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I could have died at 22

Posted on , Updated on by EthiopianReview.com

By Gideon Haile

I am an Ethiopian who is residing in the Washington Metro Area. I hope my story below will inspire other Ethiopians.

I could have DIED at the age of the age of 22 from being UNHEALTY and OVERWEIGHT. I have read that you all are looking for an inspiring story about weight loss. On November 1st, 2008 I decided to start doing something about my weight problem. I decided to take what Obama said seriously, “A TIME FOR CHANGE.”

On November 4, 2008, I was 345 lbs and got down to 185 lbs on Sept 30, 2009 (My birthday). So for 10 months, all I did was walk seven days a week, no matter what and I never missed a day. I started off walking 3 miles a day (1.5 miles going, and coming back.) I progressed little by little — up to the point where I was jogging 5 miles a day.

I learned how to cook my own food. I always kept a balanced diet by eating breakfast, lunch and dinner. I normally had whole wheat cereal and omelet for breakfast. For lunch I always ate pasta with my own spaghetti sauce I cooked from scratch, with vegetables on the side. For dinner, I usually have some kind of chicken, steak, or fish. My problem was that I loved to eat junk food — fast food, candy, cookies, pizza, you name it and I ate it. I made a lifestyle change that I have not regretted since.

It has been 551 days since I started, and now I am in the gym everyday maintaining my weight of 170 lbs and building muscle. All together I have lost a total of 175 lbs. I still stick to the same types of food, and I have continued to stay away from junk food.

In my situation, I had to literally reach the bottom, to get back to the top. I am in school, maintaining my grades and will be graduating in December, 2011.

(The writer can be reached at [email protected])

21 thoughts on “I could have died at 22”

  4. በጣም ደስ ይላል.
    ክብደት ለመጨመር ለፈለገ ሰው ሚን ትመክራላቹ? I mean is there any way I can do so without eating jank foods. I hate jank foods.

    congo

  6. Way to go Mr. Desta. That is indeed very inspiring. Keep up the good work. Since obesity is becoming endemic in the Ethiopian/Eritrean community living in the West, you should continue to inspire young Ethiopian on how to maintain thier weight and stay healthy.

  7. Dear Gideon

    First of all,I would like to congrualte you for marveables job you did to your weight lose job.I like to read postive news just like yours rather than young Ethiopian man goes to jail for stupid crimes they commited this days.Again keep up the good work,and pary to the Lord.

  9. Gideon, way to go brother. Obesity is on the rise in America and resulting in illnesses like diabetes which are expensive to treat and a strain on the overall health care system. Your story of taking a personal initiave to achieving such an awesome result is truly inspiring. Way to do and thanks for sharing your story.

  10. He Gideon
    I am proud of you. I haven’t seen any young man is so disciplined about his own health like you.Your example is so inspiring for all obese to learn a lesson that “yes you can do it”.You have proved it that your honest and sincere effort will get you there.” GOOD LUCK AND HOPE YOUR ALL DREAMS COME TRUE”

  17. What a wonderful inspiring story.

    Thank you Gideon Haile for sharing your story with us and also thank you Elias Kifle for publishing it.

    One of the common, if not the main, problems among most of us Ethiopians is our negligence to properly look after our health.

    How many Ethiopians are there with heart problems, diabetes, weight and depression. Too many. These problems are created mainly because of our style of living. We ourselves create the problems and it is up to us solve the problems. Gideon has shown us how to do it.

    For example, many of us don’t realize the importance of water drinking — at least 8 glasses of water a day is required to maintain a healthy life.

    Instead of drinking water, we favor drinking beer, wine, whiskey or soda like cok or pepsi. These drinks dehydrate our body and take away the water we have in the body. Dehydration causes pain in the body and continued dehydration of the body could lead to serious illnes and death.

    Except on occasion we should stay away from unhealthy foods and drinks. We should save our money for rainy days instead of spening it on these unnecessary parties for which we spend a lot for buying “tire siga” and liquor.

    Let us help our communities by helping ourselves first.

    Gideon’s story should inspire all of us to go to the gym or take a walk around the neighborhood.

  18. I applaud Gedion for his success. What strike me most is the short amount of time it took him to accomplish his target.

    This is because it is not easy to do so normally, and it is even sometimes not recommended to do like that. Losing one pound a week is the usually recommended by physicians. These will help to keep the weight off, too.

    And not all people can have control on what they eat–they may not be able to cook their own food and eat out most of the time, for example.

    When taking into consideration this success story, we should pay due attention to our situation and try to take one step at a time. Patience is a virtue after all!

  19. I beg to differ with the recommendation that losing one pound a week should be the norm for losing weight. To apply this standard depends on the weight and height of the person who wants to lose.

    For example if a person who is 5’10” weighs around 190 pounds and wants to lose like 50 pounds in one year, losing one pound a week, may be normal. But on the other hand a person who is 5’6″ weighs over 300 pounds, losing only 50 pounds in one year doesn’t really cut it; the person would still be an overweight and have a long way to go. So, in my opinion, this kind of person definitely needs to lose more than one pound a week.

    In the case of Gideon, he didn’t go for starvation diet or for lose-weight-fast diet. He is not on a diet and as he told us, he eats the normal three meals a day. I say hooray for that.

    The only difference between him and those who are still overweight is the fact that he watches what he eats.

    The lesson from his experience?

    We too should be selective in what we eat and drink. Even if we eat out, we can still select a more healthy food from the menu.

    The other important thing we shouldn’t forget is the constant exercise — like walking or jogging — that should be part of a weight losing program.

    Personally, I am planning to follow his example.

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