Dave made it!!

insane dude, you look great.

How tall are you? Your start weight/end weight mimics mine almost identically. This is a great motivation post for me.
 
All, Thanks for all of the kind comments, they really are the icing on the cake (sorry for the food analogy).

Mikey....read your comments on my diary. Plain 'ole beer is bad enough for putting on weight, but looks like we are in the same boat that plain 'ole beer doesn't cut it. A pint of my favorite IPA or double cream stout is insanely caloric. However....now when I have one, I find that I enjoy it much much more than I used to. Good luck getting yourself to 246, 225 is right around the corner if you're convinced you want it to happen. You said you can't imagine yourself less than 200.....I couldn't either until I saw JessFroggers story. You've got 2 of us....want to be #3?

Jeff, I'm right at 6'0". I'm really glad that you've found some inspiration in my story, as I feel I need to give back what I got when I started here last summer. Where are you in your journey?

He who conquers himself is the mightiest warrior.
Confucius
 
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Dave

Yeah, I dont waste calories on bad beer. Maredsous 8 is my weakness but I am down to 2 or 3 per week now.

I would love to hear your ongoing strategies for maintaining your weight as you discover them.

Thanks again for sharing your story and amazing results.

Mike
 
It's been a while since I've been to the forum, but I thought I would give an update. 14 months ago I was morbidly obese at 260 pounds. Today I am 184 pounds, but more importantly today I ran a triathlon!

I have done pretty well in keeping my weight where I want it (184 or less), but it isn't easy. I was thinking that once I hit my goal weight that I would be able to eat most anything I wanted if I kept my activity level high, but that hasn't been the case. It wasn't too long after hitting 180 that I bounced right up to 185 which sucked because my long term goal is to remain 184 or less....the weight according to the BMI charts I'm not overweight. A few weeks ago after coming home from vacation I was 189.....ooops.

I've adopted a scheme which seems to be working pretty well for me for a bit now. I weigh every morning. If I am more than 184 I commit to no ice cream, no baked goods, and no alcohol that day. Since my activity level has been consistently pretty high, that scheme brings my weight down pretty quickly. Taking it one day at a time, and not letting it get very far from 184 makes it seem managable as I don't have too many austere days strung together. I didn't weigh for a whole week during an 8 day vacation and it took much longer to get back to 184.

I still drink MUCH less alcohol than I did before and that has been the most impactful component of my success over the last 14 months. Drinking hits me twice......extra calories in.....and I don't work out.

In case you're interested, I finished 20th out of 30 in my age group (45-49) and 161 out of 373 overall. In my age group I finished 8 of 30 on the bike and 14 of 30 in the swim. Yes, I SUCK at running...so I won't tell you that time.

Here's a couple of pics from the race.

Good luck to everyone. Remember......set goals you beleive in.....commit to them.....make them happen.
 
Hey! Thats awesome. You look great. Its also great to hear information about maintaining.. because I think it will be hard. I wonder often if I even will know how to maintain when I get there...

I think I'll take you're idea about the scale because yes, once it goes up a few pounds suddenly its alot harder to get them off again. For me, I gained 5 lbs a year for 7 years resulting in a huge ass 35 lbs which doesn't leave in a day or a week lol.

Great work, I dream about doing a triathlon maybe one day it will be reality!
 
Very nice to lose that much over age 40, very high accomplishment and dedication towards good health! I hope lots of people get inspired from this.
 
Dave:

Way to stick with it and thanks for sharing a good tip on maintaining. I like that. I am still headed in the right direction down to around 228 now just not as fast as I wanted. I will take it though.

Again, great results and very inspiring!

Mikey
 
It's been a long time, but thought I would post an update since I recently reached a milestone.


Today is my 50th birthday and a long time ago I set a goal that I would not be overweight on my 50th birthday. According to the BMI charts, that's <184 pounds. Today, I'm 50 yr old, and I weigh 181 pounds!!!!!!!!


The last two years since losing the extra 80 pounds I was carrying around have been amazing. I posted about the 2 triathlons I ran last year already. Since then, I've done some other activities that would have been impossible at 260 pounds. This summer I did a 300 mile bike ride over a 3 day weekend. While training for the triathlons I came to realize that I loved cycling, and took the plunge with a new road bike and all the "stuff". I trained like a mad-man.....riding over 2500 miles in the 3 months leading up to the big event.


I've always loved backpacking, and this year treated myself to two spectacular trips. First was a 6 day trek in Yosemite, topping out at about 11,000 feet on a pretty difficult route. But the real jewel was my 50th birthday present to myself.....a 6 day trek through the Peruvian Andes, ending at Machu Picchu. During this trip I hit a new hiking PR....at.... 16,129 feet!!!


I've found that for me, having these acitivities planned that I can't do without being in shape and light is the key for keeping me motivated in my exercise regimine and eating decently. This whole thing started with an effort to control my alcohol consumption, and I've learned over time that the same skills I learned to control my drinking were totally applicable to all calories going into my mouth. I've been able to really wrap my brain around the fact that I get a whole lot more pleasure being healthy/fit/trim, and doing amazing activites than I get from eating this or that treat. I now see food more as a means to fuel my body rather than something to bring me pleasure....but in doing so get so much more pleasure from food.


As for a specific tip.....I really find that daily (or nearly daily) journaling is critical to success. I start each day with a few minutes writing in my journal which allows me to assess how I did the previous day in terms of exercise and diet. I also reaffirm what ever goals I've been working on. I make these as specific as I can....."I don't want to be overweight on my 50th birthday", "I will burn 4000 calories exercising this week", and so on. I will not sugar coat it though. I spend a lot of time exercising, and that is the single biggest key to my success. I don't mind it though because I've found things to do that I enjoy, burn calories at a high rate, and see exercise as my ticket to doing things I'm really proud of.


I wish everyone luck in their journeys to better health through weightloss. I truely hope that you can experience the great joys I've had since losing my weight.


A couple of pics to share.......


Dave
 
Wow! I'm completely inspired! I've come here, here and there, to get inspiration.. 22 and alcohol is a pretty big part of my life.. I drink with friends and then make terrible food choices lol! Your story is seriously inspiring! I hope to one day be able to accomplish everything you have..


I started out pretty big but decided I was gonna change my life.. and I did! I lost something like 40 pounds.. started at 230 and down to 190! Lived a very active lifestyle, played lots of sports and exercised daily! Felt great! Than somewhere I got too comfortable and just started to drink more and party more.


This morning I stepped on the scale and it read 130.1 pounds. Everything, for nothing.


THIS will be the fuel to my fire! Alcohol no more. I miss the days when I had tons of energy! I havent noticed it until lately but all of the benefits slowly started fading.. and I feel way worse than I used too!


I actually have wanted to get into bike riding for a while as well! Maybe I'll look into it for a hobby.. I love scenery as well and bike riding would be incredibly enjoyable I think!


Thank you Dave!
 
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