by J.C. Vogen

Created on: November 28, 2008   Last Updated: June 29, 2009

It was the summer before my junior year of high school and I had decided the time had come to look for my first job. With no work experience and only being 16 years old, finding a job was not an easy task. Luckily I knew a friend who offered to get me a job at a local Dairy Queen, and I gladly accepted. I had never imagined that deciding to work at Dairy Queen would be a decision which would ultimately lead to a life changing experience. Throughout my youth I had struggled with issues of controlling my weight, and as I aged the problem only seemed to get worse. At 5'5" tall and roughly 240 pounds, I was far beyond what the healthy weight should have been for a normal 16 year old male of my height. I knew I did not want to be this way my entire life, but every time I tried dieting I would never last more than a week. As the number of failed attempts at losing weight increased, so too did my waistline. As I began working at Dairy Queen, I interacted on a daily basis with customers who struggled with obesity. I soon began to notice a discernible trend amongst many of these obese customers. In comparison to other customers, they often seemed to be in a poor mood, and in an overall miserable state of being. I decided I could not allow myself to continue down the path of obesity any longer, but I was not sure exactly how to go about living adopting a healthy lifestyle. My journey to discover how to lose weight ultimately lead to an unexpected realization which companies who sell diet products do not want you to know about.

Instead of buying books on dieting, or joining a weight loss program, I began to investigate the root of my obesity. Why was I roughly 60 pounds heavier than the rest of my peers? I had played football for several years, and seemed to maintain a sufficient level of physical activity. Regardless of the level of physical activity I engaged in, I still could not seem to shake those extra pounds. Since I had not noticed changes in weight with exercise, I concluded my diet must have been the primary cause of my obesity. I was aware of the recommended daily calorie consumption of roughly 2,000 calories for a male of my size, but I had never cared to examine what I actually intake on a given day. I was shocked to find I was consuming about twice the recommended daily calories. Knowing that I must change my diet in order to achieve a healthy weight, I began thinking about all the diets I had tried before and why I had been unable to maintain them. I realized

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