MAR1984
New member
Not new here, more like renewed 
browsed around the forum and still see some familiar faces, and some new ones. I'm coming back from a long (much too long) hiatus looking to get back on the wagon. Here's my story for those that don't know me or remember me.
I'm a 26yo guy, currently at ~370lbs, and I'm 6'5" tall. I've always been a big guy, but I've always been somewhat athletic. I topped out in high school at 350lbs. got down to around 320 during training for football my senior year of highschool. Going into college my freshman year, I was at 355-ish for my weigh in for the college football team (slightly too big for the standard 350lb medical scale). I went through a rough spot emotionally my first couple months of college, quit the football team, and went on a pretty drastic workout routine and restrictive diet (all very unhealthy), starting in the october/november timeline. By christmas break I was down under 310 (you do the math for the rate of weight loss).
After christmas break, the worst thing happend to me - I found a woman. Got complacent and fat again. Back up to 335 by spring. Then the girl did me a favor and dumped my a$$, giving me the kick in the butt I needed to get going again, and there was no messing around this time. I went back onto a restrictive and unhealthy diet plan, and aggressive exercise routine. I made it through the summer, and even joined the college cross country team the next fall. At the end of the XC season, I was down to 258 - the best shape I'd ever been in in my adult life. I was never happier than I was then.
Like all good stories, it doesn't end there. I didn't make it through the winter. Got complacent again, and started gaining weight. And boy did I gain weight. Over the next few years, I blew right past my original starting weight. I actually didn't know how much weight I had gained, but I knew I had at least gained back all I had previously lost. I made some feeble attempts to lose again, but never lasted very long. An amazing thing happened to me during this time as well. I found another woman, and she agreed to marry me after 5 years of dating or so (yes yes, despite the fact that I was blowing up like a blimp practically in front of her eyes). I decided for myself and my future family, I needed to get myself into a healthy place. I started working out again and watching what I ate much in the way I lost weight previously. I couldn't even weight myself for a few weeks until I found a special scale. I estimate that I must have started out somewhere around 475lbs or possibly even more. Pretty scary and demoralizing when I found out. At some point I found this site and got some great advice along my journey. By the time of my wedding 10 months later, I was down an incredible 150lbs to around 320! Somewhere on the site, I have a before and after pic posted. Life was good then.
Heading into the lastest chapter of my story, I constantly find ways to remind myself over and over again just how quickly weight can come back on after aggressive dieting if you don't put a similar effort into maintenance. The 10-day honeymoon put 10lbs back on me, but I suspect that was partly due to being slightly dehydrated before, and retaining water after. That was july of last year. I shifted my workout routine then to mostly weight lifting and less cardio (before then was all cardio). I maintained or lost slightly over the few months I was lifting, but that was ok because I was measuring progress in strength increases. I also lost touch with the site sometime last summer.
In the fall, I started falling off the wagon. I can no longer remember which came first, but around the same time, I also started having some health problems - mainly, severe constipation almost constantly (I'm not embarrassed to talk about it anymore), and occasional debilitating stomach pains that would wake me out of a sound sleep in the middle of the night. Between the 2, I was in a very uncomfortable place for a few months, and working out and losing weight went completely out of my mind. Turns out, my gall bladder was shot. To shorten the story, I went to the ER twice, the latest being on Dec 23, on the 24th I had a lodged stone removed from my common bile duct that was causing liver inflammation (and I was turning a peculiar shade of yellow), and on christmas day, my gall bladder was removed, laproscopically.
After the surgery, I was unable to even think about exercise for a month (but at least the constipation was gone
). Then the motivation blues set in. I was having a hard time to convince myself to get back on a workout routine. A couple months ago, I started to revert back to eating unhealthy foods again. I've also started an exercise routing a few times the last few months, but always stopped for various reasons. I now find myself back up to 370lbs, and this week I started working out again and making a conscious effort to eat healthier and try to lose weight.
So, there you have it. Sorry for making the read so long, it was intended to be an abridged version I'm back on the site for some accountability. I realized that I was able to stay committed to losing over 150lbs last year because I had a purpose for doing it, mainly to look sexy in a tux. Right now, I still WANT to lose, but I'm having a hard time finding a reason to commit. Its too easy to put off "being healthier" when you don't feel like there is anything wrong. OK, ok, so I really want to lose weight to go ride the roller coasters at cedar point, but since theres no way I'm going to make it this year as originally planned, its hard knowing I've got another entire year to wait.
My current short term goals are to first get back under 350, then get back down to 320. The first should take less than 2 months, the second should take an additional 3 months. Secretly I hope it takes less, but realistically, thats what I'm expecting. My first long term goal is to match my best weight back in college of 260. I should be able to make this by next may. I'll have to see where to go from there once I get there.
Challenges, well firstly I want to find a comfortable mix of weight lifting and cardio. I've done one or the other exclusively, but I've never done both. I've only successfully lost weight doing cardio. I think its a mental thing, where if I go for a run or ride the exercise bike, I feel like I've done some work, and it inspires me to eat healthier the rest of the day. And then it inspires me to work out and eat healthy the next day. If I miss a workout, I guess I sort of feel like the day is blown, so I end up eating junk, and then the next day I feel like the week is already blown, and then before you know it I'm a couchpotato eating chinese takeout, chipotle, and pizza everyother day of the week again. And, for some reason, cardio is the only workout that gives me that "I'm losing weight" feeling that inspires me to keep going. So I want to be more flexible and prove to myself that it doesn't have to be all or nothing.
Second challenge is to prepare myself to maintain weight. For the last 8 years of my life, I haven't maintained a weight for a sustained period. I've always been gaining or losing. I don't think I can keep doing this the rest of my life. It was hard enough to lose the weight the first time, and I can't believe I was physically and mentally able to lose a bunch of weight a second time after gaining it back. Now that I'm suiting up for round 3, I want to get to a goal, and for the first time in a decade and hell, probably my entire life, maintain a weight. It can't be full on diet and exercise, or completely of the wagon binge eating. I've got to find a middle ground lifestyle change that is sustainable. Thing is, although I did it for 10 months, as soon as I wasn't trying to lose weight, I found out that I love junk food. every now and then turns into every day pretty damn easy when you're not trying not to.
Thats really where I'm at right now. Losing weight is easy. I've also discovered gaining weight is equally easy. This post has become much more than a welcome back post should be, but I guess I had some stuff to get off my chest. I hope I will find the site as welcoming now as it was when I left it.
Cheers!
Matt
browsed around the forum and still see some familiar faces, and some new ones. I'm coming back from a long (much too long) hiatus looking to get back on the wagon. Here's my story for those that don't know me or remember me.
I'm a 26yo guy, currently at ~370lbs, and I'm 6'5" tall. I've always been a big guy, but I've always been somewhat athletic. I topped out in high school at 350lbs. got down to around 320 during training for football my senior year of highschool. Going into college my freshman year, I was at 355-ish for my weigh in for the college football team (slightly too big for the standard 350lb medical scale). I went through a rough spot emotionally my first couple months of college, quit the football team, and went on a pretty drastic workout routine and restrictive diet (all very unhealthy), starting in the october/november timeline. By christmas break I was down under 310 (you do the math for the rate of weight loss).
After christmas break, the worst thing happend to me - I found a woman
. Got complacent and fat again. Back up to 335 by spring. Then the girl did me a favor and dumped my a$$, giving me the kick in the butt I needed to get going again, and there was no messing around this time. I went back onto a restrictive and unhealthy diet plan, and aggressive exercise routine. I made it through the summer, and even joined the college cross country team the next fall. At the end of the XC season, I was down to 258 - the best shape I'd ever been in in my adult life. I was never happier than I was then.Like all good stories, it doesn't end there. I didn't make it through the winter. Got complacent again, and started gaining weight. And boy did I gain weight. Over the next few years, I blew right past my original starting weight. I actually didn't know how much weight I had gained, but I knew I had at least gained back all I had previously lost. I made some feeble attempts to lose again, but never lasted very long. An amazing thing happened to me during this time as well. I found another woman, and she agreed to marry me after 5 years of dating or so
(yes yes, despite the fact that I was blowing up like a blimp practically in front of her eyes). I decided for myself and my future family, I needed to get myself into a healthy place. I started working out again and watching what I ate much in the way I lost weight previously. I couldn't even weight myself for a few weeks until I found a special scale. I estimate that I must have started out somewhere around 475lbs or possibly even more. Pretty scary and demoralizing when I found out. At some point I found this site and got some great advice along my journey. By the time of my wedding 10 months later, I was down an incredible 150lbs to around 320! Somewhere on the site, I have a before and after pic posted. Life was good then.Heading into the lastest chapter of my story, I constantly find ways to remind myself over and over again just how quickly weight can come back on after aggressive dieting if you don't put a similar effort into maintenance. The 10-day honeymoon put 10lbs back on me, but I suspect that was partly due to being slightly dehydrated before, and retaining water after. That was july of last year. I shifted my workout routine then to mostly weight lifting and less cardio (before then was all cardio). I maintained or lost slightly over the few months I was lifting, but that was ok because I was measuring progress in strength increases. I also lost touch with the site sometime last summer.
In the fall, I started falling off the wagon. I can no longer remember which came first, but around the same time, I also started having some health problems - mainly, severe constipation almost constantly (I'm not embarrassed to talk about it anymore), and occasional debilitating stomach pains that would wake me out of a sound sleep in the middle of the night. Between the 2, I was in a very uncomfortable place for a few months, and working out and losing weight went completely out of my mind. Turns out, my gall bladder was shot
. To shorten the story, I went to the ER twice, the latest being on Dec 23, on the 24th I had a lodged stone removed from my common bile duct that was causing liver inflammation (and I was turning a peculiar shade of yellow), and on christmas day, my gall bladder was removed, laproscopically. After the surgery, I was unable to even think about exercise for a month (but at least the constipation was gone
). Then the motivation blues set in. I was having a hard time to convince myself to get back on a workout routine. A couple months ago, I started to revert back to eating unhealthy foods again. I've also started an exercise routing a few times the last few months, but always stopped for various reasons. I now find myself back up to 370lbs, and this week I started working out again and making a conscious effort to eat healthier and try to lose weight.So, there you have it. Sorry for making the read so long, it was intended to be an abridged version
I'm back on the site for some accountability. I realized that I was able to stay committed to losing over 150lbs last year because I had a purpose for doing it, mainly to look sexy in a tux. Right now, I still WANT to lose, but I'm having a hard time finding a reason to commit. Its too easy to put off "being healthier" when you don't feel like there is anything wrong. OK, ok, so I really want to lose weight to go ride the roller coasters at cedar point, but since theres no way I'm going to make it this year as originally planned, its hard knowing I've got another entire year to wait. My current short term goals are to first get back under 350, then get back down to 320. The first should take less than 2 months, the second should take an additional 3 months. Secretly I hope it takes less, but realistically, thats what I'm expecting. My first long term goal is to match my best weight back in college of 260. I should be able to make this by next may. I'll have to see where to go from there once I get there.
Challenges, well firstly I want to find a comfortable mix of weight lifting and cardio. I've done one or the other exclusively, but I've never done both. I've only successfully lost weight doing cardio. I think its a mental thing, where if I go for a run or ride the exercise bike, I feel like I've done some work, and it inspires me to eat healthier the rest of the day. And then it inspires me to work out and eat healthy the next day. If I miss a workout, I guess I sort of feel like the day is blown, so I end up eating junk, and then the next day I feel like the week is already blown, and then before you know it I'm a couchpotato eating chinese takeout, chipotle, and pizza everyother day of the week again. And, for some reason, cardio is the only workout that gives me that "I'm losing weight" feeling that inspires me to keep going. So I want to be more flexible and prove to myself that it doesn't have to be all or nothing.
Second challenge is to prepare myself to maintain weight. For the last 8 years of my life, I haven't maintained a weight for a sustained period. I've always been gaining or losing. I don't think I can keep doing this the rest of my life. It was hard enough to lose the weight the first time, and I can't believe I was physically and mentally able to lose a bunch of weight a second time after gaining it back. Now that I'm suiting up for round 3, I want to get to a goal, and for the first time in a decade and hell, probably my entire life, maintain a weight. It can't be full on diet and exercise, or completely of the wagon binge eating. I've got to find a middle ground lifestyle change that is sustainable. Thing is, although I did it for 10 months, as soon as I wasn't trying to lose weight, I found out that I love junk food. every now and then turns into every day pretty damn easy when you're not trying not to.
Thats really where I'm at right now. Losing weight is easy. I've also discovered gaining weight is equally easy. This post has become much more than a welcome back post should be, but I guess I had some stuff to get off my chest. I hope I will find the site as welcoming now as it was when I left it.
Cheers!
Matt
