• So I know that a lot of people, most of them are teens, are concerned with weight loss and living a healthier lifestyle. Or so it seems like it. And while many want to be thin or lose some extra weight, they haven’t done anything about it because they feel as if there is no point to this.
    Well, today I’m going to share my story with those who aren’t yet convinced that anything is possible, including losing fat.
    So it all started early 2011 around the time of New Years when I was over at my aunt’s house just looking though every room they had. While I was in her room I found a scale, I realized that I hadn’t weighed myself in a while (since 7th grade) and it was about time that I did (note: at the time I was a sophomore in high school).So I stepped on the scale and I knew that I wasn’t a skinny kid, I had always been above normal weight. As I stepped on the scale the numbers went up and up and up, easily passing over 200 pounds. I was 15 years old and weighed over 200 pounds, and it was terrifying to say the least.
    After this weigh-in I didn’t really pay much attention to it for the rest of the year until the middle of the summer. One night as I was attempting to go to bed I felt suffocated, I felt as if I couldn’t breathe anymore. I was lying on my back and literally felt as if my own body was sucking the air out of me. I panicked and nearly fell off of the bed. After a while I managed to stand up on my own two feet, but at that moment I decided that it was time for a change, I couldn’t go on with this because I had now realized that it was a serious problem.
    My mom had always been a serious health freak and she even lost a couple of pounds herself the year before following her own personal routine, obviously she was the only person I could turn to for help. After a long serious talk about how the body functions, what is considered “healthy”, and a few tears we came up with a plan.
    Did you know that working out at night is more effective than actually working out during the day? It relieves stress from the day’s work load, it helps regulate the amount of food you take in, and apparent exertion is low - how hard you feel yourself to be working at exercise, so you may be able to work out harder or faster. That’s what we did. My mother and I went jogging in the night for an hour and a half for four-five days a week.
    At first this was hard to do, I could hardly keep up and I was extremely self-conscious about myself (we were running in the public park dressed as if we were in extremely cold weather). I admit that I wanted to quit after the first week. It was difficult to adjust but I kept reminding myself that I didn’t want to be this person anymore. I didn’t want to lie on the couch all day saying to myself “I’ll start working out tomorrow, or the next day.” I wanted to change and this was the only way to do it.
    For two months we did this exact same routine: running for an hour, then transitioning to various other techniques to work out other muscles in the body. We went to Wal-Mart and even bought our very first scale. By the time school started in mid August I felt amazing. I now weighed 166 pounds. Total weight loss in a time span of two months: 38 pounds. Though this was great, I was not done yet. Through my Junior year I still wanted to lose more and I continued with my routine until about February of 2012.
    I don’t work out anymore, well not as often as I use to. I now weigh a total of 151 pounds. Total weight loss of 53 pounds. Pretty good right? I didn’t give up and now I’m a new person. I don’t even remember the old me.
    Sticking to a goal is hard but it’s all worth it in the end. If you want to lose weight, go for it, but you can’t stop. Not until you can look at yourself and accept the person you are. I don’t know if this story did anything for you, but I really wanted to share it with some people, to tell them that it is not impossible.