I was 235lbs and 38% body fat a few years after I graduated high school. In reality, there was no aspect of my life that was "healthy". I was unattractive, I had lower back pain from way too much weight on my frame, and did not feel healthy. I started cleaning all of the messes in my life one at a time and getting healthy was one of them. I had a good friend go with me for a week every day to show me some exercises to do to get me started. He referred me to this site when I wanted more information on things to try and it opened my world up.
Over the years I lost weight just through working out. When I got down to about 190lbs I got interested in what was actually possible with my body if I applied better nutrition. I never thought I would see the south side of 200lbs again, and then once I had done it I got excited about the possibilities. I cut down to 160lbs and 8% body fat over the following 2 years just by being persistent, but not very aggressive.
Last year I decided I wanted to bulk and add at least 10lbs to my frame, but I wanted a real challenge. So, for the last 3 months of the year I at garbage and only did anaerobic work-outs that were strictly focused on building mass. I wanted to take a shot at the 12 Week Transformation at the start of every year, since I was already in a bulking phase I figured that was my chance. I had already lost that weight before but didn't know about the challenge till after I was where I wanted to be. I fattened up to 198lbs and 18% body fat and then from January through March I melted it off and cut down to 170lbs and 8.5% body fat again. I wanted to show people around me that it really IS possible to lose weight, telling them I had done it before and that they could as well wasn't inspiring anyone to actually get out of the house and move some weights. So, I decided I would simply show them with my own body. I am a bit behind with where I'd like my body fat to be as a result of it, but I think the trade-off has been well worth it.