BIG wake-up call for me

TheBigFish711

Good morning everyone! This app/website has been extremely helpful in helping me lose weight. I just wanted to say that first and foremost !

I have always been a pretty big guy, in high school I weighed about 280 pounds ( I am 6'2), but have always been very athletic for my size. Once I got out of college, I stopped working out and exercising as much and was up to 350 by the time I was 25. I have tried several diets, and lost weight from time to time, but have always come back to 350. I am now 37 years old, and in December I went into the hospital with severe abdominal pains and turns out I not only had gallstones, but my Gall Bladder had gangrened and ruptured. The removed it.The docs said that it was very severe, and easily could have killed me in a matter of days. The Gastro docs also said I had the beginning of Fatty Liver disease. This was my wake-up call.

I got home from the hospital and weighed myself. I was at 380 pounds. This was on December 19. I decided this was the time to lose weight. Being as large as I am, I set a goal of 3 pounds lost per week, and started off only eating 1500 calories per day ( I can't exercise for 60 days due to the surgery) for the first 30 days, and now I am eating 1800 calories per day, spread over 5 meals. The first 3 weeks I actually lost 25 pounds, and have now settled to about 3 pounds a week. I am down 45 pounds right now, currently weigh 335 pounds, and hope for a finish weight of 250 pounds. I am very large boned, and 250 pounds would fit my frame very well.

I have been on the Weight Watchers/Lean Cuisine/Healthy choice meals, with small snacks mid-day and after dinner. I have found the WW breakfast to taste the best, and LC/HC lunches/dinners are pretty good. The big shocker has been the portions. I cannot believe how small they are, but they are actually normal for a lot of people.

Just wanted to share my early success. I will post on here as the weeks progress. The encouragement from family and close friends has been awesome, they really motivate me to get healthy! Thanks!

pamelak5

That's great - I, too, find WW meal portions to be tiny. I would definitely recommend adding a lot of fruits and veggies to your diet to add some bulk. Eventually you're going to want to start doing some more food prep and less relying on convenience food, but it sounds like you're off to a terrific start!

FWIW - I like to have a few go-to breakfasts that are easy. Like overnight oats, or a few eggs/egg whites, some toast and fruit, some kashi with soymilk and fruit, etc. Almost as easy (maybe easier) than popping something into the microwave.

TheBigFish711

Thanks for the suggestions. I will definitely take them into consideration. I go back to the doctor in 2 weeks to see if I am ok to start exercising, I can't wait to get moving around!!