I can do it - Starting at 370lbs, 6'2"

S

SamuelL

New member
I've made up my mind to do it. Time to get rid of the fat suit.
Age: 26
Weight: 370 lbs (edit here - I'm adding 388 to my ticker from earlier this year. 370 is the weight at which I started my new mindset and started posting here and 388 is the heaviest measurement I've ever got on my scale so I think it's fair enough to say I've lost the weight from that point.)
Height: 6ft 2in

I've had problems with self discipline and follow-through in the past, I dropped to 320 before and didn't keep it off for example, but I feel closer to a real 'tipping point' than before.

Honestly I think my main reason for this endeavor must be superficial (I want to look better) because I don't have a lot of motivation otherwise - My health is great (for now), I don't feel tired or have the many problems I've read about from others. I don't feel hindered getting around. I love life and I love my life and I love my work. I'm not saying I've had a perfect life but I do have a good outlook in general. I've never been a very social creature but in spite of that I have many who I would call friend.

So I've never really been under duress to lose the weight and it's oh so easy to enjoy the greasy foods and to never actively exercise.

I look at people with dramatic weight loss examples and see what a difference it makes and think, 'Well, I could do the same if I really wanted it.' I think I'm there now.

I don't know if I would feel better or not as a result, I truly feel pretty good already. I could just be well adjusted. But I know eventually I will have to lose weight or die early so why wait till then.

I may make it sound like I feel I have little reason to lose weight, perhaps that is true, in my mind at least, but even so, I do want to drop the weight.

I'm pretty much at square one. I'm about the heaviest I've been.

I don't have a real plan of attack yet. I wanted to start by joining this forum and continue by keeping this diary and put myself out there and I think that will help if I get some feedback throughout the process. By means of reminding me I actually said I'd do it this time. Which makes a difference I think.

I may record foods and such, I don't know. I will post a before picture soon to give me more motivation. I think even with my mental defense mechanisms I can admit I am embarrassed by my body as is, at least by way of an all so revealing before picture anyway. So if the image is up, I suspect I will feel more pressure to make sure the 'public image' improves less I lose face.

Identifying the source of my weight is easy enough. As a self employed artist, its all too easy to sit around all day to make pretty stuff, and then sit around during my leisure time as well. I am a notorious creature of comfort and have arranged my home studio to be as convenient as possible.

But more than that is my eating habits. Probably 90% is fast food. maybe 5% restaurants, and maybe 5% at home stuffs.

I don't know how bad I am with sweets, probably not too bad but I will be honest in my diary, else it's a pointless endeavor anyway and I'm sure if its down on paper, away from the convenient grab and go quickness I will realize whether it is a big issue or not.

Another problem is that I loathe shopping. Don't know why, it's just a pain. I guess I'm so used to convenience I must think 'why in the world would I want to go grab a bunch of food, half of which will probably sit there and waste anyway, when whataburger, sonic, jackinabox, etc is right there and ready to rock'

I plan to buy one of those little dumb looking bicycle pedal things that go under the desk and we'll see if I can coax myself to start using that. I've been on the lookout for a use elliptical machine too. I think I could enjoy doing that in front of my tv, which is conveniently hooked to my computer so I can watch anything from a tv episode to a science lecture while doing my exercise.

I will probably slowly try to start eating better. I do like salads, love them in fact as long as they consist of more than just lettuce or something.

Hopefully I can also start doing some small things bit by bit, like maybe crunches when I wake up.

All this must sound very ambiguous to those actually reading this but I think that's my idea this time around anyway. Go with a dynamic plan that I can adjust as I go. If something is unappealing, doesn't work, or is discouraging, I will switch to something else that does. So that at least I can keep some changes active in my lifestyle.

Unfortunately I don't live anywhere a gym right now.

I confess I'm a little worried about excess skin if I am actually successful in this. Maybe that's because I've seen some extreme examples.

I have some obstacles to overcome before I can hope to make any progress. I've got to go shopping (blech), stock up on food (good foods), and start phasing out fast food.
I think I'll start with those premade salads at walmart that are about $5 bucks a pop and so good. And maybe some cans of soup. I really don't know what else I could get.

I'll order the exercise stuff soon and get started with that hopefully.

I will probably reveal my identity for my own psychological reasons. It's easy to talk when one is just another anon in the interweb.

I wish I had a personal trainer, or assistant to prepare portioned meals, or a straight up drill sergeant but all I have is myself. Perhaps that will do.

I'm good with criticism so any spectators feel free speak your mind. Don't expect miracles right away though, I've done the burnout phases enough times to know to take my time, even if it seems halfhearted. I just need to trick myself into slowly losing enough to see a difference, then I expect I will have real motivation. That's one hypothesis anyway.

And forgive me, it's late, I'm sleepy, and there's probably a lot of typos, weird phrasings, and such.

Well, I've said enough for now. Let's see how it goes.

Cheers
 
Last edited:
welcome to the forum! I was actually bigger than you are and I've dropped a bit more than 50 pounds, so I know you can do it too.
 
In spite of what I said before, I think I will in fact start counting calories. I've done it before, at least partially, which is in part what helped me drop from 360 to around 325 or so.

I need to do more research but I'm limited on time. Still need to go shopping for stuff.

Not certain yet, but I think I'm going to do a video log of this as well. maybe a weekly or every other week basis.

I think I'm going to set a 2250 calorie limit. The my fitness pal thing seems to think I burn 3800 calories a day with no activity. I'm pretty sure I don't consume that amount even with the bad foods I eat. I don't care to spend the time to do a control observation to find out though.

I've decided to go ahead and get an elliptical machine. Wish they weren't so expensive. Guess I have to find one with a heavy weight limit heh.

Still on fast food but today and yesterday I got a salad from sonic and had a can of soup for lunch. About to go grab a burger for my premeditated villainous deed of bad food. For anyone reading, I don't mean to flip my habits on their head from the get go. its gonna take me a few weeks to ease into the new role. Still below my calorie limit so there.

Maybe I should get a physical calendar to keep track of this too.

Yeah, I ramble about a lot of stuff.

I'm going to have to figure out how to make myself drink water. not 'more' water, but 'any' water. I live on sodas. I -think- that once I start exercising regularly (which surprisingly I'm not dreading so far) my body will crave it. I think this because when I moved last (and I have a lot of crap to move), it was pretty physically intensive and I started drinking water regularly, even nearly exclusively for a while, even to the point to where I would rather have water than soda. Hopefully I can instill that state in myself again. Drinking water seems important from what I've read so far. But I'd like to research as to why. So much to do, so little time.
 
Yes, the transition to diet soda (or at least as I have found) isn't that terrible. Now, I even prefer it to regular.

Welcome to the boards, Sam (I'm just guessing...)
I think WLF is a great place to start as far as gaining motivation; I joined this site well into my weight loss journey, but have been pushed to do better for myself just in the couple months that I've been here.

Best of luck to you; do good things!
 
Yeah unfortunately I already only drink diet drinks, and mainly Diet Coke. I also like Sprite Zero, Diet Bargs, Diet Cherry 7up. Only exception is the very occasional A&W cream soda, wish they had those in diet form. I say unfortunately because if the opposite were true, I could make a difference just by altering my soda preference.
 
Not that there's a large number of examples yet but so far I've been able to stay around 2000 calories a day for the last few days. I've been a bit hungry but I've refrained from eating on impulse. I've got plenty to keep me occupied so it's not intollerable.

I'm still not eating much of the 'right' foods yet and I worry that reducing my quantity wont do anything for me. Spinning my wheels I mean. Guess I'll know within a few weeks.

Plan to do some grocery shopping within a few days. Would like to research what to get but I don't have time.. probly just look for low cal stuff.
 
A big help would be to cut out the caffeinated diet sodas.
THEN the transition to water will much easier, since diet 7 up is pretty close to water already.
All the caffeine in diet soda make you lose a lot of water, and empty your stomach out.
When I have diet Coke with a meal, I've noticed that I always eat way more.
If the water in your area taste bad, buy a Brita filter, or something similar.
 
Thanks Monster. I think I will consider that some day but not yet. I've been addicted to diet coke for a long time. But as I mentioned before, when I was active from moving recently, I craved water. Even didn't want sodas. I do plan to start being active again soon. But when I was moving it was all day most every day for a few weeks. Can't match that but we'll see. I'll do what I need to in the end, just bit by bit.
 
Starting to get a bit of a routine going. Salad for breakfast, from sonic so far which is about 450 calories. Then a can of soup for lunch - anywhere from 200 to 330 calories so far and then some fatty goodness for super like a burger or some other fast food.


Here are my calorie counts for the past several days. The first two I had to try to remember what I had to eat those days (hadn't started the calorie counting yet) and probably forgot something so they are a bit low.

3200+-
2816
2356
2038
1869
1476

I knew a lot of the foods I was eating were high in calories but I am amazed by just how high and how quickly they add up. For one of my favorite fast food things is the honey bbq chicken strip sandwich from whataburger. thats 900 something calories, and the fries are around 700. Then a couple of mcribs and fries are about the same. I did this or something similar a few meals a day.

I did drink a little bit of water, not much but its a start.

I am feeling a little bit off, a bit ill even, and a bit drained, probably withdrawal from my usual quantities of fatty food, but that's to be expected. With 1476 calories today, I think that might not be enough. Probably don't have to worry about kitosis though for just a day. I'll probably have around 2000 tomorrow. It would probably behoove me to seek a professional opinion as to what I should aim for.

Think I'll get some groceries tomorrow. Checked on the salads I like from walmart and they're around 200 calories each. That's pretty good. If I could somehow force myself to eat 5 or 6 times a day, alternating salads and soups or whatever, I think that would do wonders for my metabolism, at least in the long run. I have always typically eaten 2 maybe 3 times a day, even once a day sometimes. I do think portion control is important.

I'm a few pounds down but thats nothing to write home about yet. I can easily fluctuate 10 or 15 pounds. I'll start feeling a tiny bit of accomplishment when I'm below 350.

Till next time.
 
Hey mate, well done on lowering the calories, you'll start losing fast now. It's great you're starting to drink some water too. I used to hate water but now I drink 3 to 4 litres a day!
Best of luck on the journey :)
 
Hey there, sounds like you're off to a good start.

Try to eat your cals each day, your last couple of days looked a little low, no wonder you were feeling a bit drained. I think that when I don't eat close to my goal cals I'm more likely to have a binge. I try to save some cals for an evening snack too. I might have a piece of fruit and a small piece of cheese, makes me feel better in the morning (and helps me sleep well too :))

Anyways, I'm sure you'll be getting lots of advice here, so I'll shut up now :)

anna.banana
 
Thanks. Yeah it was a bit low and I don't know why I didn't just go ahead and grab a snack while I was in town later, I was up for about 22 hrs yesterday too so it was a long day. I think it was a bit of stubbornness that I just wanted to feel accomplished about eating such a small calorie amount. Of course my rational mind told me it wasn't necessary but this new mindset I have is a new experience to me so I'm curious as to where it will take me. So I'm kind of letting it do its thing. That sounds schitzo I'm sure but whatever lol

Today I made a new improvement. I made a point to get up when I woke up at about 7.5 hrs of sleep, as opposed to grabbing that extra hour of sleep, and went to go get breakfast right away. (Most days I hop on the computer first thing to take care of the computer side of business, check emails, etc and that can take 1-3 hrs or more) Had another grilled chicken salad from sonic for about 440 calories and had been 17 hrs since I ate so with hunger adding an extra sauce it was very delicious. May eat out tomorrow so I'll have another can of soup for lunch most likely. (By tomorrow I mean later today for me, I am usually awake nights)
 
Just weighed again - 6lbs down. Too soon to celebrate but even for my normal fluctuations that's a pretty quick loss. 4 or 5 days since I began my changes.
 
Finally went shopping. Stocked up on a bunch of salads, a plethora of canned soups, and a bit of lunch meat and low calorie bread. Was disheartened a small bit to learn my favorite salad, the chicken caesar salad that I thought was around 200 calories, was in fact 720 cals. I'm sure its still more healthy than a burger and fries though. That does make me question whether the sonic salads are really 440 cals. Might be 4 servings of 440 cals or something lol in which case I'd have to rethink my strategy a bit. The cans of soups are definitely at good caloric counts for weight loss I think.
On the bright side, even if the salads are high cals I've at least cut the majority of grease out of my diet.
 
I'm adding 388lbs to my ticker from earlier this year. 370 is the weight at which I started my new mindset and started posting here (so recently) and 388 is the heaviest measurement I've ever got on my scale, which was sometime late Q1 of 2010, so I think it's fair enough to say I've lost the weight from that point. And besides the inflated lbs-lost is good additional kick start for motivation ; )

Also, buying an elliptical as soon as a check clears. Though I don't know which one to get yet. Recommendations welcome.
 
Also, I've been thinking of some realistic goals and other motivations for this. And one of those is to be able to sport my own work.
I'm an artisan, mainly a costume designer (more or less, I mostly make armor), a pretty good one too, and I've never been motivated to finish any sets for myself and the big hindering factor of course has been my weight. I don't want to spend the time on a set that I wont look great in. I want to make some signature sets for myself.
 
Went to Buffalo Wild Wings yesterday with my dad. He'd never been before. I estimate I got out of there at 1200 cals, which really, is good for that place. Had my fill but omitted fries, appetizers and deserts. Appetizers are common for me, especially cheese sticks. Deserts are quite rare though. Put my daily cals at 2500ish so thats still losing and I felt anything but deprived.

Was another long day, about 20hrs up I think. (common for me to gain a few hours here and there) Slept 7 hrs and felt inclined to go ahead and wake up then. Thought to myself "I should do something simple just to get in the habit" so I decided to do 10 crunches. went ahead and did 25. Gives me a bit of insight to myself - if I can convince myself to do something small thats too small to say 'no' to, I'll probably do a bit more while I'm at it. Maybe anyway.

Started my day with a 300cal soup, chunky beef and veggies. Got lots of work to do so I'll leave off here.

Oh I will add that my pants were fitting a bit loose. I wear uniform style pants, emt or law enforcement style that have extra pockets and such, and they have a couple of adjustment straps on either side. Couple weeks ago I had them adjusted all the way out thinkin' I'd have to size up again. Now they're pulled taught and about an inch loose. I'll start getting really motivated when I can fit my old hot topic pants again, yeah, thats right, hot topic; I know you haters are out there ; ) that'll be a while off though for sure.
 
Hey

Good news on the pants loosening up. I think thats the best way of knowing that what you are doing is working. Go You!

'Hot topic pants' ???? Don't know what these are, maybe I don't want to know?

anna.banana
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top