Jonathan Walsh's Journal, 06 April 2015

You are so encouraging. I needed to read this this morning. What a way to start my day. Thank you! You're awesome! 

Outstanding job 

You are inspiring the rest of us.Thank you. 

You are such an inspiration, Jon! Way. To. Go. *shakes pom poms* 

Good for you. P.S. It's not "nice" when people tell you to reward yourself with your drug of choice. Keep it up. 

Amazing! 

Excellent. I like how you post the number of days you have kept up a particular habit /behaviour, such as not drinking pop. I might steal that technique! 

You are doing awesome! I am sure by the end of your journey you wont even want alcohol. I stopped drinking not because of weight loss but more because I hate the way I feel when I drink and I got to a point even the smell of it makes me sick. It has no vital health benefits healthy food can't give you. I had just one margarita for easter dinner as a treat. After a few sips I was already WAY tipsy and then then the drink just started to taste really bad to me. No idea why I even bother anymore. But keep it up!!!!  

Doing great 

Tracking that for future psychiatrist to evaluate. People would often comment on the amount of beer I drank. For example, I watch a football game, I'll drink a 12 pack of beer. I really like beer. I am not drinking currently drinking beer, because I am avoiding the calories. Plus full disclose, football season is over, & besides watching a UFC event, not drinking a beer is no big deal to me. What amazes me, is no one ever said a word about the amount of soda I drank every day. Looking back, making a comment about 5 or 6 beers at a bar is acceptable, but commenting on me having a Mountain Dew attached to me 24/7 was OK. I am embarrassed about how addicted to Mountain Dew I am. I drank a 44 ounce every morning. It was my "coffee." I drank several 20 once bottles throughout the day. I then drank at least two 12 once cans when I got off work. I know now I lived to drink Mountain Dew. That's why I can't drink any soda. The soda taste alone serves as a gateway drug to me. It may be unique to me, but I know it is the root cause of me being broken. In order to not be broken, I can't consume any of it. It's hard. I still want to turn in the gas station every morning. Some mornings I take the long way to work so I won't have to drive past my former "pusher." I know, if I can get past that first struggle of not stopping to buy that damn 44 ounce fountain drink Mountain Dew; I can ride that small victory to motivation all day long.  

I am proud of you! Awesome story and great progress to health! 

You are AWESOME!! A great inspiration to all of us! How I wish your weekend story could have been MY story, but I blew it! You are sooooooo right to plan ahead! Great tip! Best of luck to you for another successful week!! 

Jon - I wanted to comment on our similarities. I am 46, married, two kids, and was well overweight with type 2 diabetes. Further, I am an all or nothing kind of person as well - having just a little bit just leads me down the path to ruin. I quit drinking about 10 years ago for that reason. I like to track a lot of things - weight, calories, exercise time, BMI, Blood sugar, etc. I had lost around 85 lbs about 3 years ago, but I did it all with diet. I found that I can grind through anything for a short period of time (1 -2 years). This latest round (started in August of 2014), I had a similar face to face with the mirror. I had let my weight creep back up to 265, diabetes was out of control, blood pressure, heart rate - basically I was sick. I made a decision to change my life, not just my diet. I started walking, then jogging, and am now a regular 5k participant. You seem to have had the epiphany regarding changing your life and not just your diet. Keep up the work. Exercise - it has made me feel better. This is the first time I have lost weight and felt better as a result. You can do this. The last thing is as you get near to your goal, you will have to relearn how to eat. Something that you can maintain and enjoy. I am trying to figure that out now and it has been a challenge. Moving from 1800 cal/day to 2000 has just been hard. I just can't seem to find the balance. Good luck. 

Wow--I just want to hug you. What a great job--and wow--will power! I wasn't as strong as you. I decided that I wasn't even going to record what I ate on Easter Day. I even had 3-4 Carrot Cake M & M's (I was dying to try them) and I don't eat candy much (I get fat off of regular food!). You are doing fantastic--and such an inspiration. 

Way to go. Good determination.  

Matt thanks so much for the support. I am just getting to the point to where my knees can support me all day without having to be bathed in Ben-gay when I get home. My wife is encouraging me to join a kickboxing class at her gym & I can physically handle that now. I know I have a long climb ahead & that I needed help to do this. I am very prideful, & that made it hard for me to seek help. I came here out of shear luck to use Fat Secret as a tool to track my calories. What I discovered was a blessing. I found people here like me. I found people here working on that beach body offering encouragement to me. I found understanding. I found camaraderie. I found words that carry my soul when I'm down. I found all the help someone in my condition could hope to find. I have been able to free my mind in this arena. I take my demons out for walks here & strangers help me fight them. Kind people such as yourself have given me a lot of support here & that touches me deeply. I take every thing seriously, because this means more to me than getting in shape for summer. Don't get me wrong, I don't hold a grudge or envy anyone who is in better shape than me or of a normal size. I used to, but New Jon wouldn't trade places with anyone on the planet. I've made a good life for myself. I have the wife I could only of dreamed of & two sons who have been the exact opposite of me at their age. If I where my dad, I would have killed me before I was 20. But I have one tragic flaw; I made a monster out of my body. Which again, strangers are helping me chisel my way out of. I have got to be all in. I'm bigger than any two people combined that I am around 99% of the time. I'm the biggest person in every room I enter. I had a job taken away of being an owner / operator of a burger chain because of my image. (The franchise can sell fattening food, but a fat person can't sell fattening food. Pal's in Northeast Tennessee if anyone is taking notes.) People nonchalantly come up & automatically call me "Big Guy." I know they mean no harm, but it is just another reminder of my difference in comparison to others. God willing, with my new found determination & with the help of you strangers who are rapidly becoming my friends, somehow between all of us, we can get up this mountain. I want to think this is the formula that is going to be my Exodus. I am presently in the event that will free New Jon from Old Jon. So I am going to enjoy this climb, no matter how hard it gets. I'm in for the long haul for myself & anybody else who wants to go on the journey. If my story or our story can help one person along the way, the sweeter the view from the top will be.  

You are going down a wonderful path that will continue to reward you, New Jon. You are an inspiration to all of us! 

Great job!!! :) 

My hubby and I are New Jon fans! 

I love your outlook--your viewpoint and the way you word things. Nice, but factual. People definitely look at you differently when you are fat. I used to be the tiny skinny one and now I am the fat one. It's like I'm dumb or don't like fashion. Like I'm not there. Not true. The one thing I can say is that it has taught me to be more caring and not to be shallow. I'm on my downhill climb, very very slow downhill climb, but it makes me wonder, how will people treat me when I reach it?