Obese to Super Fit in One Year

Brian at 345 pounds

Brian at 175 pounds

Thanks much to Brian for submitting his story. Brian weighed 345 pounds in April of last year. Today he weighs 175 pounds! It's an amazing achievement. 

To start off, i can't ever remember where weight wasn't an issue for me. I've always been bigger, overweight, doctors and parents telling me that i should look towards losing weight. For whatever reason, i didn't think it was that serious. 

Even as a bigger kid, i was able to be active in sports, fit myself (and stomach) into desks and chairs, practically living life as a "normal" person. My parents often reminded me that i am still gaining weight and look bigger. Just as every other overweight person who is in denial, i never stepped on a scale unless it was required through something like a physical at the doctor's office. 

The day came that i realized that as much as i tried to fool myself, i could no longer consider my weight as normal. I stepped onto the balance board for Wii Fit, a game designed for people to lose weight, only to come to the conclusion that i was not allowed to play the game because i surpassed the 330lb limit that is designed by the software. Not being able to play a video game, now that is definitely NOT normal. 

This event triggered my journey towards weight loss. In April of 2011, i took the first steps in losing weight by finally addressing the major cause towards my weight, my diet. I began researching and looking and obsessing about how to lose weight, weight loss success stories, and the keys to losing weight. I began to change my diet and starting to seriously start looking at calories, nutrition, and activity. I started pushing myself towards taking things one step at a time with the simple goal of wanting to become "normal". 

At this point in time, i have lost close to 170lbs. I still have some more work to do but a lot of my focus has now shifted towards keeping my fitness up while trying to build muscle and tone up. I want to continue to challenge myself, continue to push myself in doing things i never dreamed of doing, leading me to make the decision to challenge myself through entering a half marathon. 

I recently submitted a brief story about my weight loss story as well as the struggles of one of my closest family members and friends to attack the challenge of this half marathon together. My essay was selected as a finalist and i need some help for people to vote for my essay to make this dream happen! 

Please vote for my essay as it truly means a lot to me! (Update: Essay contest has closed now..)

Thanks!

 

How Much Weight Do You Want to Lose?

Thanks to everyone who has sent their weight loss stories for posting here. I've been getting some really inspiring stories from people who've lost a lot of weight - typically over a 100 pounds. There are none in my mailbox now so please send me yours if you have one to share! (Please note though, that I'm not interested in promoting any special diet products; just real stories about lifestyle changes..)

HOW MANY POUNDS DO YOU WANT TO LOSE?

But I'm also hoping to hear from some people who need to lose just 10 or 20 pounds. Often those ten or twenty pounds away from ideal weight is the hardest weight to shed. It's not clear how many of the readers who drop by here are in this category of having less than twenty pounds to lose. The last time I asked was a few years ago. I got 462 responses. At that time 40% of readers said they wanted to lose 30 pounds or less, so it seems there are a lot of people who would want to read about this type of weight loss achievement. It's not as extreme or dramatic as losing over 100 pounds but it can be difficult to do.

I'd love to take another poll to ask:  How many pounds do YOU want to lose? But the blogger poll tool is broken so if you'd like to comment instead below, please do!

Losing Belly Fat with Rolfing?

Last week I met up with a friend I hadn't seen for a few months. She looked fantastic and had obviously lost weight, especially around her stomach area.  

She was never much overweight before but was carrying extra weight around her belly in the past.   

I expected her to tell me she had started some new regular fitness regimen. But instead she gleefully explained that 'rolfing' had led her to finally lose this belly fat. She's had some digestion related problems for many years and has tried many different things to cure this, but she said rolfing is finally what did it for her.

Rolfing is a unique type of body work sort of like massage but not to be confused with massage;

Where massage works all soft tissues,Rolfers focus their work on a layer called fascia, the sheathing membrane that covers muscles, tendons, and organs. This fascia, like a girdle, gives shape and length to soft tissue.

She said her rolfer had told her that intestines are like sausages ;-). They have a casing around them and over time and with stress or lifestyle habits, etc., these casings become hardened and blockages occur. It's like the intestines freeze and no longer function efficiently. 

She had attended ten sessions (one per week for ten weeks) and she said the rolfer worked on her abdominal area and 'thawed' her intestines. The result seems miraculous to her, her digestion is much improved now, she moves lightly and gracefully and has effortlessly lost weight. 

Well this inspired me very much. I've got some problems with sluggish digestion too and even though my weight is now quite ideal, i do have a little belly bulge at the grand age of 50. I'm pretty sure I will try at least one session with this rolfer. 

But I wanted to throw this question out there, has anyone else attended a series of rolfing sessions and also experienced a bonus benefit of weight loss, and especially around the belly?