How did I get here?
A timeline detailing the history of my weight fluctuation
Hey everyone, Whale here. Thanks for coming back and continuing to read and follow my journey to Dolphinhood. The comments and texts really do encourage me to keep going.
Soon, I am going to start detailing what my weeks are looking like in terms of weigh ins, diet, and mindset more going forward, but this blog post is a bit different. I am going to be focusing on the history of how I got here. You don’t just gain 100 pounds by accident. I think it is important for me to use my past as a source of information and motivation along the way, as well as educate you all.
This blog post is going to be pretty photo heavy (no pun intended) First of all I want to say it is extremely difficult tracking down photos of when you were younger. And it’s borderline impossible to find individual ones when you have a twin brother. I did the best I could to label each photo accurately with who I am in the photo, the time the photo was taken, and my weight at the time of the photo. Something I want you all to pay attention to is not only how different I look in some of the photos, but my mood in the photos. There’s a family photo that hangs up in the Langston Living room. I am famously frowning in the photo. At the time my parents thought I just didn’t want to be there on a Sunday during NFL football. (Which to their credit was probably true)
But the real reason I don’t look happy is much deeper than wanting to watch Tony Romo throw touchdowns.
I hated the way I looked and didn’t want there to be photo evidence.
So, How did I get to the points where I need to lose 100 pounds?
Ironically, I started out of the smaller side. Exiting the womb at 4.3 lbs, I ranked in the 1st percentile in weight as a baby boy. Probably the only time I will ever be a 1%er in anything so I have to brag.
So how did I go from 4.3 pounds to 300 pounds? The short answer is a lot of pizza, wings, soda, and midnight MilkyWays. Keep scrolling for the long answer.
I was never too fat as a kid. Growing up my twin brother Trey and I were very active. We burned off tons of calories playing in the Cul-De-Sac. I never ate very clean, but what American 8 year old does? My diet mostly consisted of gushers and sour cream and onion lays. But that was ok because my metabolism was fast enough that it didn’t matter and I stayed in shape.
As you can see I grew up a relatively average healthy weight for my age most years. And before you run to the comments to roast me, all of those hair styles were cool at the time. Fact check me I dare you.
I didn’t really begin to gain weight until high school (10th Grade). My metabolism was slowing down and my diet wasn’t getting any better. The new freedom of being able to drive myself around meant I didn’t have to wait for my mom to decide to take me to get food. I could stop for a McDonald’s biscuit and large soda on the way to school. I could go get a large blizzard from Dairy Queen after dinner. The excuse I always gave was that I was bulking up for football. I didn’t fully understand the difference between good weight and bad weight and the negative effects of some of the junk I was putting into my body.
After my high school football “career” was over (5 tackles and a 1 fumble recovery in 3 years), I lost a lot of the playing weight. I wanted to look good for the college girls so I hopped on an elliptical and shedded about 30 pounds.
I managed to avoid the dreaded “freshman 15”, which I think is a total myth by the way. The dining hall food sucks and you’re so busy running around doing things and making friends as a freshman that you barely have time to eat anything, let alone gorge yourself. Sophomore year of college was solid as well. My diet wasn’t good, but I managed to stay active and emotionally well enough that I wasn’t binge eating. I also met a girl that I was trying to impress.
It wasn’t really until after sophomore year of college (2017) that I started to put a little bit of weight back on. Summer of 2018 (Between sophomore and Junior year), I went to Hawaii to work at a YMCA overnight recreational camp. At the camp I was as active as I have ever been for 3 months straight and the food options were limited, so pounds were melting off of me everyday.
Despite the goofy-looking blonde hair, it was the best I had ever looked or felt after that 2018 summer. The weight stayed off for about a month, but as anyone who has ever lost weight knows, that hard part isn’t losing it. It’s keeping it off. I took that for granted in the Fall of 2018 and once the stress of school and life came back, I reached for the comforts of wings and pizza.
What shocked me is how quickly and quietly the weight came back. To me, it felt like I had just got off the plane from Honolulu 190 in August and then all of a sudden I was big again. I put on some stretchy clothes for a few months, skip the gym to “focus on my studies”- yeah right, ate whatever I wanted and boom- gain 40 pounds back by Christmas. Then the winter seasonal depression kicks in and I realize I have gained some weight and that demoralizes my efforts even more. I gain another 20 pounds by Valentine’s Day. Another 10 by Easter. A downward spiral like no other. Stacking weight on top of weight. Using food as comfort to hide and escape that only results in more weight.
Then comes the summer of 2019. I was heading back to Hawaii. The place I had found my weight loss groove. About a month before leaving for camp that summer, I started working out again because I don’t want to show up on the beach looking like the Michelin Man. That summer I managed again to lose weight and get into shape rather effortlessly. Move more. Eat less. Crazy out simple it really is when you boil it down.
Over the course of that 2019 summer I managed to get down from 255 lbs to about 220 lbs. Not the stick figure I was coming back to the mainland in 2018, but still a healthy weight for my Tall 6’3” frame.
Now you are probably reading this thinking that I was wiser this time around. That I learned my lesson from putting the weight back on the previous year and that I was going to be more diligent keeping the weight off. Wrong.
In fact quite the opposite happened. The Yo-Yo was back in motion and I didn’t do enough to stop the spinning axle of junk food yarn.
Football season hit and so did the cravings.
Something else hit that year too. Something called COVID. Everyone dealt with the emotional repercussions of the shutdown. Some better than others. Fewer worse than me.
I had hit rock bottom. I don’t even recognize myself in these pictures. They were hard to find and even harder to post. 300 is a number I never even fathomed seeing when I stepped on a scale. When I saw that number flash across the scale it genuinely terrified me.
My whole life was harder and less comfortable during that time. XL shirts to XXL and XXXL, the inability to get out of bed, put my shoes on, and function with a normal human amount of energy. I hated taking photos. Despised social gatherings. And had to be dragged to special occasions. All things I normally would love. I fell into a depression that sugar couldn’t pull me out of. I knew I had to do something.
Over the course of the next year or so I had my own wedding to get ready for. I was able to shed the morbidly obese weight and just get back into the obese zone.
I was able to lose about 50 pounds dropping from 300 lbs. to 250 lbs. between the summer of 2020 and the summer of 2021 for college graduation and my wedding. Then me and Lauren were off to Phoenix, Arizona to start our new lives together in August of 2021!
In Arizona I did a pretty good job of maintaining that 250-260 range. Not where I want to be, but not embarrassing or debilitating. Working at ASU provided me an active workplace. I figured it’s a bad look to work at a fitness center and be out of shape.
Early in 2023 I began to gain weight. I blame Torchy’s Tacos. They just had to open a location in Arizona. Their Queso is just too good. I tore my achilles in January and was no longer able to counteract my terrible diet with exercise. I didn’t adjust my caloric intake when I got injured, so I gained weight yet AGAIN.
Letting myself get even anywhere near that 300 number again was unacceptable. I was so frustrated with myself for the laziness and lack of discipline that led me here. I could no longer blame my metabolism or needing weight to play football. I had to look into the mirror and finally realize that it is a heart issue as much as it is a belly issue. I had a unhealthy relationship with food and sugar. I cared more about the 5 minutes of gratification I got out from eating a pack of skittles than I did a lifetime of feeling good about myself. Cared more about having Canes to eat while watching a game than waking up the next morning and going for a run without getting tired a half mile in. Than having energy to take care of my wife and future kids. Than being able to look down and see my feet. Than smiling in photos. I decided enough is enough and that’s why I started this blog. I am 25 years old. I am currently sitting at 260 lbs. PLENTY of time to turn my health around. I’ve lost 20 lbs the last couple of months and I am DETERMINED to do this the right way this time. No Fad diets, no extreme starvation techniques. Just discipline and being healthy. My goal is to break 200 for the first time in 5 years and I can not “weight” to get there.
This blog post was not my favorite to write because I hate these photos. I hate the years and years of my life that I let slip away into a bloated blackhole. It’s a scary cycle that’s extremely hard to break out of. But this is the way forward. I know I can do it. Accepting the reality of my situation and doing the best I can to avoid previous pitfalls. So that is the plan and I am so glad you all are here to follow along with me.
Until next time, keep those Dolphin habits up.
Sincerely,
Whale
Great job Ty
Just jotting down your experiences and fellings make us evaluate our experience and help us to see clearly. I Believe in you Ty, keep it up. I learned a lot about you
I’m so proud of you!! Love being on this journey with you :)