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With family life as goal, man drops 177 pounds

Discussion in 'Dietetics' started by Egyptian Doctor, Jul 13, 2011.

  1. Egyptian Doctor

    Egyptian Doctor Moderator Verified Doctor

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    At his heaviest, Brent Schmitt weighed 419 pounds. Even at 6 feet 3 inches tall, that was very overweight and he had high blood pressure.

    Many people in his family -- aunts, uncles and grandparents --suffered from diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease and high blood pressure.

    The iReporter's life-changing moment came during an intense family discussion back in 2009 about his relatives' ailments.

    It finally clicked for him: It was time for him to take a different path.

    "If I didn't do something about my health, then I was concerned I'd never live long enough to get married and have children or be healthy enough to spend quality time with my future family," the Evansville, Indiana, man said.

    And in 15 months, he dropped 177 pounds, more than 40 percent of his body weight.

    Starting a family is important to this 27-year-old civil engineer and he didn't want to miss out on this opportunity, or the chance to lead a healthy life.

    Schmitt jump-started the first six months of his weight loss journey back in July 2009 by reducing his food portions. He would use a smaller dinner plate than in the past and fill it with what he wanted to eat. Once he had done this, he would take half the food off his plate and just consume that portion.

    As part of his diet, Schmitt avoided processed foods.

    "I tried to buy fresh fruit and vegetables every three days, along with lunch meat sliced from the deli section of my local grocery store," he noted.

    Schmitt focused on moving more, too. During the first six months of his weight loss plan, he made the daily choice of moving his body more than he had in the past. He would do little things like take the stairs rather than the elevator - or head to the copy machine after printing a work document, instead of letting his copies stack up.

    Once he hit the six-month mark of his lifestyle change, he added more rigorous activity to his daily routine, like using the treadmill. At first, he just walked on the treadmill, but over time he picked up his pace and started to run.

    In October 2010, he reached a milestone, running the Evansville half-marathon in less than two hours.

    "At first I was in disbelief that I finished, and then I was relieved and proud of myself for achieving a difficult goal," he said.

    He now makes a point to take the longest route possible when walking somewhere in order to get more exercise.

    "It's everyday choices like these that help me lose weight," he added.

    It took Schmitt about six and a half months to lose his first 100 pounds and then he shed the last 77 pounds over the next eight and a half months. He hopes to eventually reach his goal weight of 230 pounds.

    Source : CNN Health
     

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    Last edited: Jul 13, 2011

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