Hello & introduction

BSslinger

Hi 👋. My name is Britt. I just turned 60 in September. I work as an electronic technician for the DoD at Tinker AFB in Oklahoma. I am also a retired Navy Chief Petty Officer (22yrs).
I gave come to a point in my life where I actually need to consciously look after my health. I am obese (240lbs at 5' 9"). I want to get to 185lbs
Not only do I see & feel the effect on me, it also affects my wife and a granddaughter we have custody of (since she was 1 month old, 13 now). She wants help with her interest in volleyball and they both want me around longer. That motivates me.
I've been cleared medically to start exercising and nutrition. The only "difficulty " i feel is all the numbers and math. I like to nerd out on details but figuring out Macros and Calories makes my head hurt 😁.

AnnPT77

Hello, and welcome!

You can do this, with patience and persistence.

Don't worry too much about all the details all at once. Get a starting calorie goal, and target a moderate loss rate. You probably technically have the size to shoot for 2 pounds a week for a while, but I'd suggest easing into it.

If you set a pound a week, and average that over the long haul, you'll be at goal weight in about a year. That year's going to pass in any case, and sometimes a moderate loss can get us to goal in less calendar time than an extreme, difficult faster rate that triggers deprivation-caused overeating events, breaks in the action, or giving up altogether.

If you do that, and after the first 4-6 weeks are finding that ultra-achievable, you can lower your calorie goal a bit to lose faster. (It's useful to do 4-6 weeks on any new regimen, so you get enough experience data to see what the actual average loss rate is. Weight loss is up a few pounds, down a few pounds, from a day to day perspective, occasionally even week to week, but multi-week averages tell a truer story. "Calorie calculators" like MFP or even fitness trackers just estimate based on averages for demographically similar people. Individuals can vary - most a close but a rare few will be surprisingly different.)

When I lost weight (starting at age 59), I just focused first on hitting my calorie goal while staying mostly full and happy the majority of the time. That's important for compliance long term. After that, I started working on tuning up nutrition, etc. It was a process of gradually tweaking my routine habits, eating foods I enjoy, and doing fun exercise that was challenging but not exhausting. Honestly, it was easier than I expected. I wish I'd done it years earlier.

After a year of loss, I started maintaining my weight using those same habits, just with a few more calories in play. (Coincidentally, I lost very close to what you aim to lose, 50-some pounds - though I'm smaller, 5'5" and 130 today). I've been at a healthy weight since . . . and I'd been overweight/obese for around 30 years before that. I feel like the weight loss approach (focusing on relatively-easy new habits) made the maintenance easier.

I'm not some kind of special person, probably less disciplined than yourself: I'm a flaky, hedonistic aging-hippie type woman, definitely not good armed services material . If I can do it, you can do it. If your experience is anything like mine, the results - in improved quality of life - will be worth it.

Best wishes!

P.S. If that "gradually tweak your eating" idea appeals to you, there's more about it here:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10636388/free-customized-personal-weight-loss-eating-plan-not-spam-or-mlm/p1

That won't be perfect for everyone - no one strategy is - but it's an option to consider.

Corina1143

Welcome Britt! Fellow Okie here.
Don't get so bogged down on numbers that you lose sight of your goal.
As long as you eat a little less than you've been eating, you'll lose weight. Maybe fast, maybe slow.
Unless you eat a lot less, get hungry, and say the ---- with this, and quit. (Don't do that. Lol)
Pretty easy, actually.