Confessing my story - at 87 pounds lost

Congratulations on hitting your century mark!!! Absolutely amazing! I don't know what your starting weight was, but I wish my brother and sister-in-law would read this. They are both extremely overweight and as you put it "walking heart attacks" with their cholesterol, and blood pressure problems. I like the baby steps approach you took and how they snowballed into a massive lifestyle overhaul! Kudos to you!!

Thanks! I can confess now, I was 368 pounds at the start. I'm 6 feet tall, and have a big frame, even when I get to "skinny" I won't be a small person. I can feel every rib on my rib cage at my current weight, but still have belly fat that needs to go. As I mentioned in high school I was about 230 as captain of the football team. That was over 30 years ago, now I am zeroing in on returning to that range.

I'm completely off of all medications, only take a multi-vitamin and glucosamine, and maybe 1 Aleve per day to keep the joints happy. My cholesterol is 129 (almost half of what it was when I started medication), my blood pressure runs about 130/70.

I can tell you with anything (weight, fitness, drugs, alcohol, etc), the person has to want to change themselves, but each person can be motivated in different ways. Some it might be encouragement from others, some it might be self motivation, some it might be a goal (bikini, trip, adventure, etc). But you can't force anyone to do it. I, in fact have motivated others via my facebook dialogues to start getting fit. If you mention me to you brother or sister-in-law I would be honored to know if they found any encouragement or motivation.

That is so awesome. I am so proud for you. I am struggling to not eat at night. I get motivated and do really well for a few months then something will happen and I lose it and gain all of it back. I am trying to eat healthy and work out everyday and I too have a treadmill that I leave sitting in the middle of the room so I have to walk around it all the time to remind me but I fail to get on it.

My worst problem is I stay hungry all the time or I think I do. I can't stop eating. .....

Do you workout in the morning or evening? I've found I have to do the morning, or I never find time. My routine is set, I get up, make coffee, let the dogs out, and go get on the treadmill. I do it every day, giving myself 1 day off on the weekend. It is now a habit. I admit sometimes I don't feel like it, and in those days I slow down a little bit on the treadmill. I have a set routine that has me doing 2.3 miles and 350 feet of incline in 30 minutes. I usually push the speed up a bit manually, and push the incline up manually and do about 2.6 miles and 500 feet of incline. If I'm not feeling it, I stay at the base routine.

In terms of eating, I knew I'd never succeed if I was starving all the time. When I started I let myself eat all the fruits and veggies I wanted. If I was hungry at bedtime, eat an apple or carrot. Or maybe a fat free yogurt. And those 100 calorie snacks (granola bars, cookies, brownies, etc are godsends). I try not to have 'bad' things in the house. My problem before was not eating enough during the day. I would be so hungry when I got home I'd eat 3000 calories at night and go to bed.

Hopefully there's a nugget here that might help you.