Disappearing for the whole summer to a little city called Imperial, Missouri, senior Bobby Brownlow decided it was time for a drastic life change. Brownlow told no one except for his parents that he was leaving for Camp Jump Start, a weight-loss camp.

“I wasn’t feeling good about myself and decided that I needed to make a drastic lifestyle change,” Brownlow said. “I didn’t want to tell anyone that I was going to camp because I felt ashamed and thought that people would judge me. I was mostly worried that if I told people that I was going to camp and came back not losing any weight, people would make fun of me. When I eventually got back from camp everyone was surprised of the new me!”

Going into camp, Brownlow was 355 pounds and knew that losing all that weight would not be easy.

At the beginning of camp, Brownlow had to do fitness testing. His worst nightmare was running the mile and that was the first test. With the hot sun beating down, Brownlow dragged himself to complete a 17:51-minute mile.

The first session was terrible. Being out of shape, Brownlow felt overwhelmed and activities felt extra hard, but knowing that there was a light at the end of the tunnel, he kept pushing himself.

“I knew that things could have only gotten better,” he said. “I kept thinking to myself how easier life would be being in better shape and having a healthier lifestyle, that motivated me a lot.”

At camp, Brownlow went through a schedule that consisted of waking up every day at 7 a.m. To start off the day, campers would wake up, get ready, and head up “The Hill,” a hill made so campers could get extra exercise.

“The Hill was where announcements were made and meetings were held, but going up that thing was terrible, and having to do it every day was even worse,” Brownlow said.

After “The Hill” campers would then participate in physical activities every day, whether it was swimming, playing capture the flag, or even martial arts.

“There was never standing around,” he said. “Everything we did was exercise, but they were fun activities so it didn’t really feel like exercise.”

Even though most of Brownlow’s day was spent exercising, there were small time slots for lunch breaks. Food was something that the camp was very strict about. No one was allowed to bring in food, when campers first arrived they were stripped search for trying to sneak in food and snacks into camp. Campers were only allowed to eat the portions that were given, but they could have unlimited salad, but with a limited amount of dressing. Campers weren’t allowed to have juice either. They were only allowed water, and it was not always cold.

“At the beginning the meal plans were rough for me,” he said. “I wasn’t really prepared for a small sandwich for lunch, and a little piece of chicken breast with some vegetables for dinner, and when they said the salad bar was unlimited, that sounded pretty good, until I knew that the dressings were limited.”

As the summer went by, and the first session of camp was coming to an end, Brownlow knew that he had made positive improvements. He felt better about himself, and knew that his weight was slowly decreasing.

“I knew that I was going on the right path,” he said. “My body felt better and I just felt better as a person. When they weighed me after first session it felt great. I had lost 41 pounds doing activities that I enjoyed. The food eventually tasted a lot better knowing that they were helping improve my health and well being.”

By the end of the summer, Brownlow had shed off 70 pounds, which helped him perform better during football season.

“I felt that Bobby’s decision to go to a weight loss camp was very cool. He was able to do more on the field and seemed more athletic. As a person with weight challenges myself, I thought it was a great step forward for him. Learning how to eat right and take better care of yourself is important,” varsity football coach Anthony Petrosonis said.

Even though Brownlow is back from camp, he still finds time to workout and exercise as much as possible. He also maintains a healthier daily eating schedule.

“ I used to buy lunch and eat out a lot during my junior year, but that has changed,” he said. “I avoid eating out as much as possible and I have brought lunch to school every day ever since being back from camp.”

“I try to eat a sandwich with pretzels and some sort of fruit for lunch everyday. Sometime I also bring raisins or granola bar for a snack.”

Brownlow’s friends and teammate, such as senior George Tripkos, said they were surprised by brownlow’s new eating habits and his overall personality and physical change.

“It’s great to see how much it’s changed him, not just physically,” Tripkos said. “He’s a much happier guy and his confidence has returned. We didn’t know if he was going to come out for football this year, and when he returned we were all amazed. He was a great asset to the team both on and off the field, and we owe it to his weight loss.”

Brownlow said he’s learned that having a healthy lifestyle is important — and he plans on maintaining it.

“My goal going into camp was to put myself in a healthier lifestyle and to lose weight,” he said. “I want to be able to live longer and maintain a healthy lifestyle and I feel that I am on the road towards that.”