Hi. My name is Jon Stanton. I'm just an average, every day guy who had a major weight problem for most of my life. If you're visiting this page, you've probably seen me on TV or read about me in a magazine or newspaper. I'm on a mission. The United States has a major problem - we are killing ourselves with food. Plain and simple, and it's crazy - we don't have to be this way!
I grew up battling weight problems all my life. I was always the biggest kid in school, and despite my mom's best efforts, I somehow managed to always overeat.
Throughout my 20s, I kept on packing on the weight. It didn't bother me too much, though. After all, when you're young, your body can take a lot of abuse, and you feel invincible. Things started to change pretty rapidly about the time I hit 30, though.
I started blood pressure medicine when I was in high school. I told myself, "no big deal - lots of people take blood pressure medicine." By the time I turned 30, I was on the highest dose of the particular blood pressure medicine I used, plus medicine for high cholesterol and joint pain. I was also sick nearly all the time. I spent at least half of the year, if not more, on antibiotics because in its unhealthy state, my body seemed to become the ideal host for every virus or bacteria that came its way!
After my hair started falling out (more than just from getting old) and I started feeling so fatigued that I could barely function, I decided to pay the doctor yet another visit. After running blood work, the results came back - I had Type 2 (adult onset) diabetes. I shouldn't have been surprised - the doctor had been warning about it for years.
He wanted to start me on medicine to control the blood sugar, but in the course of our conversation, he looked me in the eye and said, "Jon - if you keep living this way, you're going to be dead by the time you're 50, and the last 10 years of your life are going to be miserable." That hit my square between the eyes, and I decided enough was enough.
Instead of starting the medicine, I started walking and cutting calories. Most days, I consumed at least 6,000 calories. That's how many calories it takes for a 5'9" male to maintain 430 pounds. I cut that number in half, which is still more than what is recommended in a day, but was enough food to help me lose weight and feel full.
It's taken me slightly more than a year and a half now, but in that time, I've walked more than 1,000 miles and have lost 230 pounds. Now, I can do more than just walk, because I enjoy it SO much. People ask me all the time, "what did you do to lose that weight?" or "You must have joined a gym and paid big bucks, right?" or "did you have that surgery? That's really expensive, isn't it?" NOPE! Nada, zilch. I lost weight for free! My total investment amounts to an $89 Ipod Shuffle and the cost of a few pairs of walking shoes. That's it!
Do you struggle with being overweight? Have you bought in to all the excuses for why you're overweight and can't find time to exercise? Guess what - excuses are the first thing that has to go. Accept the fact that you need to change, and then follow a common sense approach for doing it. You don't have to eat bark and twigs every day, or pucker your way through 450 grapefruits every week! You can eat lots of good, healthy food that tastes good, and guess what? You can also eat some unhealthy stuff that tastes REALLY good ONCE IN A WHILE!
America's problem is that we want everything fast, everything easy, and everything served to us like it's a time for feasting and celebration. This has led to a Type 2 Diabetes epidemic. It's skyrocketing among adults, and the current generation of children is the first since the depression that's likely to live a shorter life than their parents. We must do something about it! Are you ready to change? Search my site for insight, inspiration, encouragement and hope. God does not intend for us to be unhealthy and unhappy. He wants the exact opposite. You deserve health and happiness, and you can have it, if you choose to make good food choices and move your body on a daily basis. Keep coming back to read my blog - it's a great way to stay up to date and stay motivated!
Jon Stanton
Note: This site is still being developed and a lot of new content will be coming online in the next several weeks. Please check back often for updates!
