Being the Best Version of Me.

by

Howdy there Mizfit’ers! I’m Brandon from A Healthy Dad, and I’m very happy and humbled to be writing in this space today.

I think my history and struggles with weight are very similar to many others out there. I was overweight pretty much my entire life, for as long as I can remember. I went through those awkward high school years as an overweight teen. Around the time I started college, I really began my love/hate relationship with food, going on a seemingly endless stream of on-again, off-again diets. Throughout college, my weight regularly fluctuated between 250 and 280 pounds.

My wife and I had our wedding planned for shortly after college graduation. For about 6 months leading up to the wedding, we went on Atkins together to “look good” for the wedding. And at least in the short term, it worked fairly well – I got down to 220 pounds for wedding day, the lowest I had weighed in years. But we had both treated it as just a temporary diet, and so the day after the wedding, we went right back to our bad habits and the weight gradually came back.

Fast-forward 5 years to December 2009 when our daughter was born, and I was at my heaviest weight ever, 290 pounds. I had turned camera-dodging into an art form, because I hated seeing photos of myself. But looking at the photos from the hospital (which I couldn’t easily dodge out of), I was faced with the harsh reality of what I had let myself become. Something finally clicked deep inside me, and I decided then and there that something had to be done.

I had no idea where to start. I knew that I needed to make fundamental changes to my lifestyle, so that the weight wouldn’t just end up coming back like it had so many times in the past. After a bit of searching around online, I came across Tyler’s weight loss blog, and was instantly inspired by what he had accomplished. I immediately decided that I was going to get started turning my life around, and created my blog to help keep me accountable.

In the early weeks and months, my main focus was dropping weight. In fact, I became obsessed with the scale – probably a bit too much. I was weighing myself sometimes 2 or 3 times a day, and if I had a bad weigh-in, it would put me in a bad mood all day.

Gradually, I’ve been learning to not put so much emphasis on that number staring back at me on the scale. I’ve lost 90 pounds so far, and even though I’ve got probably 10-15 pounds more that I’d like to lose, my focus lately has been much less on my weight, instead shifting to becoming the best version of me that I can be.

These days, I’m only weighing myself once a week. I’m focused on eating whole, clean, real foods that make me feel good, instead of the over-processed garbage I used to eat, usually resulting in me feeling blah. Whether I’m running my first 1/2 Marathon, or training for my first full Marathon in December, my focus is on being healthy and fit, not any particular number on the scale.

Instead of striving for a specific weight, I want to be healthy and fit for my kids, so I can run and play with them for many years to come.

I want to set a good example for my kids, so that eating healthy and being active is just the norm for them.

I want to eat clean, healthy foods that enable me to perform as well as possible.

I want to be the best version of me that I can be.

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Comments

  1. GREAT post! And did you ever think last December that by this point you’d be a MARATHONER?
    So cool. And, so sorry we didn’t connect in Vegas.

  2. “I want to be the best version of me that I can be.” I really love that you said this. I think in general so many are trying to be like other people that they don’t sit still long enough to see who THEY should be. Congrats on your marathon victory. I believe we are always capable of much more than we ever give ourselves credit for. And as for your desire to be a good example for your children – KUDOS! My favorite quote for BL this year was from Rick – “You can’t be the leader if you can’t be the example”. Well done!

  5. I can relate to so much of this post — thank you for sharing it, Brandon. Getting to the point in weight loss where you can stop focusing on the fluctuations of a scale and just focus on being healthy, happy and fit — it’s really a wonderful place to be. Congratulations!

  7. So sweet – wow – a marathoner? That is so amazing – could you ever have imagined it? I love hearing how you’re focusing on the health & wellness part – body, mind & spirit – it is a great reminder for all of us and will serve us well for the long haul. Thanks again!

  9. I love this: ” I was weighing myself sometimes 2 or 3 times a day, and if I had a bad weigh-in, it would put me in a bad mood all day.” Not because he did it but because it’s nice to know that I’m not the only one that feels that way sometimes too! Keep up the great work Brandon!

  10. great post, and great mantra! when it comes right down to it, we really can only be the best version of ourselves. i saw a t-shirt once, “Be yourself. Everyone else is taken.”
    challenge and reward yourself every day. not because i said so, but because you deserve it.
    be well,
    -g-

  15. You’re definitely doing it! It’s great to hear from teh men-folk that are kicking azz. Way back when, I used to weigh myself 3 times a day, too. WTH?

  16. Man that is awesome. Very very strange how similar this is to my story. Some of the things you are describing are EXACTLY the same.

    Keep going!!!

    BTW- I am THINKING about doing a full. But it is such a time suck… what made you want to go from half to full??

    Thanks!!

    WeighDownSouth.com

    • You know, I was actually signed up for the half originally, but there was just this part of me that deep-down kept thinking to myself, “what if I could do the full?” And after a comment from a fellow blogger/runner asking basically the same thing, I decided to just go for it.

  19. Good going! That’s my goal also, Being the Best Version of Me. Thanks for sharing your weight loss story. It’s wonderful motivation for us all.

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