Hi, My name is Jonathan Whalen i live in vegas. I recently finished a 5 year apprenticeship I am now a Union Pipefitter/Welder. It is my proudest accomplishment of my life so far.I love music and concerts,I love myjob but I am currently not working. I got laid of 4 1/2 months ago and work is slim in my field.I have thought of going to school to get a mechanical engineering degree since it deals with my trade i already went to school for.I am a happy person especially since i got my drinking under control.The reason I have joined Tools to life is my weight. I have always been a big guy since i was about 12.Since ive been laid off I have gained 20-25lbs.Going from physically labor intensive job to chilling at the house is not a good change. I was eating better cooking at home not eating out, I was going to play basketball for an hour 4-5 days a week but it didnt compare to 8 hours of work.So here I am I have had enough I have gotten to 330lbs and that is ridiculous. So now is the time to change before i am dead. If anyone has advice, lost it all and kept it off, or has words of wisdom I am here to listen.

I have always been a big boy but it was never what i consdered extreme you know cant walk or get through a walk without stopping and I am still not like that but I am afraid it could happen.When i started as a helper on a construction site they had me running all over the Wynn thats the casino we were builing i was 19 and overweight. I started losing weight I felt good then 10 months later i got into the apprenticeship and the work you do changes you dont do all the walking you start working with the tools. I didnt relly notice the weight coming back but shortly after that My fiancee and I broke it off and I turned 21 a few weeks later. It was ON!!! I started drinking and it was all down hill I was depressed I would drink atleast a case of mgd and 1/2 a bottle of jager a night.That is gonna add a few pounds. I remeber drinking at a bar all night I ordered a beer and a shot to go.Then i headed to work that was a BAD day,but it wasnt the last one like that though.I am 25 now so for about 4 years the alcohol had control I didnt drink that hardcore after a while I only drank on the weekends but most of my weekends were a haze. 8 months ago I took contol of the booze I have drank once a few weeks ago and I didn't go overboard. Anyways that booze helped me put a bunch of weight on then i was eating alot of fast food between work and school and going out I made alot of bad choices. Only recently I have contolled my eating I cook at home everynight.I cook chicken 5 nights aweek then hamburger and a steak once a week. But now that I am laid off the weight is piling on.

For the future I don't wanna be embarrased about my body anymore.I wanna be able to go to a friends pool party and get in without being embarrased. I want people to look at me differently, I wanna feel better physically and mentally. I wanna own my own home, get married and pop out a few rugrats. I wanna live to be old and enjoy retirement since that is what I am working for. I wanna collect all the money in my pension that I will have put in over 36 years. The statistics are that in my trade you live 2 years after retiremeny usually.I dont want that I wanna live a long happy life.

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