My name is Jerry

Barnacules

Hey everyone,

My name is Jerry and a friend of mine (Marissa) told me that I should check out this site since I voiced that I wanted to loose some weight. I was 5'10 and 280lb when I signed up on the site and now I am down to 273lb after only a week or two. I finally hit a point in my life where I was getting concerned with my weight. I'm 31 years old, I have some fairly severe back problems (compressed disc and bone spur) and this year my wife and I just had our first child. I want to be healthy and in shape so I can play with my kid instead of sit on the couch all the time which is good motivation.

So far this site has been a complete success. The reason I like it so much is that it shows you in real time how your food decisions effect your bottom line and how your exercise adds to that bottom line. It also is nice because it has an iPhone app that is very easy to use. I don't find myself stumbling to add things to my list since almost every food item imaginable is already in the database. I also like how it does the daily encouraging updates. I am trying to get a bunch of my friends to sign-up so we can all work together as a team to get healthy.

Just wanted to poke my head in and say hello to the community on this site. I see a lot of signatures on peoples posts showing they have already lost 50, 60 and even 70lb since they started. So it's obvious this site is on to something good. Also for exercise I try to ride my mountain bike twice a week, just purchased a new one that properly supports me in sport and I also just started C25K (Couch to 5k) program on Monday. I hope that in 2 months I will be 20+lb liter and be able to run 3+ miles. I'm very excited to see how this program works out and if I can stay the course with the daily stress and temptation in my life.

Take it easy everyone,
Jerry

LeslieAnn72

Welcome to MFP and good luck on your journey!

momtozmc

Hello Jerry!

This site is great!!! Get some support friends and they'll cheer you along!!!

L.

kasandraaa

Good site to join ! you'll have lots of support & be held accountable for everything you eat! best of luck to you

lorriefagan

Hi Jerry...welcome to MFP!! Be careful.... this site can be addictive!lol I love it so far. Good luck!!

Aviendha_RJ

Hi Jerry! Best of luck to you! I only stumbled on this website about 6 months into trying to lose weight. On my own, I lost 20 lbs, but with this site, I lost a lot more... a lot faster.

Be careful when you start on that Couch to 5K thing that what happened to me doesn't happen to you... I lost 7lbs in 2 weeks (as in, from 150lbs to 143lbs, and my body went into weight loss shock. It's awesome to see the numbers drop... but I ended up in front of doctors trying to figure out why I kept getting the shakes, losing my balance, sight, & hearing when I stood up... etc., etc.

Enjoy the progress... but don't push beyond about 1% body weight loss in a week. Your body will hate you, believe me! And... the doctor will just make you put half of what you lost RIGHT back on. Never before have I been prescribed potato chips & cookies, but it happens....

Barnacules

What a great post, thank you. I don't think you have to worry about me going before the doctor to put weight on I started at 280 and I still make sure I eat my 1790 calories a day (sometimes a bit more). I just did my 2nd run last night for couch to 5k in place in my living room since it was snowing outside and it was pretty easy. I'm already very excited because I can't remember the last time I stood for 30 minutes let alone walked and ran the whole time.

I will be careful and watch for signs of weight loss shock, but so far things are going well and the foods I am eating are still pretty high in nutrients.

MrRush

Hey Jerry,

Thanks for posting. Just joined for some of the same reasons you stated. I checked out the C25K idea that you talked about and found a plan that I think will work for me. I found one with a 3 day a week approach, so it doesn't feel overwhelming. I'm going to sing up for a couple of 5k that are 10-12 weeks out so that I have something to train toward.

Best of luck.

Barnacules

Signing up for the 5k's sounds like a great idea. I'm going to instead plan on doing some long mountain bike rides since the running is honestly just to build up my breathing and stamina for biking.