Shawn's Weight Loss Journey

 

 

 

I have decided to finally do something about my weight, and make it really start to happen before the end of 2023...

Hopefully, I can stick with it... Progress will be on these pages.

I guess the place to start would be with a picture of me... a OLD picture... This was at my heaviest. This is about a number of years or so old...but nothing has changed at all, except a little loss here and there to be offset by gain as well... Up and down...just like a roller coaster.

Thankfully, mostly down, been trying for years... 2023 is gonna be MY year!

Hopefully I will be able to update this at least every week or so, and hopefully it will be GOOD news!

 

 

Here I am in sitting on my ever-widening ass in my old bus... All 382.5 lbs of me, back when I drove the transit bus... Starting shirt size is 4XLT, blood pressure is off the chart at 168/94 and my pants size is a size 58. I kinda look like the Michelin man don't I? By the way, I really hate scales... I want to be like the rest of America and buy off the rack at Wal-Mart!

(Big goal, isn't it...lol)

I chose this picture because it shows how really round and fat I am...But hey, They ask if I'm in shape...yep...round IS a shape!!!

I am ashamed to say that to everyone, but it needs to change...and fast. Lord only knows what I am doing to myself.

Let me tell you a little about myself. I am 59, a single dad, and as you can see, I used to drive bus for a living, but now I am in a 18 wheeler. I started commercial driving when I was 18. This profession, driving, is one of the easiest to pack on the weight, and just plain feel like crap. Please ignore the max weight - 600 lbs label under my butt... It's for the wheelchair ramp, not the driver's seat!

The first two pages of this site will be a quick introduction to me and what the plans are going to be moving forward. So, lets begin this journey... Officially on 1/15/23. This date is the official start date.

 

 

Apr. 23, 2023

 

 

Start Weight - 332.5lbs

Target Weight - 220lbs

To Go - 112.5 lbs

 

112 to lose sounds reasonable, and should be somewhat easy to accomplish, and hopefully it will be It is better than the original number to lose of 162lbs when I was at 380 from the photo above from the bus seat! Somewhere in between then and today, I must have done something right...lol!

 

Some of the things to help me on this journey...

 

I have been looking at diets, hypnosis, and different surgeries and after not being able to find one I liked, (Or thought for a minute I could stick to) I have decided to use the popular KETO diet I found on-line, combined with intermittent fasting. KETO seems like the best option, and I have looked at other people results, and all I can say is I can only hope that I am as successful as some of them. I will post some of their stories and pictures on here for continual motivation!

The intermittent fasting is really simple. all you do is choose a window to eat... In my case, I am planning to have a 5 hour window, probably after I get home from work. In the non-window hours, I can drink water, or even sparkling water... No carbs, no sugar... Beware of the different sweetners they can use, such as Aspartimine, which is a sugar substitute, but can be harmful to the keto diet. I am still looking into different sparkling waters.

Faygo pineapple pop (soda, depending on where you are from) is a huge weakness for me, as are french fries smothered in gravy...These are definite No No's... Anything fried in oil... ugh...

 

 

I must add that I got the not so bright idea to attempt to do a internal cleanout with these... Haribro Sugar free Gummy Bears... These are becoming very hard to find, I got mine online... I did this in a prior attempt at weight loss...

 

Some words of advice...

1- Make sure it's a Friday and cancel all weekend plans, for good measure go ahead and call off for Monday... You're gonna need it.

2- Call the city and make sure your water and sewer bill is paid in full.

3- Visit your local hardware store and purchase a sink attachment for your garden hose as toilet paper will quickly become too painful to bear.

4- Give advanced notice to family members, roommates and neighbors unless you're keen on trying to give birth to a crushed watermelon while convincing your local swat team that both the screaming and demonic noises are from you and a dynamic entry would only bring about more needless suffering.

5- Redo your restroom in motivational pictures, ones with slogans like courage is fear hanging on one minute longer, the only easy day was yesterday etc, I also advise posting up the suicide prevention hotline number or having a dedicated friend or other support group to walk you through the low times.

OMG. Don't eat more than 15 in a sitting unless you are trying to power wash your intestines. I ate the whole stupid bag! The cute little tricksters look just like their sugared counterparts, with the same cuddly ears, stubby arms and not-too-squishy, not-too-firm texture. The taste is the same too, and that's how the little demons invade your innards. I ate this whole stupid bag and then went about my day, oblivious to the havoc they were beginning to create!

The cramping started about an hour later, and soon enough I was as bloated as a balloon in Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. A couple of hours later, I was in excruciating pain and passed enough gas to reinflate the Hindenburg. When the rumbling started I sprinted down the hallway and made it to the bathroom just in time but experienced the human equivalent of a rectal space shuttle launch from my backside, laying waste to my home's sewer system AND my will to live. After five hours of pelvis-shaking misery, I was spongy, weak, and amazed that I had any bones left.

Ladies and gentleman, if you have never farted like a Howitzer and wish to experience it for yourself, then by all means pick up some of these sugar-free Haribo Gummi Bears. If you have a roomie or co-worker who's always eating your snacks, leave a dish of these lying around. I bet they'll never eat your food again.

 

You need to remember that Rome wasn't built in a day, nor was all this excess weight. Unfortunately, as much as I would love for it all to simply melt off overnight, reality (I hate reality at times) says it wont. Sometimes, I actually find myself looking out the window at night hoping to see the mothership from planet Nofat to beam me up and remove it.. Not happening!!! As we keep thinking of the past, I like to look back at my old graduation photo...

Yep, that's me... Complete with the funky 70's style plastic glasses and tacky sport coat! (Moms idea) And the old picture on the right was me in the graduation cap and gown...circa 1982...And wow, look at that psychedelic wallpaper!

Thin as a rail... But also, at that period in my life I wasn't lazy. I rode my bike sometimes over 30 miles a day when I wasn't in school... And I was always outside doing something. Now with the advent of computers, and of course the job title I have held since age 18, that of bus/truck driver, Well, that's what happened over the years...Got fat fast, but now I hope to try again to start reversing that trend.

I intend to add some extra fri...er... exercise into my regiment. Honestly, I am tired of breaking a sweat THINKING about exercising...May as well actually break a sweat ACTUALLY exercising!

Hopefully, when this journey is over and complete, I will no longer have a repeat of what happened to me at Kennywood Park a number of years back. After waiting in a long line to ride a roller coaster, I had to take that "walk of shame" because they redesigned (shrunk it) the damn car, and my big ass wouldn't fit!

I call "fat discrimination"!

If you feel the need to see more of how bad I have got, please feel free to click the button below... Prepare to be shocked! Barf bags not provided!

 

 

John Pinette was one of those rare comedians that could entertain you for hours without peppering his show with swearing and inappropriate topics. His humor was easy to relate to and I carried so many of his jokes into my everyday life, always making me smile again. You will be remembered as one of the greats that left us way too early. May you enjoy heaven with the same great spirit that you shared with us during your life. His comedy was some of the best I had ever heard. I have spent endless hours being entertained by his whimsical way of looking at the world. I feel like we've lost a good friend and I'm sure that he's in heaven now eating at buffets, avoiding salad, and basically keeping God in stitches. You will be missed.

I can't help thinking about John Pinette, 50 years old... Close to my age, and as you may know he was overweight. He lost almost 200 pounds just by eating right and exercising... Perhaps he already had the heart disease prior to his passing. This is one of the reasons for this blog/site is to keep myself in check. Sometimes it will be serious, other times it will be full of humor. So, let's get it rolling again into comedy mode... Naaa, let's be serious for today. We need that every now and then.

 

You go now. Thanks for the laughs John. Rest in Peace.

 

Look at this picture below... I would love to be this size again! I found this gentleman on facebook, and all I know for sure at this point is this was ONE years worth of work, KETO, and exercising... I seriously want to find him and chat with him. If this isn't encouragement to keep plugging along, I don't know what is. I have a whole page of other inspirational pictures of people who have conquered their weight issues. You can find that page by clicking the box below...

 

 

All I can say is go dude go! In my opinion, he looks a LOT happier on the right, than on the left... Bet he's now off the rack at Wal-Mart!

Oh I forgot to mention, I got my seat belt extender for my Silverado. Generous Motors gives them to us "weight challenged" (aka FAT) individuals for free just by asking your local dealer. Wonder if it works on a airplane too, since I am planning a trip to Texas sometime in the future. (That way, I can sneak it on the plane and won't have to ask the flight attendant for one...hehehe)

This journey is about learning to live a more healthy lifestyle, and that means making a lot of choices in a lot of different situations. We aren't perfect, and every choice isn't going to be the right one. Screw being perfect … be the best possible you that you can be, and I promise, I shall continue to do the same!

Wherever you are on this journey, whether it's contemplating taking that first hesitant step or rounding third and heading for home, I hope you'll meet the challenge we face with courage and commitment. I am going to create a separate page on here for my friends stories as we all go through this together, hopefully, and with a little persuasion, some before and after pics!

 

 

Someone once said that they noticed when a large person was on a bike, "better look quick because if they stay on that bike, they won't be that big for long...." That's gonna be me!

I will be doing most of my riding on a few local trails where there is a good bit of bike traffic, otherwise known as HELP. I did try riding many times before, and just was too tired to go... Too much weight to push around...lol. Most of the people I passed are much fitter looking (thin) folks with nicer shoes and fancier helmets... And spandex outfits... (I will NEVER be in one of those...Ewww) When I saw them I did feel a little self-conscious, but then I realize that I am for the most part, riding, not pushing, and there are people who will always be better than me, no matter what the sport or activity. And, most importantly, I am not sitting on the couch. I am doing something that was very hard to do at first, and I am getting better at it. I am very grateful that I can get out and do something physical and fun like riding a bike in the first place. Also, I think with age, I have realized that people who yell negativly to other people are not happy people themselves, or for that matter, perhaps not happy with their own life, and their opinion is not really very interesting to me. Mostly, I just wave and smile when people yell at me. It is really very rare that people actually do have anything mean to say, and then it is almost always, but not all the time, teenage boys. Whatever... I'm not out here to impress anyone, I'm out here to change my life, and THAT, I will do.

Biking is awesome because it's fun and zippy and you can get a lot farther in the same amount of time - but walking is also fantastic exercise, don't not consider walking! Bike because it's fun and adds a little variety, What I like about the bike is - well, it's fun. I plan on doing the bike and walking both... Kind of a joint venture...oops, Adventure!

I may just go buy a recumbent bike... They look considerably more comfortable.

 

On to page 2...

 

 

Much more to come... Keep tuned in to my incredible life changing journey! Thanks for reading the blog, so please help me with suggestions! Please click on the E-Mail box below.

 

They are greatly appreciated!

 

 

Website designed by...