In 2009 I wanted to get back into the Army National Guard, but I  had to lose a lot of weight to do it.  These pictures show how much  weight I lost - around 135 lbs to date, including an unknown amount of  muscle gain.

I started in August of 2009 walking 4-7 miles per day.  By October 2009  I was also riding my bike, and by November I was walking, riding, and  swimming at the gym.  By January 2010 I was walking, riding, swimming,  lifting weights, walking the stairmaster and so forth, for up to 4-5  hrs/day.

During this time I modified my diet so that I was eating on  average around 1500 calories per day, which was enough for my body to  recover from all the exercise I was doing, but was also little enough to  create a calorie deficit that my exercise could build on to lose the weight.

By the third week in February I was down around 113 lbs., and passed the  Army bodyfat percentage measurement and qualified to re-enter the  National Guard, which I'd left in 1997.

I was accepted into the Officer Candidate School program in Arizona, and  over the summer I attended the Accelerated OCS program in Maryland and  Pennsylvania.  I was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the Arizona Army  National Guard on Oct. 13th, with my swearing-in ceremony on Nov. 6th,  where my wife and daughter each pinned one of the gold bars of the 2nd  Lieutenant's rank on my shoulders.

I am currently exercising around 2 hrs/day on average, and eating around  2000 calories per day.  I have put on an unknown number of lbs of muscle  lifting weights, biking, running, and hiking, and am currently at around  245 lbs, from an all-time high of 380 lbs.  In these "before" pictures I  was around 370-375 lbs or so.

My end goal weight is around 200 lbs, and I'm working hard to continue  my downward trend and achieve that final weight.