When I was young, from ages 2-11 or 12, I was always the skinny, energetic kid. What can I say, I was young, of course I would be energetic. Once I hit the end of my elementary school years, right before 5th grade, I started gaining weight. I don't know how much weight I gained, but I know I was bigger than most kids in middle school. All of the other kids would pick on me, and make fun of me. Because of that, I really didn't have many friends, just a few here and there. I would wear the old, out-of-style clothes that would fit me, but I didn't like them that much. I remember for my eighth grade I.D. card, I used the one from 7th grade and replaced the 7 with an 8 using a sharpie since I absolutely hated my picture and how I "looked fat" as I would say and "ugly." I remember me and my mom getting gym memberships and I would go but I didn't know what I was doing. All I did was eat bad, and play games. But the weight gaining didn't stop at middle school. After middle school graduation, that summer of 2009, my family had it really hard financially. This made me eat even worse because of the stress we all endured. That was a really hard year for me.
By the time 9t grade hit, I wasn't really big but I had to wear large t-shirts when all my friends were wearing smalls. And again, I was getting picked on a little bit here and there but it wasn't as bad as middle school. I didn't have many friends in my first 2 years of high school but I had a couple good ones. When junior year hit, I was wearing about x-large shirts and 34 to 36 waist size pants. I didn't go to any of my homecomings at all the first 3 years because I was self-conscious about the way I looked. I remember one class where these two kids made fun of almost everyone in the room and talked about them and all I could think was "they are talking about how fat I am and how stupid I look." Junior prom came along and I didn't even go because I was embarrassed by the way I looked. I know most kids wouldn't even care what others thought about them, but that's all I could think about.
Summer of 2012 hit and I was transitioning from 11th grade to 12th and I started thinking about losing weight. I joined a new gym, Gold's gym, where I felt more comfortable than Planet Fitness. I barely went to the gym though. As soon as school started back up, my parents hit it hard financially again and it forced me, my mom, and little sister to move in with my grandmother and my uncle in their tiny house a couple miles away. I had to sleep on the couch in the living room. This, I said, was my chance to improve the way I look. Since I wasn't in my house, I didn't feel comfortable going through the cabinets and eating every hour or so even though it was my grandmothers house and she didn't care if I did. But, for one, I don't like to be judged, so me thinking my uncle and grandmother would be judging me scared me to get food and for another, I just don't feel comfortable about going through someone else's stuff. The only things I really ate were apples they had on the counter for us and when my mother cooked dinner I ate. Also, I got my first job at Best Buy and I was always on my feet working.
When I first started my job, I was "chunky" and "big." But after living at my grandmothers from September to December 2012, and working a lot after school, I started seeing some weight come off. It wasn't much, but I could tell. This gave me a little bit more confidence in myself. I went to my first ever homecoming in October, even though it would be my last, I still went. I went down to a large shirt size and 34 pant waist size. Before Christmas break at school, we were able to move back into our house and were able to leave my grandmothers. Although I am thankful my grandmother opened our house to us but I was glad to get my room back. When I came back to our house, I was determined to keep losing weight since I was starting to feel good about myself. I taught myself to not eat the junk we had in our cabinets and to pick up an apple or other fruit. I was also working a lot more since it was the holidays. By the time spring break of senior year hit, I was a medium shirt size and still 34 waist size. Senior prom wasn't too far ahead, and I actually went, though without a date, but I was determined to go. I even got an awesome new hairstyle for prom.
When graduation hit, I said goodbye to all the people I hated that made fun of me and I was determined to stun them within the next year. Well, I started going to the gym about once a week to do some cardio, and changed my diet. I am now a sophomore in college and a local community college, and I now wear a small shirt size and a 28 waist size. I went from 215lbs at graduation of high school to now 155lbs, for a total loss of 60lbs. I am now starting to gain weight again, but for muscle as I am going to the gym every night working on myself. I have a lot more friends and I go out of my house everyday to do something that I would not have done in high school. I have never felt this good about myself and the way I look. I see people from my high school and now old job at Best Buy, since I got a new job, and they cannot believe its me.
Since high school graduation, I lost 60lbs, got a new car to fit my new look, kept my extremely cool haircut, got a new job, and got a new sense of pride and confidence. I now feel confident enough to go up to cute girls and say hi, or go out and have fun, or confront people that are just mean and give them a piece of my mind. I also had to recently get new glasses because my old ones didn't fit my face. I can no longer wear my class ring as it just slides off and I had to get more links taken out of my watch. I don't feel like people are judging me or making fun of me and I feel very healthy. After losing this weight, I feel like I have a purpose in life, and I feel like I am now able to just have fun. I am only 19 and I have a goal to finish college, get a good career, and keep my body looking healthy.
If anyone of you are having trouble, just remember you can do it! Have confidence in yourself and believe you can do anything you want to do! If I was able to do it, so can you! Everyone has a chance to feel good about themselves and I encourage each and everyone of you to get out there and fulfill your life to the fullest!
