I Lost 100 lbs. A Former Overweight Guy's Words of Encouragement

Dan on September 11, 2010 around the 290 mark

Dan on January 22, 2014 weighing in at 195lbs and running hard in the snow.
You can do it too!

Going to prison meant missing out on my daughters for an additional 2.5 years.  If there is a silver lining to my incarceration, it was the fact I lost nearly 100 lbs.  I tried to use my time constructively and began to carefully count calories and started exercising regularly.  When I was first arrested, I weighed 280 lbs (my all time high was 295 lbs) and now I weigh 195 lbs and I am currently training to run the Kentucky Derby Marathon on April 19. I've been training with the RunKeeper App on my iPhone 5s and have logged 82.9 miles so far in the month of January alone.  I've been bitten by the running bug so bad that even snowfall hasn't been able to deter me.  Two different times in the past week, I've run a path with my snowblower around the mile long block by my home to clear my jogging path.  To say the least, there are some pretty happy neighbors.

Being a parent is one of the most important responsibilities a person could ever have.  I've discovered it's important to be a healthy parent as well.  I made the decision early on that if I was going to miss time with my daughters I was going to do everything possible to extend my time with them on the other end of life.  Incarceration may have cost me 2.5 years with my kids, but I feel confident that turning my life around physically has added those years to the end of my life where there will be more time with my kids as adults and with their children as well.  As you see from the below photo, I was "fairly" overweight.  I took the bottom photo yesterday before heading out for a run at 10 pm when the wind chill was 5 degrees.  I can't tell people how good it feels to be 40 and in the best shape of my life.

If you read this and want more information into how I lost one hundred pounds and turned into a "road rat" feel free to contact me at contactdanbrewington@gmail.com.  It's not easy but it can definitely be done.  I've been on diets and lost weight before but when the diet was over, the weight came back.  This time I used simple mathematics.  I took in less than what I burned daily.  No tricks or fads; I just ate less of everything and cut out unnecessary calories like soda, candy, sweets, etc.... (For you people with the dreaded "sweet tooth" like I used to have, you have to leave it behind.  It's like a recovering alcoholic rationalizing "just one" drink to wet their whistle)  I can't say that I will never gain weight again but I've put myself in the best position possible to stay healthy.  I know what it's like to be heavy and I know what it's like to by fit and I've travelled the long road in between.  I hope by sharing my experience I can help inspire others, not only to get healthy, but to enjoy a healthy life.  As much as I used to love food, it doesn't compare to loving the fact that I can run ten or eleven miles and then go play basketball with friends in our men's league on Sundays.  I love the fact how mowing the grass or even carrying groceries in the house doesn't wear me out.  Most of all I love the idea of being able to hit the ground running when I finally get to see my girls.

Contact me if you think I can give you any advise or even support on your healthy endeavors.  I'm not a professional; just a former fat guy.  Feel free to track my running on RunKeeper and Twitter.  Good luck!