Back in September of 2011 I decided to start walking again. I didn’t get too far, only about a half a mile. I have no idea why I started to walk again, but I did. I then got in my head that if I was going to walk then I needed to have a goal. My goal was to redo a half marathon.
I had done one just before AJ was born, but it was a disastrous occasion. I finished, but collapsed just three steps after the finish line. I found a half marathon set for January and I began my training.
About in November of 2011 I weighed myself and at 305 lbs. I figured if I was going to avoid collapsing again I needed to start watching my weight and so I put a goal to be down to 285 lbs. by race day. I kept track of my calories and made sure I went walking at least 3-4 days a week. By January of 2012 had gotten down to 282 lbs. Unlike my previous half marathon I did really well (If your interested in reading about it click HERE).
Motivated by my good walking skills I have decided to do another half marathon in June. The difference with this one is that there is a qualifying time of a 12/mile. In order to do this however I need to lose even more weight. I am currently at 253.6 lbs and my goal for June 2nd is to get to 240 lbs. If I do good on this one too I am considering entering myself into a full marathon (26.2 miles).
As far as my weight is concerned I would like to get down to 185 (my ideal body weight), but that is still a long ways off. I can’t really fathom a big goal like that and so I just concentrate on my little goals. After I get to 240 lbs. my next goal will be 220 lbs. That will take me from Obese I (I started at Obese III) to Overweight. After that I will concentrate on 200 lbs. because it seems like a good landmark number.
The number one question everyone asks me with the weight loss is about how I feel. The answer is not different really, I feel the same way I always did. The one thing I can say however is I can run now, which is something I couldn’t do before. I used to go to races and be in the back, but now I am right in the middle of the pack with my speed. In some ways losing weight has become a problem. I hate shopping for clothes and all my clothes are now too big for me. Clothes are not cheap and so I have resorted to going to second hand clothes stores as much as I can to keep costs down but no one likes wearing hand-me-downs. In the end I just reassure myself it is all for the better. The number one reason I want to lose weight is I really don’t want to die for something that was reasonably preventable. This is by no means my first attempt at weight loss. It is certainly not an easy road to travel, but I am hoping in the end it will be good.
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This is me in July of 2011 in Mexico City, Mexico. I weighed about 305 lbs. in this picture.

This is me March of 2012 in Copan, Honduras. I weigh about 254 lbs in this picture.