Is it even possible to lose weight?

BenIsFat

BenIsFat

New member
"Is it even possible to lose weight?" is the google search I did that lead me to this forum. That's where I'm at at this point, I'm starting to wonder if weight loss is just an urban legend like the boogie man or Ryan Secreast. Of course I know it possible I've even done it many time before but for some reason it seems so hopeless lately.

I think few people realize how demoralizing trying to lose weight can be. Every Sunday night is filled with good intentions and plans to hit the gym. Some weeks I even last till Wednesday but then it's something. Too sore to go to the gym so might as well order a pizza. No groceries in the house so might as well order a pizza. Oh look a commercial for pizza, might as well order a pizza.

I've had so much success in my life. Graduated college with honors, 6 figure job, I own a home, drive a luxury sports car but because I haven't done this ONE thing yet I can't help but feel like a failure. This is the one thing I want more than anything else in the world and I can't seem to do it.

So I'm going to give this another try. Some background info on me. I'm Ben, 28, live in Chicago and for the most part have been overweight most of my life. Right now I'm 6'0 and 291 lbs. My ultimate goal is to get under 200 but right now I'm focusing on 275. Here are the things I vow to do from now on...
  • I will not drink anything but water.
  • I will spend 30 minutes on the treadmill a day.
  • I will track everything I eat as best as I can on MyFitnessPal.
  • I will lift weight 3 days a week. (Last year I spent 5k to build a gym in my basement so it's about time it gets some use)
 
Welcome to the forum, Ben. You have one huge advantage over most of us: money can get you a personal trainer to kick your butt with some regularity and rework your workout plan to keep it interesting, it can order you much healthier, more delicious food than pizza and it can buy you better ways to relax than fat&sugar.

Best of luck on your journey, LaMa
 
BenIsFat said:
I think few people realize how demoralizing trying to lose weight can be. Every Sunday night is filled with good intentions and plans to hit the gym. Some weeks I even last till Wednesday but then it's something. Too sore to go to the gym so might as well order a pizza. No groceries in the house so might as well order a pizza. Oh look a commercial for pizza, might as well order a pizza.
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You, sir, have just described my entire life. In fact, just reading this makes me want to order a pizza.

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I find it really hard to look at a big number and think "I need to lose this" so I break it down into smaller goals. When it comes to binges, I actually have post-it notes that I write down, "Do I want (blank) more than losing weight?" The answer, so far, has always been no. No, pizza isn't as important as fitting into better clothing. No, chocolate isn't as important as getting out for a 10km race this summer or preventing heart disease.

You've found some triggers. Address them. You know them - that's a step ahead of a lot of people who are overweight - so find ways to solve them. Pizza is a trigger food? No more pizza at the store. You want pizza? Go to the gym and work off 1 slice and if you still want it, go find a store that sells by the slice. Leave the cards/cash in a time-lock safe if need be until you break that habit.

Personally, I hear a lot of people say "Your weight loss is in the kitchen - your diet will determine whether you lose weight more than exercise". I'm the opposite - If I go to the gym and exercise, my stress levels and my mentality shifts to the kitchen and I eat cleaner and less. I wonder if you might be like that too - once you get those exercise endorphin's going, you will start seeing that shift in your diet. Don't get me wrong, it's a conscious decision - but those cravings for things like pizza go WAY down and are tolerable.

Another thing I do is if I eat something outside of my plan (and sweets can be planned on occasion), I burn it off on top of my normal gym sessions. A 400 calorie slice of pizza would be worked off in a couple of days with some extra cardio but man, I'm DONE and that pizza - not worth it the next time!

Good luck, Ben! Stick around because this is a pretty awesome spot! You can succeed and you've found an awesome support system here!
 
Day 1
Weight: 289.5
Total Weight Lost: 1.5lbs

Today did not go well. I went to a work event where I drank WAY to much Jameson which I chased with WAY to much coke which lead me to eating WAY to many nachos. I did log everything and according to MyFitnessPal and I'm sitting at 2700 calories for the day.

Thank you all for the kind words. Hopefully tomorrow goes better.
 
Well, you're a fully grown man so without being overweight you would need around 2500 kcal just to keep your body functioning. 2700 is actually under maintenance for you. Does that mean those calories wouldn't have been better spent on actual food with things like protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals? Of course not! But this one day won't kill your weightloss. Do you know why you drank so much and what you could do to change or avoid that trigger?
 
Dude you're just like me. Six figure job, sweet car.... weird to have so much and so little at the same time. Been big FOREVER.

Decided after much trial and error alcohol has no place in my lifestyle, even on cheat days. It upsets the mindset, as other poster mentions. I'm on a quest to find "fun" that doesn't involve ingestion - let me know what you find man. Boy have I gotten good at Titan fall 2 on my Xbox in between small walks.

I'm 38 now. I envy your metabolism. Hope to hear more from you...
 
Sunflower_ said:
With all that money get a personal trainer! Or a dietitian? If you can afford the extra help, why not?
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I've tried a personal trainer before and didn't have much success. Also I found trying to schedule work out sessions with them to be really hard since I only really have 3-4 hours a day free.

DoctorBee said:
Decided after much trial and error alcohol has no place in my lifestyle, even on cheat days. It upsets the mindset, as other poster mentions. I'm on a quest to find "fun" that doesn't involve ingestion - let me know what you find man. Boy have I gotten good at Titan fall 2 on my Xbox in between small walks.
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I'm thinking of cutting alcohol out as well but have the same issue. So many of the "social" aspects in my life take place in bars/happy hours/etc and it doesn't feel like I can go to those places and just sip water all night.
 
Day 4
Weight: 288.0
Total Weight Lost: 3lbs

I've somehow made it through 4 different Thanksgiving meals without gaining weight which in terms of miracles is right up there with turning water into wine. According to the scale I've actually lost 3 pounds but I wonder how much of that is water weight or just because I slept in a little today. I've read that weighing yourself once a week is best for your mindset. That it'll help you focus more on your actions and less on what the numbers on the scale are. So maybe I'll try that.

Anyway now that the holiday is over I feel like I can really buckle down and focus. I ordered my groceries today and think I did a good job getting mostly healthy things that I will be willing to eat and not ignore for delivery. I'll put up an image of the stuff I got for you guys and maybe someone can suggest what else I could get or do without. I'm also waiting for my phone to charge right now and will jump on the treadmill for an hour when it's ready.

Writing in this thing and ready other people's diaries is definitely helping though. It's just nice to know that I'm not alone in this thing. Till next time.


My Grocery List:

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Having only 3-4 hours of free time a day is quite normal, or is that just me? But if you prefer working out without a personal trainer, that´s fine too, of course. There is no one right way to lose weight, only ways that do or don´t work for you; that´s something everyone has to find out by trial and error. But the forum is great for venting and staying the course.
 
Does your social life happen at the bar because you want it to or does it happen at the bar because you feel you'd lose friends/connections without that environment?

Why can't you 'socialize' at a new fitness class where there's a lot of motivation or a group dedicated to getting in shape or whatever?
 
Hi Ben & a belated welcome to the forum, Your grocery list looks pretty good. I rarely eat starchy veg, like peas & corn & love to have raw veg, like celery, cucumber (Lebanese), tomatoes etc. You can throw together a very healthy meal or just a snack if you have them handy in the fridge. A packet of raw spinach or baby spinach is always in our fridge. You can add it to almost anything. We add spinach to almost any meal that gets heated in the microwave. Spinach gets shredded & added to soups or casseroles at the last minute. We almost always have snow peas that can be eaten either raw or added the same way as the spinach.
Well done on getting through 4 Thanksgiving meals without gaining any weight! Your body is ready to lose :D Cheers, Cate.
 
Day 27
Weight: 283.4
Total Weight Lost: 7.6lbs

I haven't written here for a few weeks but it's not because I gave up on this little weight loss plan I'm on. Work has been pretty hectic and unfortunately updating my diary was a victim of that. However I am on vacation, actually a stay-cation, for the next 3 weeks. Which means get ready for a lot of my nonsensical rambling on this thing.

My diet hasn't been perfect since I last updated but I have cut down on the soda and eating out. I also haven't done much/any exercise so I'm going to consider the fact that I'm down to 283.4 a win.

Getting into the 270s is a HUGE goal of mine. As far as I can remember I haven't been that weight since college and getting there now will make this whole thing "real" for me. It'll help make the voice in my head, the voice that says that I can't do this, shut the fuck up. So that's what I'm focused on for the next three weeks.
 
Good to hear you're still going strong, despite hectic times. Darkest time of the year tends to be hard to navigate anyway so congratulations on still going the right way. Got plans for these three weeks?
 
I'm glad to hear you are still going too Ben. 3 weeks staycation? Time to get moving? Make the most of it Ben. Are you stocked up on healthy foods? Does your place need an Autumn clean?
We can cope with nonsensical rambling by the way. It's a good way to help clear your brain & get focussed. Cheers, Cate.
 
Do eeeet.

Find some fun exercise. I've started to enjoy walking at the mall. Feels less like exercise. Plus: yoga pants.
 
DoctorBee said:
Do eeeet.

Find some fun exercise. I've started to enjoy walking at the mall. Feels less like exercise. Plus: yoga pants.
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As enticing as yoga pants are I think I'm going to try and steer clear of places that have food courts.

LaMaria said:
Good to hear you're still going strong, despite hectic times. Darkest time of the year tends to be hard to navigate anyway so congratulations on still going the right way. Got plans for these three weeks?
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Right now the only plan I have is to hit the gym everyday but other than that I think I'm mostly just going relax at home with my cat.
 
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