There’s a feature on Facebook that has been a great motivator in my weight loss journey: the “See your memories” feature. This past week, the picture on the left is what popped up as a memory.
What a huge difference.
I remember feeling happy, whimsical, and really enjoying taking the picture. I wasn’t always the sad fat guy. In fact, in terms of how I felt as a person and about myself, I was pretty happy. I was able to drown out the difficulties and challenges with being fat quite successfully, and the photo on the left is the embodiment of that success. What was hiding, however, was the fact that I pushed myself to be the happy guy by ignoring or looking past those difficulties and challenges until I was unable to do so any longer.
I’ve written about my reasons for changing my lifestyle to get healthy and fit on more than a few occasions. The tl;dr version is that my body was beginning to show the detrimental effects of being morbidly obese and I was tired of feeling that way. I had to make a change, and I was fortunate that my wife was willing to make the changes with me. Together, we have been successful and have come a long way from where we began a mere fifteen months ago.
Many of you are just starting your weight loss and/or fitness journey. I recommend you take some full-body photos of yourself now. I know it’s difficult to do, and you don’t want to see them now, but trust me. When you lose the weight, they are great motivation to keep going, to keep eating right, and to keep exercising. When you see how far you’ve come, it will give you extra fuel to keep going.

This is awesome! You’ve really transformed yourself & are brave for putting these photos out there. I think that would be hard to do. Your journey & self discipline is inspiring & it definitely motivates me too :))
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Thanks. It’s not so hard, honestly. I’ve never been overly modest, and after being a Marine for over 11 years, any modesty one has is pretty much thrown out the window. lol.
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Lol understandable! I am really considering Air Force as a physical therapist ((one day)) if I make it — apparently it’s really competitive bc they only take a limited # of PT’s a year. My boyfriend and dad are also in the AF. We actually have a close family friend who was in the AF with my dad, and all of his sons are Marines now except one!
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I’ve seen the USAF PT’s do amazing work in San Antonio at Wilford Hall. Really important job. I wish you luck with it!
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Just googled Wilford Hall because I’ve never heard of it. Looks like an awesome facility. Thanks for telling me about it & for wishing me luck :))
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