Some stats: 26M, SW 279.2, CW 238.0, GW 200.0 (lost so far: 41.2)
I’ve always been overweight, as long as I can remember. I was never morbidly obese, but my weight has always been higher than it should be. Low metabolism, heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, all that good stuff runs in my family.
About 5 years ago, I started having really bad stomach problems. I woke up almost every single morning feeling like I was going to throw up (and sometimes I did). I determined it had to be psychological because I would almost always feel better as the day went on.
Around this time of year 2015, I got on a new antidepressant that was supposed to help with my stomach upset. My mood and sleep improved almost instantaneously. The catch? It made me really hungry when I took it, especially for carbs. Great, I thought. Well, I didn’t want to give up feeling better, so I figured I’d just deal with that.
Over the next 6 months or so, I gained an additional 25 pounds, and 6 months after that I graduated college, moved out of state for work, and started my adult life in the real world. In September 2016, I had an upper endoscopy to check out my stomach because I was still feeling sick in the morning, but great at night thanks to the meds.
Turns out there was nothing physically wrong with my stomach, other than some red inflamed areas. We chalked it up to higher acid production due to weight gain and stress (I was really stressed with seeking the second required co-op/paid internship for my college degree and finding a job after school). Around this same time, I was diagnosed with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and was pre-diabetic. So I figured I’d try to lose weight.
I tried for months to lose weight with no real success. On and off weight watchers, diet and exercise, etc. so I eventually got discouraged and kinda gave up for a while.
By February 2018, I was at my all time highest recorded weight: 279.2, just shy of 280. Still feeling like shit physically and mentally, still struggling. This time I made a vow to try harder.
Over the 4-5 months after that (by June/July 2018) I managed to lose about 15 pounds (bringing it down to around 265), but progress stalled after that. So I got discouraged again, but managed to keep my weight between 265-275 for the next several months.
In February 2019, I was having some routine bloodwork done and my liver enzymes were through the roof. My doctor got worried and referred me to a liver specialist. Turns out there was nothing wrong with my liver, it was behaving just as it should have under the conditions it was in: high amounts of fat, and it starts sending out SOS messages because it has to work harder. That’s my non-medical-expert understanding of it, anyway.
So the struggle continued. Around October 2019, I came across Penn Jillette’s (Penn of Penn & Teller) book “Presto!” that detailed his 100+ pound weight loss. His dieting technique was very extreme and I didn’t go that route, but it inspired me to make drastic cuts in my diet and substitute them for something else: higher fruits and vegetable content, plain grilled chicken and fish (NOTHING fried), no condiments, etc.
That seemed to work pretty well, but I was still making incredibly slow progress. I figured I just had to deal with that and it had something to do with the meds.
So now comes January 2020. I’m watching college basketball and a commercial for sugar free Gatorade pops up. That intrigued me because I’d never seen it before (Gatorade has been around forever and I was surprised it took this long), but also because I drink Gatorade pretty regularly. I started drinking it a few years ago because, as a “band aid” for my stomach issues, I started taking Prilosec pretty regularly. I’ve since switched to Pepcid, since Prilosec can cause electrolyte imbalances along with a slew of other health issues, so I drank Gatorade to correct any electrolyte issues I may or may not be having (and I still drink it regularly).
I bought a bottle at the store, and upon realizing it didn’t taste any different from the G2 (“low sugar”) variety, I made the full switch shortly thereafter.
Holy shit. Over the next few weeks after that, I started losing weight much more consistently. By February, for the first time in over 4 years, I was under 260 pounds.
After a while, I made the connection with the timeline and it finally clicked: the SUGAR in the fucking Gatorade was slowing me down! Even though I stuck to the G2 kind, I guess it still added up with 1-2 bottles a day.
Since then, I’ve made several more small changes to diet, mostly cutting out sugar, condiments, carbs where I can, little things like that, and the difference has been stunning.
Now I’m at 238 pounds, a weight I haven’t seen in literally 5 years. So I’m basically back where I started, but I’m on a much better path and I finally know what I’m doing. I haven’t been this motivated about weight loss in a long time, and I finally understand the importance of cutting out sugar and carbs, the ultimate killers.
And the kicker? Since COVID-19 mid March, I haven’t gone to the gym once. It’s been all diet changes and indoor walking (just so I can keep my Apple Watch happy).
I figure at this rate, I’ll be at my goal (200, but honestly I’ll take anything lower than that as a bonus) by next summer.
I have everything stacked against me: low metabolism, a family history of all the shit listed above, and meds that make me hungry. And I STILL lost over 40 pounds so far. I couldn’t be prouder of myself, in that regard at least.
It’s been one fucking hell of a trip. Like anything else, the only thing I regret is not starting sooner.
