Birthday trip to TEXAS, San Antonio!!! 41st

My older sister flew me to San Antonio, TX to visit my Dad who has been sick with cancer, and see my siblings and Mom to celebrate my 41st birthday!

My brother picked me up from airport and didn't recognize me!
I had lost so much weight!

My family was awestruck by my weight loss and what stories I told them about my journey. My Mother was very happy and really touched her, she has been beside me during all my childhood weight issues and adult struggles. To know that now I am reunited with my wife and family and on a fabulous weight loss journey just touched her heart. She was a nurse and is on her own journey to better health.

It was a good feeling and that I had some positive things to share with my family was so nice.
Thank you Jesus!

I ate anything I wanted to in Texas, gained 6 lbs and after 4 days back home  lost all those 6lbs, woooohooooo!

My Health

I developed a bone spur at Chevron. My weight did not help. I still have sleep apnea, but my doctor says when I lose more weight they will retest me since I may not need it anymore. I am sore all the time, probably due to working out a lot, but it feels like a good soreness. I am stronger. I can do higher speeds on the treadmill, actually swim non stop for awhile, more than before, I can walk up a hill with a dog I walk at a fast enough pace he is behind me panting! I can lift more weight, I have more endurance. I want to do a half marathon sometime in the future , then maybe a marathon if I get down to 170! I want to save up for a bicycle to start doing that.
Oh, before my present desk job, I got hired 5 months ago to be a sign spinner for a real estate place. I took the job for the extra money, and I like to dance and move now so I found out it burns 1800 calories over a 4 hour shift , so I took it! I lose weight almost every Saturday and Sunday when I work, woooohooo! I listen to music, or now audio books and enjoy myself. I like the office staff and I have actually attracted a lot of business there too!

My face has thinned out, everyone noticed. I can sleep without a big bulge of fat resting on my chest and under my chin. My legs look like chicken legs, or strong thin legs, that's why I can now where skinny jeans. My waist is smaller, My arms are more muscular, my stomach has decreased and just healthier body now. Got a ways to go, but this is definitely encouraging. My bone spur issues now gone, rarely does it flare up, my weigh tloss helped it.

Now I use Lose It app on Android. I love it and use it faithfully daily. So cool! Fit bit app I use too.

MY AWESOME WEIGHTLOSS!!!

I MADE A PERSONAL GOAL TO GO DOWN TO 170LBS!!!!
I started at 296 lbs at my biggest, I am now down to 228!
58 lbs to go......, I lost 68lbs!!!!!
I really didn't see much results till April 2015, when I met with the dietician.
One month I lost 21 lbs! My weight loss now with working at a new full time sit down job and busy schedule, I lose much slower but still going down weekly.
Diet: I eat about 1800 calories daily, some days below and some days above but near that number.
I do have my cheat days like near holidays or at partys but I still eat smart and still count calories. I am changing from weighing myself daily to once weekly on Saturdays.
I have longer distance from my doctor and dietician appointments. My labs are great now, I tool small pill for blood fats and got that under control. My blood sugar is normal, No Diabetes!
I try to eat Salmon, or tuna weekly. I eat veggies more that I used to and I always eat fruit and yogurt. I eat less salt, hardly put in on food at all. I drink lots of water daily. I drink an occasional diet soda, but not a lot. I use more spices and eat garlic and onions a lot and hot peppers. I take a garlic pill daily and multi-vitamin when I have them at home. I cook healthier for my family and they are on a better path too because of it.
I bought my first 3 pairs of skinny or slim jeans from a consignment store!!!! My size was 48 waist, now it is 38 and even my doctor and mom told me to get rid of or stop wearing my heavy clothes which I was so used to wearing.
I can now wear size 2XL for shirts and jackets, that January 2015 I was wearing shirts and coats sized 4XL-5XL.
I can now for the first time in a long time shop at normal, everyday stores, no longer have to shop online or at fat guy stores. Never thought that day would come. Wow!
I still have a belly, which has shrunk enormously my daughter says. I can hug my daughter and put my arms all the way around her, haven't done that in a long time. I walk fast, swim, go to the park, play and do activities with her that I have not done in years.
I am now living with my wife, daughter , and Mother in-law. Loving it and serving them with a smile and being the father and husband that I haven't been all these years. Just had an awesome Thanksgiving with them. They all love how I have changed for the better. I know when I had the scare at Chevron, I told my wife I may have to have heart surgery and the doctor said my life could be cut short, so it was tough to hear myself say that to the ones I love. I had to do something and something soon!

Exercise or die trying

I knew diet was important, I didn't really want to eat differently because I enjoyed it so much. I always was trying a new fad exercise plan or gym membership on occasion. I just never stuck to it.
I knew I needed to do something different. Something simple.
I picked out from Kaiser that doing 30-45 minutes of cardio any type 5 or more days a week was a good start, so I did that. Mostly doing 30 minutes of walking, doing treadmill, then some aqua aerobics at the pool at my apartments. I actually enjoyed it and did more of it and tried to push myself to do it faithfully daily, not just 5 days a week or every other day like I had tried sometimes. Actually, since I like to read and just be lazy at times, doing anything was a step in the right direction for my health. I really enjoyed the aqua aerobics because it was not weight bearing and I have always loved the water and had fun doing it. I worked up to 45 minutes later. My mother in law encouraged me to push myself when I worked out. She was a sports coach before and was a great swimmer too! I took her advice and I also incorporated some weight lifting since my arms had been pretty weak in the past. I also found a fitbit flex at the pool abandoned and started using it to track my steps, weight and sleep patterns. I started logging my weight weekly then daily on my smart phone.
Currently I am up to 1 hour cardio daily with some weightlifting a couple days a week. I have had weeks where due to busy schedule with my daughter or family, I miss a day of cardio, or near or at holidays, but for the most part I always workout. It makes me feel so good and energized. I tell people I meet you cannot beat the feeling from exercise and healthy eating. I had felt so bad, for so long, I just didn't realize I could live and feel any different. I also have a smart watch now that tracks my sleep, seditary timer, step counter, and plays my Pandora music when I workout. I can also answer my phone while walking with it, very convenient! So basically, my diet and exercise plan are so much a part of my life that they are now MY LIFESTYLE. I am so happy! And have I lost any weight? You bet I have and losing weight still weekly and It has been about a year already.

counting calories

I decided the first thing to do about my eating was find out how much calories I was actually consuming on a daily basis. I am a techie , so I downloaded a random app on my Android phone that was a food diary with a built in calorie counter. What I found out floored me!!!!!!
On a daily basis, tracking just what I ate and not eating differently, I realized most of the time I was eating about 6,000 calories daily!!!! Sheesh , no wonder I was fat!  I actually started to take some responsibility for it. This was hard, because I literally had no self-control. I ate what I wanted when I wanted it and when I was home all the time I grazed hourly. This was serious and not funny at all. I wanted to cry. I also found from some of the books I checked out at the library that I was emotionally eating a lot of the time. Times were tough, I ate, times were good, I ate. Basically I ate for any and no reason. If I was eating, I was comforted, but now at nearly 300lbs I was too close for comfort. Actually that is why I sweated so much, I was always hot, whether cold or hot weather. Doing any activity raised my body heat like an oven.
I would have to look at food differently, as nutrition and not as a comfort or REWARD.
Self-control would be something I would have to painstakingly learn daily. When everyone else feasted, I would need to eat just enough , no excess. I really did not know if I would be able to do this successfully, but I really was going to try my best to.

So without any doctor telling me a calorie amount to limit myself I used my app and typed in my weight and age and picked the number 2,850 calories to start at. Later after about a month or two I realized that was a doable number. I did have to eat more carefully, I ate smaller portions, on smaller plates, ate less desserts and empty calories, and cut out soft drinks almost completely, staying with water, sparkling water and tea and coffee with Splenda or Stevia and Non-fat milk.

Also, my doctor scheduled me for a visit with a dietician. I had a first visit and they gave me a lot of pamphlets in Spanish for some reason and didn't seem enthused at me being able to lose any weight and eat healthy probably looking at my past medical history and labs. They said the calorie limit I set was ok and just follow up in a month or so. So I began my journey.... 

Dollar Tree and Chevron

During the holidays of 2014, I realized I better find me some work and money to contribute for food and gas and be able to possibly buy some holiday food or gifts for the family. I noticed after Halloween that Dollar Tree was hiring and I had some cashier and retail experience and stocking expertise. So I walked in, spoke to the manager, and was basically hired on the spot, did all the paperwork that day. I did stocking, carts, go backs, organizing isle products, cleaning, etc.. Because I was heavy I had to get a 4x shirt at Casual Male XL store and big pants. I was wearing about a 48 waist. I had only been wearing shorts and some big jeans since I had not been working. I worked on my feet 4-6 hours up to 4 days a week at Dollar Tree. The work was strenuous, but I liked my coworkers and it was nice making some money. Only problem I sweated so much it was embarrassing and I was drenched, clothes and all by end of the night. Kind of humiliating, big, bald, sweaty over 40 man working for close to minimum wage. I learned a lot, but had to resign early little after the new year since I got Neuropathy bad in my right thigh, it burned and was in pain so much when working. It got stiff and after a doctor wanted to do a procedure to correct it I quit. I had already gotten a job at Chevron doing customer service and working at the register on my feet 8 hours a day but $2 more an hour so I cut my losses with Dollar Tree. I worked at Chevron till April and had to resign from it because on my last day of work I had such a splitting headache and throbbing pain behind my right eye that I had to call an ambulance at work and go the the ER for hours to see if I might be having a stroke! Very scary. I did eat lots of salty food and lots of food on my break that day, which did not help the situation. So after I quit I went through months of testing at the hospital and my doctors office trying to find some answers. Ends up my new doctor who I love now basically told me the low down after some blood tests and nuclear stress tests. A healthier diet and exercise need to be a lifestyle for me or else in months I may be Diabetic and have some liver and kidney issues. Also my blood pressure was super high. My fats in my blood were super out of control and I also felt horrible, very depressed and my mental issues were not getting better. Somehow, someway I woke up! I was tired of being sick and tired. I was tired about feeling sorry for myself to the point of wanting to write a book about it and not want to live. I was going to take this doctor seriously and do something for me and not because my family and friends were nagging me too. If I was going to enjoy my life with my wife and daughter then I better do something about this! So I did.....

Writing a book

Well, almost a year ago I started writing the contents of a book I want to write, "Big: Someone needs a hug". I wrote a lot and started reading books on weight loss and exercise. I spoke to family and friends about doing the book, not much feedback at that time other than "why don't you try some new stuff to lose weight, exercise and eat healthier?" I was a little offended by that because I know they were probably trying to tell me first lose some weight and have some success before you start writing your story about it. I understand that and I did agree to some extent. I also read over a lot of my notes for the book and realized most of it was a rant about how I have suffered physically and socially because of my weight. Especially when I wrote the 40 reasons why I hate being fat. A lot of people told me "hate" is such a strong word and to use something else. I had to use that word, but I really did not hate it enough to do something steady about it. All of this got me thinking and feeling like Wow maybe I should try a new diet or another exercise plan and maybe this time it will work! One thing I did realize is that I was gaining more weight so after the holidays of 2014 and into the New Year I was really big, even in my eyes, about 296lbs. My wife and family even had commented I should exercise or eat healthier. At that time I was eating bacon and sausage daily. I also would go get a hand pie from Walmart in the morning after I dropped off my daughter at school and then another one when I picked her up. Later I would find, I added about 1000 calories to my diet daily with this sneak snack. My daughter caught me later seeing I was addicted to those pies! She even grabbed one out of my hand one time and ran off laughing hysterically, I was so hurt, she took my precious cherry hand pie! Lord help me! Then I kind of realized I had a food issue.