Weight Loss Success Story - Keyshawn W.

Weight Loss Success Story: Keyshawn W.

While losing 100 pounds Keyshawn tapped into inner strength and self confidence he hadn't realized he possessed. I love his  "tips for losing weight is to have fun doing it, fall in love with it, NEVER GIVE UP!! and NEVER LOSE HOPE!!" Read on to learn more about his inspiring transformation...

Keyshawn Before and After Weight Loss SuccessTell Us A Little Bit About Your Weight Struggle
Today, I'm over 100 pounds lighter than I was a year ago when I first started my weight loss journey.

My journey was really not an overnight achievement. It required plenty of time and lots of patience. 

My results on my journey were not from an unknown diet or a merchandise from an advertisement. It was from me working very hard, never giving up, staying dedicated and consistent.

What Was Your Wake-Up Call Or "A-Ha Moment" That Caused You To Really Commit Yourself To Succeeding?
As my senior year passed, my blood pressure started to go even higher. I started developing high cholesterol and I was close to having heart failure. I spent most of my time in hospitals and doctors offices. I was way too young to have this disease.

Many knew I had a full scholarship to play football at Albany State University. I was a person that wanted to make my whole Cottondale community proud and go out and play college football.

But I had two choices. Them choices was to play football or get my health under control. The choice I had chosen was to get my health right.

After I had came back for Albany that bright bulb pop on again and I said to myself "enough is enough," I weighed a total of 367 pounds—nearly 400 pounds.

I decided to change my life and started doing better. I found something else that was great to make the community proud and that was to lose weight and become a healthier person and influence many others to become healthier.

I also came back and attended Chipola College as a full time student. I really didn't want to give up on schooling. I'm working on getting my degree in Community Health Education, in other words Health Promotion.

How Have Your Eating Habits Changed Since Beginning Your Journey? What Did You Eat Before And What Are You Eating Now?
When I first decided to change my lifestyle, it was tough at first because I didn't want to give up all of the horrible foods and didn't want to put in any work.

I was in love with all the junk foods and drinks.

As of now, when looking back on my past thinking of all the chips, cakes, cookies, candy, juices, sodas, and fried foods that I threw in my mouth, they were all known as a "silent killer."

Lastly I changed my eating habits. I didn't want to change up, but I had too. I swapped the fried foods with baked and grilled foods. Chips, candy with vegetables and fruits. And sodas, juices with water.

For those that are interested, my "tips for losing weight is to have fun doing it, fall in love with it, NEVER GIVE UP!! and NEVER LOSE HOPE!!"

What Is The Difference In Your Fitness Before You Started And Now?
Before, I was just a overweight kid that was very lazy and now since I lost weight, I find myself a hard-working person that achieved something very good.

What Has Been The Biggest Change/Payoff For You So Far?
During this journey, I was finding myself being more self-motivated. Meaning "the ability to do what needs to be done, without influence from other people or situations."

Well as of that, I was able to motivate myself to achieve multiple goals. Motivated myself to go out and grind for anything I wanted badly. And motivated myself to go out and lose over 100 pounds.

At many points, I was facing some rough trails on this journey. It was very hard trying to stay on a good diet and getting plenty of exercises in.

It felt like I was on a bad road that was very bumpy. I was making many errors along the way. I wanted to give up so bad.

But something had told me to don't give up.

Eventually, I had found out that I had to believe in myself and fight for the things I wanted in life.

When I first started losing a few pounds it felt really good. I was getting to the point where I was loving it.

I didn't know that my weight loss would have turned into an adventure of self-esteem and also me finding my happiness. Losing 100 pounds feels like I won a million dollars. I'm saying that because the joy of losing that much weight is unbelievable.

It shows a great image that I'm a great and inspirational person, that went out and lost weight on my own, while never giving up.

It also shows that I'm a fighter. If I wanted something so bad, I had to give all my heart to it. When I wanted to lose weight, I had to fight for every pound I wanted to lose.

How Much Weight Have You Lost? How Long Did It Take You To Lose It?
I have lost over 100 pounds and it took me about a year and a half.

Any Advice and/or Words of Wisdom for Others Who Are Struggling?
In the end, I had to realize, it wasn't really about losing weight, it was mostly about who I really am. I had to figure that out myself.

You're never gonna get what you want in life, if you don't work for it. My hope is that my dramatic transformation will help many get inspired to start their own weight-loss journey.

First, In order to be GREAT, you gotta Work for everything in Life. You should never accept any Handouts. You gotta Believe in yourself.

If you got a goal in life, Work for it. I'm not a perfect person, I always make mistakes, but when I make mistakes, I set my mindset to fix that mistake.

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• Ashley F.
• Richard C.