Hello to all

Steelkid

So my name is Matt. I am 30 yrs old and have been struggling with weight my whole life. Six years ago I reached a high of 570 lbs. From August 2009-December 2010, I lost 200 lbs. I put on 20 lbs and then took it off again. Since August 2011 I have been shifting between 400-470. Yea, some pretty huge weight swings.

It has taken me this summer to finally figure out how to lose weight. Yea, I lost 200 lb before, but I didn't learn anything. I just knew to stick to a low calorie plan and exercise 6 days a week not knowing I was setting myself up yet again.

Before 2009, I tried it all. Diet pills, 3 day/10lb diet, don't eat all day diet (when my weight really ballooned), fluid pills, Medifast, slimfast, Body for Life, pretty much anything you can come up with. This past month, I lost only 3 lbs despite walking, lean meats and vegetables and over two gallons of water of day. Certainly my weight loss would pick up, right? Not exactly.

At 1,000-1,300 calories a day, I haven't been eating nearly enough. That's why I lose weight, binge, lose weight, binge. I'm currently 438. I was going to try Food Lovers, Weight Watchers, personal nutritionist, etc.

I made a promise to make this the last time I would ever have to lose weight. So I did further research and discovered that I could eat some of the foods I enjoy but there is a limit. No drastic restrictions, no "kill myself at the gym", no pills, no fad diets, none of that. I need to find my maintenance calories for my body and cut them slowly to lose weight. It's been staring me in the face all this time! So this week, I'm starting about 3,000 calories until next Monday. I'll see where my weight/body fat is. If no weight change, I've found my maintenance calories. If I lost, I'll leave it right there or cut them by about 300 calories.

I want my calories as high as possible so that when I need to cut I'll have room to do so without starving. At some point, my body will burn the same amount of calories that I consume, so I can exercise more or reduce calories without starving.

1.5-2lbs a week the right way is more than enough considering the mountain I have had to climb. Wish me luck! And I wish you luck too!

salaita1968

i wish you luck matt

Steelkid

salaita1968 wrote: »

i wish you luck matt

Thanks. Same to you. I'll see where this experiment takes me.

hannahjs123

I'm doing a similar plan as yours. Good luck! Hope it goes well!

Steelkid

hannahjs123 wrote: »

I'm doing a similar plan as yours. Good luck! Hope it goes well!

Thanks. Same to you. Hope this time is it.