first weigh – in; shock & horror

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  • MelisaBegins
    MelisaBegins Posts: 161 Member
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    Hi OP!
    Congratulations on your first step!
    I did a quick search of the forums to find some posts that might give you a bit of inspiration...

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1160837-from-420-2-pounds-to-219-6-pounds-picture


    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1103266-7-years-of-marrage-and-135-pounds-gone

    And that was just in the first couple of pages of searching!
    They did it and SO CAN YOU!!!!
    You AREN'T alone and you don't have to be afraid. You can choose to get healthy and I sincerely hope you do.
    And yeah, I think you should start by seeing your doctor.

    Wow, this was really nice and thoughtful of you to do!

    And congrats to the OP for taking the first step!
  • keem88
    keem88 Posts: 1,689 Member
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    you don't need to jump into exercise, but if you feel that you can get over that phobia and get outside, then go go go! see if the wife would like to join you on a walk.
    small steps at first. changes to your diet will make all the difference. beacuse you have so much weight to lose it will most likely come off fast at first but slow down. dont discourage keep going!
  • angiefaychai
    angiefaychai Posts: 9 Member
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    I am a recovering agoraphobic. Fears and unease such as ours do not go away easily. It took a lot of determination, medical and psychological support, and the strong bonds of family to conquer this disabling ability. And, I too turned to food for comfort. Being from the south, food was often used as a comfort technique in the social world I grew up in. "Southern comfort cooking" led me to being as large as I am. Even after I got to where I could finally go out in the world, I still found myself struggling to handle my nerves. And McDonalds, Pizza Hut, etc, made it easy to just hit a drive thru and pick up a bag of comfort...I would sit in my car and eat while driving around running errands. I would carry oversize, calorie and sugar laden drinks with me to all my appointments. Even had candy or snacks in my "bag"...I would of course use my kids as the reason for them if anyone asked. Then, one day I looked at my children, all overweight and all preferring to stay inside and vegetate in front of the TV or PC, and knew we had all developed my bad habits...I have a 13 year old that has heart problems (Defibrillator, etc.). He has panic and anxiety attacks as well...And what does he do? He carries snacks in his coat pocket, etc...He too uses food as a comfort technique.
    What had I done?
    That is what woke me up...
    And when I looked at my scale, I was so depressed and eat up with self disgust...It was a few days before I was able to fight back and shake my self up mentally...

    So, Believe me...I completely understand what you are going thru...I decided last month that enough was enough...I saw a dr, got a renewal on where I want to go in life and how I want to get there. As a family, we are all making the needed changes. Me especially...
    I am now down 10 lbs and feel better about where we are all going as a family...one step at a time...

    And, I too am beginning my journey with a large amount of weight to loose...at least 150 lbs needs to go...
    So, feel free to add me and we can help each other through this major struggle...
    You can do it! And at our weight levels and inactivity levels, walking is the safest way to get moving. Until we can walk and control our breathing, that is what we need to work on...

    Good luck, buddy! I wish you all the best! And give your wife my best as well...Like my husband, it takes someone of true strength of character and compassion and unbounded love to see us through this battle...Her support will mean the most at this point in time...

    Hugs and Friendship!
    Angie
  • angiefaychai
    angiefaychai Posts: 9 Member
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    I love the idea of lists of reasons and reminders. I think I will borrow this idea as well...great self internalization and visual cuing in this...
    Thanks for the tips!
  • snudgie
    snudgie Posts: 34
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    Joined the group - thanks much!!

    See you there!

    Pascal
  • shapefitter
    shapefitter Posts: 900 Member
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    First things first. Make an appointment to see your general practisioner. He/she needs to give you permission to start a diet. The other alternative is a gastric band. A trip outdoors on a glorious sunny day is needed, but be aware the neighbours will be shocked to see you. On the other side, it is generally your wifes fault for feeding you.
  • snudgie
    snudgie Posts: 34
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    Morning all,

    it's Saturday, eleven-thirty in the morning, and I must have slept ten hours. I welcomed my wife home from her business trip, and we had a fun evening together.

    Yes, we celebrated with lots of food and drink, and it would make the food log on MFP explode if I put it all in. I am talking wine, cheese, bread, taramosalata (so bad, and yet so good!), a pastry, and more wine. Absolutely shameful!

    But it was all planned, calorie-wise and other. The plan was to not see it as a lapse, but just to make it work with the rest of the week in terms of total calories taken on board. Today I am back to moderation and exercise.

    Did get plenty of walking in yesterday, and I went to do the grocery shopping (brave, eh?). I even managed a brisk pace, because for some reason I felt a lot less pain yesterday than I usually do. I reckon between the housework, shopping and shlepping it's a good forty minutes of moderate exercise.

    But that's no reason to rest on the couch all day, and I will get in some more exercise!

    There's one thing I felt important enough to mention: the number of replies and friend requests here has been amazing. It's new to me, and if I do respond uneasily sometimes, forgive me! Also, it took me three hours to write as many responses to posts and PM's and I only got through a part of them. If anyone feels I've ignored them - don't! Sometimes I just want to say 'thanks', or 'I agree', or 'I recognise that!' and I wish there was a simple 'like' option for those! What I mean is I appreciate and read every message - but I will probably have missed some. I am catching up right now btw!

    Until later,

    Pascal
  • grandlove63
    grandlove63 Posts: 6 Member
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    don't be discouraged, we will all get thru this together, I am not as heavy, but very familiar with the struggles. I'm just getting started, and am shocked by the scale. I started this logging all food, and boy am I shocked about the sodium that I have been consuming eating so much outside food. It has only been little changes this past week, but every change count. Just hang in there and WE will change our frowns to smiles if we lean on each other. Keep in touch with your success and failures, we can do this.
  • shapefitter
    shapefitter Posts: 900 Member
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    What did you weigh in February 2013, when you joined MFP?
  • snappyapples
    snappyapples Posts: 76
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    You, sir, are so amazing for taking this first step, for recognizing what you need to change, and for embracing the challenge and not running away! Too many people look at the scale and shrug, decide that it's too much work to get rid of the extra weight and that it's not worth it. Not you, and kudos for that!!! Good luck on your journey and as many others on here have said, we are here for you to celebrate the victories with and also to help with the down times.

    The story of Scott Cutshall may be an inspiration to you, I recommend checking him out http://www.bicycling.com/training-nutrition/nutrition-weight-loss/i-lost-320-pounds-riding-bike
  • snudgie
    snudgie Posts: 34
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    I weighed about 410 then. Some days the scale would say 408, others it would flash the message - "OL-D" at me, which I took for it's panicked cries of "Over the Limit, D***head!" I gave up on weighing for a year and decided it was counterproductive to keep on it. I learned, in the intervening year that everyone is different, and in my case I need to stay on it all the time, and keep an eye on my weight often. Denial will just have me eating with impunity, believing I can't get any heavier.

    Also, I was switched from one medication to another for diabetes. From metformin (GI problems were too much to deal with) but I did lose about 20 pounds initially. The GLipizide that I am on now is effective. Even though I don't jab (I SHOULD!!) - the doctor has been keeping an eye on my numbers and they are ever falling. AiC was 11 when I was diagnosed, and it's closer to six now. Almost there! But it did jumpstart an additional bit of weight gain.

    I've not made exercise a part of my life, and I hope that doing that will eventually eliminate the need for meds! I am striving for an A1C of 5.6 if that is possible.
  • snudgie
    snudgie Posts: 34
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    Thank you!

    I decided I wanted to live. For some people it takes a heart attack or a stroke. In my case I have had diabetes for two years, and I felt 'OK' so it STILL didn't alarm me too much.

    One day recently, reminiscing about my folks, both deceased at a young age, I decided I didn't want to be unhealthy like them. And they just were unhealthy: no heart disease, no obesity, no diabetes. But my dad never took care of himself and stroked out at 59, and my mum lost her kidneys to ITP, and spent years on dialysis.

    What I have going for me is I am still relatively healthy despite the diabetes, I don't smoke cigarettes (which my parents both did to alarming extents), and I have support: at home from a superb wife, and online from you guys! I intend to take advantage of that, and I hope some day I can help people by being an example myself. It's very inspiring to read all the stories on here!

    Cheers,

    P
  • snudgie
    snudgie Posts: 34
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    I need to learn to reply to posts better! The last one I posted starting with 'thank you' was the reply to your post!

    Sorry bout the confusion - learning my way around!
    You, sir, are so amazing for taking this first step, for recognizing what you need to change, and for embracing the challenge and not running away! Too many people look at the scale and shrug, decide that it's too much work to get rid of the extra weight and that it's not worth it.
  • bhdon
    bhdon Posts: 117 Member
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    Yes, we celebrated with lots of food and drink, and it would make the food log on MFP explode if I put it all in. I am talking wine, cheese, bread, taramosalata (so bad, and yet so good!), a pastry, and more wine. Absolute shameful!



    Oh boy, can I relate to this one. haha I still have days like that, because we love to celebrate everything with friends & family and food is often part of the celebration. Like you, I love to cook, and equally as much, enjoy delicious food. Over the long haul, though, I'm trying to focus on 'improvement' rather than 'perfection'. I've tried to limit my celebrating to a few times a month and I've still lost weight. . I started out at 257 a year ago, and in the last year I'm down 17 pounds. Some folks would say "only 17 pounds in a year" but I'm trying to do what I can live with long term. It took 30 years for me to put that extra 120 lbs on, ( which is only about 38 extra unburned calories a day, overall average). Anyway, if I do the math right, 17 lbs lost in the last year is an overall average loss of about 1/3 a pound a week, which really isn't too bad. It doesn't seem like much, until you take a 15 pound weight and a two pound weight, lift them up and try to cart them around all day. I still have a long way to go, but it's coming off faster than it went on, and, maybe by this time next year I'll be down another 17 pounds. :)
  • Schlackity
    Schlackity Posts: 268 Member
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    Snudgie - You had me at "well this was day one." I literally just read every single reply to your OP (original post, in case you're not up on the MFP lingo).

    Everyone has been telling you that you can do this.....believe in yourself and us.

    I will be following your posts to make sure you stick with this! We have all had some pretty horrendous food days....log every morsel no matter how ugly the Food Diary page looks. It's important to take responsibility for your actions.

    Do you live in the US or the UK?
  • shapefitter
    shapefitter Posts: 900 Member
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    Lol, that'll be the day when we have weighing scales that swears back at us!!! I'd say you've been mantaining in the past year. A 10-15lb increase ain't bad, as that can easily be lost in a day or two. Remember, you're a man lol you can eat like a horse, and can burn kcal like a house on fire. Being a househusband don't quite cut the mustard though, unless you take up a sport, or volunteer as a fireman. I am a female, and lead a very active lifestyle to the point that my feet hurt like hell every day. My MFP friends are sick with envy to see exercise logs, stating over 2200 kcal burned every day. Ok, you can choose to keep your diary private, untill you've learned to manage yourself better. Also, get the myfitnesspal app on your phone, so you don't miss a food/movement log. And stop making excuses, it isn't getting you to where you want to be. Good luck!
  • Michigander1956
    Michigander1956 Posts: 22 Member
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    Great Advice !!!
  • carliekitty
    carliekitty Posts: 303 Member
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    I will be wishing you much luck on your weight loss goals =D you can do it! If you slip off just get right back on the very next day. You will be amazed at how quickly the weight will come off =)
  • Michigander1956
    Michigander1956 Posts: 22 Member
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    You have a lot of support here with this program , and your 1st step was getting on the scale and realizing that you need to make a lifestyle change . No one can help you if you do not take the initiative to help yourself . Good luck on your journey, and use this site to your advantage. There is a lot of people offering some good advice!!!
  • bhdon
    bhdon Posts: 117 Member
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    The story of Scott Cutshall may be an inspiration to you, I recommend checking him out http://www.bicycling.com/training-nutrition/nutrition-weight-loss/i-lost-320-pounds-riding-bike

    Thank you for sharing this wonderful, inspirational, amazing story. Made me cry.

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