Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Officially a Member of the 100 lb Club (A Long Story)

Hey loseit,

I have made a few posts updating my progress, but I will start at the beginning. I have always been big for as long as I can remember. Going back to early elementary school, I always had a gut. After graduating from high school, I tried doing a few diets and stuff, but I never lost more than 20 lbs before giving up and gaining it all back (plus more usually). Early college I was probably around 240 lbs. I worked a lot in college so I felt like I never had time to go to the gym or anything and so I gradually gained weight. In June 2016, I graduated with my Master's in math education and became a teacher. Unfortunately, I ended up at a not so great school where I disliked my job, especially the first year. I would come home every day and drink beer, eat crap all night, go sleep, and do it again the next day. I knew I was getting bigger but I was too afraid to weigh myself due to fear of what it would say.

Fast forward to the the summer before the start of my 3rd year teaching (2018). I still didn't love my job but it was ok at this point. I wasn't binging as much, but I was still not eating very well. The guy that I student taught with remained good friends with me and he goes to the gym a lot. He played football in college and just always has kept in great shape. He convinced me to start going to the gym with him, so I agreed. I wasn't doing much, just kind of going through the motions, but he got me on a regiment where I felt like I was starting to get stronger. He also convinced me to get on Match to start dating more. I had never had much of a dating life because I always felt that I was too fat and ugly for girls to want to date me. I tried using tinder and stuff but there wasn't much there that I was interested in.

Fast forward again to the end of summer. I was hitting the gym a few days a week and had finally weighed myself to get a starting point. 325. That number really hurt to see but I knew I needed a starting point. I wasn't really concerned with weight loss at that point, I just wanted to get into the gym and start getting stronger and getting a good routine down. I hadn't really had much luck on Match yet either. I went to a concert with a buddy and got a message from a girl on Match out of the blue. So we started chatting and ended up going on a date. It went really well so we went on another one and very quickly I noticed that it felt very different from anyone else that I had gone on dates with. We dated for awhile and in January of 2019 I proposed and she said yes.

At this point, I was still kind of just going through the motions at the gym. I was maintaining my weight, but not losing any. This stayed the same for awhile until we get to June 2019. My fiances sister was getting married, so I went and bought nice clothes for the wedding. I took a picture standing in front of the mirror and didn't like how big the person was looking back. We had some pictures taken of us at the wedding and that is when it hit me how big I really was. That night I finally decided to make a change. The next day, I contacted my gym buddy and told him I wanted to get more serious about the weight loss. Before teaching, he was a personal trainer for a while so I figured he would be the perfect fit since we went to the gym together anyways. We decided that I was going to continue my regiment at the gym, but I was going to adjust my diet. I just started counting calories and tried to stay within a budget. I didn't just start eating salad and nothing else, I was still eating good food. If I ate a bad meal with my fiance, I didn't punish myself for it, I just tried to not let it happen two days in a row. The pounds started coming off. I set a goal of 75 pounds to lose before my wedding (March 31st)

Another bit of good news happened, I get hired at the same school he teaches at, which is also the high school that I attended. I got to quit the job that I didn't like to finally be at a school that I felt I would enjoy. This gives me even more motivation, so I start incorporating a little bit of cardio into my workouts as well, as well as on the weekends (I was lifting Monday-Friday) and the pounds just started melting away. By the beginning of the school year, I was down about 40 lbs and was really happy with that. I kept eating well and going to the gym every day and the pounds just kept creeping down. I hit a few plateaus along the way, but usually nothing longer than a few days. Early November I ended up hitting my 75 lb goal and I was so happy. I had finally accomplished something, I was looking better, but I still had a gut so I knew I wasn't done. I decided to adjust and make my goal an even 100 lbs by the wedding. The weight loss slowed a bit around the holidays but I was still losing overall. January 1 I weighed in at 230. I was 5 lbs away from my goal. After that, those last 5 lbs did not want to come off. I would decrease and increase on and off until finally, I managed to see that magic number on the scale this morning: 225. I was blown away.

I have decided that I am still not done yet, but I don't really have a final weight set in mind. I still have a little bit of a gut that I would like to get rid of, but I am very happy with where I am. I finally have a good job, an absolutely amazing woman that I still do not believe that I get to marry, and I am finally happy with myself. I look a lot better now, I have more energy, and I am a lot stronger. I guess I just wanted to share because honestly, if I can do it, anybody can. I know everyone says that, but I was pretty down for a long time with my weight, appearance, lack of love life, and hating my job and less than 2 years later, I am happy, healthy, and ready to get married. Don't be afraid to start and don't be like me and put it off forever. Tomorrow may sound like a good day to start, but today is a better day to start.

Cheers!

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