My weight loss story is a weight loss success story

Hello! My name is Brad Strong, and this is my weight loss story. I was born in rural America on a farm that my great grandparents built. I was a very healthy child and was quite thin until I was about 7 years old.

• Comfort Food

My older brother, myself, and our 3 cousins would spend summer vacation with our grandparents. They had over 40 acres, so we had room to run and play. I was the youngest and would get left behind quite a bit of the time.

When this happened, my grandmother would feed me ice cream, donuts, potato chips, etc. as comfort food. When the rest of the kids returned, they would find out that they missed ice cream time. This made me feel special. At least grandma loved me.

I gained a lot of weight that summer and never really looked back. I had learned to love sugar and junk food. Every weight loss story must start with a weight gain story.

• Junk Food

Around that same time my parents bought the local grocery store. It was the town convenience store, gas station, butcher shop, and candy store. There's nothing really wrong with that except that my diet changed a lot. My parents tried to limit my candy and soda pop, but it didn't really work. I got fatter.

After a few years, my folks decided the store took too much time to run, so they sold it. My dad went to work for Frito Lay as a route salesman. That meant there was a fully stocked Frito Lay truck in the driveway every evening and weekend.

I still loved sugar, but my new love was Nacho Cheese Doritos. There was always a good supply of Mountain Dew in the fridge to wash it down with. I got fatter.

• Exercise Didn't Make Me Skinny

My weight loss story doesn't end with exercise. I was pretty active growing up. I played lots of golf, and I walked every bit of it. I played basketball and baseball on school teams and little league.

I ran the same wind sprints and laps as everyone else, but I was fat. My family cross country skied in the winter. I rode my bike all the time and went for hikes in our woods. I cut, split, and stacked wood for heating. I lifted weights quite a bit during high school because I admired Arnold Schwarzenegger and other body builders. I had a pretty good physique under the fat.

Exercise will not create a weight loss story on its own.

• Fast Food

Once I could drive, I started frequenting fast food restaurants like McDonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's. I didn't frequent the Frito truck quite as much, but I still liked it.

The summer I graduated high school, I wanted to lose weight. The only method I really knew was cutting calories. My Dad had lost a lot of weight on the Atkins diet, but he gained a lot back when he went off of it. I examined my diet and decided to get nutritional information for the foods I ate the most.

I drove to McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, and Taco Bell. I had to ask for the nutritional guides, but they gave them to me. I was astonished. It absolutely blew my mind.

A McDLT had over 1,000 calories. Large fries and a Coke added another 1,000 calories. I was consuming almost an entire day's calories in one meal. Add the other two meals, Doritos, and Mountain Dew, and I was consuming about 5,000 calories per day.

The nutritional information from Burger King and Wendy's was about the same for comparable meals. The exception was Taco Bell. I could eat a 3 taco combo meal with an unsweet ice tea for under 400 calories.

• My First Weight Loss Story

I eliminated McDonald's Burger King, and Wendy's from my diet. When I needed the convenience of a fast food meal, I went to Taco Bell for a 3 taco combo.

I avoided the Frito truck for the most part but still had some. I quit all sugar like I remembered my Dad doing on Atkins.

I was working construction that summer, so I got some good exercise out in the heat. I melted from 225 to 175. I lost 50 pounds that summer. I was height-weight proportionate for the first time since I was 6 or 7 years old.

I thought my weight loss story would end here as I promised myself I would never get fat again.

•Boot Camp

My weight loss story continues a couple of years later. The Gulf War started. I wanted to serve, so I talked to recruiters. My uncle, an Air Force Veteran, talked me into either the Air Force or Navy. The Air Force recruiter had already met his quota for the month, so I went with the Navy.

Boot camp really agreed with me. Three hot meals of good whole foods and constant exercise does a body good. I dropped another 20 pounds. I was so ripped when I completed boot camp, I had to get all of my uniforms tailored and wear fitted shirts.

I gained back some after boot camp because I got a little lose with my diet. I stayed height-weight proportionate though.

Unfortunately this is not the end of my weight loss story.

•Marriage Made Me Fat Again

After I got stationed in San Diego. I met a nice lady, and we got married. I started gaining weight at a record pace. I got so fat that I failed my body mass index (BMI) test. I could still do the pushups, sit ups, and run OK. My CO put me on a remedial physical training (PT) program, but it had no effect.

Why had the exercise in boot camp been so effective and the PT after I got married wasn't? My diet was very different, but I didn't see it back then. I gained weight over the years until I was 250 pounds. I don't remember what I weighed when I got out of the Navy, but it was more than when I joined by a fair amount.

My new wife didn't really cook, so we ate fast food, restaurant food, and lots of heat-and-eat convenience meals form the local super market.

When I was single, I lived on base and ate in the mess hall every day. I made trips to the McDonald's on base, but that cost money, and the mess hall was free.

I used to eat large quantities of food in the mess hall. I got used to being able to eat whatever and as much as I wanted without gaining weight.

•What You Eat Makes You Fat, Not How Much

The only difference was the food I was eating. The US military doesn't feed its personnel processed food. Now I know why. They need soldiers, sailors, and airmen who are ready for duty physically and mentally.

Processed food doesn't produce people that fit those descriptions. Processed food is full of additives and chemicals that make you fat and tired.

The amount of calories you consume from whole foods, like the military serves, is mostly irrelevant. It's hard to get fat eating healthy, whole foods.

If you eat the same number of calories from fast food, restaurant food, or processed food, you will gain weight so fast you won't believe it. If you have a tendency toward weight gain anyway, you are really in for it.

There is a reason why the military doesn't feed processed food to the troops, and it's a darn good one. Processed food makes you fat, lethargic, and ill. That is unacceptable for our service members, and it's unacceptable for us too.

•Atkins To The Rescue

My next weight loss story begins several years after exiting the Navy. I weighed about 250 pounds. I decide to do something about it.

I decide the Atkins diet was the way for me. I followed it religiously and got down to 200 pounds. I tried for months to lose more weight, but not one more ounce would come off.

I got frustrated and decided to follow the recommended food pyramid. I gained all the weight back in a few months while I thought I was eating healthy.

This was very frustrating of course, so I went back to eating whatever I wanted. Eating healthy wasn't working, so I figured I might as well enjoy my food.

•Near Death Experience

My weight loss story continues several years later. I was 39 years old and weighed more than ever. I would get heart palpitations, dizziness, and shortness of breath from standing up off the couch. I had irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and frequent migraines. I was not exactly the picture of health I was when I graduated boot camp.

I went to the doctor because of the heart palpitations. Do you know what he did to me? He made me get on his scale, that's what. I tried to avoid it, but he refused to talk to me until I let him weigh me. OK, so I get on his fancy, balance-beam, medical grade scale, and that stinking thing read 270 pounds. I almost had a heart attack right there. Of course he told me to lose weight, and I would lose the heart palpitations as well.

He suggested Weight Watchers, but my weight loss story does not include that. I'm a loner. I would figure it out on my own like I did before.

•The Business Trip That Saved My Life

My current weight loss story really begins with a business trip to Asia that probably saved my life. I traveled to Japan and Taiwan for meetings. While I was there, I ate in restaurants every meal, every day.

The most amazing things happened. I wasn't hungry between meals, and my IBS went away after two days. I don't remember any heart palpitations either.

I noted that there weren't many overweight people in either country. The ones I did see were usually eating at McDonald's. Hum, a light bulb!

Another chapter of my weight loss story happened on the flight home to the US. On the plane, they served some sort of Italian pasta meal. I had diarrhea before I got off the plane, and I was so hungry I thought about eating my pillow. OK, not literally, but I was really hungry within an hour of eating a full meal.

This is when I realized, without a doubt, that there is something terribly wrong with American food.

•Obesity in America is Caused by American Food

There is something invisible and nearly tasteless in our food that induces hunger, and I was going to find out what it is. I did find it.

The reason America is obese and most of the world isn't is because of the additives in our food. They cause obesity, diabetes, cancer, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, migraine headaches, ADD, ADHD, autism, and more.

At the time of writing this, I am down over 70 pounds and am still losing weight. I have regained my health. I no longer suffer from heart palpitations, migraines, obesity, or IBS.

I don't do any extreme exercise either. My weight loss story and weight loss success have come almost entirely from changing my diet. If you need to lose weight, I hope you will try my free diet plan. I am not leading you in to sell an e-book. All of the information on my site is free.

We hope you will support this site by purchasing items through our Store. My wife and I also offer weight loss coaching.

Please read the articles we've written. They can save your life just like they saved ours. We look forward to hearing your weight loss story.