Experience of a Weight Loss Program - Essay Example

Lecturer: Topic: Personal Narrative About three years ago, I weighed almost two hundred and fifty pounds. That weight was getting too much for my body and I had to take six pills daily for pre-diabetes as well as thyroid problems that were associated with the weight. My knees ached most of the time and I would easily get tired and break into a sweat without doing much. On the other hand, my father who was also struggling with obesity was in need of a second heart surgery as a result of coronary heart disease. I did not want to go the same road and need to have several surgeries so that I could remain alive. That is when I decided to take the journey towards fitness so that I could lose weight and transform myself. The family supported me in the changes I made in my diet that included swapping the foods that were too fatty for lower-fat options, reducing the sizes of the portions and taking regular family walks. I enrolled in a program that was ran through a website that organized camps for big people as well as offering resources and tips. This was an inspiration to me and I met other people who were dealing with the same problem. Meeting with other people who were having the same problem greatly assisted in my efforts to change my lifestyle and become healthier. There has been an increase in the rate of obesity particularly in children and I make sure that I encourage other people who may be in the same situation that I was in to embrace more healthy living for their own sake. The statistics are overwhelming since approximately one in every three children between the ages of ten and seventeen living in the US is considered overweight or obese and Georgia is second after Mississippi in the country as far as obesity in children is concerned (Johansen 25). Living an inactive combined with a relative ease of access to fast food has been the main cause of obesity for the population. People, especially children spend most of their time watching television and on their computers and phones and very little time exercising. The path towards renewed health is the conviction to make the change and believing that it can be done. The person deciding to change his or her lifestyle must be determined to do it since if one is forced to do it, there is a high chance that when the person will find himself alone, he will fall along the wayside. After being determined that you can take the steps towards healthier living, one will need to take single small steps at a time. It greatly helps to begin by taking water in place of soft drinks and soda and trying things such as celery sticks in place of corn chips and crisps. Like I did, one has to consider the sizes of the portions they are taking too. I personally pushed myself every day to do a little more than what I had done the previous day. After accessing the website and reading the personal stories of the other people who also had problems with their weight, their personal stories greatly assisted me to believe that I could tackle my weight problem from the tips that I learned from the other people including specialists. From the site, I learnt that telling someone the things that he cannot eat in a long list makes them feel punished and therefore give up even before he can be able to start his change in lifestyle. Personally, as I continued with my program, my body began craving for the unhealthy foods that I once enjoyed like baked chicken. Even though I tried my best not to eat these foods, I still did not have foods that I considered banned foods as I ate pizza and potato chips once in a while remembering to limit myself to very small portions. Eventually, being healthy and eating healthy became fun since I did not limit exercise to being in the gym and lifting weights or being on a treadmill, instead, I took walks and played some soccer with my family and friends. I have been able to lose more than sixty pounds and as a measure of success I prefer to consider other things rather than measuring myself regularly. My body mass index that was between sixty and seventy percent has gone down to about twenty two percent and I wear pants that are a lot smaller in size now. My energy, not to mention mental state has greatly improved and apart from playing soccer with my family and friends, I make sure that I encourage people to get more exercise especially kids since my problem started when I was still young. As a result of the changes I made to the way I live and watching what I eat, I do not have to take the medication that I had to take on a regular basis before. I consider this to be the largest measurement of my achievements as far as living healthy is concerned. As for my father, the days of bonding over large unhealthy meals with me are gone. He eventually embraced healthy living and decided to lose some weight so that he could live more comfortably. He eventually lost seventy pounds since he had decided to put in hard work and dedication to weight loss. Living healthy and deciding to closely watch what we eat has significantly changed the lifestyle of our family. It is no longer about my father and I battling with our weight and associated diseases but the entire family has had to make adjustments. The changes are dramatic in that it has changed the way we do our shopping, the activities we take part in as well as the way we live our lives as a family. We do not sleep in late so that we can avoid waking up with a grumpy feeling as a result of the tiredness or not eating well and this makes everyone wake up feeling energetic and ready to face a new day with renewed vigour. Work cited Johansen, Lisa Tillinger. Fast Food Vindication. 1st ed. Los Angeles, CA: J. Murray Press. Print. Read More