- Mar 10, 2007
- 3,649
- 589
- 126
Back in July of 2008, I weighed 278lbs. I was living with two friends and none of us were eating healthy (though I was the only overweight one). The diet consisted mainly of Totinio's Pizza Rolls, Swanson 55 cent TV Dinners, and the occasional Hot Pocket / miscellaneous microwavable food (ramen being one of the top contenders).
Anyways, I started working at a construction and maintenance business at the beginning of July and was laid off at the end of August. During the course of the job, I was required to wear full PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) which included medium-insulated FRCs (Fire-Resistant Coveralls), Steel-toed boots, hard-hat, safety glasses/sun glasses, and insulated leather gloves. Bare in mind that this was in New Mexico during one of the hottest months and I was working in an area that received no shade or wind. The job was mainly cement work, placing Amine pipeline, and trenching/back-trenching (digging with a shovel), all of which occurred in the 100+ degree heat every day, twelve hours a day.
Towards the end of my time at the natural gas plant I was contracted to work at, I noticed my pants were starting to fall off. I attributed this to me working and stretching the waistband as I had been extremely overweight for three years. Every day before work, I would look in the mirror while getting ready and I saw no difference. My roommates said nothing nor did any of my friends, so I figured I wasn't getting thinner, I just needed new pants.
A month later, I started a new job in mid September. When I went through the screening process, I was speechless to hear the woman tell me how heavy I was. A mere 211 pounds! I told her that she must be mistaken and that there was no way I lost over 60 pounds in such a short amount of time. She double and even triple checked upon my request and the numbers came back the same every time.
After I left the office and headed towards my new job, I had some time to mull over the results. The entire time I was working at the gas plant, I ate only a turkey sandwich and a package of planters peanut-butter and cheese crackers every day for lunch. Due to the extreme heat and working conditions, I drank over five gallons of water a day. When I would get home, I would eat just David brand pumpkin seeds and drink another gallon of water. Couple that with the non-stop digging, lifting / carrying (I-Beams), and overall manual labor put fourth, I had lost more weight than I thought possible. Judging by all of the TV commercials, I figured that it would take me a good two to three years to work off all that weight.
Today, I am down to 178 pounds with 153 pounds being lean leaving the remainder as fat. I enrolled in a Fitness Training class at the college among my normal classes to which I go to the gym before work four days a week. Before July of 2008, I couldn't jog to the end of the driveway without being out of breath and just today I ran/jogged 2.7 miles while barely breaking a sweat.
Now, why such a long post when pumpkin seeds had very little to do with the story? Well, I have yet to stop eating them as my main source of food. I eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner with the occasional day/night that I eat an actual meal as opposed to the snacking all day long and eating extremely large meals to the point where I was beyond stuffed every time I ate prior to July of 2008. To this day, I have never felt better than when I eat those seeds and nothing but pumpkin seeds. I have a ton of energy at the end of a hard day at work and I even feel 100% better after working out at the gym when I eat the seeds while driving to work. I used to feel sluggish when I woke up in the mornings and I could never find any spare energy when I would get off work. With the help of the seeds, all of that past behavior (sluggishness, lack of energy, etc.) has turned a complete 180.
To close, I have heard that pumpkin seeds have something inside them that make them really good for you, but I am unsure what it is (Omega something?). All I know is that ever since I started eating them regularly throughout the day, I have never felt any loss of energy like I used to when I would eat two or more full meals a day and I never feel the need to eat until I am stuffed. I realize why I lost so much weight in such a short period of time, but I can't help but attribute some of my success to the seeds. Even now at my new job, I climb fourty+ flights of stairs and walk over nine miles in a single shift (got bored one day and counted + used a step-monitor to see how far I walked at work by pacing back and fourth on our 200-foot long pits) and I am still losing weight and toning up. Long before I started going to the gym I was still losing weight so it seems that the pumpkin seeds add more to this equation than I can see.
If anyone takes anything from this, it's that losing weight is by no means difficult. It just takes dedication,hard work, and a bag of pumpkin seeds.
Edit: After posting this, I figured I would ask if any of you have similar stories about any specific thing that helped you lose weight as much as the seeds have helped me. I should also mention that I have drank nothing but water, iced-tea (unsweetened), and Diet Dr Pepper for the last four years. That might also have helped, but I was drinking the Diet Dr Pepper long before I started losing weight, so I doubt that helped any.
Anyways, I started working at a construction and maintenance business at the beginning of July and was laid off at the end of August. During the course of the job, I was required to wear full PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) which included medium-insulated FRCs (Fire-Resistant Coveralls), Steel-toed boots, hard-hat, safety glasses/sun glasses, and insulated leather gloves. Bare in mind that this was in New Mexico during one of the hottest months and I was working in an area that received no shade or wind. The job was mainly cement work, placing Amine pipeline, and trenching/back-trenching (digging with a shovel), all of which occurred in the 100+ degree heat every day, twelve hours a day.
Towards the end of my time at the natural gas plant I was contracted to work at, I noticed my pants were starting to fall off. I attributed this to me working and stretching the waistband as I had been extremely overweight for three years. Every day before work, I would look in the mirror while getting ready and I saw no difference. My roommates said nothing nor did any of my friends, so I figured I wasn't getting thinner, I just needed new pants.
A month later, I started a new job in mid September. When I went through the screening process, I was speechless to hear the woman tell me how heavy I was. A mere 211 pounds! I told her that she must be mistaken and that there was no way I lost over 60 pounds in such a short amount of time. She double and even triple checked upon my request and the numbers came back the same every time.
After I left the office and headed towards my new job, I had some time to mull over the results. The entire time I was working at the gas plant, I ate only a turkey sandwich and a package of planters peanut-butter and cheese crackers every day for lunch. Due to the extreme heat and working conditions, I drank over five gallons of water a day. When I would get home, I would eat just David brand pumpkin seeds and drink another gallon of water. Couple that with the non-stop digging, lifting / carrying (I-Beams), and overall manual labor put fourth, I had lost more weight than I thought possible. Judging by all of the TV commercials, I figured that it would take me a good two to three years to work off all that weight.
Today, I am down to 178 pounds with 153 pounds being lean leaving the remainder as fat. I enrolled in a Fitness Training class at the college among my normal classes to which I go to the gym before work four days a week. Before July of 2008, I couldn't jog to the end of the driveway without being out of breath and just today I ran/jogged 2.7 miles while barely breaking a sweat.
Now, why such a long post when pumpkin seeds had very little to do with the story? Well, I have yet to stop eating them as my main source of food. I eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner with the occasional day/night that I eat an actual meal as opposed to the snacking all day long and eating extremely large meals to the point where I was beyond stuffed every time I ate prior to July of 2008. To this day, I have never felt better than when I eat those seeds and nothing but pumpkin seeds. I have a ton of energy at the end of a hard day at work and I even feel 100% better after working out at the gym when I eat the seeds while driving to work. I used to feel sluggish when I woke up in the mornings and I could never find any spare energy when I would get off work. With the help of the seeds, all of that past behavior (sluggishness, lack of energy, etc.) has turned a complete 180.
To close, I have heard that pumpkin seeds have something inside them that make them really good for you, but I am unsure what it is (Omega something?). All I know is that ever since I started eating them regularly throughout the day, I have never felt any loss of energy like I used to when I would eat two or more full meals a day and I never feel the need to eat until I am stuffed. I realize why I lost so much weight in such a short period of time, but I can't help but attribute some of my success to the seeds. Even now at my new job, I climb fourty+ flights of stairs and walk over nine miles in a single shift (got bored one day and counted + used a step-monitor to see how far I walked at work by pacing back and fourth on our 200-foot long pits) and I am still losing weight and toning up. Long before I started going to the gym I was still losing weight so it seems that the pumpkin seeds add more to this equation than I can see.
If anyone takes anything from this, it's that losing weight is by no means difficult. It just takes dedication,hard work, and a bag of pumpkin seeds.
Edit: After posting this, I figured I would ask if any of you have similar stories about any specific thing that helped you lose weight as much as the seeds have helped me. I should also mention that I have drank nothing but water, iced-tea (unsweetened), and Diet Dr Pepper for the last four years. That might also have helped, but I was drinking the Diet Dr Pepper long before I started losing weight, so I doubt that helped any.
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