretching for flexibility, and some light weight lifting. Due to a couple of torn discs in my back I cannot lift heavy weights, but have found it has not been necessary to achieve my goals thus far. Step two; I began slowly working on changing eating habits. First thing to go was fast food and snacks from the gas station. Some days my only goal was not to stop between home and work so that I was not tempted to grab that snack I had become so used to. Increasing my water intake and eliminating all soda and sweet tea from my diet was next. I'm from the south, so ordering non-sweet tea took some serious reprogramming. I started using MFP to track my caloric intake and man was that an eye opener. Who knew a snack size bag of chips, pack of nabs, a peanut butter and strawberry jelly sandwich and a glass of milk at 10 pm right before bed was a 1000 extra calories going right to my waist line. Ugh, we all know, but until I actually started to keep track I didn't actually realize just how many calories are hidden in some of those tiny little packages that I wanted two or three of. I slowly began making other changes to my diet over time as not to shock my system and allow them to become healthy habits rather than a short term "diet". Some days my goal was to eat two different types of fruit or vegetables. Other days the goal was to eat a small breakfast or drink only water with my dinner at night. I began to eat six small meals throughout the day so I never really got very hungry and eat nothing after 8pm. Making healthier choices with the foods I eat has become somewhat enjoyable now. Step three, making short term goals and progress one day at a time. Each day I go to the gym I have an idea of what I want to do before I get there. Even if it is to walk or run 1 minute longer than before, one more push up than last time, burn more calories on the elliptical in the same amount of time as before. I try to push past my comfort zone just a tiny bit each time and before long progress is made. This year for my birthday in January I challenged myself to see if I could pass the US Navy PFT for active duty personnel. I had about eight weeks to train up for it. I failed my base line test so I knew I had some hard work ahead of me. Long story short, I just barely passed combining the sit-ups, pushups and 1.5 mile run scores, but I passed. My next long term goal is to better my PFT score and get to within their height and weight requirements. I still have about 30 lbs to go. Some days finding new ways to stay motivated can be a challenge, but using the many resources out there such as the information and stories found in the MFP app can help. This leads me to why I am even writing this story down. There have been times when I had to tell myself I was and am doing all the things I know to be correct even though that damn scale would not budge or even how dare it increase a couple of pounds. I found it quite helpful to read and hear other people’s success stories and find commonality in each of our own struggles as I began searching for tips and motivation during times of plateaus or times when I just felt I needed to reaffirm my commitment to continue what is difficult but well worth it. I hope this may inspire someone to continue to work and make progress towards their own goals.