Who knew that clothes shopping could be fun!?

Before I started Herbal Magic I was buying all my clothing on a need-to basis, based only on size - not necessarily things that I liked. I used to walk into a store (usually the Big and Tall) and if I found something that fit me I’d buy it. I was thankful just to have a choice at all. The last pair of jeans I bought were a 52 waist size. Do you know exactly how long 52 inches is?! Well, allow me to illustrate.

Svetlana Pankratova is the woman with the longest legs on Earth! Her legs measured 52” long! That’s He Pingping in the picture with her, the shortest man on earth able to walk. *source: wikipedia.org



My waist didn’t look as good as her legs… Trust me on that one; I don’t want to illustrate this one for your own mental health.

Growing up, my brother was always able to walk into Banana Republic and pick a shirt and walk away - something I always wanted to do. Then, on September 18th, 2009 I decided to start working towards that goal. I joined Herbal Magic after being encouraged by our very own Meg Tucker. Flash forward 4 months - on Friday I went to the BR factory store in Deerfoot Meadows and decided to walk in and see where I was standing to get to that silly, personal achievement, that little milestone.

I decided to try on an XXL and see how that felt. To my surprise it fit me. I couldn’t believe it; it took me a few seconds to realize it actually fit me. One of the staff at Banana Republic walked up to me and said: “that looks good on you, are you thinking of buying it!?". I replied: “you know what, I am…” . He made the suggestion that I should probably try on an XL, because the XXL looked kind of big. I was a little hesitant about it, still happy because I was able to fit into an XXL and I didn’t want to get disappointed by trying on an XL and having it not fit. Eventually after a few seconds of us exchanging thoughts I said: “You know what, you are the expert here, let me give it a try”. I went into the change room, put on the XL, started doing up my buttons, and as I was going further down on my shirt I was getting more and more stoked… I got out of the change room, looked at myself in the mirror and it literally took me a couple of minutes to realize that Yes, that was me standing on the other side of the mirror with an XL shirt on from BR. I couldn’t believe it, so I tried on another one thinking it was probably a shirt that wasn’t cut to the proper size. And it happened again, it fit me.

I was so happy. I decided to send a picture message to Meg, to thank her for encouraging me to join Herbal Magic. I can’t say what I wrote on the MMS because it’s not nice for me to say in public but it went something like: “Dude! I’m wearing an X (insert swear word here) L… an XL!”

Today, I’m wearing my shirt and new pants. It felt nice to actually have choices on what to buy in a store. It’s a feeling that I’m glad I’ve had the chance to experience. And I know that I have to thank first of all: Meg Tucker, then the ladies at Herbal Magic, and last but certainly not least my wife, she’s been my biggest support.

This doesn’t mean that I’m done with my weight loss, I’m almost there. I know that these are the first of many happy moments that I get to enjoy thanks to making the right choices. I’ve lost 81.8 lbs, and my goal is to lose 120 lbs so that leaves me with 38.2 lbs to go. Almost there, and I know that I can make it, Yes I can.

Oh yeah, this is are the new shirt and pants I just bought:



If you want to start your journey, please e-mail me, I will help you!

carlos@1015energyfm.com

I couldn’t have said it better myself Mr. Burgundy!

I got asked by Chris and Meg this morning- “Hey Carlos, do you notice a change in how you look?” It made me come to this conclusion:

“Mmmmm... I look good. I mean really good. Hey everyone come see how good I look.” – Ron Burgundy

Honestly, it just started hitting me a few days ago. Last night I bumped into a friend Michael Morrison at Olympic Plaza. We were both waiting to see the Olympic Torch go by when he said to me “you look good Carlos… Seriously, you look really good”. That made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, it also made me realize that maybe I wasn’t the only one noticing the changes to my body, definitely what I need to push for the last 47 lbs.

Since I started doing Herbal Magic on September 18th, 2009; I’ve lost 72.4 lbs and it feels great! Chris even asked me if my wife was feeling a little uncertain about leaving me home alone now that I’ve lost all this weight! HA HA! He was kidding of course. (She’s going to Mexico on Thursday) Let’s be honest, I’m not only doing this for me, she is also the reason why I’m trying to be a little healthier.

GOOD NEWS: The Mrs. and I just moved to a new condo and we have a gym as part of our amenities! Am I crazy?? For some reason I just feel like working out now that I’ve lost all this weight, I guess it is true that you get more energy when you lose weight. That is CERTAINLY the new me!

I’m thankful for all the comments that I’ve received over the last couple of months, for all the “likes” I’ve gotten on my status with my Herbal Magic countdown every Tuesday, it really helps me on this journey of becoming a better, healthier me.

If you want to join Herbal Magic and you think you’re ready to take the first step, you can e-mail me to carlos@1015energyfm.com and I will help you get on t he right path to a whole new you.

This will change your life forever.

Who's the guy in the picture with my wife?

September 18th seems to be so long ago…I just can't believe I weighed 339.4 lbs less than 4 months ago. Sadly, that was what I weighed when I got married, I just wish there was a way for me to change all those pictures. When I got those pictures back from the photographer I looked at my self and yes, that was in fact me. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I was and still am the happiest man ever, but just couldn’t believe I really looked like that. I never saw myself in the same way that the pictures showed me to be. It was a big reality check for me. I didn’t like the me that I was looking at in my wedding pictures.

Fast forward to this past Saturday night. I went to a pub to celebrate Ian’s birthday for a little while- Erin Wilde was there along with our very own Chris Shine. So, as the night went on, Erin wanted to take a picture of Mr and Mrs Goodwill (that’s my wife and I). Once she was finished, she showed me the picture to make sure I was fine with it before she posted it on Facebook, I heart you Erin, I looked at the picture and it took me like half a second to realize that was ME staring back.

I’m having a hard time getting used to looking at the new me every morning in the mirror, but I’m loving it, I’ve never felt better with myself, I pay more attention on the way I dress and the way I look, I now want to make sure that I look on the outside the way I feel on the inside.

While packing our stuff and getting everything ready to move to our new rental place, I saw a weird pattern. All my t-shirts are dark colors: black, dark grey, navy blue. I guess I was hiding myself behind slimming colors, but I guess that slimming colors can only help so much, I was only lying to myself and fooling no one.

I went to Herbal Magic yesterday, like I do every day (Monday – Saturday), to get weighed and measured. As of yesterday, January 11, 2009 I weighed 263.4. HELLO, THAT’S A LOSS OF 76 lbs! God knows I tried before to be healthy and to lose some weight, I knew it wasn’t going to happen overnight, it took me 29 years to get to the point where I was, but I failed many, many times in my attempts.

I’m so grateful to Herbal Magic and to the girls that have to put up with me every day, they have become a part of my life, a part of this change, and I thank them for their time and their patience. Trust me when I say that this has been a team effort. If I can do this, I’m positive that you can do this too.

If you want to start your journey, please e-mail me, I will help you!

carlos@1015energyfm.com

New Year with New Milestone's

71.2 lbs down and 48.2 more to go...

Man the last couple of weeks have been a little rough, but it's been worth every single second. I thought that just because I managed to lose some weight over the Christmas Holiday break that the New Year’s long weekend was going to be a breeze, I've never been so wrong in my life!

Even with a long weekend we had a few work related events on Saturday and Sunday where cooking was out of my control, but I guess we have to make the best of them, there are always ways to make sure you make a "normal meal" into something healthy. You could request no mayo on a burger and ditch one of the buns (the top one with the sesame seeds) or Subway for example, You can request a 6 inch instead of a foot long (preferably on a whole wheat bun), ask the sandwich artist to get the inside crumbs off the bread and that way you are having even less bread, the add a grilled chicken breast, lettuce, tomato, green peppers, pepper but no salt and you get an even healthier sandwich!

So, I guess that living live on-the-go, weather you are delivery guy/girl, or if suddenly something happen and you have to leave home in a hurry and didn't get enough time to make y our own meals, you can still make some healthy choices.

The choices that I've been making since I joined Herbal Magic have lead me to lose 71.2 pounds (By the way, why is pounds abbreviated lbs?! Shouldn’t it be pds!? any way…) and to create new milestone’s in my life. Mrs. Goodwill and I were cooking supper a few days ago, she leaned over to give me a hug, she backed away and looked at me straight in the eyes and said to me: “Do you realize that this is the first time since we’ve been together that I’ve been able to hug you all the way and hold my hands?” (Actually she said: “Te das cuenta que es la primera vez desde que estamos juntos que puedo abrazarte completamente y tocar mis manos?” ha, ha, ha)

I’m never going to forget that, it is certainly worth all the little sacrifices I’ve made. I feel like a success, a step closer to my goal, a pound closer to 220.

Thank you all for your support, your e-mails and your facebook comments, I love hearing all your stories, please tell me more about how are you dealing with temptation, because God knows it’s there and we need all the support we can get. Please send your emails to carlos@1015energyfm.com.

I'm here for you to lean on me.