In this essay about a remarkable weight loss transformation, Albert Wisdom shares how changing his diet changed his entire life.
I have been overweight ever since my teenage years. Being raised in the South, comfort food is unavoidable, and so I’ve always had an unhealthy relationship with food. However, I was severely injured by a drunk driver in 2017, and my weight began to spiral out of control during my lengthy recovery.
At my heaviest, I weighed 475 pounds. I was 29 years old, and completely miserable. My injuries from the accident were slow to heal, and I was in considerable pain, as well suffering from extremely low self-esteem. I realized something had to change when I went to Sam’s Club with my father, got on the scale, and realized just how heavy I had become. I was completely ashamed that I had let myself get this far out of control.
A friend told me about the keto diet, and I tried it—with some success. Then I joined the keto community on Reddit, and slowly incorporated intermittent fasting and then OMAD (one meal a day) into my lifestyle, eventually doing a minimum 3 day fast at least once a week. These were all gradual changes; I wouldn’t move onto the next stage until my weight loss had begun stall.
Throughout most of my journey I didn’t work out at all. I only recently started working out with a trainer. The same friend who told me about keto in 2019 is now an amatuer powerlifter, and he set me up with a coach at my local Anytime Fitness that he is good friends with. It was always a goal to get back into the gym, I just wanted to wait until I had lost enough weight so that I would be comfortable doing rigourous exercise.
I have lost a total of 195 pounds in about 2 and a half years, during which time I did fall off the wagon for about 7 months. I actually gained back half of the weight I had lost. I almost gave up then, but I am so glad that I didn’t. My friends and family are all so proud of and supportive, my father especially. He was seriously afraid I was going to die from complications of obesity.
I still struggle with confidence, but I have so much more now than I ever imagined I could. My shattered leg has now almost completely recovered, and I am starting to get more attention from potential partners. Keto saved my life, and gave me my leg back.
I am definitely not finished yet. I don’t think you can ever truly finish a fitness journey. According to my bodys can at the gym, I still have about 50 pounds of fat to lose, and I want to pack on as much muscle as I can to fill out this loose skin.
My advice to anybody who wants to lose weight is: Don’t wait. There will never be a perfect time to start. Do it now. The smallest steps can make a huge difference, and get you started on the path to save your own life.
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