Red 5 Standing By, this might be a long intro...

[pixarman]

I guess I should talk a little about my current state of being. 

I am 36 and right at 300lbs. My last check I have roughly 35% body fat that I want to take down to 15-10%. I'm 6'1" and built like a tree. I am very stocky, have always been for the most part. I've never know what it is like to be a "normal" weight. I was even born big, nearly 11lbs! My poor mother..heh. I stayed active throughout my school years yet my weight kept going up. I was about 300lbs when I graduated high school. I was able to maintain that weight for a few years, but encountered series of major emotional impacts that knocked me out. I lost control of nearly everything in my life and by the time I realized that I needed to do something, I was knocking at the door to 400. It was 2010..I was suffering from gout, high blood pressure and could barely walk 50 yards without gushing buckets of sweat. Something clicked that year and I decided to do something crazy! I decided to change my life.

 

The first thing I did was quit my job that had me working an average of 80hrs a week. I had a good amount of money in savings that I was going to put down on a house, but I decided to put it all on red. I sat down and made out a plan of what I want to do with my life. I was in my 30s and still living at home. I was not in any relationship, nor had I been in a long long time. I was not happy. My goals were to lose 50lbs, move out, start dating and run a 5k.  

 

The next day, I joined a gym and spoke with a trainer. I also bundled up my xbox and put it in the closet. I did not have the heart to sell it so I decided to only get it out for special occasions. I was weak in the beginning. The workouts were tough, but I pushed myself through them. My diet was the hard part. The increased physical activities caused me to be hungrier more often and as a result I ate more. I ended up gaining weight in the beginning. Also it was unfortunate that my first trainer was an idiot and went out of his way to insult my weakness and cared more about showing off his muscles than helping me. He knew nothing about nutrition, something I've come to find a lot of trainers know nothing about. So I fired him and decided to do it on my own for a while. The old me would've used that as an excuse to give up and go eat. I stuck with it though. I hit the gym daily and I ran on the treadmill a lot. By October I had lost my 50lbs and I ran my first ever 5k. It was an amazing day for me, but it was very hard. Shortly after my 5k, I even met someone. She wasn't into taking things too fast and I thought that was perfect for me. We casually dated for about 4-5 months before getting serious. Over the next year I didn't really lose that much weight. In early 2011 my dad had an accident that left him paralyzed from the neck down. It was really rough getting acclimated to him being in this condition and taking care of him. I was also in the early stages of a thriving relationship and was just starting a new job. I felt an immense amount of pressure and could feel the cold hand of depression sliding around my neck once again. My family was telling me to dump the girl and stay at home to help take care of dad. I had played the caretaker for my family for years after my mom passed away. That was part of the reason for my depression in the first place. I refused. I was happy for the first time in many years and nothing was going to take this away from me. I decided to be selfish and I moved out on my own. I still helped with my dad when I could, but I decided to put myself first. This was monumental for me..I had always put others ahead of myself. I feel bad that my dad is in the situation he is in, but I have to take care of myself first. 

 

2011 was a tough year, but my relationship grew stronger and my running got better and I got happier. I had found an okay job and was starting to get myself back in the swing of things when I suddenly blew out my knee. It required surgery and took me out of running for the first few months of the year. I had planned to run a few big races but had to ditch them due to my recovery. I did attempt a half marathon in November and I made it 11 miles with only about one month of training. The big thing was that my knee had recovered and I experienced no pain. So I set a goal to run a mini in the spring of 2012. 

 

My diet had evolved in 2011 too. I went from an Atkins meat protein loving animal eater to a vegan. Over the course of the year, with all that was going on, I did a lot of soul searching. One of the realizations that I came to was that I loved animals and having done a lot of research on where my food was coming from, I was shocked and saddened. I made the decision on my 35th birthday to never eat meat or play a part in causing harm to animals ever again. It was a life altering moment for me. I spoke to my girlfriend about it and she decided to do the same...only after she had also read up and educated herself on the matter. I made no pressure with her making the change, I never once asked her to change. She did it on her own and only told me about it after a month of eating that way. By the end of the year I had dropped to 299, a number I had not seen since high school. Unfortunately I hurt my back during my training and spent some time in the hospital at the beginning of 2012. I also had a rough time converting to a vegan diet that was healthy. I found solace in many of the fake meats, cheeses and loads of other vegan junk food. By Spring I was back to 330lbs again. Don't let anyone say that all vegans are tiny bony people...lol.

 

Once I was cleared to start training again, I did so..slowly. I worked the rest of the year to get my diet and weight back under control. I found that there is a movement within the plant-based community geared toward eating clean and healthy...including no oils. Its very starch based, but it works. I'm now back down to 303lbs, but I have gained muscle and my blood work is nearly perfect. So that's my story for the most part. I did get married a few months ago and found an even better job. Things are finally going smoothly for the first time in too many years to count. I am training for my first marathon and I am losing about 1-2lbs a week. I sat down the other day to write out a new plan. This is it. 

 

Lose the rest of the weight I need to lose...whatever that number is, Run a marathon, run a triathlon in 2014, Complete an Ironman by age 40, Buy a house, start a family

Inspire those in need, become a trainer, help when I can, take more vacations, do more things that scare me, always get back up and most importantly enjoy life..it's a gift.  

 

[deepdarkgreen]

Wow, Pixarman, that is an amazing story. You have accomplished so much already! I do commisserate with your mother (11 pounds?!? yikes!) and with your statement that all vegans are NOT bony people. I am a testament myself to that fact (vegan food is DELICIOUS). I truly hope you achieve your goals. You have definitely inspired me. Best of luck to you!

[pixarman]

Thanks! I'm looking forward to getting involved on the forums here and doing some of the challenges. I'd like to join with a guild too. This is an amazing place full of people that are just like me, with common interests as well. 

 

Looking forward to meeting all my goals and I hope that you meet all yours as well!

[Ayla]

Wow you have accomplished so much! 100 pounds is ridiculous. I was kind of putting off my workout today, but I'm going to go do that now after having read that inspiring story. I'm excited for you to do the Challenges with us! I'm doing my first one now and the amount of support you get here is really amazing. Keep being you and I'm sure you'll accomplish that goal of inspiring people who need it. When you see someone overcome something hard or accomplish something amazing (like losing 100 POUNDS!) it really inspires you to try harder and quit pussyfooting around. And you see a lot of that on here. When you do get to your first Challenge, totally join (or start) an accountability group. It's a great support system. Good luck and keep up all that awesomeness.

[WonderNatarella]

Ayla said it all! Impressive, keep on doing the good work!

[pixarman]

As of yesterday I am officially out of the 300s for the last time! Good riddance I say! No injury or life event will see me falter this time. I am a steam engine and my fire is burning very strong.

 

I am looking forward to starting my first challenge in a few weeks. I'm still learning about all the rules and procedures on the site, but I will have it down soon. 

:-)

[Ayla]

Yay! Yay! Yay! Congratulations!!!!! The rules were confusing to me at first, too. If you have any questions, just ask 'em. If you want, you can PM me if you're not sure about Challenge stuff any time. Apparently there's been an overhaul on the rules for first time challengers, so there's been a bit of confusion all around lately haha. Keep it up, you badass, you! Looking forward to hearing more about your progress.

[WonderNatarella]

This is a huge wooooot!