Summary: Anyone who's struggled with their weight has a story. For many, it's been a story of yo-yo dieting, fad diets and regaining weight. For others, the story has a happy ending. Weight loss, lifestyle change and body transformation are part of those happy endings. We'd like to hear how you lost weight, how you did it, why you did it and what are the best tips you'd like to pass on to fellow readers and listeners of Fat 2 Fit Radio. To start off the Listener Profile posts, we asked John Sanderson, a many time contributor to the show and a regular on the Fat 2 Fit Support Forums on Traineo. We asked John to create a post about his weight loss journey and his training to run a 1/2 marathon. While we were expecting a few paragraphs from John, he had other ideas. What we received was a solid 5 pages of John's experiences in transforming his life. Here 's a quote from the e-mail that John sent when he submitted his story. I want to say thank you for asking me to write this. It has helped me to see myself in a brighter light than I ever have before. The fire inside is burning even brighter now! Read John's story and think about submitting your own. Send it to podcast@fat2fitradio.com. I'm John and this is a description of a change that took place in my life. Where I was: I was fat. I was about an M&M shy of 300 pounds. I had no control over my diet and was doing no exercise whatsoever. I was eating anything I wanted and lots of it. It was all bad. I ate nothing but pizzas, burgers, burritos, etc. I drank lots of beer and soda as well. I played lots of video games, worked on computers, and basically did nothing, but sit on my butt. Because of this life style, I developed high blood pressure, high cholesterol, the beginnings of Diabetes, a fatty liver, heart palpitations,and many other things associated with obesity. I believe that my weight also contributed to me suffering from depressive symptoms, anxiety, lack of any self-esteem/respect, poor self-image, and no self-confidence. I was an unhappy person and I felt like I wasn't useful for anything or to anyone. It all started for me January 2, 2006: I had grown tired of being tired, feeling down, and being unhappy. I knew that my life could be better. I told myself (so did my doctor) that I needed to make a change or I was going to die a miserable death at an early age. I was in terrible shape and I felt even worse. At the end of 2005 I resolved to lose weight starting January 2, 2006. I couldn't do it on the 1st. There was too much to drink and too much food to eat in celebration of the New Year. It was obvious, even to me, that although my resolution had good intentions, it really was only half-hearted at best. A beginner: I knew nothing about weight loss, but I was going to give it a try anyway. I tried all of the classic things that we all have heard over the years to drop weight. I reduced fats, reduced calories, ate salads, ate less carbs, walked miles (running was too difficult), lifted weights, etc. I managed to lose about 20 to 25 pounds in about 4 months and was actually feeling a little bit better. I still didn't have my diet and alcohol consumption under control and I still didn't know anything about how to lose weight, what I should really be eating, or what I should be doing in the gym. The Catalyst - My life changed forever on a Saturday afternoon in April: It was mid April of 2006 and Summer was approaching. The weight was slow to come off and I was starting to get lazy with my efforts. I kind of expected that I was eventually going to quit and give up at some point. I was just happy that I had lasted as long as I did. I started getting back to my old routines and I was becoming more sedentary each day. Thankfully, Something humiliating happened to me one Saturday in late April... I went to a cookout over at a friends place. Prior to my arrival a couple of guys made a bet about what shirt I would were over.
