Introducing Myself

I thought I would finally get around to posting on the forums, not that anyone here really knows or cares who I am, but figured "what the hell, why not"

I'm a male, 35 years old, single, and yes I'm fat/overweight/obese/etc.

I've struggled with my weight most of my teenage years but especially as an adult. I used to be an avid walker and cyclist who got around the city by doing one of those things, regardless of the distance, time involved or the weather. I was also very much into music, playing multiple instruments. I was majoring in Classical Guitar, singing in the Cambrian choir, playing violin in a small ensemble and my minor was piano (which i was changing because i sucked at). This all changed half way through my first year of college. Somethings happened in College that sent me into a bad depression that I'm still struggling to find my way out of. My coping mechanism, that also made things worse... yep you guessed it food.

I've done various dieting at times and changed my eating habits in many ways but certain things resulted in an almost constant continual increase in weight. My weight gain and depression also resulted in me not being as physically active. I lost the ability to cycle around the city and soon the ability to walk great, average and then even short distances. Partly due to just not being active and the muscles in my legs getting weaker, but also due to damage to my knees over the years. One kneed I damaged when I fell down the stairs at a friends place, and the other I hurt chasing after my toddler niece who was running towards the street. My knees are damaged and painful, along with the weak legs it makes it difficult to walk any distance.

This past summer I went to a friends place for a visit one Monday. She wanted me to take the bus there, rather than come and pick me up in the car. No problem... for most people. For me it was a good thing and a bad thing. She is an amazing person and great friend. She is very supportive of my weight loss and fixing my life. I just wish I didn't annoy and bother her as much as I usually end up doing (jokingly or not), but that's another story for another time. Her and her daughter met me half way between the bus stop and her house. I had to rest a few times. After a nice dinner and time visiting and playing with her and her daughter. I went home that evening via taxi, taking with me a shortness in my breath that I assumed was due to an allergic reaction from her cat. As the next couple of days went on it not only became increasingly difficult to breathe but I was experiencing sharp and deep chest pains.

I called TeleHealth to get their opinion, go to the hospital or go to the clinic. Their response "Call 911" Ambulance showed up and they didn't even have to examine me. They walked into the house looked at me and said "You can't breathe." They immediately put me into the ambulance, put me on oxygen and took me to the hospital.

I was taken and tested for various things right away. They found a a blood clot in my right lung. It traveled from my legs and up through my body and heart, stopping where they found it. I spent 3 weeks in the hospital confined to either my bed or a wheel chair on IV and monitoring my heart. After the first 2 weeks in the hospital, doing absolutely nothing but resting, my heart decided it wanted to do it's own thing which gave my doctor and nurses a little scare. It not only started beating erratically but at rest during the day my heart beat was 145-150 beats per minute. At night when sleeping it was dropping down to 30 beats per minute or lower, that's less than 1 beat every 2 seconds. This of course meant more medications, and more time in the hospital. They also ended up shocking my heart back into rhythm.

This was my wake up call. It showed me a few things...

1) I could have died
2) I'm very lucky that was all that happened
3) By not taking care of myself I am slowly killing myself
4) If I don't fix things, I will die sooner than expected.

I'm not sure how much weight I lost while in the hospital. Some technicians who saw me the day I was admitted and then again 2 1/2 weeks later said I had lost quite a bit of weight. I was weighted approximately at that time at 557 lbs.

I have lost over 30 lbs and hopefully will continue to lose weight. I am once again seeing a dietitian and started talking to a counselor (who has their work cut out for them i think). Been taking part in Pulmonary and Cardiac Rehabilitation and will continue using the YMCA facilities after my treatment at the program ends. I am also doing some work towards Bariatric surgery.

I don't know if I will update this topic further in the future, or even when I'll use these forums, but I figure since I already made one post, I might as well introduce myself.