Help, I’m 200 Pounds Overweight

by Jeff M.
(New Orleans)

I needed some serious help. I looked in the mirror and my clothes didn’t seem to fit anymore. I used to sit on the furniture and it would break. My grocery bill was completely out of control. All of these signs pointed to the fact that I was fat and it was time to do something about it.

The question was ‘where do I start and what do I do?’ I was watching the Biggest Loser on television and saw people who were like me changing their lives. I went online and found out that the show had a website that included a link to the biggest loser forum where there were all sorts of helpful hints, tools and chat rooms that are dedicated to helping people lose weight.

It was great to be able to find out that there was support out there for me in my quest. It would be much easier to accomplish anything if I didn’t have to do it alone. So I completed my first step by doing the research.

I then decided that I had to set some goals. I was more than two hundred pounds overweight and needed to correct it now. I knew that I had to learn how to lose weight fast because my health was in danger and if I did not act quickly, I might not get another chance to succeed.

Like the people on the show I had watched, I decided that I could lose more than ten pounds a week if I worked hard enough. I knew that I would have to dedicate myself to the chore, but I was up to challenge. I could not achieve the results by myself, I knew that I wouldn’t succeed by doing a handful of six pack ab exercises in the comfort of my own home whenever I could find the time to do it.

I wanted some professional help. So I got off my sofa, and made my way down to the local gym. I signed up for a membership, and sought out their professional trainers to help me out. I also went to see my doctor to make sure that I wouldn’t hurt myself by trying to work out. My doctor put me on a diet that would help me lose the weight.

My personal trainer gave me an exercise plan to follow. And I was off on my journey. For the next few months I devoted my life to exercise, diet, and work. There was no time for anything else. The diet and exercise started to work. I was losing weight. In just the first month, I was able to lose over forty pounds.

But then I hit a wall and for the next two weeks I wasn’t able to lose any more weight. I didn’t understand it but the people at the gym and my doctor told me not to worry, to stick with the program. I listened to my friends and family and stuck with it. Eventually the pounds started to disappear again. My supporters were right, and I felt good about myself.

Over the course of the next eight months, I lost a total of one hundred and eighty five pounds. It wasn’t always easy, but it was all worth it. My doctor told me that I am now healthier than I have been in over twenty years. I am well respected at my gym for what I have accomplished. I have a new outlook on the future and I look forward to looking at myself in the mirror every day.

The best part of the journey has not been losing the weight although I wouldn’t want it back. The best part has been the great feeling I have about myself. That in the end is priceless.