Leon Is Changing Family History, One Mile At a Time

Name: Leon Calvin Antoine

Age: 28

Height: 5 feet, 11 inches

Before Weight: 520 lbs

How I Gained It: I had always been a chubby kid, but I wasn't obese until the age of 18, when I started working in the kitchen at Madison Square Garden -- that was the first stage of my weight-gain bonanza. My weight gain continued steadily as I started my own business and bought a car. Through it all, I was definitely an emotional eater. I would eat when I was happy, upset, angry or bored.

Breaking Point: There were many breaking points. It wasn't just because the floor boards seemed to scream at me at times. It wasn't having to shop for 5XL clothing. It wasn't breaking chair after chair in my house. It also wasn't the swelling my body experienced. My breaking point was realizing that I may not have as much time left as I should have. My father died when he was about 29. I will be 29 this year. He died of heart disease, and so did many of his siblings and relatives. I became determined to not repeat history.

How I Lost It: I always knew what do do -- it just felt like my mouth never allowed me to do it. But in mid-October, I began slowly changing my diet and eating more high-fiber foods. I also started keeping a food diary, and the weight began to melt off. I started working out about two hours a day with my Nintendo Wii -- I didn't use the Wii Fit, though, because it has a weight limit of 330 pounds. I used other Wii applications, such as Wii Sports.

By December 16th, I had I lost nearly 20 pounds and at that time I had lap band surgery. Surgery was my last resort, but I wanted to ensure my weight loss would stick. I developed an infection from the surgery, but I knew I couldn't let that stop me, so I increased my Wii workouts to two and a half hours daily.

My mother and brother are both avid walkers. One day in January, my mother asked me to pick her up after a run across the Brooklyn Bridge. When I got there, she told me she was still on the bridge and she asked me to park the car and walk and meet her halfway. She was nowhere to be seen, so I walked the entire 1.3 miles across the bridge. She wasn't there either -- it turns out she was in Brooklyn the entire time near where I parked. She had finished running the bridge an hour before and this was her sneaky way of pushing me to do all that walking. It worked -- I had to walk another 1.3 miles to get back to car. I was tempted to take the subway but I didn't. It felt so good to do it and the view was breathtaking.

Since that day, I have walked the Brooklyn Bridge at least twice per night (2.6 miles) along with my Wii workouts. I have walked in the rain, snow and frigid temperatures as low as 15 degrees. I feel great. When I first started walking, the span across the bridge it took me 50 minutes. Now it takes me 23 minutes to cross it. I also joined the New York Sports Club and some days I spend up to five hours walking or exercising. Somehow, exercise became so much fun. My emotional eating has turned into emotional exercising.

I know I have a long way to go to reach my goal weight of 187 pounds, but I'm taking it day by day. Please say "hi" or cheer me on if you see me on the Brooklyn Bridge -- I love the encouragement, and it helps keep me going!

Now Weight: 425 pounds and counting

As Leon continues his weight loss journey, he's planning on doing his first walking race with the New York Road Runners Club this May.

Emotional eating is a common problem -- find out how Christopher stopped his and trimmed down 100 lbs.