Might as well add my story.
Born in Detroit in 1988 I grew up just on the edge of the ghetto here, had people threaten me with fingers pointed in their pockets numerous times and a real gun pulled on me once demanding that I give them my bike growing up, I only gave it up once. My dad worked as a paramedic in the city until last year when he retired, by today's standards we never had much money and were always in debt so I didn't get a privileged upbringing by anymeans. My older brother had 1st grade in the Detroit public school system and after unknowingly calling another student "mah nigga" and almost being expelled that was enough for my parents, who then home schooled us for the rest of our childhood.
At 18 I got my GED and entered a machine tool technology trade school and learned how to make just about anything out of solid metal, just don't ask me to work with wood. After that I got into the same schools Pre-College program which brought my Math and Reading up to University standards (I scored in the 95th percentile on my GED for both, but wouldn't have made it my first semester in college, kinda sad.) After that paying my way through those I got into the same schools free Engineering Program, earned my Associates, and am currently finishing up my Junior year in Mechanical Engineering.
I work at a engineering consulting firm doing analysis of commodity items such as alternators, tire pressure monitoring systems, door handles, etc to determine whether the OEM my company contracts with is competitive from a weight and feature standpoint. I spend a lot of time handling anything to do with Additive Manufacturing here because at my previous job we did research for the DOD into metal additive manufacturing, specifically for the Navy. (The rudder connecting rods on a submarine cost around $300k each and have lead times measured in tens of months, rebuilding them better than they were before is very attractive to the Navy.)
I own a hobby grade 3D printer which I use to print everything from gun parts to Engineering Prototypes for work to household items.
July 15th 2013 I weighed 470 pounds, nearly a quarter ton, I'd break into a sweat sitting, get out of breath going up a flight of stairs and could barely fit in my car. In a little over a year I've lost 133 pounds and weigh a slim 337 pounds. I'm working my way down in weight using good old fashioned calorie counting and a high protein low carb diet, none of that food pyramid/body acceptance crap for me! I plan to lose weight till I reach 7% body fat which I will maintain for a year before assessing my need for skin reduction surgery. After that it will be time to get ripped, goal being 190-210 pounds at 10% body fat, not quite Arnold, but big.