Dan’s Journey Blog 1

The long and winding road …

By Dan T.

The difficulty of the weight loss journey is not lost on me. It’s something I’ve battled with for a good portion of my life and one that I’m currently engaged in once again with the help of the great staff of Weighless MD.

It’s not easy, and I never expected it to be. In fact, losing weight is just about the most difficult thing a person can undertake. I’m going to back up a minute and return to about 6 weeks ago when I reached a crossroads that brought me to seeking help and led me to writing this blog.

Six weeks ago found me in a doctor’s office for medical treatment to what would later be determined to be a pair of broken wrists from a fall I took the night before. The first thing they did was have me stand on a scale … which frightened the hell out of me when I looked down and saw the number 431 staring back at me. How in the world had I gotten to 431 pounds? I smiled my through the rest of the appointment, minus the immense pain in two wrists, but in the back of mind knew I had to do something drastic.

And by pure fate, I stumbled onto an ad for Weighless on Facebook.
After meeting the staff and giving it some serious thought, I jumped in, and 3 weeks later, here I am.

At the time of this writing, I’ve lost 21 pounds on this program, and
32 pounds since that day in the doctor’s office, so I’ve gotten below the 400-pound mark, which I should be proud of. And I am. But I’m going to back to the journey that I spoke of.

Why is losing weight so darn difficult? There’s so many factors that have to happen to just drop 1 pound. During the 3rd week of this program, I had a feeling I would not enjoy my trip to the scale, and I was correct, when it read that I had “only” dropped 3 pounds. So what happened? I hit the goals nutritionally all week, I drank my 100 ounces of water, I didn’t touch alcohol – I even avoided the temptation of gorging down free pizza at work one night during the week.

But still only 3 pounds. And that had my brain spinning. I was frustrated, even a bit angry, and on the verge of even getting a bit emotional, because I felt like there had to be more, that the weight had to come off easier because I had done everything correctly. But in fact, in talking to Amanda, a nurse who is working with me along with Elizabeth, a dietitian with Weighless, there are so many other factors. Stress in your life is big. Perhaps the weather. There may be something else going on inside of your body that is keeping you from seeing those huge gains. Whatever the case may be, there’s never a guarantee the weight will just fall off your body. In my case, it took years to put it all on, and it’s certainly not going to disappear in just 3 weeks.

Those all made sense. And when Amanda showed me a photo of what one pound of fat looks like, and knowing I had lost three of those, I did in fact feel a bit better about the day.

The lesson to be learned here is never give up. I’ve already come a long way in this journey and I now have my goal of reaching 299 pounds (and beyond) on my radar. From there, a new goal will be set. But for now, I’m just going to take things one day at a time. I’m 47 and losing weight has been difficult for me for so long. Most of it has been my own doing. I’ve had horrible eating habits, drank way too much alcohol and have never exercised as much as I should have. And that’s why I hit 431 pounds at my heaviest. It’s almost embarrassing to even admit I was that heavy in the first place.

And as a bigger person, believe me, I can relate to all of you who have felt embarrassed by your weight. I’ve had the looks, I’ve heard the comments … every time there’s an argument about something unrelated, it almost always goes to a fat joke. Believe me, I know.
And every time, those comments and jokes really struck me to the core.
But I never did anything about it. Sure, I’ve lost 10 pounds here, 20 pounds there, but never anything long term and never anything that truly stuck.

In fact, before that trip to the doctor’s office, I thought I was doing all the right things. But after just speaking to Elizabeth for a few minutes, realized how many bad things I was eating and digesting every day that were just piling on the calories, the carbs, the sugar.
I’m getting better with my knowledge and my routine is becoming easier.

Stick to the path and the journey, my friends. It’s never easy. And it never will be. Even with a bit of a setback – although I’ve been assured losing three pounds is great – I’m on my way to being healthier for hopefully the last half of my life. It’s never too late to do something about your situation.

It’s all about the journey.

Click here to view the programs and services offered by Weighless MD.