Name: Kevin
Age: 34
Family Status: Common-Law
Occupation: Cashier
Hometown: Botwood, Newfoundland, Canada
Pounds or Inches Lost: I lost 208 pounds!
Height: 6’2″
Waist: 34″
Starting Weight: 393 pounds
Current Weight: 185 pounds
Kevin’s Weight Loss Story!
My name is Kevin Carter and that i fit in with TOPS (Taking Off Pounds Sensibly) NL 969 Botwood. This really is my third time being in TOPS. I belonged to TOPS in St. John’s, Newfoundland while I lived there and that i was at TOPS approximately 3 years ago, but this time after i joined, I knew it had been for good. I kept returning to TOPS because they offered me something which other weight reduction groups could not even think about offering. They offered me the know how, the support and the joy of cooperating like a group to achieve our individual goals. TOPS provides an atmosphere where individual goals and individual ways of achieving goals in a sensible manner are accepted, celebrated and rewarded.
Now let me tell you a little about my personal journey. When I was young we lived inside a blended family. I lived with my mother, grandparents, aunts, and cousins not to mention the family dog. They weren't the kind of people to maintain a healthy diet. While becoming an adult, meals and snacks were fried and packed with fat. Practically every single day after i came home from soccer practice there were home-made french fries and most likely, another thing fried with it. Our nightly snacks ranged from grilled cheese sandwiches, to a large bowl of poker chips having a large bowl of ice cream or garlic fingers laced in butter, simply to name some.
This time, I made a decision to eat 3 meals a day which contained breakfast, lunch and dinner, without a penny in between. It has helped me since i have don’t experience hunger now. To curb my hunger through the evening, I consume a later dinner. After i was at TOPS prior to this time around, I tried to incorporate a monthly treat night into my plan but what went down to be a treat night monthly turned into every fourteen days. It then turned once per week, then 2 or 3 times a week and also the weight just kept piling on. So, before I joined TOPS this time around, I analyzed what went wrong in previous attempts and located it at the front of me. TREAT NIGHTS WERE MY SABOTAGE. After i got a taste for your greasy, unhealthy food, I just wanted it more.
The weight came back which is what got me to where I was when I joined TOPS in July of 2010 at 393 pounds. After i walked into my TOPS group, it had been one of the biggest steps I ever endured to take my entire life. I had been so embarrassed that I had let myself reach 393 pounds and that on the scale they had to use the special weight simply to take my reading. I believed to myself, “You are almost 400 pounds, only one thing is for certain that will be short lived.” Prior to joining TOPS, our leader and secretary accustomed to approach me whenever you can and tell me that, “Its OK, you are able to come back to TOPS anytime,” however i used to avoid them like a toothache, since i am embarrassed.
My health was failing me, my blood pressure was 150/100 and that i found it very difficult to breathe. I would get very short of breath just walking from one end from the room to the other. For some time, I was vulnerable to chest infections that would last for 2 months at any given time. I struggled doing a walk in the mall by time I got back to the car, my hips could be hurting along with a large amount of chaffing.
My grandmother is really a diabetic, so from time to time I would check my very own blood sugar which may reach as high as 20. Until I joined TOPS during the last time, my lady, my mother and the parents were afraid that something was going to occur to me since i had such a build-up of fat throughout my chest. I was very passive and let it go, but inside however, I had been greatly afraid which i would have a cardiac arrest, stroke, or that it would be the end for me personally. The severe sweating, difficulty breathing, finding it difficult to are a symbol of a long time, wheezing around the chest, helped me think that it had been only a few time. My lady was always wanting me to test maintaining a healthy diet and my response could be, “I will start MONDAY, but MONDAY NEVER CAME.
Finally, eventually I took a good look in the mirror and said to myself, “My health goes down hill, and that i don't have any clothes to suit,” so talking to the mirror I said, “I'm not getting any bigger and I am going to get this weight off since i really don’t I want to drop dead having a cardiac arrest.” When I visited TOPS for my first weigh in, I had been so embarrassed that I held my head on the whole time. It had been very hard to look people in the face area but following the first 2 weeks, I'd lost 20 pounds. Lots of that was fluid I guess and also the weight continued coming off every week. I'd lose 4, 5, 6 pounds a week. I've got a scale at home and would weigh myself every day and if following a week I was going through a plateau, I'd kick things in high gear and do a little harder workout to boost my metabolic process and it worked. The load kept coming off and I reached my goal on March 9th with a 175 pound weight loss leaving me 2 pounds below my goal!
After I reached transpire, I still found myself losing and so i had to lower transpire weight by 10 pounds and I have reached that goal in regards to a month later with a 184 pound weight loss with 1 pound below my goal. Then in July of 2011, I had to change transpire once more to 190 pounds. I've reached might I’m 5 pounds below transpire at the present time. And so i now weigh in at 185 pounds. To lose all this weight took a lot of effort and dedication which wasn’t easy however i only agreed to be so tired of living as an overweight person. I changed a lot of things within my life. I exercised more, I cooked differently. Forget about soda, no butter or oil (replaced oil with chicken both), and followed a recommended portion control. I tried to consume around 1,500 to at least one,800 calories a day with 25 to 30 grams of fat each day.
These changes have worked for me. Some of my greatest motivations and inspirations were my family, our TOPS chapter (they're a great source of support and inspiration), The largest Loser, and music. Among the songs that actually inspired me to push harder was “LIFT” by Shannon Noll. It's a long road but with determination and commitment, we are able to all get there and find the “you” you have so long desired. You need to go one day at any given time, 1 lb at a time. Since i have have forfeit all this weight, I have received 2 awards with TOPS Club Inc. One on the provincial level and also the other on the International Level. I received obtaining Division 1, First Place Winner (Male) for men within Newfoundland and Labrador and again on the International level. Division one consists of men that weigh in at more than 300 pounds at the beginning of 2010 but less than 400 pounds.
Kevin’s Weight reduction Interview!
When have you become unhappy together with your weight?
I have always been unhappy with my weight. It had been when I got a health scare that I took matters into my very own hands.
What made you choose to slim down?
I was afraid that my next breath would be my last.
What were the most crucial changes you've made to shed weight?
I exercised more and ate three daily meals without any snacking among. I also eliminate the use of butter and oil, eliminated unhealthy foods from my entire life, read labels and have become aware of portion sizes.
What was most challenging about losing weight?
Finding the time to exercise but to get to in which you would like to get, YOU HAVE TO MAKE THE TIME!
How long did it take you to start to see results?
12 months.
How long did it take for you to definitely reach your current weight?
12 months.
How long perhaps you have maintained unwanted weight loss and how is the next step it?
I've been maintaining this weight since July and I keep things in check by having a couple of snacks during the day and recurring to workout. That is what I must do in order to keep my weight at this level.
How has your life changed since you’ve dropped a few pounds?
I have a good amount of energy, I'm not so tired anymore, I care more about my appearance and exactly how that I dress. The very first time in my life I’m comfortable in my own skin.
How did ShapeFit help you reach your weight loss goals?
Reading the weight loss success stories on ShapeFit.com about people who have lost large amounts of weight made me understand that you could do and that i can do this as well.
Kevin’s Weight loss tactics!
Weight loss tip #1:
Exercise, exercise, exercise.
Weight loss tip #2:
Look out for portion control.
Weight loss tip #3:
Drink plenty of water since you want to flush out those toxins.
Weight loss tip #4:
Keep track of fats and calories that you're consuming.
Weight loss tip #5:
Choose social situations wisely.
Kevin’s Weight Loss Diet plan!
Breakfast:
Boiled egg, slice of toast with fruit preserves, 2 slices of turkey bacon, 1/2 cup apple juice, cup of coffee with 1/2 tsp sugar and fresh milk.
Lunch:
Turkey sandwich made with marble rye bread, light Miracle Whip, lettuce, tomato and cheese. A mug of soup, orange and 1 cup of milk.
Dinner:
1 chicken breast (grilled), 1/2 cup of prepared rice, 1 cup sauteed vegetables, 1/2 cup frozen yogurt.
Snacks or Mini Meals:
Granola bar, fruit and yogurt , frozen yogurt, angel food cake, carrot sticks, Jell-O pudding, nuts.
Kevin’s Weight Loss Workouts!
Weight Training:
I follow a weight lifting workout program created by an individual trainer. It’s vigorous but well worth it.
Cardiovascular:
Walking and step aerobics.
