Ran my first marathon...anything is possible.

I've been overweight in varying degrees my whole life...Last December I was 40 pounds overweight...a heavy drinker, and recovering from a cigarette addiction.

I decided it wasn't how I wanted to live my life...so I started eating healthier, after a couple months I gave up meat entirely, started dropping weight even faster after that...in march I started doing p90x plyometrics and signed up for a n MFP account. At this point I was still about 30 lbs overweight...I stuck with it though. Counted calories religiously, setting a 1200/day net goal

By June I started looking like the person I wanted to be...I started running everyday - just a daily 5k at first, then moved up to 5 miles, and eventually a 10 miler everyday. by August I was no longer concerned with weight and calorie counting...I was just concerned with being as strong as I could be, and making sure I had the right sort of fuel for my now active lifestyle. Bought a new bike as well, and started biking 40 miles a day to work and back (in lieu of running)

On October 30th of this year I ran my first marathon (first race, actually). I finished in 3hr:33m:30s...top 5% overall, and top 13% of men aged 20-24...I'm now training for my first Ironman triathlon. My resting heart rate is now 43 bpm, I have less than 8% bodyfat...and I can't believe how huge and toned my leg muscles are.

My point? Anything is possible. Losing weight is just the beginning...once you become who you want to be, you realize there is a WHOLE LIFE you were not living, and a unbelievable set of possibilities. You stop worrying about calories burned vs. consumed...being healthy becomes your lifestyle, not a ball-and-chain that you have to obsess over. I never thought I would feel or look this good...and sure, clothes shopping sucks because I can never find sizes small enough, but I'm shocked at how much more helpful people are, and how much better I am treated wherever I go.

Keep your head in the game, because believe me, its worth it...You can and will get anything you set your mind to.

Good luck everyone!