Weight-Loss Story:
Shawn Keegan

Age 26, from Windsor, Ontario

My name is Shawn, and I'm not fat anymore! I'm enjoying the success of a
hard-fought battle against my weight. It's taken a long time, but not as
long as it took me to get big. I began dieting and exercising about 14
months ago, and I've already reached my goal weight. I attribute my success
to determination and hard work.

When I was growing up, I was really thin. I was kinda one of those pale,
thin, geeky kids that got laughed at. But that really changed when I
entered high school. I found a look that worked for me, and I was proud of
being thin, no matter what anyone said. People would always say things like
"You need to eat something" or "You're gonna blow away in the wind." But I
took that as a good sign. I got really into health food and exercise. I
wanted to do what it took to maintain the same weight as I got older,
because I noticed a lot of my friends were gaining weight and I didn't want
to do the same.

When I entered University, things changed. I got complacent, I figured that
my metabolism would take care of me no matter what I did. I mentally
justified every bad thing that I ate, and I never realized just how bad my
diet got. I was poor, and under a lot of stress with schoolwork, so I
couldn't eat the way I used to. But when I really thought about what I was
doing, I knew deep down that my diet was just terrible. I noticed that I
had started growing a pot belly as well, I just didn't want to believe it.
But eventually I had to get larger shirts and pants because I no longer fit
into my clothes.

I wanted to make a plan and stick to it, and lose weight, but it's harder
than it sounds. I started with diets, but I couldn't stick to them, and I
got lazy. I had done it before, I used to eat healthy.. but it had been so
long that I couldn't seem to get into that mode again. To help me out, I
developed an interesting plan. I scoured the internet for pictures of large
people, printed them out, and pasted them on my walls. Sounds funny, I
know. All of my friends laughed at me. But hey, it worked. Every time I
started to slip with my diet or doubted myself or thought I didn't have the
energy to go out and get some exercise... I just looked at my walls. I
couldn't get away from the pictures, so I just let them inspire me. Without
that, I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to get where I have. After I put
the pictures up, I started taking the diet really seriously. I ate smaller
portions, and better food. I stopped eating junk fod altogether - instead
of eating a bag of chips for a snack, I would have a piece of fruit. I
always craved the junk of course, but I always found that after eating a
piece of fruit, I no longer needed to eat anything else. And, eventually I
got used to the idea of having fruit for a snack, and I actually came to
enjoy it the way I used to enjoy junk food. Plus I found myself no longer
craving junk food, and in fact found it totally unappealing.

The healthy eating continued, and I needed to supplement it with physical
activity. A diet is basically useless without exercise. You have to have
some way to work off the calories. I played basketball in the park. I've
always loved basketball, and it was something fun that I could do in my
spare time without thinking too hard. It was a stress releaser, definitely.
So after changing my lifestyle I began losing weight - just like that.
It's not rocket science, it's just the changing things that's so hard and so
daunting. I don't envy anyone that has weight to lose, but just know that
it can be done if you stick to a program. I started at 210 pounds 2 years
ago, and I reached my goal weight of 140 pounds just a year and a half later
- I've succesfully kept the weight off for 6 months, because I didn't give
up the lifestyle. I didn't even want to go back to my old ways, I have so
much more energy now.




Based on 9 votes, this diet story has an overall score of: 8.33

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10 - Motivational! 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 - Keep Trying

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(#1) Anonymous posted on Nov 16, 2005 (IP: 66.112.56.187)

i found that her story was successful for her but not me. I need to lose a lot of weight.

(#2) santanner posted on Nov 19, 2003 (IP: 205.188.208.138)

just keep what you are doing I am over weight and I wont make a change to stay strong and keep praying to god don't give up live your dream as a thin people.bye never forget we all been there.

(#3) Rainluver posted on Oct 24, 2003 (IP: 198.81.26.73)

I find Shawn's story to be extremely motivational!