“I’m No Longer On the Sidelines of Life!” says Casey S.

Casey S., 35, a payer operations and analytics manager at a large health system in Newport News, VA, has always been a mindless eater. “If I was watching TV, I was popping chips into my mouth and not even thinking about it,” he says. And his poor food choices didn’t stop there. “I didn’t really cook, so I’d eat pizza all the time for lunch or anything else that was fast and easy.” Making it worse was that he wasn’t a big sports guy and couldn’t seem to make going to the gym a habit. “After a long day I couldn’t push myself to change and go to the gym—it was too inconvenient,” he says. “I’d get gym memberships but they were just a waste of money because I’d never go.”

It’s because of those habits that Casey ultimately got to 300 pounds. “I was terrified to go to my primary care physician because every visit brought worse and worse news,” he says. “I was effectively killing myself with my diet and inactivity.”

But it wasn’t his doctor’s advice that ultimately convinced Casey to devote himself to a healthier lifestyle. “A new indoor skydiving center opened up near my home last year and I wanted to do it so badly,” he says. “But I went online and saw that the weight limit was 230 pounds. I was so bummed—it was just another thing I couldn’t experience in life because of my weight.” In the past, Casey says he would have just opened up a bag of chips and moved on, but this time he decided enough was enough. “I was sick of my health being out of control,” he says.

Casey did some research and learned Fitbit lets you log food and activities through your smartphone—something he knew he’d love. “I like instant feedback and data,” he says. “An old boss told me once that you can’t manage what you don’t measure, and Fitbit lets you measure everything.” The first thing he did after getting his Fitbit Charge was to take his old clothes off the exercise bike in his spare bedroom. “I started using it for 15 minutes, then 30 minutes, then an hour,” he says. “I also started walking at lunch. It was nice to get some sunlight in the middle of the day—it made the rest of the afternoon go better.”

Casey also completely changed his diet. “Now I eat oatmeal in the morning with some fruit, bring lunch to work, and cook healthy vegetable-based dinners, like spiraled zucchini with tomato sauce,” he says. All those changes made a huge impact and soon Casey was losing a lot of weight. “I got down to 225 pounds by June and bought my pass to go skydiving,” he says. “It was awesome and I loved every part of it. I can’t wait to experience all the new things that my weight had previously prohibited me from doing.”

Casey’s advice for others:

Break up the cardio

“It’s tough to find a full hour to ride the stationary bike, so I do 30 minutes in the morning before work and 30 minutes at night after work,” Casey says.

Record food immediately

“It does me no good to log all my food at the end of the day,” says Casey. “I have to do it as I eat it. That way I can see that if I eat a steak, I have to move more that day. Instant feedback leads to instant accountability.”

Focus on small goals

“I was getting really discouraged at the beginning because I had to lose 70 pounds, which was a lot,” he says. “I had to change my way of thinking and instead started to focus on just losing five pounds. I could imagine how little choices I made every day could help me lose five pounds, which was really empowering.”

 

What’s helping you reach your health and fitness goals? Offer your tips and advice in the comments below, and share your success story with us!