New to MFP - Kevin

Good morning. Not sure if I want to do the whole Forum/Support thing again. I did it in 2009 when I quit smoking, but as I was beating my addiction to cigarettes, I became addicted to the forum. But, I went ahead anyway and typed my introduction in here a week or so back. But there was a glitch and lost the post into the internet "clouds" or something. I figured that was a sign that I didn't need the forum. But, I'm back again. Maybe I'm still addicted to internet forums.

Here it goes: My name is Kevin and I'm 50 years old. Sheesh, I hate saying that! I was 205 lbs when I retired from my Navy Reserve career in the spring of 2011. Then I promptly let myself go. For me, it was a relief for me not having to stay in "tip-top" shape for the first time in 20-some years. But, 50 lbs later, I knew I had to do something. It's uncomfortable to find a good sleeping position and I hated looking in the mirror. So in December, I planned the date of Jan 7. I'd finish vacation, get off my butt and try to lose the weight.

A friend had told me of an iPhone app called MyFitnessPal and I downloaded it. I’ve lost weight by lowering my food intake before, but I've never really counted my calories. I figured it couldn’t hurt, so I downloaded it. Then on the morning of Monday, Jan 7th I did my starting weight. My stats: Approx 5’10”, 247 lbs. The app said if I wanted to lose 2 lbs per week, that I had a daily goal of 1,480 calories.

I decided to do my weekly weigh-ins on Fridays because of the weekends. It's easier to watch what I eat/drink during the week and it would likely be my lowest weight of the week. I felt that the lower number would help build my confidence more than it would if I weighed myself on Monday mornings.

Week 1: I stayed below my 1,480 per day limit and Friday’s weigh-in was a nice surprise at 239. Of course, I knew that the first week numbers would likely be skewed, but I will take the 8 lb loss.

I wish I would have thought of doing it earlier, but I didn’t. After dropping 8 lbs, I had my wife take my “before” pic and help me with some measurements. Waist 48, Chest 43, Neck 18. Let’s see how much I can improve on the first number. I won't post that picture, because I hate it. Maybe later when I'm closer to my goals, I'll post a before/current picture.

Week 2: I’m using my iPhone app religiously. And at the end of the second week, I was down to 235. That’s a total of 12 lbs in the first two weeks. Again, I know that it will be tougher as I go through this process, but I’ll take it and be happy.

Tomorrow will be the end of the third week. After a so-so weekend, I’ve been doing good this week and looking forward to my weigh-in.

There. That’s my intro. You can wake up now. :bigsmile: