100 down, 30 to go!

Jaymikk

Hey all!

A bit about myself: I am a 24 year-old Communication Studies major at the University of Iowa, and I plan on attending law school after graduating. Obesity is an epidemic in my family, and I have struggled with it since childhood. At my peak, I was 335 lbs, sedentary, and didn't really see it as a problem because I was like everyone else in my family. Luckily, last year something finally clicked with me and I decided to get myself in shape. Through changing my eating lifestyle and finding a mode of exercise I was passionate about (playing recreational basketball), I got myself down to about 235, where I have been happy and maintaining for over a year.

Obviously, I feel a lot better, both physically and mentally, but I still have a few goals I want to make. For myself, I want to get down to a healthy BMI: I'm 6'3", putting my current BMI around 29, and I need to get down to around 200 to get to 25. More importantly, I want to get the message through to my family; my dad is in pretty bad shape, having diabetes and the complications that come along with it, and I fear my mom (and others) are not far behind. Any tips on how to get through to them would be greatly appreciated!

I recently discovered MFP through the Android App Marketplace, and it has (so far) helped to keep me motivated. I decided to make my diaries public, so feel free to take a look and give me some feedback.

Nice to meet everyone!

hollyknouse

Congratulations on your weight loss! You are a busy guy yet you are still doing great... that's awesome! I am really impressed with your maintaining. That's where I struggle the most. By the way... Go Hawks I live about an hour away from Iowa City and my cousin played football there just graduating in December. Good luck with the rest of your journey.

janesmith1

Hey there. Dunno if you can actually help your family. Just send them via email a link to it and tell them, again via email only, how much success you've had. Family members are usually stubborn and in denial and don't want "helpful advice" lol.

But wow good for you for losing all that weight! I have about 117 lbs to go now, and I started at 240. Great job!

sandram82

Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thats incrediable!!!

carolinenp

good job! keep up the good work!

MelissaL582

Hey there. Dunno if you can actually help your family. Just send them via email a link to it and tell them, again via email only, how much success you've had. Family members are usually stubborn and in denial and don't want "helpful advice" lol.

I agree. I've tried talking to my sister about this because I am afraid for her, but she just blows everything away.

Congrats on your remarkable weight loss!!

miriamtorason

Luckily, last year something finally clicked with me and I decided to get myself in shape. Through changing my eating lifestyle and finding a mode of exercise I was passionate about (playing recreational basketball), I got myself down to about 235, where I have been happy and maintaining for over a year.

I've got a question for you about this part! My husband, who is 6'4", is somewhere in the 400-range (his first mini-goal is to get weigh-able). The problem is, he's allowed 2720+exercise calories in a day, and has No Idea how to fill them all. If I remind him to eat, and we pack his lunches and snacks, and we shoot for healthful foods and good choices, he makes it to dinner with 1500+ calories still to go! How did you manage to eat all your calories every day - were there certain snacks that were good at boosting without being fast food, or did you eat more often? How did you do this?!?!

Next! Congratulations on your successes! This is just wonderful, and very much inspiring! DH (who is also on MFP) is about to get an email link! ^_~

Finally, regarding family members. This is a tricky subject. I've been overweight probably since I was about 16. Sometimes it was 10 pounds, sometimes it has been 80. The one thing I remember about being overweight was my mother. Why? Because she ALWAYS had something to say about it. The end result was that I came out of high school feeling like a fat failure, and since nothing I ever did helped, and I wasn't about to starve myself skipping meals to make her happy, why try at all. You have to be very careful how you approach this stuff. Truthfully, I'm not sure if it's better to wait until you're asked or if it's better to say "Hey! I've had amazing luck with this - take a look!" and then just drop it. Continuing to tell people about it when they're not interested or not ready only has the opposite effect - they will just shove their heads deeper into the sand, or feel more like a failure, and it's actually counter to helpful.

Anyhow - good luck with your final thirty, and WAY TO GO on your starting 100!!!

Jaymikk

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome.

Miriam: When I was first getting started, I too had trouble filling my daily allotment of calories with healthy food. I just made sure to eat many small meals throughout the day, and included some calorie-dense snacks like nuts and raisins (and other dried fruit). Honestly, a lot of days I didn't get up to where a tool like MFP would have told me to be, but I always made sure to eat enough to keep myself out of starvation mode.

Also, everyone, thank you for the advice regarding my family. I haven't really explicitly said anything to them yet (other than my dad), and I will definitely tread carefully when I do. The last thing I want to do is alienate and/or discourage them!