14'ers

The first picture is me with my daughters Sandis and Stella (up top) after a family camping trip. The second picture is me on top of Mount Sherman at 14,036 ft. This is the first 14,000 foot mountain (14'er) I have ever summitted. 1.5 years prior this feat was unfathomable (and unreachable) to me. My weight loss has slowed, I'm at 110 lbs lost at the beginning of August after having hit 100 lbs in April. But I continue to feel better, am much more active outdoors, and my clothes continue to fit better. I have so much energy I can hardly find enough stuff to do to use it up. Some weight loss plateaus are simply our bodies "reconfiguring" themselves, I think.

100 Down

This was taken at the CSU spring football scrimmage, right after I hit 100 lbs lost. My Weight Watchers leader informed me I was the first of her meeting attendees to ever make it to 100 lbs lost. I believe she was as proud as I was! My forays into jogging last fall haven't been kept up through the winter, but I have picked up my walking, both in pace and distance. I'm walking up to 15 miles a week now and am working on doing it at a quick pace. I have plans to walk in the Bolder Boulder 10K run/walk on Memorial Day with a group of people from work.

Bring on XL

I include the Christmas tree picture 1 year later. I feel great and am about 7 lbs away from 250 lbs. That puts me down 85 lbs. When I started, 250 lbs was my pie in the sky goal. I am no where near ready to quit now that I am almost there though. For Christmas I have asked for clothes as mine are all too big. For the first time in about 13 years I can wear a size XL shirt. I am walking 10 miles per week and jogging for 1/2 mile stretches here and there. At this time I don't ever see myself running for any distance though, it just isn't that fun. A note on my wife Shawn's progress -- she reached her goal last month, losing a total of 70 lbs. She looks incredible and continues to give me inspiration as well as support.

People Noticing

Here I am with my oldest daughter Sandis in August of 2005. I am down 66 lbs at this point. People have finally started noticing my weight loss, or more likely are now sure enough about to bring it up to me. I already feel like a new man by this time. I am out walking 6-10 miles a week. I've bought some new clothes, but not many. I'm going through sizes fast enough new clothes wouldn't last long. Mostly I'm digging into old clothes I never threw away, but never really thought I'd wear again either.

Big Brian

That's the old me. Big Brian. In the neighborhood of 340 lbs! The top picture was taken at a Colorado Rockies game in September 2004. The first picture below was taken in December 2004 while we were cutting our Christmas tree. The third picture isn't really a before picture, can you believe I had already lost about 25 lbs at that point! Wow. At the end of 2004 I was wearing size 48 pants and XXXL shirts. In March 2005 I joined Weight Watchers. I went in looking for help in losing weight because I had no idea how to -- it was the first time in my life that I had tried to lose weight. What I found was not a "diet" though, it was a change in lifestyle. A diet is something that you are someday finished with. I plan on eating and acting healthy for the rest of my life. I'm done being Big Brian. In addition to the support of Weight Watchers, I could not have accomplished any of this without the support of my wife Shawn who started this journey with me.