Harnessing the Power of Enduring Change

I was a fat kid. A 305-pound 18-year-old. Classic “yo-yoer,” who lost 135 pounds and regained 100 pounds. And a tightrope-walking, ready-to-die 29-year-old.

I had been on virtually every diet known to man and had read virtually everything pertaining to my problem. I had two degrees, a “normal” middle-class background, a loving father, sister and friends, and reasonably decent memories of my deceased mother. Yet, I felt that I had nothing, save multiple stretch marks, two failed careers, a very mediocre dating history and a pervasive sense of pain, despair and hopelessness.

Then, with the elasticity of both my skin and my tolerance having stretched beyond my wildest imagination, I bottomed out. I lost the ability to diet, fight or debate. I had experienced such pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization that I became teachable. It was nothing strange or magical. I had a spiritual awakening, in a nonreligious sense, and my journey of recovery began.

Everything changed. With the help of a group of incredibly loving people, I was told that I had a “disease” of the mind, body and spirit. I was also told that unless all three areas were addressed and worked on, my symptoms would return, with “interest.”

It’s been 17-plus years, and I’m still at my goal weight, I have a successful and exciting career as a psychotherapist, I have a food plan I enjoy and could live with for the rest of my life, and am in a loving and growing relationship. My exchanges with friends and family are better than ever.

The keys to my weight-loss success:

* I have a food plan (not a diet) that I adhere to, no matter what.

* I have a support group, a fellowship of men and women, whom I call, meet with, talk to, cry with, confide in when needed.

* I have myriad tools--writing, prayer, meditation and reading--that I utilize on a regular basis.

* I have hobbies to entertain and, at times, distract, my inner child.

* I have a great therapist who enlightens me and assists me in seeing things more objectively.

* I exercise, though minimally.

* I try to remember that I have a “disease,” that recovery requires daily attention, that diets don’t work, recovery is possible, and to take life one day at a time.

Vital Statistics

Name: Jack Nelson Soll

Occupation: Psychotherapist

Age: 46

Old weight: 305 pounds

New weight: 170 pounds

Height: 6 feet

Time maintained: 17-plus years

How Did You Do It?

Do you have a story about how you lost weight and kept the pounds off? Or a story about how you learned to mountain climb or in-line skate, trained for a half-marathon or discovered a unique way of keeping fit or dealing with a nagging ailment?

If so, we’d like to hear from you. Tell us your story in a 500-word essay listing what worked in terms of diet, exercise and encouragement, as well as any emotional and physical changes.

For weight-loss stories, send us full-body color photos of yourself, before and after. For other types of stories, send a color photo of yourself doing the activity you’re writing about.

Send essay and photos to How I Did It, Health, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053. Include daytime and evening phone numbers. Submissions cannot be returned. And, please, no phone calls.

In addition to publication, winners will receive a Los Angeles Times Health section gym bag.