I have been overweight and lazy about it for far longer than I care to admit. I never much liked it, but I never much wanted to do anything about it either. Like I said. Lazy. My weight stayed more or less in check through middle school, when I was pretty active playing Basketball, but when I got to high school, I stopped playing basketball, started playing golf, largely with the use of golf carts. We’d walk occasionally, so it wasn’t terrible, but nothing near the activity level I had when I was playing basketball.
The drop in activity level, plus an increase in junk food and increasing amounts of TV led to a pretty major increase in weight, and then came college. OH GOD. College. With the unlimited fried food in the cafeteria, the long nights munching snacks, drinking soda, and let’s face it: beer. My weight ballooned. I went from a pretty solid 250 to 300, then when I finished school, I spent 10 months unemployed, eating too much frozen crap, and I ended up around 330 by August of last year.
I started having chest pains in early May, sometimes pretty severe. And while the symptoms weren’t exactly matching heart attack symptoms, it was pretty scary. Scary enough, in fact, I left work and drove myself to the ER. After a series of blood tests, EKGs, and chest x-rays, they decided to keep me over night to run more cardiac tests the following morning. I was easily the youngest patient on the cardiology floor, and it was, to say the least, embarrassing. Being wheeled around, heart monitors attached, at 24 years old was a wake-up call.
After I got a clean bill of health, I went home with a very real motivation to actually lose some weight. After looking at a number of options, I decided that just plain old calorie counting was probably the best way to go, so I signed up for a site called My Fitness Pal. You can input foods and it will track calories, protein, carbohydrates, etc. It’s pretty great, and they even have apps for the iPhone and Android, which make it even easier to track your calories.
Through calorie restriction and exercise (Walking, a little jogging, recumbent bikes), I lost 40 pounds between May and August. It was decided that my chest pains were a result of a non-functioning gallbladder, and I had surgery to remove it. With the recovery period, some ridiculous situations at work, and some added stress due to some other family health problems, I fell off the wagon. between August and January, I went from the 291 I had dropped to back up to 317. When I discovered how much weight I had gained back, I was pretty discouraged, but my wife and I decided to get back to it.
So here we are again, counting calories, and exercising. I’ve already lost 12 pounds of that, and will soon be under 300 again. I can’t wait. I was looking at a few things on the MyFitness pal site, and I noticed they make progress banners. like this one:
Created by MyFitnessPal – Free Calorie Counter
I’ll be adding this banner to my About page, and I hope you all will help keep me honest. It’s a long road, but eventually, I’ll be hitting that 220 mark at the end of the banner.
This one, I think, deserves discussion more than most things. I know that many of you are in similar positions, though maybe not quite as extreme. So let’s share some ideas, some thoughts, some encouragement, and let’s all get healthy together. Every so often, I’ll post an update, and maybe some particularly good recipes I come across. I hope you’ll do the same.
So let’s talk. How healthy are you? Could you stand to lose a few pounds? Have a story of fantastic weight loss? How’d you do it? What could we all learn from your journey?
I definitely know exactly where you’re coming from. After high school (and you know I wasn’t a skinny minny then either!)I gained 100lbs before my wake up call. Basically we were having fertility problems and my doctor told me that losing weight would help so I started weight watchers for the first time. I lost 12lbs in about 12wks before we found out we were pregnant. Fast forward 16 months and I got back on WW and lost over 20 more. The holidays got me off track and I gained 7 of that back but I am happy to say that I’m back in and lost. 3lbs this week. I know Im not going to be skinny ever but I’m ready to take charge of my health and feel good again!
I am so proud of your willpower to get Back on track. These days it is so easy to opt for weight loss surgery even though we have the capacity to lose weight through hard work! Keep it up Tyler!
The dreaded holidays! I wasn’t even concerned about it during the holidays, but a big part of wanting to get back into it was how much weight my family has lost. Both my parents, one of my uncles, etc. I didn’t want to be the fattest person in the family any more. So I got back to work.
Thanks for the comment! Great work, and keep it up!
“I didn’t want to be the fattest person in the family any more.”
I know exactly how you felt! Everyone, but most of all my sister, has always been thinner than me. It’s time for that to change!
Good for you, Tyler!
I used to be fairly slim. Then I hit 30 and had my second child. Then we bought our house and had to get appliances, which took awhile. So we all got used to eating out, all the time. Its hard to break the kids of that habit. But here I am, pushing 38 and needing to lose about 50lbs. My crutch is not having the discipline to make a weekly menu and follow through on it, or not thawing out something for dinner. So then its a quick trip through the drive-thru. I really need to break this habit. I really need someone to hold me accountable, and my family isn’t the best for that.
When I was growing up, dinner was often a trip through a drive through or a trip to a restaurant. It is, indeed, a hard habit to break. What my wife and I do is make a menu, and I try to cook a lot of it on Sunday, so we have meals ready, just need to be heated up. It helps a lot.
Also, I have learned that I can cook food that tastes better than most restaurant food, so that helps a lot. haha.
You can do it. Go sign up for MFP, and add me there. My username is g4m8i7.
This story mirrors almost everyone’s. You have it good in high school, eating what your parents cook for you. Then to move away and either start work or go to college, and there you are…alone…with the fridge…and all the frozen pizzas you can eat. Sure, it’s liberating, but at the end of the day, you’re feeding yourself ‘freedom.’
I did the exact same thing! I gained 25 pounds when I went off to college, and had to lose it {and try to keep it off} along with more to get to my ideal healthy weight. Thanks to your same method {Calories in, Calories out!}, I’ve lost more than 40 pounds since having my “junk hitting the fan” moment {in the form of seeing my ‘fat’ clothes didn’t fit.}
Good luck to you, and I’ll be doing it right beside you!
Sounds good. I could use the camaraderie. Also, judging from your recent pictures, you’re doing a great job. Keep it up!
Good for you Tyler. I started my life change today! I have done the crash diets and they work for a while and then I go NUTS! So I downloaded a calorie counter and am keeping it simple- low fat/ cal/ carb!
I have the biggest loser cookbook and it has some good stuff in it- let me know if you wanna borrow it!
Having spent a lot of time looking at how to go about it, counting just seemed like the only real conceivable one long-term.
Are you on MFP? If so, add me!
Hey Tyler, I feel for ya. I’m not in quite the same boat as you weight wise, but my dad is, and he’s been working on making going to the gym a regular part of his schedule. It’s tough, I know that much! His goal is I think to get down under 300, then to 250, but I don’t know if he’s got a schedule. He likes to keep it on the down-low, but he does mention going to the gym now every so often.
For myself, being diabetic, my biggest thing is carbs. I LOVE sweets and breads and cereals. I hardly ever get enough time in the morning to cook myself a nice big carbless breakfast (sausage and eggs, anyone?) or when I do get the time, pancakes and waffles seem to get a bit higher priority. Then lunches are usually packed fairly reasonably, but I often add too many chips or crackers or other snacks and “forget” to grab a piece of fruit instead. Dinners are still at home with the parents but not always carb-conscious.
My goal this year is to get my A1C levels (a long term, 3mo, blood glucose measurement) down to 6%. For people without diabetes, a normal range is 4-6%, and you get diagnosed with diabetes if it’s over 6.5 or 7%. Mine right now is 7.3%, and it’s less than it was 3 months ago.
So, let’s live healthier, whether it be losing weight, keeping blood sugars down, or even adding more spiritual activity to your life. (Maybe that could be a topic in the future: Spiritual healh, though perhaps your next post on meditation touches on it. I shall see!)