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I have lost 125 pounds in 19 months through diet and exercise! I began by eating low carb and with portion control. I have done a variety of exercises, beginning with biking around the neighborhood, moving up to working out at the gym, completed Power 90 and then moved right into P90X which I have completed two rounds. I have acheived my goal weight of 170 lb and am continuing to work on my waist goal of 32". I'm getting close to that at 33.25" now. I have about 5 more pounds to go around my waist so my abs are exposed and gorgeous!
I had been a very active kid growing up in Southern California. We were always outside playing actively. I did have asthma but it really didn't limit me except for running. I joined the Boy Scouts in a very active troop and hiked about 5 or 6 times a year all through my teens. I climbed Mt. Whitney three separate times and logged over 200 nights camping and probably 1,000 miles hiking. I loved water sports. I sailed, sail raced, swam competitively in high school, played water polo in high school. I weighed about 138 when I graduated from high school. I surfed daily in college. I probably weighed 145 or so after college although I did get up to about 160 in college and reigned it back down eating better.

At age 22 I moved to the mountains of Virginia and that climate change and less activity started the weight gain. I married, was less active and was eating "better" (more fattening food). I gained about 35 pounds or so. I got divorced in 1989 and those pounds simply fell off me in a few months. I took daily walks, ate simpler and did a bit of token exercise.

I met my new wife and was more active walking, dancing, etc and eating better because she is health conscious. My weight was fairly stable around 160 or so for several years until I had a car accident about 10 years ago. The first month I could barely walk a block. That started it. More weight, less desire to move, more health problems. I developed obstructive sleep apnea from the weight and that hurt my energy, and the snowball downhill continued. I was eating more and more and worse and worse. I really didn't care. My dad died in 1997 and my mom in 2000. I lost a few close friends in 2000 as well. I became depressed. Everything got worse. I withdrew from society.

Over the years a couple of my doctors told me to lose weight, but I wasn't ready to do it and didn't try in the least. The turning point came last summer. I had just turned the dreaded 50 which is depressing enough in itself. We went on a long weekend trip, my first in years. I felt so bad and had a really didn't enjoy myself. I tried dancing and felt so ashamed of my body. I saw the photos of myself afterwards and really saw for the first time what I looked like. I said, that's it. I've got to clean up my act. I had just turned 50 years old and felt 75.

A couple of weeks later I went to my doctor for my annual physical. My blood pressure had spiked up to high blood pressure levels. He said I was a candidate for blood pressure medicine, heart disease, etc. I had gained 9 lbs since my last annual physical. He told me to go on Atkins. He does that himself to maintain his svelte physique. He's about my age, too. I told him I would do it and decided right then and there that I would, no doubt.

I was to come back in six weeks. My blood pressure was back to the normal and I had lost 23 lbs already without any exercise, just diet. He wanted me back in 3 more months (during the winter holidays) to make sure I was still doing fine. I had lost 50 lbs at that point and had just joined a gym. He prescribed a lower pressure on my CPAP breathing machine. He wanted me back in three more months. I started working out six days a week gradually working up from 30 minute sessions to 1-1/2 hours. I was down about 75 pounds when I went to see my doctor again. He said, "you're doing it, you don't need me to push you anymore." His goal for me was to lose 90 pounds to get me out of the Obese category (I started off the BMI chart in the Morbidly Obese category). I passed that mark several months. (Now I'm barely in the Overweight category!!!) He had said it would take 18 months of hard work and I did it in 8 months and it didn't feel so hard.

He said to come back for my annual unless there was some problem. All bloodwork and stats were normal at my first annual visit with him. I'm well past his weight goal and have acheived my own goal of 170 (though I think I'll settle around 160-165 when all is done). I have lost 125 pounds to date and my waist has gone from 56" down to 33-1/4" and I am wearing size 32 pants comfortably.

Most of my physical complaints have disappeared already. I complained of extreme fatigue, frequent headaches, very tender feet, allergies, I used my asthma inhaler a few times a week, foggy mind, depression, slept very poorly even on CPAP and woke up as exhausted as when I went to bed. I don't even remember all the complaints I had. The only ill effects I had with all this weight loss was a 3 day headache at the very beginning from carb and coffee withdrawal. No other problems. In these 19 months I have only used my asthma inhaler 5 times. Still taking an asthma pill daily for prevention, but I recently was able to get off my CPAP machine at night. Wonderful! I hope to eventually get off my asthma medicine as well.

In February 2007 I saw the P90X commercial and was determined to do it. I knew I would have to get in decent shape before attempting it. I completed Power 90 and now two complete rounds of P90X. The next 90 days I am doing a running program and using P90X for maintenance.