Progress on health journey

Recently I was going through my Google Photos collection, looking for a photo for a social media post. As I was scrolling through my photos, I came across a selfie I took of myself from 2015. I don't know what it was about that photo that made me stop in my scrolling today. I've seen it million times before, as it was one that I took to send to my wife. I believe this was during the time period that we were once again living apart: me in California and her in Wyoming. We would send each other random selfies, as a sort of a "thinking of you" gesture.

Anyways, back to what I wanted to share. If you look at the image below, you will see the photo I was looking at from 2015 and at a selfie I took last month out in front of the Kurt Gowdy State Park visitor center here in Wyoming. Do you see the difference I saw in the photos? Look at my face. Does the newer photo show that my face is slimmer? In the last few years, I've had a lot of family and friends comment that my weightloss was very noticeable. I graciously thanked them for the compliement but I never really saw it myself. I guess this is because when I look in the mirror, I still see myself as that overweight man who struggles.

Looking back at my weight loss.
These photos are from this year (2021) and
from about 6 years ago (2015). 

For whatever reason, this photo really made me recognize the changes in my face. Instead of my face being a little "bloated", I now have a more defined jaw. That jaw line is something that hasn't been apparent for probably at least a few decades now. With this realization, I thought I'd take this blog post to look at a few things I've experienced with losing 120+ lbs in this journey.

Right now my favorite part of losing this weight has been clothing. With the weight loss, I have lost almost 10 inches in my waist and dropped about two shirt sizes. I first made this discovery when I started to notice that the t-shirts I loved to wear regularly were starting to feel a bit loose. My jeans, even with elastic waistbands, were becoming baggy too. I had a few t-shirts that were one size smaller in my closet so I tried them on they were no longer a tight fit; in fact, they still felt a bit big. Could I have lost two shirt sizes? Looking further back in the closet, I found a t-shirt that was two shirt sizes smaller. I put it on and I was in shock; I was now wearing a 3X shirt!! I haven't been that size in probably decades. The best part of this discovery was the fact that I knew a lot of clothing choices stopped at 3X. Clothing that I had dreamt about wearing but couldn't.

With this knowledge, I decided to ask my wife to measure my waist, hips, and chest so that I could determine my current clothing sizes. Using those numbers, I confirmed that I had lost almost 10 inches in my waist and I was now wearing a size 50 waist for pants and shorts (3X for elastice waistbands). I knew my next move was to start revamping my wardrobe with clothing that actually fit me now!

During a subsequent shopping trip to the local WalMart, I decided to check out the Men's clothing section and see if there was anything in my size available. Much to my amazement, I was able to purchase clothes there! During my heavier years, the only thing I could buy at a WalMart/Target/etc. was socks; now I was able to buy jeans, t-shirt, underwear, etc. and it felt great! I had more choices and more pocketbook friendly choices! Those "big and tall" shops can be very expensive, sometime 2-3 times as much! Now I can stop by the mens section at WalMart, check their t-shirts, and if I find a design that I like, I can purchase it for under $10. At the big and tall store I shopped at before, I would usually spend about $30-$40 for a print t-shirt!! Things were looking good again!

Another positive moment was the last time I flew on an airliner. I didn't fly until much later in life, which at that point I was already obese. As a result, my first flight required me to wear one of those seat belt extenders. At what was probably my heaviest point in my life, I was removed from a flight and required to purchase a second seat because I was deemed too big for a single seat. It was quite an embarrassing moment in my life. Things were definitely looking better after this weight loss, as my last flight I sat comfortably in those tiny airline seats and was able to wear the seat belt without the extender!! This made what was usually a stressful action (flying still makes me quite nervous) something that I was enjoying! It was quite the validation for all of my work.

As of this moment, I weigh 300 pounds. At my peak, I weighed about 420 pounds. In years past, I tried a lot of different things to lose weight. I was exercising (a little) and eating "diet" foods, but I was getting nowhere. I lost a little during that time period, but I lost a lot in the last couple of years thanks to what your doctor tells you: eat better, eat less, and exercising. As a long time friend suggested to me, it all comes down to the simple concept: calories in, calories out.

I'm still not where I want to be. After discussing this with my doctor, my goal is to be down to the 220-230 pound range. So I have anther 70-80 pounds to go, so I am taking this day by day. I put on the weight on over time, so making my goal weight is going to take some time. The new me is just starting to love how life is changing for the better!