The other day I was moving a portable air conditioning unit and when I picked it up, I thought, "wow, this thing is pretty heavy". I decided to put it on a scale and found out it weighs almost exactly 60 pounds.

As I lifted it back off the scale, my thought immediately turned to my weight loss. I had just crossed the 60 pound barrier and I couldn't believe that I was carrying that much extra weight on my body. I am a pretty big guy so 60 pounds is not really a significant amount of weight for me, but the thought of carrying it on my body every second of every day gave me a whole new perspective on where I was and where I am now.

A year ago, i was much more depressed by situations in my life. Food and other unhealthy vices were seemingly the only things that were filling the gaps in my happiness. Last October I started seeing a therapist who helped me get control of my life. Then just before I started my weight loss journey, my wife and I separated. At first that threatened to spiral me out of control, but with the help of my therapist, I realized how unhappy I was in my marriage and what it was doing to me personally.

Now my primary motivation factors are my own personal health and spending as much time in this mortality with my kids as humanly possible. I came to realize there are factors I can control about my health and happiness and to give the rest over to God or if it's not God for you, whatever other influence can help guide your path. I'm not in the triple digit club (lost) yet, but I will get there.

Thank you to everyone who walked this path before me and showed me that it is possible. You are all truly inspirations. If my journey inspires just one other person to take control and find their own health and happiness, that is the best gratitude to those before I can think of, "pay it forward".

I wrote this on my phone. Sorry if it is incoherent rambling.