Stepping in for the first time. 5'7" Asian male, turned 37 last week. Born with a heart murmur that has never let me be active for very long, but I used that as a crutch long after I grew out of it. Currently work as a sales exec for a software company, and perform improv comedy in a couple groups on the side.
Was pretty skinny (and quite active with karate and Scouts) before puberty, but stopped those and started putting on weight when the short & curlies sprouted. This is also due to the typical sedentary nerd lifestyle that extended to, and through my university years. Summary of known weight landmarks:
1991 - Started doing the looking-up-in-pictures-to-minimize-double-chin thing in ninth-grade class photo. Was selfishly photoshopping pics to remove the extra chin and look slimmer by the end of the decade.
2000 - Met the love of my life when she was in town for a summer work thing. Was around 205 pounds.
2005 - Hated what I looked and felt like. Hated going around fandom conventions sweaty and out of breath. Tangentially, hated being single. Started working out, but had no real diet. Muscle mass started increasing with weight.
2007 - Ran into the love of my life again, decided to do something about it this time.
2008 - Love of my life moves in with me. Weight peaks 229 pounds that week. Didn't work out much, but lost almost twenty pounds that first year simply by ditching the bachelor diet of $5 pizzas, $2 ravioli cans, and bi-weekly purchases of 4/$10 twelve packs of Coke Classic, plus tons of junk food.
2009 - Got married, weighed 209 pounds that month (and more by the end of the honeymoon). Daughter arrives by the end of the year. This was the breaking point for me - I realize that I really have to get fit if I want to be able to watch her grow up and be active with her, and to stay healthy for the sake of my family as much as myself. New motivation, acquired!
2010 - 2011 - With a combination of a healthier diet makeup (but not so much in portions) and various workout videos every other day, plus 30 minutes a day on the treadmill, I shed weight slowly but steadily. Weight loss reaches zenith at around 178 pounds and plateaus at 183.
2012 - Didn't work out regularly or eat well. Mostly just being lazy. Gained back over ten pounds.
Early 2013 - Weighed 194 pounds after a week-long work thing eating nothing but catered five star hotel foods. Screw that. Hopped on the six-week "Shred" diet by Dr. Handsome Blackman (can't remember his name right now) to kickstart things, plus an hour on the treadmill daily, walking over lunch at work, using the stairs at work (I'm on the 14th floor), and regular situps and light weights at home. Got back to 178 pounds by May.
Mid 2013 - At this point, I started a monitoring portions and caloric intake with the awesome "My Fitness Pal" app on my phone and tablets, in combination with the year's workout regime.
Today: 162 pounds.
I've lost 67 pounds since my wife moved in with me, and 32 pounds this year alone. Aiming for an even 150 now, which the internets tell me is at the upper end of what a normal weight Asian guy of my height should be, by the end of the year. I think I can make it - this year I've already lost enough to no longer be categorically obese, and with luck I'll lose the "overweight" moniker as well.
I look and feel better than I did in high school, almost twenty years ago now. I can walk up fourteen flights of stairs before breaking a sweat (and often keep going now for the hell of it, cooling off as I walk back DOWN to my office floor). My abs show without sucking in my shrinking gut. That huge second chin is history and I haven't photoshopped myself more than for lighting purposes for some years now. I've been head of an improv theatre team for ten years, and this summer I did scenes shirtless, without hesitation, when the scene called for it.
And all the while my main motivation is my family. I like what I see in the mirror, but I love doing it for them.
Mark
PS - Bonus - earlier this year I did a comparison of unaltered pictures of me for my family to illustrate how I've changed over the years. Pics are mostly from various conventions or improv shows therein. Click
HERE to see it.
