Weight Loss Success Story

As a stay-at-home dad, one would think I could get on my blog a bit more often. Well, this week has been a bust one. And family is first and foremost. Including haircuts, family time, playing by water fountains and taking in the sights.

What's been happening? Well, I'm still juicing. This is now my 125th day into my new, improved and healthier lifestyle! About a month and a half ago rebootwithjoe.com contacted me about being their "success story." At the time, a lot was going on and honestly, I didn't even see their email. My mom had been in the hospital after receiving third degree burns on her legs from boiling water and our little lady was turning two, there were two weight loss contests coming to an end. I was still trying to figure out the social graces of being a "juicer" without creating a big deal when we went to restaurants and outings with family, and I was turning another year older... to name just a few things.

I finally saw and responded to their email a month after they sent it. Not knowing if they were still interested or not. I figured I would at least reply. Upon doing so, they said they were still interested and sent over the questioner that I filled out when I signed up on their website. They asked me to update any information and to send over some photos. Well, that was on a Friday. I didn't know if they were happy about the photos or if they even had a chance to look at them before the weekend hit. Come Monday morning I visited my blog and saw 1,200+ hits on it. I was surprised, as I checked the blog about two minutes after emailing rebootwithjoe and asking them if they got the photos and if they were going to do a story. And if so, when should I be expecting it. I hit send and went to go look at the blog. Low and behold... that is when I saw the stats. I logged into facebook and saw that several of my "friends" had liked Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead's photo of... me. A few minutes later another email was exchanged with rebootwithjoe as they let me know that the weight loss success story went live a few hours before the email inquiring about it was received.

Since then, I've been busy answering all kinds of questions. I'm 125 days into my reboot, into my juicing Lifestyle. This is truly a lifestyle for me. I'm about 90 to 95% juice at the moment. I'll probably step my solids up a touch, settling in around 85 to 90% juice. Just to make sure that the calorie levels and nutrient levels are on the right levels. In all honesty, I don't follow a strict plan. I've been asked to share my plan by a lot of people this week, so I started https://www.facebook.com/RebootSupport as a lot of people have the same question, or very similar ones. Some people have sent me "friend" requests however, I'm really hoping to keep my personal page, just that. While the RebootSupport is great for helping and answering questions. I'm not a Doctor, nor am I an expert. I simply am experienced through my own journey.

Losing weight was a big part of my goal, along with improving my overall health. I figured they went hand in hand. For me, adding a few weight loss competitions to the mix helped motivate and kicked me when I was tempted to eat regular or to stop juicing. Why? Well, one of the competitions pays out 8 grand divided between the top three percentage groups. If I lost 15%, I'd be getting a share of one portion, if I lost 20%, I'd share a larger portion and if I lost 25% or more I would share the top prize, of $5k with anyone else who lost that much too!

I figure the incentive and the payout would help cover the grocery bills of juicing and my new juicer! In the end, I ended up losing over 26% by the time the contest ended. And since they cap each round at 300 entrants per cycle, the chance of getting a large payout was nice and inspiring. Over the first three months I ended up getting over $800 in all, which easily covered the costs of the juicer, the groceries and the small "fees" for joining the contests. I lost 25 pounds in the first 14 days, which means I was well on my way to hitting that first 15%.

Everyone is different, but 15% of my 252 was only 37.8 pounds (a quick google search will tell you what it is for you). My wife was impressed by what that simple thing did to encourage and motivate me as well. It got me off my butt, as I knew I had a 3 month time frame to do it in. And the cool thing is, you start when you want to. You don't have to wait for a specific start date. Just sign up, weigh in and start. Twelve weeks later (mark the calendar and your phone), weigh in again and then just wait for the "round" they placed you in to end.

I signed up for five weight loss contests in January. They all motivated me to keep pushing myself! Only two of them are actively accepting new entrants. And the first one, (HealthyLoser) allows you to "start" the competition anytime you want in terms of being able to weigh in, move forward and go. The second one (HealthyWage) has a five person team challenge, a BMI challenge and a 10% challenge pays you $300 if you lose 10% in six months. The payout for that challenge alone easily covers the cost of most juicers that you can find on amazon.

The team challenge had a much later start date. By the time it started I was already down 20 pounds from the day I started juicing and when I could officially weigh-in. I posted about them in more detail on my blog: http://84lbs84days.blogspot.com/2013/05/weight-loss-motivation.html

Here is a bit of extra encouragement and support for anyone just starting out.
After the initial physical stresses, headaches, nausea and other feelings pass, the mental struggle usually pops up. A struggle that may consist of a strong desire for hot meals, social acceptance, even a feeling of needing to justify your actions / eating. In the end, these things will have to beaten.