Hello all. My name is Chris. I thought I would tell you a little about myself. I am 27 from a small town in Michigan.I have dealt with obesity most of my adult life and for some reason I just always thought I could never lose the weight. I always had good self esteem and honestly never got picked on so the whole being fat thing never bothered me much. Not until the last couple years though when I would go to the doctor for a cold, check up, whatever and they constantly tried putting me on blood pressure meds. I was having blood pressure around 190/100. I took a few different kinds of meds and they all gave me absolutely horrible side effects. I have never been a pill taker and did not want to continue down that road with taking a pill to help one thing then another pill to fix the side effect of the first pill. So one day in April of this year I woke up, threw the pills in the garbage and I went for a walk around the 80 acres behind my home. Then I went for a walk everyday that week right out of bed. I don't know what happened but for some reason I just enjoyed being in the woods and hiking through the trails. I said to myself "I wonder what would happen if I cut my calories in half?" So for a week straight I kept a log of everything I ate, read the labels counted the calories and did the math. The week after that I walked 1.5 miles everyday and ate 1800 calories per day. I lost 7 lbs. I could not believe it. I was ecstatic to say the least. My on going journey started at 370lbs. Today I am 270lbs, can jog that 1.5 miles now instead of walking it and my blood pressure is 116/60. No pills, no more stern chats from my doctor. My journey will never end. I will always be looking for a better way to be healthy and to reach my all time goal weight of 210lbs. Thanks for reading this and I look forward to talking to you all. Cheers!
Hello from michigan
- Thread starter Chris O
- Start date
Great going Chris...I have brought down my blood pressure similarly and banished my heartburn [acidity problem] completely...feels great already, but a long way to go still.
Six months back, going through a 'mid life crisis' I was imagining that I had stomach ulcers [read cancerous] and that I needed to sit down every ten minutes...until I went down to a doctor who checked me out and assured me that it was all in the mind and that too due to low self esteem.
The next day bought a bicycle and then joined the gym, started a diet. Today I have had to alter all my trousers for a 5 inch loss on the waist and i am looking forward to another 4 inches already..my musculature and strength is developing and yes I do not need to sit down after hours of standing or walking....and have never fallen ill even once in the past six months
So great decision...keep it up and keep us all posted
Six months back, going through a 'mid life crisis' I was imagining that I had stomach ulcers [read cancerous] and that I needed to sit down every ten minutes...until I went down to a doctor who checked me out and assured me that it was all in the mind and that too due to low self esteem.
The next day bought a bicycle and then joined the gym, started a diet. Today I have had to alter all my trousers for a 5 inch loss on the waist and i am looking forward to another 4 inches already..my musculature and strength is developing and yes I do not need to sit down after hours of standing or walking....and have never fallen ill even once in the past six months
So great decision...keep it up and keep us all posted
Thank you both for the replies. The number of things with my body that have changed for the better are numerous. Almost too many to list. I had acid reflux really bad. I was put on prilosec. While I still have the acid reflux I went from 1 pill per day to only 2-3 pills per week. I guess cutting out all that soda probably did that haha. I do have a herniated disc in my lower back and that was part of the reason I started working out as well. The doctor just wanted to put me on pain killers and I was not going to do that. I know too many people who are addicted to prescription narcotics for chronic back pain. I will take one a couple times a month when I absolutely need it but that is it. The pain is still there in my back but it is not as often as it was. It used to keep me up at night. Now it only bothers me enough to where I will take something for a handful of times a month. I started this wearing 50" waist jeans. Now the 42" waist I bought a month or so ago are too loose and need to be replaced with a 40 maybe 
I can only see things getting better from here on out. I really hope the people out there wanting to lose weight will see that anything is doable when you put your nose to the grindstone. It is all in the diet for me. Probably 85% diet and 15% exercise.
I can only see things getting better from here on out. I really hope the people out there wanting to lose weight will see that anything is doable when you put your nose to the grindstone. It is all in the diet for me. Probably 85% diet and 15% exercise.So good to hear this Chris and I hope people read what you have written because what you have written is overflowing with motivation and determination...write a long one again when your waist reaches sub 40"...look forward to that and if I am not mistaken, your acidity and back problems would have almost disappeared by then.
A spot of 'opinion' [I get a bit nervous to say 'advice'] : increase your exercise gradually and reduce your dieting such that you get it down to a 50-50 level. According to me, that will be more sustainable and healthy. The goal should be to lead a healthy life of daily exercise and couple it with good eating habits. At the end of the day, you cannot be on a diet forever...I cant: I just love food
A spot of 'opinion' [I get a bit nervous to say 'advice'] : increase your exercise gradually and reduce your dieting such that you get it down to a 50-50 level. According to me, that will be more sustainable and healthy. The goal should be to lead a healthy life of daily exercise and couple it with good eating habits. At the end of the day, you cannot be on a diet forever...I cant: I just love food
Originally Posted by Hulk
So good to hear this Chris and I hope people read what you have written because what you have written is overflowing with motivation and determination...write a long one again when your waist reaches sub 40"...look forward to that and if I am not mistaken, your acidity and back problems would have almost disappeared by then.
A spot of 'opinion' [I get a bit nervous to say 'advice'] : increase your exercise gradually and reduce your dieting such that you get it down to a 50-50 level. According to me, that will be more sustainable and healthy. The goal should be to lead a healthy life of daily exercise and couple it with good eating habits. At the end of the day, you cannot be on a diet forever...I cant: I just love food
Absolutely. I need to get a gym membership. It got really cold here in Michigan. No more jogging outside for me so I think I am gonna join the local gym. I do take occasional breaks from what I regularly eat just so I don't get burnt out on it but you are right. The goal is indeed a sustainable healthy lifestyle and not just losing weight then going back to the fast food. No way in hell haha.
Thanks for the opinions everybody. It feels good to be acknowledged for my hard work. I have put a link to my pictures in this post so you can see where I started and where I am at now.
http://weight-loss.fitness.com/t/55916/in-the-middle-of-my-journey