A Treat for my Success part 4

I went from the Today Show to four interviews at People Magazine. The interviews were by E news, Entertainment Tonight, Inside Edition, and Extra. In each interview I shared my story and expressed my desire to help others lose weight. Being interviewed at People magazine’s head quarters was an amazing and glamorous experience. Everyone was interested in me and my story, but I kept reminding myself that it wasn’t about me. It was about you guys and our mission of fighting obesity and helping each other live healthy lives. When I was interviewed I made sure to get this message across, and although not every segment was used on the shows, I know that I accomplished something positive by sharing my story. The entire day was incredible and a great segue into the New Year. I wish all of you a Happy New Year. I want you to enjoy tonight and forget about everything. Just relax have fun, and wake up tomorrow as new people. Tackle the New Year with a new attitude and desire for change. I began my weight loss in January as well and began a new year and a new life. I know all of you can do it. All you have to do is believe in yourselves. Whenever you hit a rough patch or make a mistake I want you to remember me. Remember that I hit thousands of these, each of which made me feel defeated. I fell all the time, physically and emotionally. Not only did I get back up but I got back up angry and motivated. I was angry that I faltered, but I used that anger to move on and keep up the fight. No matter how bad you fall or think you have failed there is always a chance for a comeback. Just make sure you return with a passion that will drive you right through your next misstep and have you feeling indestructible. Let’s start the New Year together. I want to be there with each of you through good and bad times so don’t forget to contact me when you feel you need help and when you have succeeded. Again Happy New Year and Let it begin.

A Treat for my Success part 3

The next day, all three of us woke up at 5:30 am and left for NBC studios. When we arrived, there were hundreds of people gathered outside in the cold. This made me nervous, but it also reminded me of the reason I was there, which was to share my experience with others who could become inspired and follow my success. After we entered the studio, we were escorted to the green room where we waited to be called for the show. My mom and Nick sat on the couch and relaxed while I was taken to the makeup room. And yes I admit that it was cool to have someone put make up on me and get me ready for a live show. After an hour we were called onto the set and the director began telling me what I would be doing. It was amazing to see an actual studio filled with cameras and lights. It was exactly how I imagined. The only thing I didn’t expect was how friendly everyone was, especially Meredith Viera. She was very kind and spoke to me like we were long time friends, even though she looked like a star with all the lights and cameras shining on her the entire time. Being on the set was extremely overwhelming and made my nervousness resurface, but the presences of Nick and my mom (standing in the corner and taking pictures every two seconds) helped me through it. Anytime I felt nervous, I just looked at them for a confidence boost. When it was my turn to be called out I just closed my eyes and thought of how far I had come. I thought about the six in the morning runs, the sleep apnea mask I had to wear every night, and the hours spent exercising and pushing myself to keep going. Then I stepped into the spotlight and took the next step in my journey.

A Treat for my sucess part 2

It wasn’t enough that they flew me in, but they also had a Limousine pick me up which made me feel like a celebrity. On the way to the hotel I spoke with the driver and told him about my goal of helping others lose weight. Twenty minutes into the drive I called my mom, who was taking the bus with my friend Nick to come and see me live on the show. I was about to ask her how far they were when the driver pushed his cell phone to my ear. Confused, I told my mom I would call her back and took the phone from the driver. He said it was his daughter who was obese at 340 pounds and wanted help losing weight. I talked to her for ten minutes and encouraged her that she could do it. I told her that the Nutrisystem worked for me and was a good plan for people who wanted to lose a tremendous amount of weight. I also explained that if she wanted I could make her a personal food plan and exercise regime. She seemed genuinely interested and placed complete confidence in me, a complete stranger. Her enthusiasm and trust gave me an intense feeling of satisfaction and convinced me I was doing the right thing in pursuing a career in helping others. When I arrived at the hotel I checked in and waited for my mom and Nick. They arrived within the hour and we went out to dinner to celebrate. Being in New York with one of my best friends and my mom felt great and boosted my confidence for the show and the interviews that would follow.

A Treat for my Success part 1

December 30th was one of the greatest days of my life. I felt special, like I was truly helping people and making a difference. Being on the Today Show was an experience I will never forget. I can hardly believe that exactly two years ago I was sitting in my apartment at Saint Joseph’s University swallowing tears with cheese sauce and regular coke. Back then I never could have imagined being thin, let alone thin and on national television. I didn’t think I could help myself and used to beg others to help me. Now I am confident and have appeared on TV and People magazine trying to help others. It is just an amazing feeling that serves to motivate me to keep going. Let me explain what this experience was like.
It all began two weeks ago when I was walking out of the gym at Maryland University. I checked my phone to see if I had any missed calls and saw one from a 212 number, which indicated the call was from New York. My pulse immediately increased because I knew that my featured story in People Magazine was coming out in a couple weeks. The person had left a message so I called my voicemail, and sure enough the call was from the public relations person from People Magazine asking if I was interested in appearing on the Today Show. I immediately called her back and thanked her for the amazing opportunity. Afterwards I called my family (all of whom flipped out) and waited for a call from the show. A couple days later they called to confirm that I was accepting the offer and the next thing I knew I was on a flight to New York.

My Interview on the Today Show

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

How I Did It part2

1. Made the choice for change
2. Changed environment and left bad habits behind.
3. Began a nutritional plan tailored to my goals (burn more calories than you eat and you will lose)
4. Drank as much water as possible and limited my intake of diet sodas. I completely stayed away from any drinks other then water, diet soda, and coffee. I occasionally had fruit juice, but to be honest I would rather chew on something then drink it. I prefer eating an apple over drinking a small cup of apple juice.
5. Established an effective exercise program including cardiovascular and weight training. I performed cardiovascular exercise 5 to 6 days a week and lifted weights three days a week. (I am just telling you what I did. I don’t believe people should workout this much. I would recommend three days a week of cardio and three days weight lifting with one full day of rest. More on why both types of exercise are important later) As you know I began by walking on the treadmill everyday at a 2.5 speed. I also kept an exercise journal to track my progress. I remember how excited I was the day I was able to jog for 10 minutes straight and the day I performed five full pushups. The feelings were unbelievable and served as tools of motivation to keep me going.
6. Performed chores around my uncle’s house such as painting and sanding. Also forced to wake up every day at 6am to exercise. Although I initially didn’t understand the reason for my uncle’s demands, they gave me discipline which served as a vital tool in my weight loss journey.
7. Constantly set goals. Whether the goal was losing 50lb’s by the spring or running on the treadmill for an extra minute I always had them.
8. Measured all my food and kept a food journal to ensure proper portion sizes and caloric intake.
9. Found exercises that were fun and effective such as basketball, racquetball, and interval training.
10. Gained the support of family and friends. (There is nothing better than a workout partner. You can motivate each other and achieve success together)
11. Weighed myself every two weeks to track my progress. I believe two weeks is adequate because in my opinion it allows you to track your progress without becoming obsessed with the numbers on the scale.
12. Although I wasn’t aware of these diet killers then, I thought I would share with everyone the importance of avoiding High Fructose Corn Syrup and partially hydrogenated oils. These two ingredients are in a large percentage of foods and make up a majority of commonly eaten products. For example they are found in a majority of kids breakfast cereals such as Kellogs, and other products such as Gatorade, pop tarts, and many fat free and light condiments and dressings. Just read the labels for yourself and you will see. In order to avoid these ingredients take the time to look for them on the back of food labels under ingredients. I will post articles on why they are so detrimental to your health and diet in the future. For now search Google and learn the shocking truth.

How I Did It part 1

How did I finally conquer a lifetime of obesity and erase years of bad habits and unhealthy living? I began by making a choice; a choice made several times before but which had always ended in failure. So why did it work this time? There are many reasons, but I believe the two key factors were the change in environment and the Nutrisystem weight loss plan. It was a gigantic step for me when I decided to leave my family, friends, and entire lifestyle to go and live with my uncle in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The change in scenery kept me alert and allowed me to focus on my reason for being there. Getting away from everything and everyone helped me forget who I was and allowed me to create a new person. A new Arya who had the courage and desire to fight and prove that this impossible task of losing over 150 lb’s could be accomplished. Not only would I lose the weight, but I would keep it off and beat the odds that favored me eventually regaining the weight. I was motivated to work hard and prove to my family, friends, and doctors that I had what it took to overcome this disease. Before moving to Harrisburg I was almost convinced into getting gastric bypass surgery in order to lose weight. The doctor actually told me that it was impossible for me to lose weight and that even if I did I would eventually gain it back. Oh if he could see me now.

The Nutrisystem weight loss plan also proved vital in my success. My uncle had lost 40lb’s on the plan and used his success to convince me to come live with him. He knew that since the plan worked for him it could work for me. I truly believed him and thought that if I just stuck to this plan, I would be able to lose weight. The Nutrisystem plan had me eating six small meals a day and exercising whenever possible. I however chose to exercise everyday and as a result lost the weight extremely fast maybe even too fast. Doctors and nutritionist recommend a person lose weight at around 1 to 2 pounds per week. I was losing about 4 to 5 per week. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this to everyone because it may be unhealthy to lose this fast. In fact, I believe my gall stones were a result of my rapid weight loss. However, the results did motivate me to continue and act as proof that the Nutrisystem works. I truly believe that these two components played the biggest role in my success. I will post the rest of the strategies I used in the next post.

My First Official Post part 4

As stated below, through my experience I have researched relentlessly for the best and most effective ways to lose weight, burn fat, and build muscle. I have learned what foods to eat and when to eat them, what to drink(water water water) and what to leave sitting in the soda machines, and what cardiovascular and weight training exercises work best for me. (I am still learning all of this and will continue to learn for the rest of my life, however I will share with you the foods, drinks, and exercises I have had the most success and failure with) I have learned all of this through experience and books, magazines and journals, which I will eventually share with you. All of this however began with the Nutrisystem, a program that taught me the basics such as portion sizes, the importance of eating six times a day to keep your metabolism going, the key foods such as lean chicken, turkey, fish, steak and other meats, vegetables, low glycemic carbohydrates with low glycemic loads such as fruits, wheat breads, pastas, and cereals(high fiber cereals are in my opinion are best, but again I will go into detail later), oatmeal, healthy fats such as olive oil, peanut butter, any kind of nuts, the fat from salmon, and other basic foods. Through further research I discovered more effective fat burning foods such as specific proteins and carbohydrates each with healthy benefits. I also found many astonishing facts such the existence of two hidden physique killers, high fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated oils, both of which are found in thousands of commonly consumed products. I am extremely excited to share my gained knowledge and experience with you and help you start your program. I know that every one of you has the desire and ability to achieve success. The desire comes from within and I can’t wait to begin helping you release and use it in order to begin your own journey and earn your second chance as I did. I will be there every step of the way cheering you on.

I'll leave you with this Ben Stiller clip from Heavyweights to pump you up. (Uncle Tony knows best) If you don't know who Uncle Tony is I recommend you watch this movie. It is one of my childhood favorites. But for now I’m out. Talk to you soon. Let the journey begin. PEEEEEEAAAAACCEEE

My First Official Post part 3

Throughout my two year experience in losing such a tremendous amount of weight I went through all kinds of bumps and curves that made me want to quit and drive to the nearest fast food restaurant for a binging session. (This actually occurred in the first month of my weight loss. I will soon post this story and many more) I started the exercise part of my journey by walking at a 2.5 speed on the treadmill for 30 minutes every morning. The next week I bumped it up to a 3.0 speed, then in two weeks 3.5, in a month 4.0 and before I knew it I was actually jogging for over five minutes. Believe it or not for me this was insane. I had never been able to sustain a jog for longer than a couple minutes before quickly gasping for air and wheezing. This was true even as a kid because until the age of 18 I had asthma. I remember calling my family the day I jogged for ten minutes straight. It was one of the greatest feelings I ever had and it motivated me to continue the “impossible” war with obesity. ( After reaching one hour of jogging I began increasing the intensity and currently perform all kinds of cardiovascular exercise such as basketball, racquetball, circuit training, and intervals on the treadmill, bike, and elliptical. Also for the record I hate to run. I did it while losing weight because it was all I knew how, but through research and experience I discovered new and exciting exercises such as intervals which alternate between periods of high and low intensity. For me keep, this different style of working out was interesting and cut my time on the machines in half. More on the subject later)

My First Official Post part 2

My entire life I have been the fattest, the slowest, and the heaviest. In grade school I feared many things including PE, the annual field day, and school dances. PE because I couldn’t run for two minutes let alone a mile, the annual field day event because I would place last in everything and be left with one dumb shiny ribbon with the words participation written on it, and school dances because girls wouldn’t want to dance with me. I am not telling you these things so that you will feel sorry for me. I am telling you them because I want you to know that I have been there and experienced what you have. I broke over ten chairs in grade school and I wasn’t even close to the size I would quickly grow to in high school and college. When I did grow to this size however (365 baby..365 lb’s pounds surrounding my small heart, one of the most important organs keeping me alive), I began fearing more serious things such as my health. I wouldn’t go on roll coasters not just because I was afraid of not fitting in them, but because I feared my heart wouldn’t be able to take it. I was cut from freshman football because I couldn’t keep up and was forced to quit the try outs my sophomore year because my physician feared my heart would give out. My heart would however beat like a drum anytime I went on an airplane, because I was afraid they would ask me to take two seats.

These memories are merely a few examples of my negative experience with obesity. I will go into more depth as my blog progresses and will include many stories and experiences that impacted me and ultimately lead to my life changing decision. I had tried every diet you can think of. I was introduced to the lovely Jenny Craig, the savior Dr. Atkins, Slim Fast, and vegetarian diets and other basic food plans given to me by doctors, family members and nutritionists that included high protein, no fat, low carb, no carb… The list goes on and on. I quit all of these diets not because they didn’t work, but because I didn’t truly want it. I didn’t yet have the necessary desire. The fire needed to push myself through such an intense experience. In future posts I will tell you how I found this desire and fire burning within and used it to lose weight on the Nutrisystem plan while exercising daily, but for now I want your attention. I want you to believe in me like I believed in myself. I want you to use my mistakes, my failures, and my success to change for the better. My experience in losing over 200 lb’s and conquering a lifetime of obesity has made me believe in you. Because I know that if I could do it at 365 lb’s anyone can.

My First Official Post part 1

Hey everyone. I am new at blogging and this is my first official post. Let me start off by saying I am really excited to be able to start helping other people struggling with obesity and other weight and food related issues. This has become a dream of mine over the past two years as I went through the process of shedding over 200 lb’s. When I tell people this they look at me like I am crazy and I don’t blame them, but the fact of the matter is that I finally did it. And because I did it I know that anyone can. I got the idea of starting this blog from my cousin who pointed out that being in people magazine and the today show would be a huge opportunity for me and that I should use the exposure to make my dream of helping obese people lose weight a reality. Although I want to assist all people struggling with weight loss, I am especially excited to begin helping children and teenagers in their quest in conquering obesity and starting new lives. The purpose of this blog is to use my experience of a lifetime of obesity and success in losing over 200 lb’s to advise and help you who are struggling with the same disease I struggled with as a kid and teenager. My ultimate goal is to open a center for people struggling with health, fitness, and nutrition that specifically address overweight and obese children and teenagers. I know I know. You seriously must be thinking who does this guy think he is? Am I right? You are probably wondering how a 21 year old College Student is going to help you defeat a problem you have been struggling with day in and day out. Well I am going to tell you so please listen carefully because I am truly speaking from the heart.

Quick Introduction and Background

My name is Arya Farzin and I have recently conquered a lifetime of obesity. I have been overweight since I was four years old and quickly became obese upon entering kindergarten. All through grade school, high school, and the first two years of college, I was held down by excess weight. Throughout my life I transformed from an overweight kindergartner to a morbidly obese 19 year old college student. It was at this point in my life that I decided to end the years of struggle, shame, and embarrassment. I was a 5’11 sophomore in college who weighed 365 pounds and although I didn’t know it then also had sleep apnea and was on the path towards diabetes. I was now well into the big and tall sizes and became completely isolated because I was too ashamed of my growing body. Instead of going out with friends, I stayed in and ordered cheese steaks, cheese fries, pizza, and even cheese steak pizza’s. (All orders were slathered with cheese and bacon and slapped with mayo. Sounds gross, but to me it was deeelish) This quickly became a routine and negatively affected my social and academic life. For the first time in my life I was depressed and truly defeated. With death lurking closely behind me and laughing at every wheeze and gasp for air, I knew I had to make a change. The fears of not waking the next day, failing out of school, and losing all my friends motivated the decision for change. On January 8th 2007, the Christmas break of my sophomore year of college, I made a choice. I left my school, my home, my friends, my cheese fries, and my obesity behind and moved to Harrisburg to live with my Uncle. This change in environment allowed me to focus on the task at hand and drop 80 lb’s during my four month stay. I then moved back home and lost the next 125 lb’s. I lost the weight by going on the Nutrisystem food plan and using my new determination and desire for change to stick to the plan and exercise every day. I am now a 21 year old college student currently attending the University of Maryland. I weigh 160 lb’s and am a completely new and improved person. I will use the second chance I was given to live a happy and fulfilled life and personally help you attain the same mental and physical success. My experience has convinced me that a second chance is possible for anyone and I will make it my priority to lead you in your journey in achieving this goal and maintaining a healthy lifestyle for the rest of your life.