Introduce Yourself
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HI, I'm Chris. I've traveled this path before, perhaps I'll give it another shot before I die. My environment as a child led to me being malnourished at 5'10 tall and 75 lbs. Upon getting my freedom at 18, it took me three years to balloon to 360 pounds, and another 18 years to blow up to 380 pounds! Things were going well six years ago. I got down to 300 pounds after a breakup, but we got back together and my weight started creeping up again.
The veins in my legs are finally shot. I'll always have to wrap them to avoid edema and pitting ulcers. I'm trying to lose weight now since I'm afraid of dying and I'm having health problems that I don't think I should have at this age. To put it mildly, I'd like my feet to be visible instead of just my toes. I’m at 380 pounds and my goal is 210 pounds, still overweight, but dad bod status.
For now to start, I'm trying to walk more to build up a tolerance in my back to being upright more and help my legs pump the liquid out of the tissues, hoping this will allow me to walk around the gym to lift weights. I'm trying to stick to a 2300 calorie diet while also juggling macros, lower carbs, higher protein, higher fat, including denser lighter natural foods such as kale and broccoli, as well as including natural fruits into my diet for once and getting comfortable with natural sugars. Almost like a return to the basics of the somewhat healthy food they exposed me to as a kiddo at school lunch, except with an adult twist on the recipes.
I'll be real. I don't know what to expect from putting all this here. It's probably just cathartic to write this all out. Plus, what I've been doing has obviously not worked for long term before. When I eat more healthily, counting calories, making my macros, and working out every other day for an hour. I can drop about 8 pounds a week continuously for 4 months or at least that's what happened 6 years ago and no I'm not starving myself... just healthy, fresher foods are much more filling and nutrient packed, 6 meals a day and I am stuffed on 2000-2300 calories a day XD.
I guess, I'm saying the last part as an acknowledgment that I know I can do this, if I can find some way to stick with changing my life for the better. So for now, I'm free falling. No support, no friends, no family. Just fear spurning me onwards. Let's hope I don't become fearless eventually XD.
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Although you have had many challenges, please know this is doable. Many in this group have lost over 100 lbs. over time including myself. Read some previous posts from Novus Dies and Dante that may be helpful in getting started.
I do hope you are also working with some medical professionals at this stage to help you assess what is healthy for you to do at this time.
Welcome to the group!2 -
Welcome, Chris! I wish you all the best in adopting a new lifestyle.2
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Although you have had many challenges, please know this is doable. Many in this group have lost over 100 lbs. over time including myself. Read some previous posts from Novus Dies and Dante that may be helpful in getting started.
I do hope you are also working with some medical professionals at this stage to help you assess what is healthy for you to do at this time.
Welcome to the group!
Not yet, but I'm scheduled. So soon i guess? XD1 -
AlexandraFindsHerself1971 wrote: »Welcome, Chris! I wish you all the best in adopting a new lifestyle.
thank you ^^1 -
Jump into any of the other posted discussions!1
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Hi Everyone!! I will be 72 in May. Three years ago I lost 60 pounds but with the pandemic I've put 40 pounds back on. Now I'm paying the price. My knees and hips ache and I'm always tired. So it's past time to get back to a healthy diet and stay within my calorie limits so I can get this weight off and not hurt so much. I would like to lose about 90 pounds. I guess I keep thinking I can do that eating sweets when I know that isn't possible. I'm hoping with some encouragement from this group I can get the weight off and make it a permanent life style change. I want to be healthy and active.3
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Welcome Timberlan! This is a very supportive group. You may want to read some previous postings to kind of get acquainted with everyone. Experience is on your side! You can do this.4
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Thank you for the welcome and encouragement Yoolypr!! My first two days have been good. Now I just have to keep my head in the game. Life is too short to live it unhappy.3
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Love the NovusDies post. Thank you again Yoolypr. That does put things into perspective because it is so true. We all look for the magic diet to help us lose the weight when what we really need to do is get realistic and cut the calories. It's what has brought me back to MFP. That is where I have been successful because it has made me track calories.1
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Do stick with us Timberlan! It’s doable. We have several members who have lost over 100 pounds. Most of us are works in progress while others are working on maintaining their weight loss. Lots to learn here! Jump into the discussions.1
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Hey @DaddyHertz and @Timberlan127 -- hello!
@DaddyHertz if you're working on adding vegetables and fruits to your daily intake... you should join us in the bunny thread!!!!
Getting the calories down and making them as satiating as you can is the first thing.
Other than for a very short while I don't know if I would be long term hoping to hit 8lbs a week. Most people find 1% of their body weight per week to be a more long term sustainable rate of loss.
And aiming for the long term is THE thing to do starting out where you are. The goal is to have you posting here continuously for the next 5 to 7 years whether it is while losing or while maintaining at your new lower weight
You will still see most excellent results even if you're eating in the 2500's. And if you're active possibly even more. Check out what a lightly active to active person of your future weight will be eating to maintain. It is not a terrible caloric goal to start with....
@Timberlan127 our very own @Yoolypr is going to give you a run for your money... and even our recently quiet @conniewilkins56 ...2 -
Hi everyone,
I'm new to this group, but not new to losing 75+ lbs. I've used MFP intermittently in the past, but mostly for the food diary. This time round, I'm going to try to lean on the community aspect a bit more because I know it's also a big contributing factor to success.
In 2009, I started a big weight loss journey, and it was really successful. It was a combination of a complete overhaul of how I was eating - I became a fairly dedicated "clean" eater - and upping my running/exercise. I discovered that clean eating was pretty effortless and enjoyable overall, and I truly grew to love my regular 5km runs.
In about a year, I lost 75 lbs and stayed there for five years with little fluctuation. In 2015, a seven-year rollercoaster ride began with multiple moves, jobs, deaths of family/friends, and then my mother's illnesses intensifying to the point of me needing to move in with her and my dad suddenly at the beginning of the pandemic to become her full-time live-in caregiver while working full-time remotely. The combination of all of this resulted in a slow gain of about 10 lbs per year from 2015 - 2020, and then added 25 lbs per year in 2020 and 2021. Sadly, after fighting hard for years, my mom passed away earlier this year. So, here I am, still working through grief while being acutely aware of how unhealthy I am while I stare down at the scales: 300.2 lbs. My highest weight ever. I need to find my way back to me again.
I'm restarting everything. A return to what worked while trying to be kind to myself for straying so far. Back to eating clean which works for me, and I actually enjoy if I'm not caught in the storm of emotional eating. Will be working on the emotional stuff and my coping mechanisms. Back to moving my body - slowly at first, with the goal to get back to my 5 km runs.
Funny story: I started a challenge last year here on MFP, but I never received any notifications that anyone replied to the thread. At the end of last year, I checked out the boards for the first time in months, and I discovered that not only did someone find - and accept - my challenge, they proceeded to lose 100 lbs over the course of eight months, as per the challenge goals. You can imagine the look on my face when I discovered this thread of someone successfully following my challenge - thrilled for them, but in total shock that I never knew someone was up for it.
All this to say, I plan to create a similar challenge, but I'll just have to figure out where to house it here on MFP. I call it the "2.77 Club" because as long as you average a loss of 2.77 lbs/week, you will meet a 100 lb loss by December 31st. This is my goal, and I understand that this may be too aggressive for some, but if I'm doing things in a healthy/balanced way, this is a doable for me.
So, that's me. I'm here, I'm back, and I'm looking to rely a little more on the community aspect of MFP. I look forward to connecting with others who are starting or restarting their health journeys and cheering each other on along the inevitable ups and downs. We got this.
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Welcome! Take some time to look over the older postings here. Lots of wisdom and experience to learn from.2
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Hello new losers! @mrsjenfrank , @bulfrognz , @DaddyHertz and @Timberlan127 .
Welcome to Larger Losers. I've had a busy few weeks so have been a bit slow to respond and introduce myself.
I hope your wills are still strong and you are finding your way around the archive of information and the threads of the Larger Losers group. I know it can be a bit overwhelming - but I promise you it is worth it.
The wonder and glory of this group is the understanding and support you will find when you are on a mission to lose a significant amount of weight. Despite how fantastic it feels when things are going well and you are on top of the world thinking "Yeah - I got this beat" - it can still be a very long (life long), sometimes lonely and challenging road with lots of bumps. And those little hamsters in our heads can really play games with us.
After losing 115 pounds and getting into the "normal" BMI bracket for the first time in decades, I have found myself on a particularly bumpy stretch of road the past few months. This group has helped me keep faith and stopped me from straying too far from the path that I desperately want to stay on.
I hope you stick around - and can't wait to hear your voices, stories and experiences on the threads.
We will learn from each other and that will make us even stronger. Strong enough to stay the path.3 -
Hello, I’m Amy! I’m in my 30s and have been overweight my entire life. I’m engaging with the MFP community to help me achieve my goal to lose 100+. I started MFP 1/2020 at 266 lbs, dropped down on 3/2021 to 240 lbs. Then, story old as time, gained it all and more.
I’m back for good this time. At a recent doctor appt I was diagnosed as diabetic as well as a few other ailments. Clearly the time is now to get my health in order.
I’m focused on:
- following the instruction of my doctors
- moving more, exercise
- eating better
- staying engaged to make these lifestyle changes stick
Add me as a friend if you’d like a fellow accountability partner. I log and comment daily. I also try to share an encouraging meme every day to help stay inspired. I’ve been reading the archives older posts which really are rich in information.
Hope everyone out there has a wonderful day!
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Welcome! Do read the older posts. Lots of good information there and much silliness too. Jump into the discussions.3
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- moving more, exercise
- eating better
- staying engaged to make these lifestyle changes stick
@Yoolypr is a way older AND WISER 
person than myself AND on top of that she goes to the gym! But I am going to throw a "couple of things" in here because they were game-changers for me.
I love seeing you use the words "moving more". I always thought I had to "hardcore exercise sweating bullets and tears" in order to derive health benefits. No pain no gain, right? Moving more? Just walking?
Come on, WAY too easy!
And yet, I was SHOCKED when I discovered that I was ACTIVE (in terms of calories and in terms of the world we live in) by the time I was reliably walking over 10,000 steps a day. I was floored when I realized that just by walking and losing weight I had increased my cardiovascular conditioning into the "excellent for my age" range according to Fitbit. And it felt (and continues to feel) that way too!
Eating better. That scares me a tiny bit! By hook. By crook. By whatever means necessary! As long as you're taking in less calories than you spend... you are going to spend some of your energy reserves and you will lose some weight! Of course eating better is good as a goal by itself. Of course eating better can help us regulate the calories we ingest. But eating better is neither a sufficient, nor, ultimately, a necessary condition to control our weight. That said absolutely: I now eat way better than I used to when I was above your starting weight! (well: @conniewilkins56 will disagree--but she always thinks I am eating "strange")
Staying engaged: you GOT it! And NOT just during weight loss. Especially afterwards! Jump into the conversations: @lauriekallis "can't wait to hear your voices, stories and experience" -- that sounds so Margaret Atwood! .... I just want to know what you think of my fish water soup experiments! Oh, oh, oh: and about your bunnies too!!!! 
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...Clearly the time is now...
Hi, Amy. Welcome to larger losers. You've had such a great greeting here from PAV and Yooly that I'm just going to say hello.
I chose these words of yours as my motivater for today. "Clearly the time is now" - yes! You can do this...I can do this...we can all do this. It's not easy - but I'm pretty certain it will prove much easier than lugging/caring for an extra 100+ pounds of body.5 -
Hi all. Technically not an introduction… maybe reintroduction. 😊 during my hiatus, I was on a terrible pain medication that rewired my brain, things got out of control, bad habits reappeared, and sedentary happened. A few weeks ago I had the first of two surgeries on my back and have ditched the pain meds that seemed to rewire my brain. While I’m feeling overwhelmed in trying to work on reestablishing healthy habits and losing the weight I’ve gained, I’m thrilled to be more functional without the pain meds and work towards being healthier before the next surgery.6
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Yikes science girl! Glad you're getting better! Come on down. Tell us about your bunnies 🐰🐇😘3
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Glad you are back, Science Girl. Next time you wander off - maybe a nice trip to warmer climes? Or colder. Sounds like you've been to hell and back! Hope you keep recovering well.3
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Once I’m back to myself and can travel, 🌴 🏖 and 🌞 are definitely in order. Over the years I’ve taken a number of pain meds for nerve issues but never one that impacted me so dramatically. Since my body was experiencing such dramatically different pain and symptoms, it was decided to give me something completely different. This time I had the worst brain fog, insane cravings, perpetually hunger, taste buds changed, etc. If it weren’t for the fact it gave me some minor mobility back and took away the worst symptoms from my spinal cord being pinched, I’d have tossed them after a few weeks. I chose to be a passive eating machine instead of the angry monster I’d turned into. Luckily the first surgery has decreased the pressure on my spinal cord enough to ditch the meds, clear my mind, and become more functional. I do look forward to being able to hike, bike, and be active again. I had hoped the patch job would restore daily walks, even if short, but that just didn’t happen (at least my first few attempts went badly). Maybe as recovery continues that will change. Being clear minded, however, is a reward enough for now.
It really did kinda suck; not gonna lie but at least I already have the tools in my kit to take baby steps to feel even better! Just picking the right ones and not too much is the challenge. 🙂6 -
I guess this is a reintroduction.
Back in 2004 I had been 350 or more pounds over my ideal weight for a good part of the last 25 years. I must have been blessed with good genetics because it took awhile for that abuse of my body to start breaking it down. But, good genetics or not, when my body started to break down, it took off with a vengeance. After I turned 40, I developed high-blood pressure. The stress of the extra weight caused me to develop Central Serous Retinopathy (CSR), which caused me to lose some of the vision in my left eye. I was a borderline diabetic and was headed for full-blown diabetes. I started having really bad lower back pain whenever I had to walk for more that a few minutes. I developed arthritis in my right knee. I had to have cortisone injected into the joint just to be able to walk on it. Lastly, I developed severe lower leg edema.
My family doctor told me that if I did not get the weight off, I was going to die in the near future. Things had gotten so bad that I literally could not reach my feet to tie my own shoes. My doctor suggested that if I could not start losing this weight immediately that I should consider getting gastric bypass surgery. I thought about it. I decided that I wanted to get healthy using diet and exercise if I could. My doctor was right; I was killing myself. My daughter was only 7 at the time - I had to do something. So I got busy. I was 562.3 lbs. I was able to lose 343.3 pounds. I was in 2006 People Magazine's Half Their Size. I managed to keep the weight off for about 8 years. I thought I had this thing whipped.
Then I started to struggle. I have been battling my weight ever since. I never got back to 562.3 thank God, but I would gain - get motived, then lose only to quit. It took me about 3 years but I gained back about 150 of the hard lost 343.3 pounds I had lost. My highest weight since my initial weight loss was 400 lbs. You know they say if you maintain a 10% weight loss for over 10 years, that counts as a success. Well even at my worst, I kept a 30% weight loss, but I in no way felt like a success. I felt like a total failure.
Fast forward to this year. At 62 I guess I woke up and I know I have to get this weight back off for good this time. That was a long way to say - I am back at it again. 15 weeks in, feeling good and making progress. I am down from my restart weight of 368.8 to 319.2 for a total loss of 41.6.
Current Photo - I need to do a full body picture
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And that my friend ("I managed to keep the weight off for about 8 years. I thought I had this thing whipped") is why I keep posting and try to ignore people who time and again seem to imply I am being excessive in my militant attitude (even though I personally think I am way too loosey-goosey now)!
Welcome, back? I guess, though you appear to predate most of us! 👍
Post away. Tell us about your adventures! 😎5 -
Yes, welcome back @CharlesScott78 and well done for getting back in the saddle. You've done it before so you can do it again, and we'll encourage and cheer you on every step of the way!
And Pav, I for one don't think you're overly militant and excessive at all! I've thought I had it whipped in the past too and had a humbling wake up call...I don't think we can afford to relax our vigilance until they nail us into our coffins!5 -
Welcome, Charles. Thank you for the reminder of how careful we must be - I'm sorry you have to do this again. But, you know how. Maybe if we all stick together for the rest of our freakin' lives we'll keep our weights at a healthy level.3
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I remember you!…welcome back!….three years the end of this month and I am still here….I am struggling daily but this group keeps me going!2
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I'M BACK
Hello all! My name is Erika, I am soon to be 32 years old, and I am getting back on MFP for the first time in quite some time. A few years or so, honestly.
I have been overweight since I was about 5 years old and I have struggled with eating disorders throughout my life, in addition to all the countless times I have tried to lose weight.
I am in a much healthier place now with my relationship with food, but I am now the heaviest weight I have ever been and would like to start being mindful about my eating habits and make healthier choices for myself.
I am currently looking to lose about 114 lbs. but might go for another 50-70 lbs after that, but that's tentative at the moment. I am first and foremost concerned with my health, rather than my weight or measurements, therefor I am attempting the "slow and steady wins the race" approach this time around 😅
I am currently at 314 lbs., so I am aiming for a goal weight of 200 lbs. But again, I may end up making that goal weight 150-130 lbs, but I'm going to see how I feel at 200 lbs first.
Anyway, it's great to be back here! I'm looking forward to focusing on myself for a change, rather than putting other people first, like I have always done in the past. It's been a long time since I have had the motivation for this and I'm really excited to finally have it again.
I am looking for friends on here and accountabilibuddies, so feel free to say hi and add me as a friend!
We got this! 💪4
