Hey!

matt314159

Hey, all, thought I'd drop in and say "hi" to everyone, I'm new to these parts.

I'm 27 years old, and as of today, 256lbs.

For me this is actually encouraging to hear, since that means I"m down 69lbs from my starting weight last September.

September 2010 found me in a rut in many ways. I had completed my MBA, but was closing in on my 2nd year of unemployment. I weighed 325lbs...that's not gonna help get me an interview now, is it?

I decided to try my hand at weight loss for the first time in my life. I pretty much did a 180 on my eating habits. I didn't starve myself...in fact, one of my non-negotiables was that I was going to eat till I was full at each meal. I started eating lots of lean protiens, vegetables, cut out ALL fast food, cut my refined sugars in every way possible... Another non-negotiable was that I wasn't going to replace foods I love with foods I hate. For instance, I love hamburgers. I hate veggie-burgers. so I'd eat a Jenny-o lean turkey burger on a thin-bun as a replacement. I found I liked that nearly equally well. And so things continued.

The weight fell off dramatically the first month. When I felt I was starting to plateau already, I started walking...a mile at first, then more and more until I was easily doing 5 miles a day, not only for weight-loss purposes but for recreation...who'da thought I'd actually enjoy it?

by February 211, I was down to 248, a total of 77lbs lost in about 6 months. The average loss for me was 3lbs a week. that's on the high side, but it felt healthy, and i wasn't doing anything too dramatic, wasn't even really "counting calories" per se.

Also in february, I landed a job that moved me halfway across the country from California to a Christian liberal arts college in Northwest Iowa. For the first few weeks out here, I still ate healthily but didn't lose much weight...then, with the "pressure off" (I had a job, I was comfortable with where I was in life, etc) I sort of slacked off, and in the 7 months i've been out here I've slowly crept back up to the 256 mark I'm at today.

I think the BMI chart is a crock of you-know-what, so I don't plan to get down to where it says I should be, but right now I'm thinking long-term goal of around 220 for my big-framed, 6'2" body. I'll have lost 105lbs at that point. Right now, my near-term goal is 240. I'm thinking I can get there by Christmas, but I'm still just not that motivated anymore. I've proven that I can "do it" but it takes effort.

I live alone, and spend my evenings at home watching TV...not only is this a sedentary practice, but when you watch TV, you want to snack, so that's where I think my 8lb gain has mostly come from. My job has me hauling computers around campus all day, so I get a decent amount of physical activity in, and by the time I'm home for the night, I just wanna take off my shoes and relax. Also, I don't have a car out here, so I walk 3/4 mile to the grocery store about twice a week, and that's about it for exercize.

I got a recumbant bicycle a couple weeks ago and just within the last week I've been doing that while I watch TV, to t least get some light cardio in (I don't push myself too hard on it, but it's got to be better than nothing).

So I'm joining up here to sort of help me keep my eyes on my goal, and hopefully give my motivation a shot in the arm.

I look forward to getting to know you all better in the coming months!

-Matt

YogiGirlLucy

Matt! What a great story, thanks for sharing!!! So glad you found MFP. I know this will be a big help to you. I wish you so much success and happiness!

Lucy

mrzpeep1

welcome!