New, 350 pound male starting a serious diet

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SoxFan23

New member
A bit about me. Obesity runs in my family, but in my youth I was able to avoid it. I was a boxer, and at my age I was pretty damn good. I could have gone professional with it, but I let depression of my home life overcome me. I never knew my father, and words can't begin to explain my mother. See, I was heavily abused. Not the abuse you hear kids complaining about now, but the real kind. Cigarettes being put out on me, hammers being swung at my ribcage.. She literally sent me to the hospital countless times. I was eventually taken away from her, but due to a messed up court system I was put back with her. At age 16 (It was a few days before my 17th birthday) I had had enough. I told her I was leaving, and she wasn't going to stop me. I left everything I owned and went to live with my girlfriend at the time. Unfortunately, drugs overcame my life by that point. The depression of living with my mother started me on a drug trail that ruined my life. I started doing drugs at 12 (yeah, I know), by 15 I was a full blown addict. However, I eventually cleaned myself up. Unfortunately one of the side effects of all the drugs I did was I lost my metabolism. It was the drugs that gave me the metabolism. So, I put down the needle and picked up the fork. Unfortunately I never put the fork back down. Ever since, I've been on a steady incline of weight gain.

And here I am. A 350 pound mass, dying in my home. I can't make it up stairs without being out of breath. Once a prodigy in the boxing industry, an aspiring musician, everything I loved slowly withered away due to weight gain. I dropped drugs, I did clean my act and I've been sober for over 5 years now (I'm SO proud of myself for that!). But, the weight gain is almost as bad. If not worse. My friends call me "Fat Austin". Which, I started. I tried to just pretend my weight didn't bother me, and I almost had myself convinced. But honestly, I went from being the most popular kid in school, with girls tripping all over me, then I got into my 20s and slowly but surely.. Just became a monster.


I'm going to be working on dieting and exercise. I want to do this as naturally as possible as I have a real problem with modern medicine (I don't believe most of this is needed, you know? We lived for thousands of years without modern medicine. Our immune systems are failing because we rely on chemicals so much).

I'll be hopefully taking pictures of my progress, maybe even videos. I'd like to get my fiance involved in this too. She doesn't need to lose weight (she's 5'4 and weighs around 110 or so. And trust me, the weight isn't in her belly -_^).

I plan to be active, supportive, and everything that I can here. Expect to see me often.

One warning though.. I'm a political and religion nut. Avoid talking about Christianity or politics around me unless you want to see me explode =)
 
Well done for coming through so much and dealing effectively with so many problems.

I am convinced that you can deal with the weight problem that you are left with just as effectively. Losing a large amount of weight is never going to be easy - but I am convinced that there are people here who can help you.

Many of us have lost large amounts of weight via exercise and nutrition. I have - and so have many others here.

You need to adopt a process whereby you start adopting good nutritional and exercise habits. A few of us posted recently about that process on another forum where I am active.



I would study the nutrition sections of both forums and develop a strategy for turning your current food plan into a really healthy one. I would also adopt some form of exercise. Walking every day was my doorway into the world of exercise. I would go for a walk every day and as soon as I could walk further I did. If you are big you do not need to walk briskly for it to be effective. When I first started I couldnt do anything briskly but walking every day was certainly effective...

Good luck with your project.
 
Being the size I am is part of the issue. It just got out of control. I didn't bother with weight initially because I was just too depressed to care. I lost my best friend to suicide, the drugs, the homelife, I mean some people think THEY have some stories boy could I tell them (although, I'm sure many here have some horror stories of their own). Now I'm at the size where it's often the "point of no return" for many of those people you see on TV and the news. I'm 350-360 (for some reason, I just weighed in at 349 a second ago, which means AFTER THANKSGIVING I lost weight.. lolwut?), but my height is something I forgot to mention. My fiance is short at 5'4, but so am I at around 5'10. I think I'm probably about 5'8 now, used to be like 6 foot, but all the weight seems to have shrunk me. So I'm 360, 5'8. That's pretty freaking big. My overhang is so big now that I have to lift it up and clean under it. I can't use the restroom and cleanse myself afterward without standing up and swinging my arm around (if you catch what I'm talking about there).

I plan on reading everything here that I can. I just took a spur of the moment brisk walk just because I felt that I NEEDED it before I would allow myself to sit down again. Walked for about 15 minutes and am regretting it. Paaaain.


I do have a few questions. I plan to diet really hard while I do this. I did weight watchers when I was young to maintain a healthy weight while boxing. Is there any program aside from writing out my own meal plans (will be too difficult with my lifestyle) that will aid me in forming a healthy diet? God blessed me with a palate (although, I don't BELIEVE in God, but whatever, it's a phrase) that LOVES natural foods and flavors. Love wine and a good pipe, for instance. So vegetables are always good for me. But, what diet programs are actually good? I've read so many horror stories of Atkins and the like, so I'm a bit skeptical.

Thanks in advance.
 
You are the same height and weight as my husband (at 360 and 5ft8). I used to be as cuddly as him (at 294 and 5ft3).

I should probably have explained that. I get so used to people seeing the ticker in the signature and thinking "this person has lost 168 pounds - that would make a heck of a difference to me - maybe they know a bit about losing weight as a big person".

My before/after pictures are in the maintainers section on that other forum. You will see them if you follow the link. I was basically as large as you.

The best plan is healthy eating. If you read my entry in that process thread you will see what I mean. No need to worry about those catchy "plans"... You are right - half of them are unhealthy, based on drugs somewhere, a total scam or just too gimicky for words. A lot of the big weight losers have done it via the healthy eating and regular appropriate exercise method that I am suggesting for you.

Margaret
 
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hey there,
just wanted to say hey and welcome to the forum. you have a very touching story there and a big congrats on being drug free for 5 years!

in terms of weight i can relate to you, early this year i started on my weight journey at 350+ pounds (5feet), now the end of the year is almost here and i'm now hovering around 308pounds...i'm hoping by the end of the year i can be out of the 300 club.

i estimate that late last year i could have been around 370 but will never know exactly the highest since at the time i stayed far away from weighing scales, and the one my housemate had didn't go above a certain weight. last year i was totally depressed, i spent most of it sleeping and eating and barely ever left the house.

so this year i decided enough is enough and to get my life back. so in february i just started eating healthy ie cutting out fried foods and sugary foods and eating more fibrous foods and increasing vege/fruit intake. i kept putting off exercise then in march i decided to join a gym. day 1 was the hardest, i was the biggest person in that gym and felt like all eyes were on me...but i told myself i'm doing this for ME ME ME. and many months later i've never ever regretted that decision. i still have a looong way to go, but the difference is that with the exercise i can now LIVE my life, because before i just wasn't living. i'd walk up 5 steps and start huffing and puffing, or i'd walk 2minutes and break into a sweat and start hyperventilating. but now thats all in the past because i'm able to walk around where i want and do what i want.

in terms of what to eat all i can say is i just strive to eat healthy foods, and a couple of times a week will reward myself with a treat but a moderate portion. i don't count calories (but that's just me). most people on here count calories and it works really really well for them. i'd suggest venturing into the nutrition section and start by reading the stickies and post your nutrition questions, then people will help you know what calories you need to be taking in. most people on the forum stive for the healthy approach, so you'll be surprised that the amount of calories you'll need will be good enough to sustain your frame.

in terms of exercise you can just start slow and slowly build up from there. your body will thankyou for it. there's always that whole initial phase (the first few workouts), where your body will be really sore since it's starting a new regimen, but once you break through that then you'll start to reap the benefits...which will feel AMAZING. so just keep at it. there's also stickies in the exercise section i'd recommend reading.

okay, i think i've rambled on enough. just wanted to welcome you and wish you all the best on your weight journey. :grouphug:
 
Welcome to our forums ... I am just beginning my journey here as well, and at 5'9" and 331lbs, I definitely understand where you're coming from.

My first advice to you as you're getting started is to start trying to train your body to think of fruits or vegetables first in terms of snacks. That is one of my very first steps that I'm working on and so far I have lost 3lbs. just last week. My diet was terrible, so incorporating fruits and vegetables first will fill me up so I eat less of the other garbage food. It's incredible the difference in energy I have when I've gotten enough fruits and veggies and I've drank enough water in the day. On a similar note: I've also cut out soda, which for me was moderately difficult, but it would be a lot more difficult for someone who drank it a lot more in the first place. My body was addicted to the caffeine, and I hated that. I'm a control freak about my body, so being reliant on something in order to function at work and home properly was very uncomfortable for me. Now I have only drank water or milk (and the milk is rare) for the last 3 weeks, up until yesterday when I had a glass of wine. It took a while to get used to not having the caffeine, but after the headaches went away I felt much better as a whole.

Logging your food intake definitely helps a ton, and you'd be surprised at how easy it can be. Even if you just have a pocket-sized notebook in your back pocket, you can just make short-hand about what you've eaten and it won't take you more than 10 seconds every time you put something in your mouth. I never was the food journaling type either, but I'm trying it now. I'm not perfect--I do much better with it while I'm at work than when I am at home, but regardless, just starting the process has helped my mentality immensely.

You can also log your food on websites like fitday.com to get an idea of your nutritional intake and how to best tweak your diet, which is a really useful tool.

In addition, you should start a post in the "diary" section -- it's a place where you can feel like you're being held accountable and get advice and support from others, and likely inspire others along the way.

Enough from me, ... I'm off to work off my Thanksgiving dinner from yesterday, but I hope to hear from you again soon. Welcome!
 
I highly recommend starting an account at fitday.com and figuring out how many calories you need for maintainence and subtracting 500-1000cals from that.

As for what to eat it is a blessing you like good foods. The best 'diet' book I have read it the abs diet by mens heath. Really gives a good look into getting started eating clean foods and a general idea of how food helps your body run without going into a 700 page long book full of dribble.

Best of luck and I tried to PM you but you have to wait 5 days :(
 
Thanks so much for the replies. Money isn't much of a concern (I'm well endowed there too, not just in the belly). What equipment would you suggest to accompany my treadmill? Is there any weight lifting equipment that I should be buying? I'm not talking about those wonder balls and wheels and gizmos you see on tv, I have no faith in any of that stuff, but I know exercise is one of the keys to weight loss and I personally can't go to a gym (I'd just feel too out of place, and I'd end up getting too discouraged to continue), so I figured I'd start my own. Plus, that would FORCE me to stay with the diet after I drop thousands of dollars into it.

You guys have been all helpful so far. I just woke up (My sleeping schedule is very horrible, it's 5:30PM here) and I'm slowly working on getting myself into a normal sleeping schedule so I can workout easier, for now I'm just trying to wake my body up. Start out slow, but in the long-term what should I be purchasing? I am very interested in improving muscle mass too. I don't want to be some hulking disgusting creature, but I do feel that being able to feel myself getting stronger would encourage me more too.

Thanks, again. Really.
 
Hey there SoxFan. Welcome. I'd second what Margaret said.

Also ... if you're interested in the right kind of exercise, check out the sticky threads in the exercise area - paying particular attention to the ones by Steve. There's one called "The Conceptual Side of Weight Lifting" that will give you a lot of good information on how to get started.
 
KaraCooks said:
Hey there SoxFan. Welcome. I'd second what Margaret said.

Also ... if you're interested in the right kind of exercise, check out the sticky threads in the exercise area - paying particular attention to the ones by Steve. There's one called "The Conceptual Side of Weight Lifting" that will give you a lot of good information on how to get started.
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Awesome! Thanks. We're going to go shopping later this week to pick up some of my starter gear =)

The heavy diet starts soon, I'm really against wasting things, so we are killing the last remaining diet coke in the house then switching to primarily more dietary geared drinks, specifically water (we're doing bottled just so my fiance won't complain about tap water "Tasting funky" even though we all know it's all the same thing!)

I am going to have trouble backing off of my beer though. It's such a staple in my life. Sitting down, watching the game with a cigar or a pipe and a beer. Now we're going to hook the treadmill in front of the TV so I can watch the game while walking. We're going to start me off at only walking during commercials but I PLAN to be able to watch an entire game while walking on the treadmill.

I've been reading a lot, and have already made drastic changes in my life.. Though I did splurge and finish off the last of the hamloaf from Thanksgiving. But, I only get it once a year and it's my favorite food. So, who cares? =)
 
I am going to have trouble backing off of my beer though. It's such a staple in my life. Sitting down, watching the game with a cigar or a pipe and a beer.
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One thing I do is allow myself a "free" day each week. It's not a free-for-all ... it's just a day where I'm a little more lax about counting my calories. For me, having a beer or 2 would be something I"d fit into my free day, just in order to not be deprived.

Don't know if that concept would work for you, but it's something you might consider.
 
KaraCooks said:
One thing I do is allow myself a "free" day each week. It's not a free-for-all ... it's just a day where I'm a little more lax about counting my calories. For me, having a beer or 2 would be something I"d fit into my free day, just in order to not be deprived.

Don't know if that concept would work for you, but it's something you might consider.
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I think to start I'm going to limit myself to 2 beers a day. That's a real cutback for me. I'm by no means an alcoholic, it's not the alcohol I'm addicted to, but the flavors and the sensations. I've gone months without beer during times when I was too depressed to leave the house and vacations and stuff. I'm always fine without it, but I don't want this journey to weight loss to feel like it's a punishment, but something I'm doing for myself. So, I'm going to slowly cut back. After the 2 a day, maybe 1 a day after that, then I'll switch to 2 on a freeday like you maybe.
 
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