Jonathan: 81 Pounds Lost
Where do I begin? I’ve always been a big guy, from middle school straight through college, and into these past several years after graduation. In high school it was ‘ok’ to be big and overweight because I played football, and as a lineman it was just something I considered normal. Once I graduated high school, however, I didn’t keep up with my eating habits and exercise balance and over my college years I managed to gain about 70 pounds. I topped out at one point around 310 pounds. This was something that I just couldn’t accept, nor could I maintain it with my career aspirations of being a police officer. January 25th of this year I decided to change my life for the better, and this time I really meant it.
I have ‘dieted’ in the past and tried several different mainstream and not so mainstream programs over these past couple years, but nothing stuck. No program fit me and my ideal methods of losing weight like the full Optifast plan that Dr. Chhabra had me do. It does not start out easy by any means. It was restrictive, it was different, and it was difficult even on a social level to explain why I was eating nothing but bars and shakes to my family, friends, co-workers, etc. Although, simply put, it JUST WORKS. If you have the willpower, the determination, the ability to just say to yourself, “this is necessary,” for those couple months — you WILL succeed.
In January I weighed in at 295.5 pounds. As of June 15th, I weighed 214 pounds. I’ve gone back to my strength and conditioning routines that I utilized back when lifting weights was a must for me, and I’ve never been in better shape. There is no greater motivation than results, and I don’t think there was any better way for me to get my life and health back on track and headed in the right direction. I have my next weigh in tomorrow, July 1st. Weigh-ins, in the beginning, were anxious and scary. At this point, tomorrow morning, I’ll step on that scale and whatever it says won’t matter, because I’ve changed my life, changed my diet, and changed my outlook on what it means to be healthy. And I have Dr. Chhabra to thank for that.