Halfway there, hope this site can help me get the rest off.

ScorchPA

First off, what a great website!

It was about this time last year that my 2 year old son was diagnosed by Autism. I was living in Romania at the time and had to move back to the US in order to get the services that he needs. Well, several months after that my 1 year old was also diagnosed with Autism. I was always overweight carrying about 220-225 lbs (being 5'9), but the stress of the diagnosis and the change in lifestyle (no more walking everywhere I go , and more fast foods) quickly brought my weight up to 245. On top of that, my cholesterol was elevated where the doctor wanted me to start taking meds to get it under control. Well I told him, let me try to get back in shape and get the weight off on my own.

That was on September 9th. Today I weighed in at 205lbs, a loss of 40 lbs in just 11 weeks! I didn't find this website until now, but I was following the same philosophy. I started trying to eat no more that 1400 calories, and minimize fat and cholesterol from my diet . On top of that, I am burning 7-800 calories a day on the treadmill. Maybe that is a bit to much to sustain, but for now it is working great! I am at my lowest weight since I was in high school 20 years ago, and have inspired several others to start losing weight.

So... what worked for me? Well here's a list of the top 3

1) The dr prescribed for me anti-depression pills... without those I never would have had the motivation to start. I was very reluctant to start taking any pills, and I am on a fairly low dosage, but I have to admit, my life has improved tremendously since I started those. The point is, if you're not in the right state of mind, I think you're doomed to fail at weight loss.

2) Netflix - I used to get so bored using the treadmill, so I put a TV in front of it... well, if there was nothing good to watch, I would get bored. So I put my laptop on my computer and now watch movies or tv shows from netflix. There is a big enough selection that I don't think I'll get bored anymore. Also, I started working out during football games. I would start the workout around the beginning of the second half, and by the time the end of the game came around I had burned 1000 calories (even if the last 30 min was at a slow walk... better than sitting on the couch)

3) Substitutions - I am eating almost everything that I used to eat, but just looking for healthier versions. this morning I had an egg white and low fat mozzarella cheese omelet (85 calories), lunch I will have a 6" turkey subway sub with low fat honey mustard (400 calories) for dinner I will make a pizza using thin crust, salsa, turkey, green onions and again some low fat mozzerella (2 slices = 450 calories) - for snacks I might have a fiber bar (120 cal) and a low fat ice cream (140 cal). thats 1200 calories. Traditionally I might have had bacon and eggs for bf, 12 inch sub, ordered a pizza for delivery and eaten half of it.... would easily be 3500 calories.

Anyways, I am looking forward to joining this community and hope it can help me get to my ultimate goal which is to lose another 30 lbs!

willimh

Congrats on you acheivements with weight loss so far. Welcome to MFP and you will like it cause it holds you accountable.