How the 8 turned into 50 on the way to 65.

(Post is kinda long so please bear with me.)

So here's my weight loss story.

Back in Jan 2009 I was on vacation in Arizona visiting my sister. While there she noticed that I didn't eat much but was over-weight and wondered why. We never really talked about it or anything as she didn't really want to bother me while I was on a vacation and resting my body from a hard job and not worrying about the stress of my life.

So about 2 days before I left I weighed myself on her digital bathroom scale and the results was that I was 193 lbs. Kinda happy that I was under 200 lbs I called my sister for her to see what the scale said. Seeing the value she made me a promise that if I lost 8 lbs by the time she comes to visit me in The Bahamas in the summer or before the end of summer she would buy me a "gift" but my gift would depend on me weighing less than 185 lbs (8lbs less than my weight she saw). 

Well that's the 8.

The day before I left which was only 1 day later I weighed myself again and saw that the scale now said 199 lbs. Surely something was wrong as the last time I weighed was right after dinner and my body was full of food and liquid. Seeing this I decided to take the scale off the carpet and put it on the hard tile floor instead to see if it would make a difference. I stepped on, closed my eyes and waited for the scale to beep telling me weighing was done. When I opened my eyes I was shocked to see it saying 234 lbs!!!!! I was sure it was wrong cause a carpet could no way cause a 40+ jump in weight. So I shrugged it off and went to bed.

After taking my bath the morning before I headed for the plane to return home I decided to give the scale one last chance to redeem itself. Stark naked I stepped on. Yup I was obese 235 lbs!!! At 235 lbs with no food in me yet I figured yeah that's how much I really weigh. But I never told my sister. I left her thinking I was still 193 lbs. When I got home I still couldn't accept that I was 235 lbs so I used my mom's analog scale and that too said I was 235 lbs. Well that finally made me accept the fact that I was was 235 lbs. YUP 235!! I hated to say it but I needed to keep telling myself what I was.

I decided on that very day I would lose some weight for my health ( a few people I knew died from weight related complications like heart disease and diabetes) and to generally increase my self esteem so I can feel better about myself. But I will still try to get down to 185 lbs.

I started counting calories but only have a deficit of like 200 calories. Doing that I only lost 15 pounds from the end of Jan 2009 to April 2009. April 28th, 2009 to be exact. On this date I was 220 lbs. 3 Months later and only 15 lbs lost I thought well at this rate I'm not gonna make it. During the pass 3 months all I would do is restrict calories but since the deficit was so low (only 200) I was basically maintaining my weight. It was time to get off the couch and put away the xbox360 and ps3 and get active. On May 1st, 2009 I started doing road walking at 5 miles a day 6 days a week and restricting calories to 1700 per day. Now I noticed the weight starting to drop.

June 1st weigh in day I had dropped 20 pounds to 200 and as a side effect I was no longer obese but simple on the high end of the over-weight scale based on the BMI calculations. I thought 20 pounds was too much to in one month even if it was mostly water so I scaled back on exercise and instead of 5 miles a day for 6 days I did 7 miles a day for 3 days and 5 miles on one day per week but still eating 1700 calories a day to try to keep the weigh lost at like 10 pounds a month.

July 1st weigh in day. Scale now said 190 lbs. Thats only 5 pounds away from the goal my sister set for me when she thought I was 193 pounds.

Well now it's July 15th and I'm happy to say that the scale now tells me I'm 185.1 lbs!!!!! That is basically 50 pounds from my original weight of 235 lbs back in Jan when I was in Arizona. I have not told my sister yet but I will call her later to let her know.

So that's my story of How the 8 turned into 50.

But I figured I will not stop there I will get into my healthy BMI range and lose another 15 lbs. So my journey continues on the way to 65 lbs lost and 170 lbs body weight.

Hopefully this will inspire someone out there to drop the weight for a healthier life and give motivation to others to not just stop at a certain goal that is just "good enough" but continue on to a gaol that's "better than enough".

Thanks for reading.

(edit: incorrect value 1000 changed to 1700 struckout)

What a great and inspiritational story - congrats!  Now you'll have to tell us your sister's response!

That's awesome!  A lot of people, when they saw that unexpected jump into the 200's, would have either gotten depressed or just given up.  But you stuck with it, and look at you now!  Great story!

Clint

Wooo Whooo! Way to dig deep & keep after it! Thanks for the boost today!

Good for you!  That's incredibly motivational...I'm only two weeks into counting and serious exercise--I want to keep coming back to your story when the going starts to get tough. 

Way to go!

Tammy

Beautiful! Beautiful! Beautiful! Your story is truly an inspiration.  I'm so happy for you! That sounds like logical, level-headed determination!

Thanks for sharing,

Wray

Thanks everybody. I appreciate all your kind words. I always think of this when I need a pick me up when I feel it's getting hard.

Wow, well done. You're doing great, an inspiration!

Thank you liveinhope2.

I just need to say when I said restricting calories I meant I had a deficit of 1000 I was still eating 1700 calories a day. I don't want anybody to hurt themselves trying to do what I did.

That was great, thanks for shareing!

You go epiphany323.  Knowing that you had the will power to "just do it" gives me the determination and hope that I can to.  I was meant for me to read your post and I am glad that I did.  I wish you all the success in reaching your goal and exceeding your goal.  Thank you.

Thank you for sharing your story. The shock you experienced when you saw your weight -- well that was so similar to what I went through when I finally had the courage to step on the horrid scales. It takes determination and positive attitude to renovates one's own body -- and I congratulate you on your awesome journey! Keep at it, because it is well worth it. I still have a long road ahead of me and it is the small steps of success that keeps me motivated. And stories like yours!

That's so awsome for what you did for yourself. You were able to pen point what needs to correct and you did it. I so proud of you.

Your story will help many and I'm truely inspirate by it. Keep it up and hang in there, you will get to your goal.

Thanks for sharing, great story!

Just wanted to say, you're my motivation. I thought 50 pounds in a year would be a good goal. You proved though, 50 pounds can be lost quicker than that with determination! It seems you lost pounds in 5 or 6 months (depending on how good my math is today)! That's amazing.

I now aim to lose my 50 pounds before m\May (about 9 months). You can do it, I can do it.

Thank you for sharing.

(I'm so excited!)