before - after

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!