https://www.fox61.com/article/news/local/real-people-with-stan-simpson-mike-harrington-on-healthy-eating-and-weight-loss/520-2a4b30cb-a015-457f-86c8-0a61e0c7eedd

#mikeinspiresme #weightloss #transformation #health #wellness #diet #lifestylemedicine #fitness #biggestloser #healthyliving #nutrition #publicspeaking #advocacy #fatshaming #extremeweightloss #inspiration #motivation

Goals are a fruitless endeavor. More so, people who set goals, and make it known, are braggers and attention-seekers. They are immature, self-centered, and use this a means to make the rest of us feel like we’re a bunch of losers for not having goals.

At least, I use to think so. In retrospect I realize why I felt that way: I was hesitant to set goals because I was afraid to fail.

In April 2010 I endured the most heart-breaking loss of my life, that of my dad at age 63 due to his poor health habits. At the time I was 40 years old and weighed over 400 pounds. I had a host of obesity-related health conditions and, to make matters worse, I had lost my will to live.

After witnessing my father pass away right before my eyes, I made a promise to myself and to my mom- That I wasn’t going to let my dad’s death be in vain. I told her that we needed to learn something from his poor health habits.

Over the next few years since my dad’s passing I made numerous attempts to try to lose weight only to fail over and over again. I had even contacted several local hospitals for information on weight loss surgery. After attending an information session for the surgery I decided that the risks involved were not worth it. I also felt that it was just a substitute for something I needed to learn to do in order for this change to be sustainable: Build new health habits.

In June 2014 I set out on one of the most challenging endeavors of my life. I embarked on a health journey determined to lose as much as I possibly could. I also knew that I needed to be patient and focus more on new habits rather than just focusing on the scale.

Over the next few months I did not see much physical results. I tried hard to not let it discourage me. I made many mistakes along the way, fell down numerous times, got discouraged, but I never stopped. I had faith that over time these new habits, and the consistent building of them, were going to improve my health. And it did. In less than a year I had lost over 200 pounds. Completely on my own. No surgery. No coach.  Just me,  my food tracking app, and a promise.

Without realizing it I had set a goal. A goal stemming from a promise that I had made. I came to realize the power of setting goals. Because without them I was directionless and would never get anything done. It took me years to understand this, that my fear of failure was holding me back. I learned that these failures became opportunities to learn and make improvements. That was the only way I was going to grow.

Over the next few years since my transition I have been setting goals along the way. Continuing to challenge myself to grow and giving me something to strive for. I have accomplished way more than I thought I ever would in my life- Losing over 200 pounds on my own, getting worldwide recognition, and the opportunity to pay it forward. This has given me a new life and a sense of purpose which I never felt like I had before.

I am blessed to be here today healthy and happy. I love my new life and the fact that my story has motivated others. My purpose and mission in life are to inspire people to take charge of their lives and their health by being an example of what is possible.

I set goals for myself all of the time now. And I still fail often, but I never give up. I have faith in a higher power which is leading me and helping me understand that my life has a greater purpose and without goals I will never realize it.

At one time in my life I felt like a loser and hated myself. I know now that I was the only one who could change that by making a promise, creating a goal that has forever changed my life for good.

Stay Awesome!

~Mike

At one point in my health journey I had become obsessed with my weight. I had lost 205 pounds, more than half of my starting body weight, yet I felt that I still had more to lose. I pushed myself over the next several months, weighing myself daily (okay, sometimes twice), watching every single calorie that came into my body. I managed to lose another 5 pounds bringing me to 194 pounds, my lowest adult body weight. However, my eating disorder was getting out of control the more I pushed, and my metabolism was wrecked. I hit the wall after almost a year and a half.

I had lost quite a bit of muscle mass with my weight loss. I felt weak in my upper body and my friends and family kept telling me, “Don’t get too skinny!” I remember how that use to make me so mad when people said that to me. I sometimes responded, “You’re worried about me getting too skinny, where were you when I was over 400 pounds?!” Looking back I can see I was in denial about how much weight I had lost. I was most likely experiencing body dysmorphia.

I remember I was riding home from work when I told my wife it was time for me to stop my plan for a bit. I was in tears as I told her that I was scared to death that I would lose everything that I worked so hard to do. But I also knew that I couldn’t go on pushing myself any longer without a break.

For 2 weeks I stopped tracking my food intake and stopped all exercise except for my walks during my work lunchtime. The first day or so was hard mentally, but I persisted. I even went to a Chinese buffet and ate whatever I wanted (within reason). I knew this was dangerous for a person like me with a binge eating disorder, but it was something I had been craving.

During the break I did a lot of thinking about my next steps afterwards. This was the critical point where most people fail: Not planning for the long-term. From the beginning I knew at some point I was going to reach my goal weight and have to some toning and building. So I wrote out a body building plan with some help from a friend. He also reminded me, “Buddy, you have to eat more when you’re building.” As you can imagine, I was a bit apprehensive about that.

I bought protein supplements and began my new routine. I gained weight quickly, both muscle and fat… I didn’t want to stop weight lifting, so I read up on techniques body builders use to build muscle and cut fat. I experimented with intermittent fasting and carb cycling, sometimes losing weight, but quickly gaining it back when I stopped the cycles. It was getting monotonous. Soon it became a living hell for me again, checking my weight often, and kicking myself each time I realized I was gaining.

Many people were amazed to find out that I wasn’t happy after losing all of that weight. Most of them cannot even imagine what it is like to try to maintain it.

At some point I met some people involved in the Health At Every Size movement. I did a lot of reading on the subject and began to realize that it was far more important for me to be healthy overall than worrying about reaching a perfect body and weight. Also around this time a lot of press came out about contestants from the Biggest Loser gaining weight back after the show. Reading up more on the subject I wrote an article of my own called, “The Biggest Loser Effect: One Step Forward and Two Steps Back“. Back then my focus was more on the fact that I believed that many of the contestants had not changed their lifestyles after losing all of the weight. Fact or not for them, I was struggling too.

So I decided that I needed to stop struggling altogether. Weighing myself and being disappointed was stressing me out every day. I needed to:

Stop Chasing The Scale!

So I stopped weighing myself and continued to maintain an overall healthy lifestyle. Some of my smaller clothes got a little tighter, partially because I gained some fat, but I was also getting a lot more muscle mass from the body building. Freeing myself from the scale was such a relief. Most of all, I feel better now.

I admit that I am still frustrated with some of the fat around my abdomen, some of which may be skin leftover from years of morbid obesity, but over time I am getting accepting that it is not worth all of the stress to try to get rid of it. I am extremely fit overall, eating healthy and getting regular exercise almost every day.

I have said it since the beginning that this is a health journey and I continue to learn more each day. At one point in my life all I could think about was losing all of the weight and being normal. I had no idea all of the things I would experience along the way, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. With a lot of hard work and introspection we can become free from the prisons we created for ourselves. True happiness comes from within, not from the world around us.

Stay Awesome!

#stopchasingthescale #weightloss #health #obesity #diet #fitness #weightlossjourney

You were there for me at my worst

Enduring my pain with me

Supporting me when I could barely manage

Loving me when I did not love myself

When my dad was dying, you never left my side

You never made me feel bad when we had to accommodate my extreme obesity in public

You were not ashamed of me, like I was of myself

You listened to me helplessly on so many nights when I told you that I did not want to live anymore

You supported me through my life-changing transition

You always allowed me to be ME

And with your love, I have learned to love myself again

There are no words to express the gratitude, the love, the appreciation I have for you

Teresa, you are one of a kind

Your infectious laugh tickles me inside

A real woman and wife

Beautiful beyond compare

The brightest smile that lights up my universe

My Purple Artist

Schmoo, I love you eternally,

Bay