Guestbook Page 2

Hey Ben....

Just saw you on Rachael's show.  What a FABULOUS idea! I have struggled with weight issues all my life, and while they have not gotten quite so out of hand, the emotional issues are probably quite similar.  I am at a weight I am happy with now, but I will certainly say some prayers that you will stick to your program.

And, I will be stepping on board to donate to my local food bank for every pound you lose.  Unfortunately, I can't afford to do the catch-up plan, but I will start from today.  I see on the site that you are at 83 pounds, so from here on out, I will donate for every pound you lose. 

I just can't believe that this is such a simple concept to help others, and no one that I have heard about has thought of it before now!  Our food banks are hurting, so having this as a goal must be very rewarding for you. People don't understand how much help 1 pound of food is for someone who has no food.

Anyway, I wish you all the best, and remember one thing while you are on this journey....  You never fail until you quit trying.

Best wishes, and lots of prayers for success,

Cynthia

Keep up the great job!  You can do it!  I have lost weight in the past by doing WW and need to do it again!  You were an inspiration!  Keep working hard and consistently!  I'll be checking in on your progress!   

Thanks for being willing to go on National TV and be an example for so many Americans!   

Carolyn

Hi Ben,

I’ve just learned about your wonderful campaign to lose weight and reach out to help so many others at the same time.  Congratulations to you and your wife for such an inspiring plan, and I wish you every success.  As a wellness practitioner I appreciate your kind concern for the well-being of humankind in what can be a challenging world.                                                                                                                          

My son is also a big guy and he’s now on his own path to a healthier weight.  As you know, these things can’t be accomplished until the timing is right, and for him, as for you, the day finally arrived when he knew it was time.  I will share your story with him and I know it will support his determination to succeed.

All the best to you for continued vibrant health and happiness!

Brenda

I just wanted to say best of luck on your Journey.. This world needs more people like you - It really is "What's on the Inside" that counts.. And what you have inside of you is an inspiration.. Keep up the great work!!

I will keep updating myself on your progress - I know you can do it

Corry

Just wanted to congratulate you on your goals set forth and the ones you have accomplished so far I know and understand the issues of dealing with obesity for most of my life. For at my highest weight was on Jan08 I was 525pnds, was diabetic high blood pressure and had sleeping disorders. Was starting to isolate myself from the world and pretty much killing myself with food.

But after being told I was diabetic that Jan I told myself that I wasn’t going to live like that. So I started the diet on February 7^th of 08 as of today I no longer have any health issues. Went from taking 11pills 2 shots a day to getting up and taking just my liquid multi vitamins. And the big plus is I went from 65in jeans 8x to 10x to where I am at right now and that’s in an 1x and 2 x and 36in jeans. This will make a total of 255 pounds lost in a year.

So my current is 270 have a lil more to go want to get down to 220 and hold. I’m 31yrs old and I feel the best I ever have. Just thought id share my story with you more than willing to send pics if you would like to see the before and after. It’s nice to know other people are not just turning to surgery to make life changes. For I have done this all with diet and getting of my @$$ lol. thanks for your time best of luck and keep it up.

Trust me if there’s anyone in the world you can relate to as far as how hard it’s been I’m pretty sure it would be me.

 Elijah

Hi my name is Brandy and I just had to write you. I am very overweight myself and have been struggling with it for a long time now. I am only 5/3 and  on New Years Eve I weighed in at 433. I was Devastated. I got real sick that night with what I found out a few days later was an ulcer. Since then I have dropped down to 412 but I am very discouraged. I am tired of watching my kids grow up without me and my husband not have the wife he deserves.

He to me is the Greatest husband ever. and the last 8 years have been rough for us because when our last child was born he came to early and was in a lot of trouble. he ended up living after being pronounced dead after 15 min of them trying to get him to breath again. so he is my little miracle. All my kids are. My husband and I have been married 13 years and he has like your wife looked past my weight for over 7 years now and I Love him for that. But I want to be beautiful and sexy for him. I want to walk with my kids and play with them like they need and want me too and I am just always so tired.

I think what you are doing is great and I would love to get on board. my problem is the exercise right now We have no gym around here to go to and even if we did Leaving my son is not an option for us. my husband works all day and late up in the evenings and so by the time he gets home and I get dinner on the table and kids bathed and home work done and then bedtime I'm exhausted. I've been looking for a treadmill to have here in the house but no such luck with me being over 400 I have to have one that will run under all my weight and those things are so expensive so right now I'm opting for well what little it I can do here in my home.

Do you have any suggestions for me? any advice? what are you eating during the day? HELP ME PLEASE

 With great Respect

~Brandy~

Hi Ben,

I just saw your story on the Rachel Ray show.  WOW!  I am so proud of you and I am so inspired!!!

Over the past 18 months my life has had many ups and downs.  As a result of the stress, I started putting on weight and I didn't see a way out.  Seeing your story today has really inspired me. 

Again, thank you so much for sharing your story.  I am truly inspired and motivated to stay on track - it will be  worth it!!!

With Best Wishes for your Success!!!

-Tara Gomez

Alexandria, Virginia

I saw your Story on the Rachael Ray show, just this very moring. I wanted to say that you made something click in my head.. If we had more people like you in this world, Then some of the major problems that we have would be tooking care of... and i hope you reach your goal...

   BEST OF LUCK..
    Victoria Tipton

I was just reading your blog from yesterday.  Congratulations on reaching 100 pounds down!  That is AMAZING, no matter how you look at things.  However, I can still see it's time for a little "pep talk" from another warrior in the weight wars!  I was beating myself up all the time about gaining back a bit of the weight I had lost.  I had to do one of the things you just did--read over some of my old blogs from my MySpace page--to put things in perspective.
 
You see, I started off at 310 pounds.  I lost 49 in about a year, (261--stick with me on the math, there'll be a quiz later) then gained back to yesterday morning's reading of 278.  (Yes, you can use a calculator like I just did, that's 17 pounds.)  That 17 pounds crept back on at the rate of about a pound or so a week, in between rather frustrating plateaus, despite trying to diet without sending my blood sugar into crashes that make me almost as easy to live with as a junkyard dog.  (I can get MEAN when my sugar's low, and when you add in the fact that my poor little four-cylinder brain starts to work on maybe two of those cylinders, there's times when I wonder why my boyfriend hasn't shot me yet!)  Yes, I gained a lot of the weight back, but it took reading my old blogs to put things back into a perspective that I can live with and restart my attempts to lose weight.
 
See, back when I finally hit 280, I wrote an exuberant blog about how happy I felt to have lost 10% of my starting weight!  (Yeah, I kind of jumped the gun--10% was actually 31 pounds, but stick with me, ok?)  That 10% resulted in a reduction in one of my diabetes medications (from four pills a day to one) because my blood sugar readings dropped precipitously.  My blood pressure, while still a touch high (white coat hypertension--thanks to some jerks in the medical profession, all they have to do is put the cuff on and I get scared shitless), is within "normal" levels after years of being so high my ob/gyn (the "jerk" I mentioned earlier) wouldn't keep me on estrogen birth control pills.  (I'm sure the subsequent worrying about getting pregnant on the less-reliable mini-pills did wonders for my blood pressure, but I digress.)  I dropped a full clothing size--in fact, some stuff that fit me perfectly before my weight loss is now WAY too big.  I recently gave away a grocery store bag stuffed full of long underwear that I could've tucked in under my sports bra to keep up!  (I'll give you a minute to quit laughing at that mental picture--I have to chuckle every time it comes to mind.)  I recently successfully took a hike that took at least one stop on the way at 310 pounds, WITHOUT ANY STOPS on my way up a rather steep hill to a lookout point that I hadn't visited in years.
 
OK, enough rambling.  Why did I write to you about all of this?  Well, take another look at the data above about my weight loss and regain.  I HAVE NOT REGAINED ANY OF THAT INITIAL 10% THAT I CELEBRATED IN MY BLOG!  I still have hope that I'll be able to get back on track with weight loss.  My doctor has NOT reinstated my higher diabetes medication dosages--in fact, he recently told me to take it a little bit easier on myself if I test a little higher than I had been satisfied with, because my A1c (which reveals how well I'm managing my diabetes) results are very good.  All of my other blood tests--cholesterol, liver function, blah blah blah--are also coming back with very good results.
 
You had the common sense to do SOMETHING about your weight before you developed diabetes or other complications.  Me, it took a major, almost fatal, disease to make me get my head out of my backside and make some lifestyle changes.  Before I was diagnosed, my diabetes had already done permanent damage to my vision--damage that resulted in needing BIFOCALS at age 39, and before I got the bifocals I was using reading glasses that were stronger than my then-58-year-old boyfriend's reading glasses!  Even if I manage to lose more weight, I'll be dealing with the specter of diabetes for the rest of my life--once your body quits using insulin correctly, at best, you're pretty much stuck with using medications that help your body use its insulin, and at worst eventually you end up having to inject insulin because the islet cells inside your pancreas go on strike.
 
It's time, in my unsolicited opinion, to quit beating yourself up about your mistakes.  Take off the boxing gloves and put on some work gloves.  Redouble your efforts to change your lifestyle--a new eating plan and fitness plan--to lose the rest of that weight you've sworn to lose.  (I hate the words "diet" and "exercise", because to me they both seem to be more temporary than efforts to change a lifestyle.)  Look at all the progress you have already made.  Can you walk farther down at the beach or at a theme park before losing your breath?  Can you play longer with your step-kids?  Even on your "cheat" days, do you still eat more or less sensibly instead of the massive amounts you USED to eat?  (Would you believe I can't even FINISH a super-size McDonald's fries or a foot-long hoagie anymore?)  Try on some of your old clothes and see how they fit--if the non-drawstring pants even stay up!
 
Give yourself some credit, please!  You have not only done something about your weight, you're using that struggle to help other people.  Unlike most of us who keep our battles with obesity private, you've put yours on the internet--both your triumphs and your "defeats", which I firmly believe you are well on your way to overcoming.  Celebrate your successes, and know that you've got a lot of people out here in "internet land" that are pulling for you.  I, for one, will keep praying for you and thanking God for all of your successes thus far.  Hang in there.
 
God bless.

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