Andrew's 42 in 2018

42 LBS. IN JUST OVER 3 MONTHS AND & 11 DAYS (102 days)! If you had asked me in January, I never thought I would be here by December and never thought I WOULD or COULD actually lose this much weight.

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All through high school I was a constant 150 lbs. Then combine my freshman year of college with my two year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to Anaheim, California where I came to love Vietnamese food and I returned home in June 2010 at 185 lbs. However, within 6 months (December 2010), I dropped 25 lbs. and was back around 160 lbs. I have slowly gone up since then. I hung around 170 lbs. for a couple years then found myself at 180 lbs. I hit 190 lbs. and bought myself a gym pass to increase my exercise from basketball once or twice a week to much more frequently.

Then in February 2015, Audrey and I met and started dating. I maintained my exercise pretty well and actually was successful in dropping 10 lbs. and was back to 180 lbs. I maintained for a while, especially while she was at school - we dated apart for 8 months while she was in school at Utah State University in Logan and I was in Provo working at Qivana. I was at the gym everyday. It was during this time that I last remember wearing my black suit (pictured above) at the Qivana company Christmas party in December 2015 and again in January 2016. By this point, I wore it because I liked it, but the pants started to get tight on my legs and the jacket became too small to button up, so I would wear it without buttoning.

Then we got engaged in January 2016 and my workouts fell to the side. I still played basketball each week, but I let the gym pass expire and I stopped going. That 10 lbs. quickly came back by our wedding that summer. Audrey and I both got new VASA gym passes in November 2016. Shortly after, on December 29, I logged 205 lbs. This time however, I was not seeing the same success I had seen before.

My weight just fluctuated around 205 lbs. and even increased! I was drinking Qivana protein shakes each day for breakfast. I had seen many other people experience weight loss with these meal replacement shakes, but they did not seem to be working for me. At the beginning of March 2017, Qivana merged with Zija International and my life became too busy for the gym and now I was working in Lehi instead of Provo. That made it a lot more difficult to get to the gym every day with traffic and the time it took to get home.

By summer 2018, I saw my weight peak at a point higher than I had ever been before. I knew I had gained weight because I could not wear many of my clothes anymore. I was wearing bigger pants and couldn't even zip up or button my old jeans anymore - some of them I couldn't even get up my legs (like my black suit pants I wore when I met Audrey). My stomach was becoming more visible and my face we very full. It was embarrassing. I plateaued and peaked soon after a started a new job at Synergy WorldWide.

(Here is my photo from the first day of work at Synergy at the end of February 2018)

August 2017 -- 211 lbs.
September 2017 -- 212 lbs.
May 5, 2018 -- 213.4 lbs.

Then the pain came. I think it started in March 2018. About once a month, I would wake up in the middle of the night with intense, radiating, internal pain stabbing through the right side of my abdomen. After a few hours the pain would subside with Ibuprofen and heat. Sometimes, the pain lingered throughout the day for a bit. One day I was late to work because of it. Another time, I was uncomfortable all day and another time, it happened after work but went away and I played basketball that night. At first, I assumed it was muscle spasms. Though I started to wonder what was wrong with me.

It happened in July 2018 and here's how I enjoyed my birthday....

Finally, the pain occurred THREE times in ONE week - Monday, Wednesday, Friday/Saturday (longest yet). That was enough, I decided to go in for a physical on July 31st.

The blood work came back showing that I had elevated:

• Liver enzymes: AST & ALT - these are supposed to be between 0 - 45. Mine were at 250 and 900+
• Biliruben
• Total Cholesterol
• Triglycerides

Now that we knew something was definitely wrong, they sent me to undergo an ultrasound on August 7th. Then a couple days later, I received a phone call while at work with the diagnosis that I had several small gallstones in the neck of my gallbladder. I had been experiencing gallbladder attacks and was referred to visit a General Surgeon on August 16th. The surgeon did not comfort me - surgery was really my only option. Avoiding surgery was to tempt fate. They offered to get me in the next day, but I was not ready for that. I postponed two weeks to make the decision and come to peace about it.

We were praying for a sign that surgery was the right thing for me to do. Audrey and I went to the temple. I had surgery scheduled for Friday, August 31st and throughout that week, I noticed a distinct difference in the way I felt. There was a constant discomfort in my abdomen the entire week and I just did not feel very good. That was the best sign and confirmation I could have aside from having another severe pain attack.

I did have surgery early in the morning on August 31st. I walked out of the surgical center and went to the grocery store with Audrey. I was up and around that day since it had been a laparoscopic surgery with only four tiny incisions. I went to a wedding reception that night. It felt like I had done the most intense ab workout ever.

Within two and a half weeks, I was playing basketball again and I had lost 15 lbs.! I did a follow-up blood test on September 12th and my liver enzyme levels had nearly returned to normal. Then October 5th, I did another blood test and my cholesterol had dropped more than 75 points and was back in the normal healthy range. The surgery fixed everything!

August 31st - 213 lbs.

September 15th - 195 lbs.

October 7th - 188 lbs.

October 28th - 183 lbs.

November 25th - 177 lbs.

December 11th - 171 lbs.

I have found success by drinking a lot of water at the beginning of meals, by eating smaller portions, and by being active. No special program. While I have been eating whatever I want, I am being more conscious of what and how much I am consuming. I have tried to avoid eating foods that are high in fats and calories. I still eat these foods if I feel they are worth it, but I just eat less of them. When eating out, I share with Audrey or eat half or less of what I used to, and save the rest for another meal later. For example, I would always eat a full Cafe Rio salad and still be hungry. Now I'm filled by the time I eat half of it. I have made an effort to eat more vegetables and fruits while avoiding snack foods. I am saving money while being healthier.

As for activity, I work a 9-5 desk job, but try to walk one mile during lunch. I play a couple hours of full-court basketball at least once a week and on the other days have done a mixture of walking, running, and cycling at the gym. Overall, I'm moving more. I have a goal to reach 10,000 steps every day, but often find that I exceed 15,000 steps in a day. It really does matter what we put into our bodies and how much we move. I'm excited to keep going! 

I'm happy to share more about what I've done if anyone is curious or wants some ideas to try!

TAKEAWAYS:
-I love food! I have learned that I can still eat whatever I want, I just eat less of it and save the rest to eat later.
-Drink tons of water! I have only touched soda twice since the end of August and had a very small amount each time. I've only had 2 small Gatorades in that time as well. I've had juice a handful of times - orange, apple, grape - but I limit myself to a small cup or 1 glass.
-Exercise can be just moving - it doesn't have to be training for a marathon - I have played basketball once per week, walk, jog, and stationary bike. That's it. I haven't done any weight training.