Edgar’s Story

From Borderline Diabetic to Fit and Healthy

My name is Edgar Hernandez and my journey has been (and still is) going on for about two years now.

I started out at 360-370 pounds... Yeah "aha."

I’m 18 years old now and weigh 180 pounds.

This is how my journey started:

I was a bullied teenager and most of my life I spent hiding and eating my problems away. I couldn't stand being in public because of the horrid days I spent being made fun of for my weight. I had always been a overweight child. My parents tried to get me to do sports and help me stay somewhat fit, but I never gave it a try.

As I got older my depression and eating habits grew too.

I could not stop eating my problems away.

I had tried to go on "diets." but none of them really worked because I would give in, give up and go back to junk food.

Everything got worse once I entered high school.

As the kids in my age grew up, so did their immaturity and that's when the bullying got worse. It would all begin in the lunch room when I would sit down to eat, there was always a group of kids who would throw food at me and ask me if I was going to eat it, or they would even sit next to me and eat my food and go along telling me "You don't need all that". I went along with it and smirked, but deep inside it hurt beyond anything.

It didn't end at lunch time though.

It came back during physical education when we would have to start warm up runs. Coming in last in everything we did just made it worse for myself. I would try my hardest to keep up with people so I wouldn't be made fun of for being last, but it didn't work. I came in last.

I had finally gave up and just accepted the fact that I was obese and I knew the bullying wouldn't stop so I just gave in and laughed along with it for a while.

It went good until I found someone who I thought liked me. This moment of my obese days was a starting point to my change. I got close to this girl who I really cared about and I thought she had liked me but it turns out she was using me for rides to get to places and what not. This went on for about six months and I had fallen for her but I was tricked into thinking she had liked me so I just got depressed again and continued my normal routine of eating horrible foods to make me happy.

Soon I ended up getting over it but then something else happened.

I had gone to my doctor for an appointment and blood was drawn from me. When the results came back they were bad. I had early symptoms of becoming a diabetic. My mother and father never wanted this for me. My mother started crying and that's when it hit me hard. I had grown to be 370 pounds and I just could not stand to look at myself anymore.

I cried the night I got home, I lost it.

I had grown tired of people making fun of me, I was tired of getting screwed over for being nice and helping people out, I was tired of everything. I wanted all the pain to go away so I simply just "Let it go" I knew I had to be the one to make the change, it was time to stop blaming others for my choices and make a choice to take responsibility.

I immediately threw on my jacket and began jogging. I came to about half a mile and threw up. I realized that it was going to be the toughest challenge of my life. I began by looking up on the internet what all should you do to prepare for losing weight.

The first thing I knew right away was the foods. I had to eliminate all junk food and that was the hardest part. The first month was the worst, I absolutely hated it! I grew on though. I started to slowly eat better foods and I began to like them more!

I knew I couldn't let anything slow me down, I had to work hard for this.

I started running. Running is what made me feel happy, I had gotten what they call " runners high" and now running has become a life style. Now during school, for lunch I just brought my own food and stayed away from the cafeteria food. That part was actually easy because I didn't really like the school food anyways. As I started noticing more weight loss though, I also noticed my mood and attitude changed. I felt more, happy. I wasn't sad anymore. At that point I had realized that exercise was my key to happiness. That is what motivated me to work harder.

I kept working hard and noticing more weight loss, soon my blood levels were beyond normal and I was at a healthy state. Even though my blood was normal, I still wanted to keep the life style. I didn't want to just leave it, because it made me happy. So I kept it.

I’ve been following the same process for about two years now and I am still going strong.

When I got my weight down to 200 pounds, I cried.

I cried because I never thought I was going to see that number again. My family cried because they finally saw a smile on my face. I had entered my story on KPLR 11 STL and I was given the opportunity to discuss it on there.

Now, I try my best to help people stay motivated and go above and beyond to accomplish a life transformation.

I had never thought I would rise above the people who tormented me. I always look back and remember that I turned it all around, simply by taking responsibility and making a change for my-self.

Eating healthy and exercise is just a lifestyle for me now, and I believe is should be that way for everyone.

I have a Facebook (FB) page called "Run With Edgar" And Twitter " @ RunWithEdgar if you would like to keep in contact with me.