Set goals and keep moving

2thelimit2017

It's March 2016, I'm 6ft, 140kg and sitting on a chair trying to tie my shoelaces. I gasp for breath under the weight being exerted on my mid section as I bend forward reaching for the laces, time after time I have to stop to catch my breath. That's it! I've had enough of this ****, how the hell is this a way to live, struggling every damn day to complete even the simplest of tasks! Literally from that very moment, I'd had enough, I couldn't take it any more, red faced and exhausted, I finished putting on my shoes, stood up walked out the door into the back yard, leashed my "also overweight dog" and walked. I walked for almost 1 hour at a leisurely stroll along the lake where I live, taking in all the sounds, sights and smells around me. Little did I know at that time, I had just taken the first huge step in what was going to become a life changing journey. I made a pact with myself that no matter what happened, I would walk for at least 1 hour per day, every day and stick to it! So there I was, I had set the goal and after 4 weeks I had honoured that goal 100%. Every day, whether it be morning, midday or night, I would walk for at least 1 hour, and I did! At around the 4 week mark of walking, I started to feel better, I didn't see a major change on the scales but I felt I had more energy and wasn't as tired anymore throughout the day. The next goal was to go to bed earlier (as opposed to 1-2am), so I set a time of no later than 11pm to be in bed. This new goal was a lot easier than the first one to get used to as I started to crave sleep, and more importantly, mornings! I wanted to be up early and eating a healthy breakfast (my next goal). So here I was, walking at least 1 hour per day, going to bed no later than 11pm, getting up no later than 7am and now, without even realising, I had started to make breakfast a highlight of my day by eating fresh fruit, oats and plenty of water etc (breakfast was varied but I would be here forever listing the foods I ate, just keep this in mind, eat healthy, fresh non processed foods and slowly reduce your portion size), which brings me to my next goal lol... After setting that first goal and sticking to it, the rest kind of just came naturally and fell into place. Around June 2016 (3 months in), I discovered MFP, before this I was just roughly logging my calories into my phones calender every day. At that very moment, a whole new routine opened up to me, I started to reduce my portion sizes as I could now see, right in front of my eyes, the calories I was consuming on a daily basis. I started to only buy fresh, unprossessed foods, I cut out all breads, pastries and artificial sweeteners/sugar from my life, this was probably the hardest thing to do but once I started to replace bread/processed/sugar etc with home cooked/prepared salads/veggies/chicken/fish etc, I got used to the idea and even preferred it over the other high fat/sugar foods. I did keep Sunday night an open night for rewards though. Sunday nights were eat anything night, but I don't mean a whole bucket of KFC anything, I would reward myself with a "small portion" of something I loved, like pizza or Alfredo chicken (but only a small portion). At this time I noticed I couldn't eat a lot at any given time, my stomach had gotten used to small portions of food and anything more than a 400g tin of tuna would absolutely bloat me for hours, so I stuck to small portions and always kept it home prepared and fresh with plenty of veggies (mostly low carb veggies), MFP can help you here lol... Anyway, after about 18 months, I'm now at 98kg (42kg gone), and I'm feeling great! There's been a lot of other things I've done along the way to achieve this but I have just shared the fundamental things here to hopefully give others the motivation and perseverance to succeed in their weightloss journey. I should also mention that I haven't stepped one foot into a gym or even used any PT's etc, I have done all this on my own, with no one's help but my own so "You Can Do It". Good luck.

nowine4me

I love your story! I did the same, started by walking 10k then piled on good habits along the way. Cheers! You should post this in Success Stories too, I've always found them to be so motivational.

vanmep

I love the gradual, thought out approach! Congrats to you!

2baninja

Great work, I agree, you should post this on Success Stories, it'll boost up everyone who reads it.