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