As a young Marine, I was at the pinnacle of my physical fitness. I weighed 134 lbs and was in amazing shape. I could run miles without getting out of breath (really!) and maxed my pull-ups and sit-ups at 20 and 80 in two minutes. This is my boot camp photo:

Fast forward 28 years and this is what I morphed into:

It’s hard to believe that both of those are the same person. In the second photo, I weigh over 300 lbs and can barely tie my own shoes or climb a single flight of stairs without getting out of breath and light-headed. That was frightening. That had to change.

And change it did. While I’m only 52% to my overall goal, this is what I look like today:

Some important stats:

Weight

• Boot camp: 134
• Highest: 311
• Current: 227

Waist Size

• Boot camp: 28″
• Highest: 48″
• Current: 38″

Shirt Size

• Boot camp: M
• Highest: XXXL (3XL)
• Current: L/XL

This is my “Proof is in the pudding” post. I’m not bs-ing you. I was thin, got really fat, and now I’m working my way back down to thin. I’m also intent on joining the National Guard, and I have to be within their height and weight standards before I can enlist, so that’s an additional motivation for me. It’s been a really interesting and eye-opening experience so far, and I’m  looking forward to reaching my goal and being healthy again. Being skinny  and back in uniform will be the cherry on top. No sugar-added cherry, of course!