Losing Weight -- Needing help and my story.

[Never_Quit]

Hi everyone,

So after a long time I have finally come to accept that I have a problem and I need help. I didn't really want to accept this for a long time but I am shocked to see where Im at today with the weight scale and in life in general. I haven't been in a good spot mentally or physically in life for some time now although mentally now im at a spot where I have toughened up and have decided I WILL CHANGE things. Its not going to be easy.

My problems started some time back when I was in university with weight. I was in 3rd year in 2006 and the pressure of school, work and everything else in life really started to get to me. Not to mention I hated what I did for work and school and the family situation wasn't the best either. In coping with this stress and problems I resorted to eating instead of the usual alcohol and smoking trends that some people have.

In early 2006 I was about 200 pounds. By the time I graduated in mid 2008 i was a crazy 285 pounds. Still I didn't think to my self that i had a serious problem on my hands. Again after graduating from university I was met with some personal and career failures despite my every effort and dedication to making things work. Things got worse with the fact that I ended up unemployed at home with my parents. This mentally took a toll on me. Without going into detail why I felt like this the jist of it is that here I was 22 years old and a complete fu&K up.

I spent a full year basking in a ocean of self pity and mild depression. From 2008 to now I essentially managed to completely lose my social life, confidence and have now completely fell out of touch with 5 of my life long friends. I attribute 80% of this to being over-weight. I felt embarrassed to go anywhere and face people that I knew. I didn't go anywhere, do anything and literally had become a complete loser in life. I found myself at an astonishing 346 pounds. That is until about a month ago. Something just clicked in one day. I have finally stopped making excuses and essentially said to my self what happened was the past and I cant give up. I need to lose this weight to get back to a normal life and start re-connecting with family and friends.

In this effort I have started eating healthy and have been going to the gym for a two weeks now (lost about 6 pounds thus far). I weighed in at 340 pounds today. I even quit my sh!t ass part time job and have taken up a passion in my life in the form of photography. I decided to just go for it and never have regrets anymore in fear of not trying. I applied to a very reputable photography program in north america. I went through the whole process of applications, interviews and out of 240 applicants a mere 20 of us got accepted. I am blessed to be one of them. That means yes, back to school I go, but, this time for something I love. I dont care if it doesn't make me a lot of money or gets me rich.

So thats my background^^^^ and where I am right now. I am in spot where I want to do it and have the mental strength to do it. I am 23 years old (male) and 340 pounds. I have no other commitments for rest of June, July or August. My only concern in these months is to get mentally and physically strong again and lose weight and set myself up in a routine for continual weight loss beyond these months.

And I need your help. pHEW! That was a lot to type. So if you made it this far. I NEED YOUR HELP!

First and foremost I need people to help me set goals. I dont know at this point what is achievable and what is not for myself. All I can say is that I used to be very athletic before i gained weight and all the way through my younger years I played competitive sports and AAA Rep Hockey.

I was thinking at the weight level I am at normal weight loss guideline probably dont apply? My stats are something like this: 23, male, 6.1', 340 pounds. So help me set some goals.

I am committed to working out at the gym 12+ hours a week no problem. Including weights and cardio. And I definitely know what Im doing when it comes to diet. I have read up on enough information to know what and how I should be eating. Since I was athletic when I was younger I know what Im doing in the gym as well in terms of weights and cardio and what and how to do it. I will likely start out light but would like to get into HIIT for cardio in a months time. I should also mention for how overweight I am I still have quite a bit of muscle mass on me and strength. I guess I always retained muscle mass easily. The endurance part obviously will build up over time.

^^^ All that being said I need help setting goals for the few months. What should I expect to lose over the next few months. I was thinking with a solid diet and workout regimen I should be able to lose anywhere between 4-6 pounds a week for a couple of months since Im so overweight. Does this sound right?

I was thinking by end of August I could probably get somewhere close to 285 pounds?

Also I would be open to hearing any input on wether to consider any and which supplements for my situation to help me out.

Any input and help in any regard on my situation is appreciated. Also if you read this whole post, lol, i thank you for the patience in advance. I felt I needed air out my background and where I am now and where I want to go.

 

[KaraCooks]

First of all congrats on the big life changes and on deciding to really make a push to change. That's a good thing.

Now I'll say the slightly negative - it seems to me that you might be *too* ambitious and too gung ho. 12 hours a week in the gym is a LOT. And for a lot of people it's simply not sustainable. I would aim for closer to 5 or 6 at most to start off with.

Also as far as losing weight, look to lose about 1% of your bodyweight per week if you're doing it in a healthy manner. That means you'll lose more at first, slowing down until you reach your goal.

Check out the sticky posts in the various forums for more advice on exercise and food.

 

[Never_Quit]

First of all congrats on the big life changes and on deciding to really make a push to change. That's a good thing.

Now I'll say the slightly negative - it seems to me that you might be *too* ambitious and too gung ho. 12 hours a week in the gym is a LOT. And for a lot of people it's simply not sustainable. I would aim for closer to 5 or 6 at most to start off with.

Also as far as losing weight, look to lose about 1% of your bodyweight per week if you're doing it in a healthy manner. That means you'll lose more at first, slowing down until you reach your goal.

Check out the sticky posts in the various forums for more advice on exercise and food.

thanks for the post. To be honest I was surprised my self at the gym since I have gone back for the last couple of weeks. 5-6 hours at the gym pushing myself a fair amount felt like a joke. I really didn't struggle like I thought I would. I suppose your right I could fatigue out quickly. For the time being I think I can do 8 hours a week no problem. Ill see how that goes for a couple of weeks. You have realize I really have nothing else to do for a couple of months. Im not working or really doing anything else. So for the time being I have the luxury of working out, eating, resting and sleeping and then repeating! lol.

1% a week, eh? What would that translate into for me in terms of pounds in the beginning here? Im 340 now, I suppose my goal maybe in a year or so down the road would be 190. Which roughly is about 150 pounds in about 12 months. For simplicity sake lets make it 150 pounds in 15 months. So thats about 10 pounds a month average. But what should I expect to lose in the beginning 3 months here, roughly?

thanks!

 

[KaraCooks]

Honestly no one can say what you should expect to lose after that basic sort of "average" estimate.

The thing is, a lot of it depends on your eating patterns. I always lose a LOT of water weight the first couple of weeks because I cut back on salts and snacky foods. But then it levels out and sometimes stalls out for a little bit.

Of course when you do a lot of really intense weight work, your muscles hold on to fluid as part of the recovery process, so you could actually be losing fat and not see a change on the scale.

There's just really no way to know for sure.

 

[Never_Quit]

Honestly no one can say what you should expect to lose after that basic sort of "average" estimate.

The thing is, a lot of it depends on your eating patterns. I always lose a LOT of water weight the first couple of weeks because I cut back on salts and snacky foods. But then it levels out and sometimes stalls out for a little bit.

Of course when you do a lot of really intense weight work, your muscles hold on to fluid as part of the recovery process, so you could actually be losing fat and not see a change on the scale.

There's just really no way to know for sure.

sounds good Kara. I guess just work hard at the gym eat right and go with flow then. I mean thats all really one can do right and how much ever weight loss happens, then happens. I guess if i get stuck in a prolonged rut then I can always seek help here and or change things up a little in my routine.

Thanks for posting, lol, I think I made the first post to detailed and long for people to read! Oh well.

Thanks again.