Herro!

MatthewFlury

Been at MFP for about a week now, and thought it'd be a good time to make a first post on the forum.

First off, my profile pic is one of me at my heaviest (it's serving as more inspiration to lose all the weight I can)

A little about myself: I'm a hefty guy that lives in Texas, and have been overweight all my life. I decided almost 2 years ago to start to change my life because I was at my heaviest (305 lbs) and my doctor prescribed me blood pressure medicine at 22 years old. I didn't know a whole lot about losing weight except that I needed to be more active and eat less - you know, common sense stuff. I bought a scale and weighed myself every day at first, then a little less often, but made sure that the numbers showing were going in a generally downward direction.

A year later, I went back to the doc and had lost 30 pounds total - 10% of my previous body weight, which was great news, except that my blood pressure was (and still is) high and in need of medication. I didn't do a whole lot more to lose weight, and kind of stagnated at around 265 for several months (at least I didn't gain the weight back!) until just a few weeks ago. I started being more active than before, and I thought I was eating less, and I did make the scale go down a little bit more before I found MFP just about a week ago (as I already said ).

Boy was I wrong about eating less! I have NEVER counted calories or anything of the like before now and always thought the people that did were a bit obsessive. I have learned in a short few days that it is not being obsessive, but actually paying attention to what goes into your body and, more importantly in my case, how MUCH goes into it. MFP spit out a number of calories for me to hit each day, and except for one day of going to IHOP on a rare visit with my dad (this "breakfast" took up 1500 calories!!!) I've been below that calorie goal every day and actually been SATISFIED with what I have eaten.

Being perfectly honest, I don't feel that my body has a "stop eating" trigger like many people's seem to - if I don't measure out what I'm going to eat beforehand, I'll just keep eating more, never realizing how much I'm taking in, and never really feeling "full" until I've stuffed myself past the point of comfort. That's exactly why it was so amazing that my insatiable stomach has been satisfied with such moderate meals as a sandwich and *gasp* ONE SERVING of about 18 chips! I suppose when I eat with a defined stopping point, it makes me eat a bit slower and not feel the NEED to eat more.

I'm really stoked at this point, since I can see the pounds dropping off faster than ever in just one week, and I feel that I can actually get down to a NORMAL weight, which I've never been before. The only thing I'm not really sure of is how much I really Should weigh? My current goal is 215 (and that'll be an amazing feat) but now I'm wondering if that's still going to be too much weight for me. I'm 6'1" tall and I have a large bone frame along with a lot of muscle mass. I can believe that I might still have some weight to lose after I hit my current goal, but when I look at my BMI, it's telling me that I'm OBESE (which I really do NOT feel - I feel like I'm husky but no longer OBESE) and that for me to be a "healthy weight" I have to be between 140 and 189.5 pounds. I suppose when I'm lighter I'll have a better feel of how much I should weigh, but at this point I feel if I'm below 200 I'll be almost unhealthily skinny : /

While I still have to take a pill for my blood pressure, I'm hoping that it's weight related and not just genetics so that I no longer need it once I'm whatever weight that magically makes me healthy =D

Anyhow, thanks for reading, and if anyone has some input on BMI and healthy weights for large frame guys, let me know!

lizmesberg

Welcome, and congrats on your success thus far! I'm new too, just signed up since I got my first ever Smart phone. Isn't it scary when you go out and eat what you think of as a "typical" breakfast and it blows right past 1,000 calories??! Yikes. My response is to save the money and just make myself a fancy breakfast at home, because unless I deep-fried my pancakes in bacon fat I'm pretty sure I couldn't get them up to that many calories. Best of luck on your new goal, my advice (even though you didn't really ask for it ) is to start with something you really ENJOY and then build from there. I used to hate, hat, HATE running (why would I want to feel my fat butt flapping in the wind?) but now I can run over a mile without stopping for a break. I definitely didn't start with running, but instead did dance aerobics like Zumba and Jazzercise, and then when I felt better about my fitness level I tried the harder (to me) stuff.
Keep us posted!

Heather75

Welcome, Matt! You will find lots of support here, and I know you will be able to reach your goals. I would urge you to have a read through the FAQs/sticky threads to help you familiarise yourself with the site and how it works. There is a search function for the forums, so if you have questions (and no doubt, you will!) try that first. Odds are other people have had the exact same questions as you!

You are not alone.



Enjoy and best of luck!

kandrews24

Hi, I'm so happy for you. Glad you are stoked, so I am I!!!!

You are going to LOVE this site and you're going to learn a lot.

I've met a lot of tall, big framed folks, who think they could never achieve a "normal" weight or better said, they think they would look like skin and bones. (I'm a short person with a small frame, so I am not one to talk), BUT, I also know a lot of tall, large boned folks who are at normal weights and they look and feel GREAT!

When you see pics of tall large fit athletes (like male swimmers), they all have low BMIs. Take it one day at a time, but I think you'll find that as you getting thinner and more fit, there's a lot of room for further improvement.

Also, there are tons of different folks on this site. Some are here to lose weight, but others are here to get buff, stay healthy, and even for professional reasons (models, etc.). MFP is a great tool for so many reasons!

WELCOME and feel free to add me as a friend. I have a lot to lose, so I'll be here a while!