100! ONE HUNDRED! ¡CIEN! CEM! EINHUNDERT!
As of today, I have lost 100 pounds! It still feels unreal to me. Almost seven years to the day, I hit the 100-pound club.
As far back as I can remember, I have been overweight. I went into my freshman year of high school at 170 pounds, and by the time I graduated, I was around 220 pounds. Over the next few years, I gained more and more weight with no end in sight. I would try dieting, fad diets, whatever I could do with the least amount of effort to lose weight. At one point, I looked at the scale, and it said 335 pounds! I was embarrassed, ashamed, and disgusted with myself. That was the last time I stepped on a scale for a few years.
In December of 2014, after seeing a friend have success with keto, I decided to get serious. Over the next nine months, I would drop from 304 down to 234. The drop was a massive accomplishment for me, and I was on my way towards my goal of 220 pounds (Highschool Weight). Around September of 2015, I started to get lazy. I was happy that I dropped weight, and I just gave up on being healthy and fit. I continued to gain more weight despite working so hard to get where I was.
Fast forward to May of 2020, right as the pandemic was starting. My wife joined a weight loss challenge with her friends, and I decided to do it independently. I started in May of 2020 at 266 pounds and decided to try my best to stay consistent. Well, my workouts did not remain constant, but my nutrition improved. I had an "a-ha" moment, and I was finally able to tell why I had such a hard time losing weight, food!
I have always used food as a crutch. When I was sad, eat something. When I was happy, eat something. When I was incredibly depressed about my weight, I would eat something because what was the point in trying. The realization that I was using food as a crutch, I remembered a time at my heaviest when I was so depressed. I would crush a bag of hostess donuts on the way to work. Now I am not talking about the little six donut pack, but the Giant bag for sharing with eight people. So after this realization, I started to focus on my food more than my exercise.
I started eating until I was satiated, made better food choices, and significantly reduced my alcohol consumption. Who would have thought it but, the weight started coming off. Near the end of 2020, I was down to 219 pounds which was my first major milestone (get below my weight in High School). During this time, I also focussed on my mental health. Working on getting my head straight and my body right, I set myself up for success. Over the next eight months, my weight would fluctuate from 208 to 215, and I was happy with it.
In August of 2021, I joined F45 and gave myself 90 days. If, after 90 days, I was not happy with it, not invested, or not seeing the results I wanted, I would cancel my membership. My only requirement was I had to stick with it for 90 days. After the first class, I was smoked, and I may or may not have puked during the class. I just kept showing up day in and day out, with a goal of 4 days a week but wanting to go five days. While the number on the scale did not change much, my composition has. I can see abs that I did not know existed. I have a booty, and I see more and more definition across my major muscle groups. When I look back at pictures, I do not recognize the person I was. All I can see is how unhealthy and unhappy with my life I was. I have donated more clothes than I care to admit, both from gaining and losing weight. I still have a belt that I wore when I was at my heaviest. I have added so many more holes to track my progress and remind me to stay healthy.
I always knew I was a big guy, but I never realized how big I was. It wasn't until my wife hugged me one night that she let go and looked at me funny. She said that it was the first time in our life that she could hug me and touch more than the fingers on her other hand. Dancing at weddings, she had to hold me like she was at a middle school dance because I was too big around. Some pictures come up on our tv, and my kids do not even recognize who I am. Even my iPhone has tagged four different versions of me as different people in my photos app.
It has been an incredibly long and arduous road, but I have finally achieved a healthy and happy life.
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