Joel was 420lbs at the time this video was recorded. His food addiction had spiraled out of control, but he said it wasn’t fair to his friends and family. He said “There is no option.” If he wanted to be around to help people who needed him, the change must happen now.

In less than 4 months following this recording, Joel lost over 45 lbs. He changed his diet. He started going on long walks. No food after 6pm. He was on a good path. Then… one day Joel started experiencing shortness of breath.

On December 30th, 2014, Joel was admitted to the hospital. At age 29, Joel would enter open heart surgery. They found a 7mm aneurysm in his heart. He spent 34 days in a hospital bed and 11 days in a medically induced coma. Joel woke up on January 15th, 2015 and now lives with a pace maker. He will take blood thinners for the rest of his life.

None of this changes Joel’s promise. He was committed to improving his health before and will continue that fight today. It is now harder than ever for Joel to get healthy… but that will not be an excuse for Joel. A promise is a promise. He remains committed to his recovery and the fulfillment of a lifelong commitment.

This story is about a man who wanted to make a promise to take better care of himself so that way he would be around longer for his friends and family. This message is important because it shows that some people are willing to do anything to keep the promise that they had made.

“My Because I Said I Would promise is that I will “look at myself in the mirror and love what I see.” I’ve struggled for a long time with feeling fat and ugly and gross and just not worth it. I look at the girls at my school and they all seem so perfect and skinny and they have pretty hair and pretty clothes and pretty everything and then there’s me all ugly and gross. This year i want to start learning to love myself and i promise to love myself for who i am and how i look.”

Posted by Linzee.

Linzee, you’re beautiful.

This story is about a girl who promised herself that she would look in the mirror everyday and love what she sees. This girl has also promised herself to love who she is and how she looks. This story means that you should always look at yourself and think positive things about yourself. It also means that you should also think about how you look now instead of thinking how you would look tomorrow. This message also means that you should think about what you could to make yourself know that you like how you look and not to think how you would have to change your looks to look like everyone else.