Anybody here severely obese?

Just read this thread and I gotta say its one of the best ones I have read. Awesome support of one another and fantastic advice.

I can't help much but I started at 327 and have been having weigh ins around 304 lately after just two months. I started March 22. I am not even doing formal exercise yet. I will later on but I am not ready to do that yet I love tracking my food and knowing exactly what I should be eating. You can do it. Just do what you need to do it will be so worth it in every area of life, emotionally, spiritually, physically, mentally, relationally. You would be surprised how when you find a good program to work how quickly the weight will come off when you are bigger. I wish I had started back when I was your age. Do it so you will have the life you always wanted without the excess weight.

I was at a whopping 354lbs (I still am at the highest level according to that bogus BMI chart, but I run like a gazelle! So I dont feel severely obese), but i've been there and fought the struggle.

Keep your head in the game. There is no sugar coating it, you have a long and tough road ahead of you. 95% of that tough road is mental. The process of losing weight is actually easy, you just gotta get past all the mental blocks and keep things simple. Dont buy into any BS gimmicks--like pills, dr. oz, etc.

Being overweight is hard, and staying in shape is hard....so choose the right "hard"!

Good luck.

Try to look at the weight loss in smaller goals instead of the overwhelming picture. Shoot for 25lbs first! After that goal is reached, you WILL want to keep moving forward. You can do it!

I started at exactly where you're at back in January. Same height and weight. Something clicked for me in January - had this realization that I don't see any fat 80 year old people walking around. I love life and intend to be here for a long time yet so knew that something had to change. What changed? I eat less. The first week was rough - felt like my stomach was digesting itself - was soooo hungry! Since then it's been less of a challenge. I eat basically whatever I want. You can peek at my diary and see that it's actually kind of disgusting how I eat a lot of the time, and also how much drinking I'll do sometimes (yes, I log my booze when I go to the pub with friends). Basically I try to run a bit of an additional calorie deficit most days to cover when I do go out, or when I want ice cream or whatever it is I want to indulge in. When I go over, it's okay, just carry on the next day. Nothing is so terrible that it can't be overcome. I've hit a plateau along the way, did increase my exercise a bit to get past it, and just trust in the process. Still go through periods of feeling really hungry (genuine growly stomach hunger pain type of hungry), but can usually counter that with green tea and water. Most of all, it's just being committed and holding myself accountable. It can be done!

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

I have been at this for two months and I have lost 13 lbs. I wanted to put "only" in front of two months, and in front of 13 lbs, but I realized that was sort of putting down all the time and work I have done to get this far. I am twice your age, about 6 inches shorter, and started at about 300 lbs. I started by just exercising - got into a program through the health system here (I am in Canada). Didn't lose much in those eight weeks, but it got me started moving. Then somehow I found MFP - I can't even remember what led me here! I previously did the calorie counting thing, but honestly what a pain to have to write it down, then look things up, and not really be able to always find what you were looking for. This site was perfect, most things are already in the database! I still struggle greatly day to day but most days keep to my calorie limit. I do not like exercising (big surprise, hey, how did most of us get this way?!) but I committed to going to the gym because I signed up for a year! My car is in the shop right now and it's killing me to just have to do my Leslie Sansome walking DVD. I started out this morning saying I am just not going to do it today... I did it! I see a very long road ahead of me, but when I look at the success stories, I see a very long road BEHIND those people, and there's no reason I cannot do it too. I have gone from only being able to do about 15 min. cardio in February to doing 45 min earlier in May, with a very bad knee! I would give just about anything to have started this 30 years ago with two good knees. You CAN do it, little by little, inch by inch... We`re here for ya!

I'm 5'8 230lbs I play soccer very often for 120 min with my friends 2-4 every week. I don't look that big but the back fat and belly fat shows making me feel uncomfterble near people. I'm 13 so I singed up because I needed to lose this big boy fat and have that body I wanted. If I get to 140lbs I will be so proud and since I been gaining some muscle this will be the site to do it on

I started last year with a bmi of around 43.9 (5'4" and 260lbs). I'm down to 195lbs now (bmi of around 33). I'd probably be closer to my goal if I hadn't slipped up a bit over the holidays, but one way or another I'm going to get there. I'm 23 years old as well. I don't have any good before and afters (I didn't let people take pictures of me until I was in the low 200's), but I do have this facial comparison.

1st pic: Drivers license photo taken last year at my heaviest
2nd pic: Photo taken September 2012 @ 198lbs (before my slip up)


It does take time and determination, but it is not impossible. Patience is key. Take one day at time. And I do agree sometimes setting small goals is better than looking at the bigger picture. Last year, my goals weren't based on weight loss. I started by walking a quarter of a mile down a trail (so half a mile there and back) with my husband and my goal was to be able walk all the way to the next small town (roughly 14 miles there and back). I still can't make it that far, but I'm getting there slowly. I went on a walk the other day that would have killed me this time last year. I'm also walking at a faster pace. Last month I struggled to keep up with my husband walking at 3mph and my last walk averaged out to be 3.8mph for a 6 mile walk.

I started at 402 in January 2012. When I started out I did like you do read the success stories and get extremely jealous and wanted it now! It's just something you have to be mentally prepared for cause it is a long journey. I started out really well, lost 60 lbs and got down to 340 and stalled completely out, gave up and gained 20 back by Jan 2013. I started back up and the closer I get to finally hitting 300 lbs the more confidence and self-esteem I have gotten. Just keep at it and you will lose and get to where you wanna be. I still have quite the journey ahead of me but I know it's all worth it! Good Luck!!

Add me if you would like for support

Bumping this because it's an awesome thread.

Everyone here already gave you great advice. Only add from me is that you have to want this change. Are you ready mentally?

I'll chime in with my success (so far) story as well. I'm a little over half way to my "goal" weight, which will still leave me in the obese category of BMI, but once there I know I'll reassess if I want to continue further, of if my body will let me stop. For me, the start of this wasn't something I planned, or even really was thinking about. Not this past Christmas, but the one before that I had the mild thought that if I could work on cutting out the second helpings, that MAYBE I could start thinking about loosing some weight. At this point, I was up around 415 - 420. Not certain, because the scale I had to use at this time wrapped around to 0 after 350, and when ever I stepped on, it would wrap around to about the 25 - 30 mark.

I was also a student (and still am) when this started, so I was actually being FORCED to do some exercise. Had to walk the 10 yards or so from the parking lot to the class room, or the 1/2 block between one class room and the next. When I groused about not exercising, I used the excuses "I'm a student, so I'm sitting all day in lecture. I'm sitting in the car for an hour every day getting to/from school. I'm sitting at my desk all night getting through the mountain of homework. I don't have TIME to exercise." I say excuses for a very good reason - the school has a gym available to the students that is open from 6 am (the earliest classes are ever scheduled is 8 am) to 11 pm (my latest classes have always let out by 5 pm). And, yes, I usually DID have a mound of homework to plug through, but I could have worked a little more efficiently and gotten it done a bit faster if I had really wanted to.

Because of the unexpected weight loss, I actually found this sight because I was looking for anything to help me understand WHY I was losing weight. My family has a ton of different medical issues, and I was certain that I had fallen into one of those traps. But, once I joined, I was amazed to find out I was actually doing what you are SUPPOSED to do to loose weight! I was eating at a deficit.

By now, I was resigned to a small loss, then a resurgence of my bad habits just like I had experienced before. All of my life I've been heavy, if not down right fat. I was blessed by genetics so that most of the time the excess weight doesn't show like it would with someone who doesn't carry their weight as well. That let me plow through weight watchers (and yo-yo horribly), Adkins (yeah, when I got done with that one I was at LEAST 20 pounds heavier), and any number of other "diets" along the way. I was convinced that I could not loose the weight, and I would have to resign myself to perpetually fight the ever increasing weight gains. The only time I remember before I found MFP ever seeing a loss I was working a job where I was walking 6 - 7 hours of my shift to cover 8 - 10 miles with a couple of smallish hills. Even then, I don't recall loosing WEIGHT so much as INCHES.

But, with the help of MFP, I was able to take control of my weight loss and head off a possible plateau or fifty, take control of my health, and make the small, incremental changes necessary for me to continue living in a healthier me.

As the others have said before - it has not been the easiest road to walk, nor has it been the fastest on record. There are now medical conditions which dictate how and what I eat, which has helped to accelerate the loss, and which I am actively trying to curb so that I can ensure that I have all of the proper tools when I am ready to transition to maintenance.

Each day that you are actively working on taking that control into your own hands is a day you are forging the tools you need to be healthy for the rest of your life. Just because you have a bad day/week/hour/meal is not a reason to quit or give up. It is a lesson about yourself, and a chance to learn what NOT to do, and to evaluate how you feel after so that you can make a different choice next time you are in a similar situation.

One of the things that I have seen over and over through the forums, and I found worked wonderfully for me until the medical issue cropped up and started dictating my menu is to NEVER make a food taboo or forbidden. Especially if it is something you enjoy eating. You can restrict it to certain times/ events/ days, but if you completely cut it out of your life, more than likely you will eventually HAVE to have it, and will wind up over indulging and feel horrid about it after. Whenever I see someone talking about a "forbidden" food or having trouble because they binged, I recall a quote from Thomas Edison when he finally invented the light bulb "I did not fail 2000 times, I just found 2000 ways that didn't work." I would strongly suggest taking that quote to heart.

Yes, there WILL be times when you slip and fall. There will be times when you fumble around trying to figure out why something isn't going like planned. And, there will be times when you feel that you have no hope because NOTHING has changed in a few days/weeks. But, if you remember you have found many ways that DON'T work, you have also found something more precious - you have found a way that works for YOU. Many here say there is no "special snowflake", but in reality we are ALL special snowflakes. Jane Doe's journey is not yours, and yours is not mine. There are some GENERAL guidelines that are applicable to the masses, but the specifics have to be figured out by each and every one of us. And, if you quit/fall/give up, you are doing yourself a great disservice. Because if you persevere, in the time that would have passed whether you were making the changes or not, you will find achievements that are the merest flickers of potential NOW growing larger, being met, or even being surpassed.

I won't pound "moderation is the key", because quite frankly, I don't know what moderation is for you. I'm not sure I know what moderation is for ME! Even now, though I eat smaller meals than I used to, I still regularly eat at least TWICE what my parents eat when we sit down to dinner together. (Yes, I'm a cheap student - living with parents to save on the hard to come by green stuff!)

As others have said, exercise will help. WALKING will help. But, if you don't like, or are uncomfortable about walking outside, then even heavy duty house cleaning can be enough exercise to start with while you are settling into the idea of what your new, healthy life will be like. And, as you gain that knowledge, and feel more comfortable, you can expand from that foundation. Finding an exercise you ENJOY will be critical. For me it is the pool - especially since access comes with the school gym! For some it is walking, or running, or riding a bike, or even gardening. But, find something you can enjoy for a long, long time. Don't make exercise a "chore" because you will eventually loose the fight of will power VS lack of desire. If you enjoy doing it, then the feeling of enjoyment will be its own reward when you don't want to.

Don't go charging go-ho into the process of making yourself healthier either. Again, the point about making too many changes too quickly that was brought up earlier is very true. Small changes added together make the big changes in the end. And, those small changes pile up surprisingly quickly.

Learn to listen to your body. That was one thing I had never learned when I was growing up because I never had to. With all of the weight loss attempts, all the yo-yo dieting, and all of the sheer determination I threw at the wall of what was NOT possible for my body to perform I never got to know when enough was enough. My body gave me a wake-up call with it's version of a steel I beam about two months ago when I pushed too hard with an emerging interest, and my one GOOD knee is now acting up worse than the one I injured as a teen. If I had known HOW to listen to my body, I would have "heard" the warnings that what I was asking was too much too soon. But, your body will also tell you when you are truly hungry instead of just thirsty, or when you really CAN make the change you are contemplating rather than fight you over it.

No, not all changes can be done in harmony with your body, but a great majority can be... if you "hear" that it is ready for the next step.

For my actual specifics:
I set my initial goals with MFP as sedentary and attempted to eat back all of my exercise calories. Now, because of both my weight and a constant inability to meet those caloric goals most days I have gone to a slightly different method, which seems to be right for ME.

I started with about 10 minutes total of walking per day, and not all of it at once! As I got lazier, and because my classes started later, I have since increased that to around 30 minutes per day due to having to park out in a "north forty" parking lot instead of right up against the buildings my classes are in.

I have altered my eating habits now, so that I am eating a TON more salads than I had in the past, and am actively watching my protein and fat counts. I try to make sure I hit these, as I MUST restrict my carbs. Not everyone has this requirement, so you will need to find what ratio of carbs/fats/proteins you feel fullest with for the longest period.

I'm not organized enough to pre-plan my days, however, I do log my meals as soon as I can after I eat. That way I have a running total of both calories and carbs available for the rest of the day. Some people find it easier to pre-plan their days or weeks, I just prefer more variety and almost never know what is going to be for dinner until it is being prepared. (And, even then I might have hamburger or spaghetti, depending on what I think sounds better once the hamburger is thawed!)

I do not totally rely on the scale to keep track of my progress. I keep track of a few body measurements as well. There have been a couple of times when both the scale and the tape measure have shown no changes, but my clothes were fitting much better, or getting looser.

When I started, I just logged my food, tracked my measurements/weight, and went on my way. Since December of last year I have started using the social side of this site more, and it has helped me get ideas for what else I might need to consider as I work towards being fit, active, and healthy.

In conjunction with reading the forums, I have also started working on building a solid block of friends. I keep my list small by preference because I actively support these people, and all I ask of them is the same thing. As you gain confidence or desire to branch into the social side, be sure you have that active support, and are offering it, because on the days when you just don't want to do something, or just cannot dredge up the energy to do something you know you need to be doing, that block of friends can be the push to get you started. And, once started you will likely find yourself finishing what ever it was you didn't want to do.

And, like several others have said previously:

Great job on taking the first, and hardest step into your new, healthier life.

How that I've written a book that I hope I didn't bore you with,

I hope you can find some helpful ideas buried in the words.

My highest weight was about 400 lbs. I lost about 150 lbs of that, but gained most if it back.

When I started losing weight this time, I was at about 370 lbs. Last time I checked my weight, I was at 237 lbs. Which is still bigger than a lot of people's "before" pictures, and it kind of sucks to hear people talk about how disgustingly, monstrously fat they were at 220 lbs, or whatever. But I'm really proud of myself. I had almost given up when I was at 370, and I've managed to lose everything I had gained, and then some.

Sometimes I think it's easier if you have farther to go in your weight loss, as opposed to just 20 lbs or something, because you'll have time to really settle into the routine. Sensible eating and exercise will just become second nature. You'll *have* to do it for longer, so the chances are higher that you'll be able to make lifelong changes.

Yes I am severely obese. I understand your pain. I know how bad it feels to look in the mirror or at a picture and want to put your head back under the covers and never come out! I get it. But there comes a time when you have to stop. You are young and have a lot of time to get it together. You can do this. You are the only person who can fight for you! No one else can. Take charge and take care of yourself.

Hi there!

I started off weighing 336 pounds (I'm 6 foot). My BMI was 44, so I was morbidly obese.....ouch! :noway:

Now I am 259.75 (yes, that quarter of a pound makes a difference, it puts me into the 250s, hahaha) and my BMI is 35! So still obese, just not morbidly so! :grumble:

You have had loads of great advice already on this thread and I hope you realise you aren't alone.

Here is my 2 cents' worth. Focus on your diet first if you need to, what goes into your mouth is 90% of the battle. Exercise can be as simple as walking...when you are carrying a lot of weight, just walking is a workout that can burn a lot of calories! Weigh EVERYTHING you eat...believe me, your estimates will probably be waaaay off, mine were! And drink a lot of water - I did anyway, but the benefits of being well hydrated cannot be underestimated!

I have only recently added some friends on this site and started reading the message boards so you are well ahead of me there! The support is invaluable and you will learn more about nutrition and exercise on here than you would researching on your own - from people who have been there and done it!

Finally, if you have a bad day....don't give up. Start again tomorrow (not next week, tomorrow!) and carry on! We all slip up from time to time, we are all human.

Best of luck! And remember, the small changes all add up to large ones! You can do this!

Lisa :flowerforyou: