Scott’s Weight Loss Quest

To be who you want to be, you must begin to think of yourself as becoming the person you want to be. Scott Evans lost 43 lbs in the past year and looks to lose 10 more. His weight loss diet included eating at least one Quest Bar every day. Scott contacted us via our contact page and he thanked us for our Quest Bars. We asked Scott to guest blog his journey for us and he graciously accepted.

We even offered Scott a couple boxes of Quest Bars for his efforts, but he declined. His response was “Thank you, but you wouldn’t have to send the two boxes of free Quest Bars. That’s not why I would be sharing my story on your blog. It would be to help others by giving them hope. But thank you for the generous offer anyway.”

We happily present the story of Scott Evans. May his inspiration and character inspire you, as it has for everyone at Quest.

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We live in Colorado and don’t hike as much as we should, but one particular day, my wife, son, daughter, and I were able to coordinate our schedules and we decided to hike Mt. Sanitas outside of Boulder.  It was more of a trek than my 54-year-old wife and 58-year-old self had bargained for, so we turned back.  During our descent, we asked a fellow hiker if he would take our picture with my camera. When we arrived home and I viewed the photograph, I thought, “I see my wife, son, and daughter, but who’s that guy?” It was me! For some reason, I had been able to suppress the fact for many years, that I was overweight, but that picture caught me just right and I was shocked at what I saw.

I’m six foot tall, and when I graduated from high school in 1972, I weighed only 155 lbs (yes, one hundred fifty-five) pounds! Since then, slowly, but surely, I crept up and crept up, day by day, month by month, year by year, until I looked like I did in the picture during our hike. I jumped on the digital scale and read this staggering number: 243!  I had to stare at it for several seconds. It couldn’t be! I said to myself, “That’s ridiculous. I will not gain another pound!”  So my quest to lose weight began.

If you’ve ever attempted to do so, you probably know what it’s like. You make up your mind, but you have no idea how to do it.  Well, I knew carbohydrates were now my enemy, so I immediately cut back on them almost 100%. I wasn’t sure if that would be healthy or not, so I left a few carbs in my daily diet, consisting mostly of one slice of bread for peanut butter and jelly toast, which I love, for lunch. So what to have for breakfast, lunch (other than the PB and J toast), and dinner? I heard that skipping breakfast while attempting to lose weight was the exact wrong thing to do, so I asked myself, “What will I absolutely NOT do without?”

Answer? Bacon and eggs. So every morning since then, I’ve had six slices of bacon and four eggs over-easy. I liked them enough to never get tired of them. I realize that may not be the case for everybody, but that’s what I did. So now, what for lunch?  I started out having a salad, PB and J toast, and maybe a can of tuna or oatmeal with apples and unsweetened cinnamon. Then for dinner, it was a salmon filet marinated in Newman’s Own Family Recipe Italian dressing or two BBQ chicken breasts, and raw vegetables with a little bit of ranch dressing for flavor. Then, the secret after dinner was to not eat anything afterward. Right or wrong, that’s what worked for me.

After a period of time, a salad and PB and J toast and tuna or oatmeal alone for lunch wasn’t cutting it. I’d find myself snacking between lunch and dinner, and I wasn’t losing weight.  So what to do, what to do? I tried diet pills for a little bit but hated how they made me feel and they would become ineffective after a week or so. And they’re expensive. Then I started having two PB and J’s instead of one, However, that didn’t keep me full until dinner and I wasn’t losing weight that way either.

So I started researching protein bars. I didn’t want to buy and try, so I did a lot of research on the internet.  The research I conducted on protein bars ultimately pointed me to your Quest Bars. I can’t remember exactly what my first order was, but I believe it was the Sampler Pack from their Original Line. I wasn’t disappointed! I absolutely love every single one of your flavors. And the greatest thing is that they helped keep me satisfied until dinner, which was my biggest challenge, by far, to losing weight. Awesome! I found the answer! The key! The combination! Whatever you want to call it!

So now, my routine consists of bacon and eggs for breakfast, a salad, one slice of PB and J toast, and a Quest Bar for lunch. Then, I’ll have fish and/or chicken, raw veggies with a dab of ranch for dinner. Oh, and lots of water during the day. And hardly any beer, except every now and then when I go out to eat, and absolutely no soda! That’s it! Since figuring out the formula that worked for me, I have steadily lost weight since March 2012 and now currently weigh 199 lbs. My goal is to be 190 pounds or less, depending on how I look and feel.

It’s been a slow, but steady weight loss by design, because I didn’t want it to become drudgery to the point that I would quit altogether. I still enjoy going out and having big, tasty meals along the way, with the goal of “two steps forward and one step back,” but never going a day without a Quest Bar. And when I’m not home at lunch time, I bring along two Quest Bars and water for lunch.

So I want to end by saying, thank you Quest Nutrition for making the best product of its kind on the market. You have helped turn me into a lean, mean, weight losing machine!