How water cured my OBESITY:

I had a very good friend who pushed me nightly for three months straight to go with him to the gym and eat the right foods at the right times. Most importantly drink a lot of water. I mean a lot of water. I hated water, but I knew if I really wanted to lose weight I needed to do the right thing and stop playing games. At this time for the first time in my life I was confident about myself and knew I had it in me to lose any amount of weight I needed to. I met a wonderful woman at about the same time I began my journey to become healthy and hopefully thin.

My friend pushed me harder and was always there for me not to give up. I made up my mind to give up all liquids besides water and and a popular diet drink. It helped me a lot. I would wake up every morning and have a diet drink and drink a 24 oz glass of water. I would drink three(3) more 24 oz glasses of water before lunch, have another diet drink and continue with my regimen of water until dinner. I would drink a 24 oz glass of water leading up to dinner to help me feel full and not want to eat as much.

I became very drastic with my eating habits and food. I would never eat past six o'clock at night and again only water to help me feel full. Let me tell you I went to the bathroom all the time. I gave up all breads, pasta, and potatoes, everything that had carbohydrate in it. Most importantly I gave up all soda, even diet decaffeinated. My carbohydrate intake was about twenty(20) grams a day and my saturated fat intake was about two to three grams a day. I know you're saying that your body needs fat to survive. You are absolutely right. I was prepared during my weigh loss in what is healthy and what isn't while dieting. I read and read multiple books on vitamins and supplements to make sure I wasn't depriving my body of what it needed. I also saw a doctor regularly. I began taking daily essential fatty acids in pill form along with a multi-vitamin, a vitamin B complex 150, calcium, vitamin C and a sublingual vitamin B12. All of which I learned help with energy metabolism and the breakdown of stored fat, carbohydrates and sugar.

A great person, and now great friend, who owned a local fitness store, broke it down for me honestly and helped me with my supplement regiment. My nightly cardiovascular and weight routine began to get easier as I began losing weight fast. I was almost losing a pound of weight a day. people were getting worried but I remained true to eating the right foods and drinking the huge amounts of water. My doctor continued to monitor me and was not too concerned with my rapid weight loss. My blood pressure was getting better along with my resting heart rate lowering and, thank God, no problems with sugar diabetes.

I guess you are wondering what I was eating. Well, i was eating large amounts of canned tuna and canned chicken. protein, protein and protein, as much as I could get, lots of salad with no dressing, turkey burgers, vegetable burgers and again lots and lots of chicken and tuna. Yes, i was sick of eating the same thing all the time. However, I kept reminding myself the diet and exercise was working and I was losing weight. I encouraged myself to believe that pasta, pizza, soda, cheese-burgers and other junk weren't more important to me than my life. Oh yes, let me tell you of the wonderful woman I mentioned briefly earlier on. I continued to see her and her two beautiful boys. This was more motivation to continue than anything anyone could imagine. I was in love and most importantly someone was in love with me. Yes, she fell in love with the fat me, which makes her even more special to me.

As the months went on, I continued ever diligently on my exercise and water regimen. I never felt sick and I never again had any problems with the veins in my legs. People were beginning to notice the change that was occurring. it was getting drastic. My waistline was falling along with my shirt size. In case you forgot I weighed 525 lbs. At the end of the first year of my dieting, January 21st 2002, I weighed 250 lbs.

I lost 275 lbs working very hard with friends and on my own. My current weight today, as of the New year 2003, is 225 lbs. I found that this is a very good weight for me. I have put on good muscle and shrunk down to a large shirt and a 38 waist comfortably. I do have a lot of skin, but hope to eventually get surgery to have it removed. A lot of skin from a lot of fat is a good trade off to me.

Keeping the weight off is easy to me now that I have tons of energy, can get around and running on the treadmill up to three miles at a time surely helps a lot. Yes, I currently eat all the foods I used to eat.
It's all about one word, moderation.
Never ever again I will drink soda. Water ... Water....Water...(Ok, diet green tea and diet drinks.)
Is all the weight loss real to me? I still don't believe it sometimes. When I look into a mirror, there are times I don't believe it's me.

The first real time I knew I was actually thin and not fat is when I walked in front of a group pf little kids going to school. None of them stared at me, or laughed, or made a fat comment. I had just passed the little kids' test. During my years of being fat I knew that kids were the toughest and most honest.

My life today is everything I had dreamed about. Well, it's no longer a dream. I have married the woman I spoke about and became a father to her two wonderful boys. Today, we live a beautiful life in a beautiful home with a very happy and healthy life. if there is anything I can say to help anyone who reads this story : it is to never give up. Dreams can be reality. Follow good advice and do it for you. There is a famous quote that i kept in y wallet through my dieting and it still remains there today. martin Luther King stated, "We must accept finite difficulties, but we must never lose infinite hope."
I HAVEN'T AND NEVER WILL!

D.C.

Notes: D.C. lives in northeastern Pennsylvannia - Bob Butt's area (www.watercure2.com)of the country - where a lot is known about the healing powers of water, including its effectiveness in weight-loss programs.