How I lost 70 lbs in 5 months!

I was somehow putting off this one blog for over 2 years now. But I feel like this is probably the time to tell the world my secret. A lot of you folks didn't actually believe that I used to be 240Lbs back in April of 2011. Well very conveniently my laptop crashed few months back and I honestly didn't have much to back up my story with. Well I finally found this before and after picture!

I eventually lost 70lbs by the end of September 2011. It may seem your typical Weight Loss story but I did have a lot going on before this huge change in my life. You see,I was the only one in my family that was deemed "big" at an early stage. I love eating, it's that easy to come up with the reason. I started York as an international student back in September 2010 and I kept gaining weight till April 2011. Some of the daily life activities such as a brisk walk or even climbing up few set of stairs made me hyperventilate. It was getting pretty obvious that I had to make some radical changes to my lifestyle before it got out of hand. But I would come up with the most creative excuses to reason with how I won't be able to lose the weight. I went back home to Bangladesh for that Summer and a lot of familiar faces were quick to point out that I am indeed, visibly bigger. My mother made a joke when she came to pick me up at the airport that still makes me burst into laughter. She basically said she could not recognize me. She wasn't alone with that sentiment as a lot of my friends too agreed.
My best friend finally also returned back to Bangladesh for the Summer. He was visibly fitter and really wanted to go to the gym in order to keep the flow. We went around looking for gym and finally settled for one. Then he pretty much forced me to join the gym too. I was heavily reluctant because I honestly did not believe it would work for me. I tried once when I first came to York but stopped after going 3 times. But I did end up joining against my parents wish. One of the few times I actually went against what my parents wanted for me. You see, they thought I would lose weight for a while but then I would give up on gym and gain back twice the weight. Again, it wasn't just them who were skeptical about this whole situation. For some reason I took that as my main drive to prove that I can in fact lose weight and maintain it accordingly. After one month, I started to see results. It was 4 of us who joined together but by the end of August, it was basically just me going to gym because of how proud and happy I was getting with the results. I went above and beyond to cut on my junk food cravings and instead settled for a strict healthy diet. I was finally able to go to the mall and check for size S instead of the usual XL. It was a revelation to not only myself but also the fact that we humans are capable of far much more than what society and our mind teaches us. But every now and then, we need that push to think that we can really achieve what we deem "Impossible."
It's been over two years now and this picture was taken back in September in order to celebrate that I indeed have been able to keep the weight off.

Now see it's a whole new story as to where I am right now(November 2013). Well I did lose track a bit but I have a great person I met at LeaderShape help me get back on track, to be better than ever.

Hope this was able to provide a bit of inspiration. Be persistent towards your goal. If anyone tells you that something is not possible, make sure you prove them wrong.