400lbs snuck up on me. Now it's time for me to kill the fat.

7

7thHarmonic

New member
Hey everyone. I'm new to the forum, so I thought I'd give you a little info about me and why I'm here. I'm 33, live in the San Francisco Bay Area, and I'm really into music, guitars, and I work in the computer industry.

15 years ago I graduated from high school at 6'4" 250 pounds. Through severe neglect, stress, and ignorance I'm here today clocking in at 405. Damn, it even hurts to type that number. Last night when I saw 400+ for the first time, the line in the sand was drawn. I will not see 406.

My goal is to get to 220. I've read a lot of inspiring posts on this board, and I hope to be one of them someday.

I guess a question is in order. When everyone started their weight loss program, what was the one single most effective thing that they changed or did? And why?

-7th
 
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welcome 7th!
I started this particular weight loss journey (of the many) On May 23rd of this year, so about 2 and a half months ago. I've gone from 230 to 209 in that time.

There are several important things that made this weight loss attempt stick this time.
The biggest one I suppose was getting rid of the excuses. Forget what everyone else is doing or what they offer you or if they forget you're on a diet and try to give you something you shouldn't have. It isn't their journey, its yours, and you're responsible for you!

Another was to incorporate exercise, and finding a work out program I was challenged by enough so that I wasn't bored, but at the same time I felt I could actually do without being discouraged and quitting. Its been said to death, but the longer you stick it out, no matter how much you suck at it at first, it gets better. I eased into exercise, doing a little here and there the first month or so, and now i'm on day 17 of P90X and I love it.

Another would be drinking only water. I use 0 calorie water flavors from walmart when I need something different, and I have 1 cup of coffee with splenda in the morning. Thats it! Empty calories add up when you aren't looking!

A big, BIG one is DONT GET DOWN ON YOURSELF! Do your best every day, in workouts and eating. If you don't get it right right away, thats okay.

ok i'll go on forever so i'm gonna stop there. Good luck!
 
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Hi, 7th! Welcome to the forum. Take a look at the stickies, they are very helpful if you're new to this weight loss journey.

The single most important thing that has helped me to lose nearly 40 lbs in the past 3 and 1/2 months is keeping an accurate and honest food diary. Then adapt the motto - If you bite it, write it.

It's important to know everything that you eat and the calories they have. I know it's a pain in the butt, but if you're serious about getting down to 220 lbs then, in my opinion, it's necessary. There are several good sites available that will help you keep track of your daily caloric intake, the one I use is MyFitnessPal dot com (I'm in no way affiliated with that site, I just use it and like it). If that one is not to your liking there are several other good ones to chose from as well, bottom line - as with any job you do the right tools are necessary, having a food diary/journal is absolutely the right tool.

I wish you luck, and remember - You can do this!

If you have any more questions feel free to ask! :D
 
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keeping track of your food is a good idea. I use fitday.com for my weight/food/activity tracking and have for years. theres a place for your measurements/mood/journal etc too.
 
Thanks for the tips. I'm doing well at sticking to my food logging so far. Since I'm basically attached to my phone at all times, I found an app called "Lose It" that lets me log foods and exercise into it.

The next step is figuring out the right level of exercise for myself so I don't burn out. I'm just walking a couple miles after work now, but I'll eventually need to figure out some strength work I can get in at home.

Once again, thanks for all the help!

-7th
 
You're most welcome, 7th! I'm glad we could help. :)

And yeah, walking is a great way to start out, just keep challenging yourself. Go a bit farther and a bit faster a little bit more each week until you feel strong enough to jog. :)
 
Your diet should be your main priority although it cant be the other thing you do. Include exercises such as walking or just tidying the house doesn't have to be big you can work up from that. there's so much information on this forum so be sure to read other peoples story's and ask them what helped them the most.
 
I spent a month or so making my diet a habit. I worked out a couple times a week but nothing major, most of my focus was on getting my eating down to a routine that I didn't have to think twice about. Now that i've done that, pretty much all my focus now is on working out. Get a heart rate monitor and see what your optimal heart rate is for fat loss. When you start working out, just work on getting your heart rate in that area, and get used to what it feels like. That way you'll know when you go too far, or aren't doing enough.

Personally I don't consider myself to have had a decent work out unless there is sweat dripping off me and my face is all pink lol
Dont forget to stretch and cool down too! Once after a hard workout I didn't cool down and just plopped down into a chair. My blood pressure and heart rate were too high and I felt like my head was going to pop lol
 
I agree, Kelly - a lot of people underestimate how important it is to warm up before getting into an intense workout and then doing a cool-down after.
 
heya, welcome to the forum :)

you'll find lots of encouragement and support on here...i myself am 343 pounds so kinda know where your coming from...the great thing with the forum is that no one judges because we're all in the same boat on the same journey. wishing you all the best :grouphug:

7thHarmonic said:
Hey everyone. I'm new to the forum, so I thought I'd give you a little info about me and why I'm here. I'm 33, live in the San Francisco Bay Area, and I'm really into music, guitars, and I work in the computer industry.

15 years ago I graduated from high school at 6'4" 250 pounds. Through severe neglect, stress, and ignorance I'm here today clocking in at 405. Damn, it even hurts to type that number. Last night when I saw 400+ for the first time, the line in the sand was drawn. I will not see 406.

My goal is to get to 220. I've read a lot of inspiring posts on this board, and I hope to be one of them someday.

I guess a question is in order. When everyone started their weight loss program, what was the one single most effective thing that they changed or did? And why?

-7th
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for all the info so far.

I'm about a week in, and I'm already starting to realize why the food log is so important. I'm realizing that my pre-log diet was horrible. I was making bad decisions, and adding calories in really stupid ways.

I'm 99% sure I wouldn't be able to keep the log up to date if it wasn't on my phone. So that would be my advice to anyone else. Have a food log in a format that lets you enter it wherever you are.... moleskine notepad, iphone app, whatever.

So my two steps so far:
1) log all food, keep under target amount.
2) walk 1-2 miles a day

I'm seeing good progress and am already securely under 400. I plan on never seeing that number again.

-7th
 
good for you for getting back to the 300s! i am like you, i have a number that i never wanna see again, and when i crossed it, i knew i had to make some changes.

you've got some awesome tips already. the best thing i have to offer that is working for me so far is setting a weekly goal. in my case, 3 pounds a week sounds a lot more doable than 60 pounds. when you have a lot to lose, it can get overwhelming and discouraging and seem impossible at times.

sending good thoughts your way. good luck, you can absolutely do this :D
 
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