Anybody here severely obese?

The 'success stories' forum on here is full of stories & pictures of people who have lost fantastic amounts of weight, I'd highly recommend reading lots of those, a read more every day for more motivation, good luck

Hey honey,
I started out nearly 400lb also, :noway:

dont give up all hope it is very doable
just start with little things like walking everyday it gets rid of quite a lot of cals and is great cardio even just to the end of the street and back you will just find yourself getting further and faster belive it or not! :bigsmile:
eating wise try to have the meat/fish on your plate and pile the rest with veggies as many as you want to start with!!!! cut down on potatos and dry cook everything too! :noway: (roast potatos,wedges ect)
steam veggies/fish ect it all REALLY helps!
and I am sorry but water :grumble: it helps you fill up and flushes the fat away some x
good luck x

also set small goal for yourself every 10lb and treat yourself a pair of earings or a day out not food or booze tho!
just remember exersice daily!

I was over 300lbs and I am 5'8". When we lived in Wales I was prescribed exercise through the Exercise Prescription scheme they have. I was sent to a local gym at no cost to me and assigned somebody to work with me. She was absolutely fantastic and I got down to 238lbs and maintained that for over 5 years until July of last year when I decided I would lose the remaining weight. I'm currently at 180lbs and still losing.

I started out by just moving more. It was hard at first because I got out of breath so quickly. I had very poor mobility and when they did the assessment for stretching and reaching, my joints were terrible. Even walking on the treadmill at any sort of incline was very hard work. I went to the gym three times a week and did walking and some weights and resistance work based on a plan given to me. I was encouraged to move more at home and work. Stairs were a nightmare but I tried to do at least one flight and then use the lift. I was given advice about portion size and soon discovered my portions were nearly double what they should have been. I decreased my portions gradually but didn't calorie count or log my food.

Gradually I started doing more varied exercise and was able to start Pilates and Yoga for my mobility. I found having a large stomach in the way made a lot of Yoga quite difficult. We moved away from Wales and I had to leave the gym. I got a pedometer and started keeping track of my steps and we bought a Wii and Wii Fit and I continued to use that for balance and mobility. Seeing my weight on the screen every day helped me maintain when I got to 238lbs. If it started to creep up I knew I had to cut down for a few weeks.

Last July I felt ready to work at this again. I was a UK size 26/28 when I started and was down to a UK 20/22. I took the opportunity of working away from home for a period to log my food and start being more active. The people I was working with didn't know me before and so being more active and eating healthily is just who I was so it was a fresh start. I completed C25K and now regularly run and have completed a 5K. I'm down to a UK size 14/16 and continue to log daily. I've just been on vacation to France for two weeks and been under on my calories every single day. I'd logged on MFP for 310 days continuously when we went away but no connection there meant I'm back to 0.

I don't recognise the person in the photographs of me at my largest. I'm starting to recognise the person I see in the mirror now. I'm at my lowest weight for over 20 years and I'm 44. I love wearing a FitBit and seeing my daily steps. This morning I've been on the computer and doing sitting down chores and know that I've got 10,000 steps to do today that aren't going to do themselves. I can run up stairs and run for a bus and climb a hill and not be out of breath and that's such a reward.

I don't deprive myself of anything. I eat around 1800 calories a day including eating back my exercise calories. I only log exercise on FitBit not on MFP but log all my food on MFP. Every single little thing. My diary is open to friends and I'm certainly no angel but try to keep track of protein and fat consumption as well as overall calories. Therapy really helped me understand my unhealthy relationship with food. I was ready to let the weight go and that has made a difference.

You need to find goals that will motivate you, not other people's goals. What works for them won't necessarily work for you. I was morbidlyobese and wanted to be overweight. Now I'm overweight I want to be in the normal range. My goals and targets have changed over time as my goals now would have have seemed impossible in the beginning. I have no interest in wearing a prom dress or a bikini and have no children to inspire. I want to be fit and healthy and reduce my risk of cancer and diabetes.

Good luck to you. Give yourself time to change and gain new habits. Don't measure yourself against other people or their success. Find what works for you.

I started out around 410 (I'm 6'3", male, 33 years old). I've tried dieting in the past, but without much success. I'd stick to it for a month or two, and lose 10-15 pounds, then put it all back on plus some.

What's worked for me this time is not looking at it as a diet, but as a lifestyle change that I'll be living with the rest of my life. I had to realize that I couldn't eat and snack like I always had if I want to be healthy. I need to drink water. I need to exercise.

I keep track of EVERYTHING that goes in my mouth. If I'm making the kid's dinner, and try a bite or two, I log that.

Buy a kitchen scale, and learn to see everything that you're eating.

Invest in a good bathroom scale. I typically weigh myself every morning, first thing. Seeing the weight drop steadily is a huge motivation. Being 385, you're at the top end of what most scales can do without buying one specifically for larger people. If you can, spend the money to get a high capacity scale online so that you can start getting accurate readings right away, so you know exactly where you're at and can track your progress. When I first started, for the first few months I couldn't even get a reading on the scale. That was very frustrating and demotivating. Looking back, I wish I had just forked out the $100 or so to get one that I could use.

Try not to eat out very often, but if you do, learn how to spot the healthier options on a menu.

Learn proper portion sizes. I was eating 4-5 servings each meal without realizing it. There's a good chance you're doing the same.

Paying attention to everything that you're eating will make you think about your nutrition, and you can see how much what you're eating will take to burn off later.

Don't starve yourself. Eat most, if not all of the calories that you're allocated for the day. Try to use them on healthy, minimally processed foods.

On holidays and special events, treat yourself. Just make sure you get back to your healthier ways quickly.

If you have a bad day and go over your calories, don't get discouraged, just try to do your best to get back on track.

Realize that the weight loss will be slow, many times much slower than you would like, but it will come off if you stick to a plan.

Find a gym that you're comfortable at, and GO.

Try to find a friend or family member to diet with. Have someone that you can talk to.

Take measurements of your body, and pictures every few months. You won't see much difference if you look in the mirror every day, but comparing yourself to where you started is a huge motivation.

If you start getting burned out after losing some weight, go to the store. Find a flour sack, or buckets of pork fat. Compare how much weight you've lost to those. You can see how much fat you've lost, and see how much you're not carrying around with you everywhere. Visually, this is VERY motivating to me, and helps me see just how far I've come.

Most of all, you have to REALLY want to get healthy. Be 100% committed, or don't even bother. To be successful, this is a lifestyle change that you have to decide to make. No one else can do that for you.

It's hard at first, but if you stick to it, and view it as a new lifestyle, you can succeed. It won't take too long, and your body will stop craving the crap that you've been eating. Exercise won't kick your butt so bad, and will even become enjoyable.

Good luck

I always find that its easiest for me to to start my diet and exercise at separate times. I spent about 8 weeks just getting into the exercise mode, and did not diet. Just tried to get more active, once I got that down, I started to slowly change my eating habits. If you do it all at once, it is very easy to lose motivation and to have a hard time sticking to it.

So last September, I started the C25K program, I finished it by October, but I didn't start loose a lot of weight or dieting a lot, until this past March. I tried to diet, but all winter I yo-yo'd. Remember, slow and steady changes are more apt to be easier to stick with you and become a lifestyle change for you. Don't give up, you can do it!

I find once I have started to exercise, I start to feel better about myself, and when I feel better about myself, I treat myself better, and when I treat myself better, I eat less crap

I WAS severely obese. I got up to about 290. Since last year, I went from 240 to 180. I resolved all of my health issues by changing WHAT I eat. Severely restricting calories and eating "low fat" = the worst possible advice ever.

Edit: how I'm eating now, is how I am going to eat forever, with the exception that I may be able to increase carbohydrates a little once my metabolism has repaired itself. But I am always going to base my diet on fat and protein first.

That is awesome!!! and just what people need to hear!

This is the first step don't stop
I started at over 300 lbs and am 5'4" "this is a lifestyle change not a damn diet (my words to myself) I am a grandmother of 7 and want to be able to dance at each one of their weddings. I didn't want to die in my sleep and wonder how the hell they would get me out of the bed. I know we have some crazy thoughts sometimes. Love yourself first and you must if you have joined this site-friend me I will motivate you. Just take every decision one at a time-1 choice, 1 meal, 1 change 1 walk to the corner and back you can do this and you will not regret it what we regret is not doing something to change what we don't like.

You are going to go for a life style change, not a diet.
A person loses hope because they think they are unworthy,
WRONG, You are worth the time and change to your
life that this will make for you.
If I had known how happy losing all that weight was going to make me I would have done it years ago.
So many door open for you, new friends, new places, new outlook.
GO FOR IT!

Started at 400 pounds, dropped down to 250... then back up to 340. Now I am working my way back down and learning to keep it off. Just don't ever, ever give up.

Its "Food Rules" by Micheal Pollan

I started at 349. I lost almost 150 pounds, then gained almost 75 back. I'm now working on getting back to a healthy weight.
Reading the success stories here really does help, but don't compare yourself to anyone else! Set a small goal to start, like 10% of your total body weight. Also, set daily "behavior" goals, like going out for a walk, drinking water, or eating more fruits & veg than you otherwise would.

Just. Keep. Swimming.

I am close to 400 pounds...ugh. Latest is 385, I am 5'10". I so badly want to lose weight and need to. I feel overwhelmed to even start. Every time I do, I end up losing motivation by the third or fourth day, if not sooner. I have looked through a lot of the success stories pictures because I thought they would motivate me but honestly it just made me so jealous of everyone because I would love to even look like most people's BEFORE pictures! I don't know how the hell I let myself get like this. I am 23 years old. I saw a pic yesterday of me when I was 15, I was around 215. At the time I thought I was a fat cow and wanted to lose weight and wanted just to be under 200. Now I think I look downright SKINNY in that picture and would kill to look like that again...UGH!

Anyone started out very, very overweight? What has worked for you? Thanks

Feel over-whelmed if you need to but don't let that feeling stop you from regaining your health. Just start by cutting calories and logging your food ( to see exactly what you are doing) and doing VERY Moderate exercise like a little walking and stretching. Be PATIENT with yourself...and while you are cutting calories you should do research as to whether you want a specific plan. Just get started, here, there are MANY who started wayyy higher weight than you and are now at their goal weights...and they did it with eating right and a little exercise...but give it time and commitment.

I was always like that aswell, I would start then give up a week or so into it. The last time I started though, about 6 months ago, I just went into it with a completely different attitude and I havn't given up yet. In the past if I ate something I shouldn't, that would be it, I would give up for the whole day or even the whole week and tell myself i may aswell eat what I want now and start again later. Or if I put on weight I would give up and think its pointless even trying. Now if I eat something I shouldn't (which still happens and probably always will) I start again right after I have finished. If I put on weight one week I just accept it and try and work harder the next week. I still put on occasionally but the losses far outweigh the gains. You just need to change the way you think about things. Just because you give in to eating something or make and excuse not to go for a walk one day does not mean you have given up on loosing weight, just enjoy what you had, dont regret it and get straight back into being healthy. I read something once and I have not been able to find it again but it said something like, If you were climbing a staircase and you got half way up then accidently went down one step, would you give up and go right back down to the bottom or would you just keep climbing?. Just give yourself a month, just do it, who cares if you hate it its only a month and if its really that bad you can just go back to normal, but I bet you will actually start enjoying it once you get into it and realise it is doable and start seeing results

Hey, I'm 5 foot 6 in and I started out at 336. I feel your pain!! I've lost 70 pounds through a diet of 1500 calories and exercise EVERYDAY. I do something everyday whether it is a walk, doing tons of house work, going to the gym... I do what I can, when I can. You CAN do it!