Losing the Belly and 80 Pounds

Rob between two sumo wrestlers

Rob after weight loss

Waist back to 34 inches

Thanks to Rob for sending in his success story. He has lost 80 pounds and at least 10 inches off his waist and no longer has a 'beer belly'.


Hi Isadora:

I found your blog and wanted to add my story to it.

Growing up in high school I was a track athlete. In college I walked on the football team for a semester. I had always considered myself an athlete. Until I was in my 30's, I was active by playing basketball with friends. Around my late 30's early 40's, I reached the point however where I "let myself go" weight-wise.

I am just under 5 ft 11 inches tall and I weighed around 270 pounds when I was at my heaviest. I call that my "Sumo" weight because I took a picture in Japan in between 2 Sumo wrestlers when I was at that weight!

I lost a total of 80 pounds in 3 phases. I initially lost 30 pounds in 4 months without dieting (no pills, no drinks, no calorie counting, no surgeries, no injections, no "guru" diets, etc.) and without exercise. That prepared my body to lose the rest of the weight through exercise which are the other 2 Phases that I discuss on my blog (along with Phase #1) at My Sumo Weight Loss.

Recently, I read #13 of one of Dr. Oz's greatest health tips: lose the beer belly. I never drank alcohol, but I had a belly as you can see in the Sumo Wrestler picture. According to the tip, I measured my belly, which should be less than half my height or around 35.5 inches.

In the Sumo Wrestler picture, I was wearing size 44 pants. With the hanging stomach, the measurement is obviously over 44 inches.

I'm about to turn 50 years old, and now I'm a Master's Track athlete. As shown in the picture, the "belly button" measurement is about 34.5 inches. That's at least 10 inches, gone! No wonder people who haven't seen me in a long time remark that "half of me has disappeared!"

My hope is that people can read my blog, see what I did, and hopefully get similar results!

To a Healthy Lifestyle:

Rob Chambers

Read more »

Working out at the Gym to Lose 55 Pounds

Ramona has lost 55 pounds after starting to work out at her favorite gym. Thanks much for sending in your story, but for future references, please folks, do not send me promotional emails that center on pushing a specific product/service..

My name is Ramona Tiberia and I’m a 34 year old hair stylist from Michigan. I've struggled with my weight on and off and while I’ve tried other gyms in the past I've never truly attained the success I want. That is until I started to hear great things about a new gym called Art of Strength from my co-workers. The day AOS West Bloomfield head trainer Mike Knight came into the salon changed my life.

My personal workout preference is that I need someone to yell at me. I don’t want anyone to sugarcoat it, I want someone to get in my face. While I wanted that feeling, I also wanted to be a part of a communal environment where everyone is working hard. Art of Strength was just what I was looking for. It’s really like working out with your family, everyone wants to see you succeed and they offer a good support system.

As for my workout regimen, AOS isn't an average workout. It's much more intense. You’re burning a lot of calories and having fun while you are doing it. The trainers don’t throw you on a treadmill for a half hour and that’s your session. Every visit is better than my last and that type of variety is what keeps me on my toes.

Since I began working out at AOS, I have lost a total of 55 pounds and am still going strong.

Read more »

Reversing Sleep Apnea with Weight Loss

Michael, who is 5'8" tall, weighed 245 pounds when he was diagnosed with high blood pressure and sleep apnea.

His doctor told him he could either have esophageal reconstructive surgery or sleep with a (CPAP) machine. He said if he didn't choose one of these options he could die in his sleep or a have a stroke or heart attack.

At first Michael slept with the machine but continued his sedentary lifestyle and nutrition void eating habits. But then he decided to get active and gradually change his diet away from junk and processed foods. Within about 9 months he was at the ideal weight for his height (165 pounds) and felt like a completely new person.

Check out his inspiring story here.

Read more »

Amanda Has Lost 130 Pounds

Amanda during pregnancy

Amanda after losing 112 pounds

Amanda at 256 pounds

Thanks much to Amanda for sending in her weight loss story. She weighed 383 pounds at the end of her pregnancy and has since lost 130 pounds. She has not reached her goal yet, but can be very proud and happy with her progress so far.


I've always been overweight.  At the start of my second pregnancy I
was 333lbs.  Through the course of 9 months I managed to put on 50lbs
and get gestational diabetes.  The diabetes scared me.  A lot.  The
weight gain itself was a whole new kind of awful.  Even though I've
always been fat, I've never been disabled by my weight.  I never had
trouble DOING things.  Until I reached the point where I was closer to
400lbs than 300lbs.

Everything on my body hurt.  I couldn't walk; really I could barely
move.  Rolling over in bed hurt.  If there was ever going to be a wake
up call this was mine.

Most of the baby weight came off pretty quickly.. well, quick(ish).
By 3 months I only had about 15 more lbs to go to get to my
pre-pregnancy weight.  The rest stayed on til my girl was 6ish months
old.  In April 2011, I had a very short lived attempt at a workout
program.  I think I held in there for about a week!

When my girl was 7 months old (May 2011) I really committed.  I had
joined a weight loss challenge for moms and I REALLY wanted to win! I
started working out with my (now-ex) husband.  He had been doing P90X
for 5 months.  I started doing it with him.  If I ever got more than
3-4 workouts done in a week it was a small miracle! "I do my best and
forget the rest"  (You hear that a lot on the P90X dvds)  I lost 22lbs
that month, and still came in 5th lol

I took a hiatus in December 2011 and January 2012, but I'm back on the
wagon.  In Feb 2012 I started doing the program.. Really doing it.  As
of this writing I'm on day 22 and I've lost 80lbs doing P90X.  From
the day before my daughter's birth (17 months ago) I've lost 130lbs.

I'm documenting my progress and keeping myself accountable on my blog A Real Woman's Sweat Journal

Read more »

Going From Size 12 to Size 0

Jocelyn lost a lot of weight and changed the shape of her body and has maintained this weight loss for four years. She used to wear size 12 pants. When these started to feel snug, she decided to change her lifestyle. She's wearing size 0 jeans now. Check out more pics and her blog at Habitual Weight Loss.

Read more »