Obese at Age 29, Super Fit Now

Thanks much to Luis for sending in this story and for sending in these before and after pics;

Here is my weight loss story.

I was born and raised in México until the age of 12. I have always been a tall person, but I was a skinny and tall kid while growing up in México. Food did not come around as easy back then.

When we moved to the United States it became a whole different world. The first meal I had in the new country was a Big Mac at McDonalds. The meals kept coming in the form of pizza, hamburgers, hot dogs, burritos. Everything you can possibly imagine. I started getting bigger and bigger. My weight did not register at that time because by the time I was an 8th grader I was 6'5'' and weighted 285 pounds. I never got picked on because of my size, instead I got idolized. They looked at me as the big football player. I kept eating and lifting weights. By the time I was 21 I was 6'8'' and weighed 370 pounds. I struggled to get in shape for football and my weight was holding me back from excelling in the sport I thought I was made for. Well, I played division two college football and got a career. After all was said and done I still had the weight. I did not need the weight anymore. I tried a bunch of different diets and exercise regimes and none of them worked. I thought I was an athlete and should have been able to shed the weight easily. Nothing was working and I just kept eating. Before I knew it I was 400 pounds and was on a second medication to control hypertension at age 29.

I felt like I was changing for the worst. I was losing my friends, my family, my loved ones. I was losing myself. That's when I decided to fix me. I started working out with a video game on the XBOX Kinect. I lost my first 50 pounds within 3 months. I was hooked. I played that game so much that I broke it. I must have scratched it or something. It forced me to look for something else.

I started doing research on Google and looking at fitness and diet videos on YouTube. I also started purchasing equipment. Before I knew it I had my own gym in my garage and friends joined in to workout with me. I have lost 140 pounds in 10 months and got my health back. I am not taking any pills anymore. My blood pressure is normal. I tell people that my physical change is about 10% of the change I have made. I tell them that the real change happened inside. I now love myself. That is where it all began.