The Weight Loss Results Are In!

It's been a long eight weeks since we started our friendly little weight loss challenge...and today was the final weigh-in!!!

I was really worried about the final weigh-in because we were out of town all weekend for my brother's wedding. And of course, being out of town means that eating good is so much harder.

Still can't believe my baby brother is old enough to be married. He'll always be a kid to me.

To make it even more challenging, Friday night's rehearsal dinner was catered by Dreamland. Now I can easily eat my weight in ribs... but I limited myself to only four. I savored every bite.

Watching "Friends"

The hotel where we stayed had a nice little gym, complete with a weight bench, two treadmills, and two ellipticals. The cardio equipment had TVs built in! They were awesome! The gym was also really hot--I'm talking like "It feels like this room isn't air conditioned" hot--and it made me sweat like it was going out of style! I did an hour the first night.

The day of the wedding, we ate breakfast at the hotel and had Arby's roast beef sandwiches for lunch. I knew the day was pretty much screwed at that point.

However, when I put my suit on, I could finally see the results of all my hard work. For the first time in years, I felt GREAT about the way that I looked.

And I'll humbly admit it: I made that suit look good. ;)

Man, I look good!

At the reception, we had Italian food, which was delicious. And I had a piece of both the wedding and groom's cake. (What can I say? When I fall off the bandwagon, I fall hard!)

Later that night, we were hanging out with my family at the hotel, and we all got hungry. Jackie and I went to get everyone some food. We'd decided on pizza, but after we drove into a questionable part of town, we realized that the Pizza Hut on the map was closed. Instead, we stopped at the world's smallest KFC and got the family meal.

At this point, my diet was going to Hell in a handbasket, so when we called it a night, I went back to the gym for another cardio session. Logged another 30 minutes.

Sunday morning, I woke up an hour early and went back and did 40 more minutes. I was hoping that it would help make up for all the bad eating the day before.

When we got home last night, I did another hour and 30 minutes.

This morning was the long-awaited final weigh-in. I got up an hour early, put on full sweats, and headed to the gym for a grueling two-hour cardio session. (This final workout had been my plan for weeks as a last chance effort to undo any wedding weekend damage.)  I did an hour on the elliptical and an hour on the treadmill. I burned more than 1,600 calories and was sweating like I was in the center of the sun. I was drenched by the time I left. Jackie was worried that I would pass out. "Don't kill yourself at the gym," she texted me while I was on the elliptical. "I'm not dead yet," I replied.

When I got home, I stepped up on the scale, and was shocked to see the final number:

Before and After

I had lost a whopping 34.8 pounds!!! I was so excited! I hadn't been in the 230s since before Jackie and I got married three years ago! I sent my picture of the scale to Jackie's cousin Beth, our official weight keeper, and anxiously awaited the final results. Would my numbers be enough for 2nd place? After weeks of being in 3rd, I really wanted to finish 2nd.

Hours later, Beth posted this on Facebook:

I had done it! 2nd place! The silver medal has never looked so good!

I couldn't have done it without the support of so many people: Jackie, my parents, Ryan Tallie, Chuck Fant, Keith & Ingrid Warren, and a lot of others.

I'm well on my way to my goal of being in the 200-215 range.

I know I can do it. I hope that my transformation also inspires others. If I can do it, so can you!