Starting with the basics....
derekbroerse
Posts: 8
Hi, new recruit here... my name is Derek and I am in a battle with myself. I am a hair under 6'-3" tall. I have never been a really skinny guy, but lately I have a hard time looking at myself in the mirror. Its funny how my weight would stay the same for years, then suddenly shoot up! Repeat. The problem is, the more times it has happened, the more I shoot up at a time...especially since I have been battling depression for a bunch of years now (based on failed personal relationships, a stressful self-employment, and a couple power hungry bylaw officers trying to make their own rules and force me out of business... long story short, they got fired, I'm still here).
Fast forward to January of this year, I'd just had my 35th birthday at new years and had booked a doctors appointment, you know, for my once in a blue moon tune up. I was kind of dreading going, I could tell I had gained weight (again, after keeping a steady weight for several years) by the feel of my clothing and by the scale screaming when I got on it (ok, not screaming, but showing ERR). I gritted my teeth and headed in for some blood tests, then back for review.
My blood pressure was excellent, as it always has been (even on the verge of mental breakdown from stress blood pressure was never a problem). Cholesterol was slightly high (new for me, cholesterol had always been good despite my weight)... then to the dreaded scale. Feeling alot like cattle being measured for the slaughter house, I trudged down the hall and got on the scale and the doctor got busy sliding the weights around, frowned, slid them more and more until they couldn't move any further... he scratched his head and started to look for something blocking the machine, but there wasn't anything. I had surpassed his scale!! It went up to 350lbs--this means I had put on AT LEAST 35lbs in a matter of months with no changes to my routine--the largest single gain I'd ever had.
I couldn't help but wonder if somewhere in his cabinet of goodies there was enough of something to put me out of my misery... I just felt sick to my stomach. Naturally, the doctor scolded me making me feel more ashamed, he sent me for several more rounds of blood tests which haven't revealed anything. He's naturally skinny (versus someone like me who comes from a long line of big people) so it kind of annoys me when his solution is Eat Less, Exercise More, when I have a somewhat physical job and don't eat that crazy much. Then again, it's true that I haven't seen the inside of a gym since '02 and have never actually tracked my food intake. Still depressed and hopeless I went home.
A long time ago I already came to the conclusion that I needed major changes in my life, it's just taken a while to determine what they will be. About a week and a half ago I decided the first thing I was going to change was my attitude regarding my own body. I have replaced hopelessness with determination. I am damn well going to make it happen even if it kills me. At my brother's suggestion, a few days ago I joined here and have been tracking my intake. I have been doing a WHOLE LOT of learning in a short time, finding that overall, I DONT overeat, in fact my overall calorie count has been TOO LOW for a long time. My carbs are also low on average. What has been killing me has been high levels of sodium and sugar (damn you Coca-Cola, you evil yet delicious convenienly canned demon!), so the sugar has been slashed and through a little experimentation I am also slashing the sodium.
Exercise I have to bring up slowly, as I have the joyous gift known as asthma... so I can't just jump into a heavy duty routine. I need to ramp up slowly so I started with 20 mins of Power Walking for the first three days and then doubled it to 40 mins. That may not sound like much, but for a guy that spends half his day behind a computer screen or the wheel of a truck with short bursts of physical labour, 40 minutes of steady elevated heart rate and breathing is a big change in itself! I want to get my body used to it before I jump into something crazy.
Got a new scale, increased capacity, lots of goodies on it. Got on it Monday morning... 339.3lbs. Still scary, but that's a pretty decent drop already, I'd say a big part of that has been this past week.... and its a start.
Looking thru the cupboards, there is still some food I really shouldn't be eating, but I'm stubborn enough--anyone who has done grocery shopping can agree that prices are outrageous these days, so I refuse to just toss stuff that's still good... it will take a while but it will be used up a little at a time mixed with the good stuff and tracked. I just won't buy more of it. By the time its gone, maybe I'll be ready for something a bit more advanced, like P90x or something. I have a little time to figure that out.
So these are my starting steps, and I am going to succeed come hell or high water!!!!
Wish me luck.....
Fast forward to January of this year, I'd just had my 35th birthday at new years and had booked a doctors appointment, you know, for my once in a blue moon tune up. I was kind of dreading going, I could tell I had gained weight (again, after keeping a steady weight for several years) by the feel of my clothing and by the scale screaming when I got on it (ok, not screaming, but showing ERR). I gritted my teeth and headed in for some blood tests, then back for review.
My blood pressure was excellent, as it always has been (even on the verge of mental breakdown from stress blood pressure was never a problem). Cholesterol was slightly high (new for me, cholesterol had always been good despite my weight)... then to the dreaded scale. Feeling alot like cattle being measured for the slaughter house, I trudged down the hall and got on the scale and the doctor got busy sliding the weights around, frowned, slid them more and more until they couldn't move any further... he scratched his head and started to look for something blocking the machine, but there wasn't anything. I had surpassed his scale!! It went up to 350lbs--this means I had put on AT LEAST 35lbs in a matter of months with no changes to my routine--the largest single gain I'd ever had.
I couldn't help but wonder if somewhere in his cabinet of goodies there was enough of something to put me out of my misery... I just felt sick to my stomach. Naturally, the doctor scolded me making me feel more ashamed, he sent me for several more rounds of blood tests which haven't revealed anything. He's naturally skinny (versus someone like me who comes from a long line of big people) so it kind of annoys me when his solution is Eat Less, Exercise More, when I have a somewhat physical job and don't eat that crazy much. Then again, it's true that I haven't seen the inside of a gym since '02 and have never actually tracked my food intake. Still depressed and hopeless I went home.
A long time ago I already came to the conclusion that I needed major changes in my life, it's just taken a while to determine what they will be. About a week and a half ago I decided the first thing I was going to change was my attitude regarding my own body. I have replaced hopelessness with determination. I am damn well going to make it happen even if it kills me. At my brother's suggestion, a few days ago I joined here and have been tracking my intake. I have been doing a WHOLE LOT of learning in a short time, finding that overall, I DONT overeat, in fact my overall calorie count has been TOO LOW for a long time. My carbs are also low on average. What has been killing me has been high levels of sodium and sugar (damn you Coca-Cola, you evil yet delicious convenienly canned demon!), so the sugar has been slashed and through a little experimentation I am also slashing the sodium.
Exercise I have to bring up slowly, as I have the joyous gift known as asthma... so I can't just jump into a heavy duty routine. I need to ramp up slowly so I started with 20 mins of Power Walking for the first three days and then doubled it to 40 mins. That may not sound like much, but for a guy that spends half his day behind a computer screen or the wheel of a truck with short bursts of physical labour, 40 minutes of steady elevated heart rate and breathing is a big change in itself! I want to get my body used to it before I jump into something crazy.
Got a new scale, increased capacity, lots of goodies on it. Got on it Monday morning... 339.3lbs. Still scary, but that's a pretty decent drop already, I'd say a big part of that has been this past week.... and its a start.
Looking thru the cupboards, there is still some food I really shouldn't be eating, but I'm stubborn enough--anyone who has done grocery shopping can agree that prices are outrageous these days, so I refuse to just toss stuff that's still good... it will take a while but it will be used up a little at a time mixed with the good stuff and tracked. I just won't buy more of it. By the time its gone, maybe I'll be ready for something a bit more advanced, like P90x or something. I have a little time to figure that out.
So these are my starting steps, and I am going to succeed come hell or high water!!!!
Wish me luck.....
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Replies
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I wish you all the luck in the world. I have tried for 30 years to get my weight under control but failed miserably. I have started agin yesterday with the help of MFP and hope this time to get somewhere. Good Luck0
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I have to lose a whole stone which I have put on since August last year. How about a challenge? lets see which one of us loses a stone first. We could set a target date of three months perhaps.0
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Best of luck Derek
You seem to have a great attitude grounded in reality- I'm sure you'll be successful! 0 -
Good luck on your journey! Keep it up and if you would like some support when the going gets tough, send me a friends request.0
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The hardest part of any unfamiliar journey is making the decision to take that first step. Once you made that decision for real and emailed me you'd finally taken that first step. There are many steps ahead, plenty of them uphill, but just remember how to eat that elephant.
One bite at a time, man.
One bite at a time.
"It's impossible" said pride
"It's risky" said experience
"It's pointless" said reason
"GIVE IT A TRY" whispered the heart.0 -
Hi Derek! My name's Pet Store and I'm a everything-aholic!
I've sort of been in your place.
At my heaviest I went to the doc and he was like "you're fat. lose weight."
But I didn't know how! I'm from the midwest! Eating healthy foods and exercising was like, TABOO or something.
Thankfully I'm out West now (sorry, Midwest)
I love to eat and I love beer and I'm small (5'1") so I put on weight easily!
Logging on here has really helped me learn how to stay (reasonably) within my limits and also I've learned a TON about nutrition and exercise, and really gained a lot of support.
Previously where I would have fallen off the wagon and gone back to binging or whatever, my MFP peeps have been here to keep me grounded.
Add me if you like. I'm always here!0 -
Thanks to all for the words of encouragement.
Eating an elephant? At this stage of the game that sounds too much like caniballism!!
So tonight I go out for my 40 minute round-the-block, get 3/4 of the way around and sure enough Mario goes flying by (my brother will know who specifically I mean) slams on the brakes, and comes backing up beside me wanting to know what I'm doing. So I tell him. His next question is, 'Why do you go out at 11:30 at night to go for your walk, aren't you afraid of the coyotes?' to which I rather bluntly reply 'I go out late at night specifically so no one will stop me to talk and ruin my rythem.',,,,, 'Oh.' he says, then turns off the engine and proceeds to hold me up for 15 minutes talking about nonsense. <sigh>
Guess I gotta do it at 1am instead.0 -
Hi Derek. I think you're awesome and doing all the right things. Definitely start moving gradually, and it doesn't matter at this point if there's junk food in the cupboard - times are hard, and all you need is to create a deficit to start losing weight. That's 80% of the success until you get closer to goal. If you're naturally on the large side though, I would definitely advise starting weight training - it makes it a lot easier for a person to maintain a lower weight if their body does not lose lean muscle mass.
Best wishes, and welcome!0 -
I am also just getting started on my MFP journey and am SO glad I found this place. It's like a bookstore-personal trainer-therapy session-coolkid hangout all in one You sound like your head is definitely in the right place to take control of your health and show it who's boss. I really enjoyed your story - thanks for sharing and WELCOME ABOARD! 0
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Baaaaahhahahah!!! Good ole Mario! Can't go anywhere without running into him!0
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Sounds like you're off to a good start. Proper eating is the hardest part (for me, at least), and I'm still working on it. Hang in there.0
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Getting started is always the hardest part. Definitely increase slowly I'm a severe asthmatic but with slow steady increases it does help. Plus every bit of weight we lose helps with the breathing. And those damn Doctor scales are evil!0
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One of the things I find most helpful is to have a PLAN. Seriously. We meticulously plan our vacations, our home decor style (ok not me on that one), our careers (ok, not me on that one again). . .we PLAN. I have found, without a plan that includes, caloric goals for the day, workouts for the day, built in rest days and special events (races for me). . .I just kinds float around not really doing anything too detrimental, but also not making improvements.
Sit down, make a plan for your fitness goals. Set a timeline. Like, being able to power walk for a full hour within the month. Schedule on your calendar, and then DO it! Each month/2months/etc. set a different goal and keep striving.
Determination, dedication, and a plan. . .that'll get you on the path to a healthier body!!
Go Get it!!!0 -
Thanks for sharing your story! I think a lot of us can relate to your story about the doctor. Next time someone stops you during your work out just keep going and say, can't stop, gotta keep my heart rate up! lol. Good luck with your journey toward better health and weight loss!0
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Sounds like you're off to a great start - and 40 minutes is excellent for someone who hasn't been exercising. As for this Mario - tell him if he wants to gab to get out and walk with you, or just don't stop.
Good luck, Derek. I know you can do this. Hope you've dumped that cola. It will make it easier in so many ways.0 -
Awesome Derek! Congrats on making a decision to be in charge of your life. New recruit? Almost sounds like you've been hanging out at Nerdfitness.com...
Everybody's path is different, but for reference, here are my four personal pillars of weight-loss.
1) Years of therapy. I acknowledge that not all chubbitude is sourced in depression, but mine sure was.
2) Log EVERYTHING - I document every gram of everything I eat or drink. I've found that if I don't journal, my eating goes on autopilot. An autopilot programmed by Augustus Gloop. Documenting everything helps keep me aware.
3) Reduce or eliminate refined foods. Sugar and flour in all of their many guises are the enemy - though I still indulge on occasion.
4) Kettlebell workouts. Most workouts leave me bored stupid. So. Lame. Kettlebells have been the one thing that has kept my interest. Been doing them since March 20120 -
Thanks to all for the words of encouragement.
Eating an elephant? At this stage of the game that sounds too much like caniballism!!
So tonight I go out for my 40 minute round-the-block, get 3/4 of the way around and sure enough Mario goes flying by (my brother will know who specifically I mean) slams on the brakes, and comes backing up beside me wanting to know what I'm doing. So I tell him. His next question is, 'Why do you go out at 11:30 at night to go for your walk, aren't you afraid of the coyotes?' to which I rather bluntly reply 'I go out late at night specifically so no one will stop me to talk and ruin my rythem.',,,,, 'Oh.' he says, then turns off the engine and proceeds to hold me up for 15 minutes talking about nonsense. <sigh>
Guess I gotta do it at 1am instead.
Get a mp3 player and if it happens again just point to it (you know, like you can't hear him) and wave by - by and smile. Don't ever allow someone to steal your joy.0 -
Good luck and feel free to add me if you like.. :flowerforyou:0
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Good luck on your journey. You seem to be doing everything right for you, so keep going with the baby steps, and soon you'll be running. Or at least lifting heavy
Congrats for coming this far
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