Any Men with advice?

I'm 10 lbs heavier than you, and I too have a long way to go, and the only advice I can give you is to log onto MFP every day and track your food. It's amazing how it helps.
As for exercise, you just gotta start slowly, but surely. A 15 minute walk a day will gradually turn into half an hour, and you'll find it getting easier I promise.

Feel free to add me, and we can do this together

Just remember that you did not get that much overweight over night and you won't lose it over night.

2-pounds per week is as fast as you want to lose. Your body will have to go through many changes as you lose weight and increase your metabolism.

I started off walking 3-times a week for 20-minutes. After about three weeks, I increased to 4-times a week. After a couple more weeks, 5-times a week. Then I started increasing some of those days to 30-minute walks.

Read all you about fitness. Use this program to track your calories. Stick with it. It does work.... but don't expect an overnight miracle.

You'll probably lose 10 pounds your first month, but not look or feel much different. Stay the course though. In a couple of months you'll hear people say, "Hey, are you losing weight?"

I would recommend starting here:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/MY00431

Even without exercising, I would take in 1800 calories minimum per day as the Mayo site suggests it is the minimum to ensure adequate nutrition for a man. I would also recommend trying to hit 55% from complex carbs, 25 to 30% protein and the remainder is fat. There are no absolutes and everybody has different viewpoints, but I did a lot of research once I started on this new life of mine (May 31, 2010).

Like the prior post said, just get into a good habit of writing down everything in MFP, do some research on your own and hold yourself accountable. Slowly work in exercise and some walking outside or on a treadmill is an excellent start. Exercise is another thing you can research on your own.

Well, I am a smaller guy, but I hope this helps. I have lost 40 lbs since my high weight, and the key for me was just to start small. Cut out one or two things in your diet that are bad for you; a lot of times it's soda, beer, or snack foods. I don't know you, so I can't tell you what you should target. Definitely start exercising, but remember, slow and steady wins the race. Go out for a walk, if you can, do one or two minutes of jumping jacks or something, whatever you are able to do. Don't pressure yourself to burn 1000 calories a day, just set your calorie goal for a pound a week, and try to increase your amount of vegetables. Fruits are good for you, but the sugar in them could be counterproductive if you rely too much on them. As that starts getting easier, raise the challenge for yourself.

I hope this is helpful somewhere.

P.S. Watch your vitamins, too. The better nourished you are, the more energy you have.

Hey man!

While I myself haven't quite had the experience you've had, I have had friends with similar problems. One friend of mine came to me back in 2009 and asked for my help (23 years old at the time, about 6'1" 400lbs). So him and I would go to the gym together about 3 times a week. We'd do mainly cardio, focusing on burning calories for weight loss. I'm thinking this should be your focus as well. Get out and start burning. But no need to get a gym pass right away. I'd say baby steps first. Diet is going to be key here. Eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, lean meats/plant based proteins, and whole grains. Drink lots of water, at least 8-10 glasses per day, and try not to consume liquid calories if you can avoid it. This is how lots of people go over, they drink too many sodas, beer, wine, even juice. It all adds up.

While you're adjusting your calorie intake, try going for walks. 30 minutes per day for at least 5 days a week to start. Once you feel comfortable, you can try more strenuous cardio like jogging, swimming, or gym machines like the treadmill or elliptical, but for now walking and hiking are going to be the best bets for you. And all it takes is a few steps out the door.

Realize also that this is going to take time. Short of fad diets and surgeries (which I don't believe in), there is no magic cure for weight loss. 2 pounds per week is the ideal goal. About 8-10 pounds lost per month, approximately 120 lbs. per year at the most, so it's going to take at least a year and a half to get to your goal weight and then there is the little matter of maintenance after that. Just set your goals, start walking, and once results begin, start doing some research on what exercises to do, especially strength training exercises.

I checked in on my friend that I mentioned. He's down to 350lbs. but alas he hasn't been falling my regimen as closely since he moved away and we have been less in touch. But by all means keep in contact with people on here. Everyone is in a similar boat and just about everyone on here is incredibly supportive.

You can do it!

I was not that high at my highest, only 260 pounds or so, but I am willing to help if I can. I need to head out right now so I can't write something longer.

Good luck on your quest. I think you've chose a great place to start.

I also say you have received some really good advice from the replies above. It is difficult to know where to start with you because you say you know nothing. I guess that means anything I say will be helpful ;-)

First of all I will deal with exercise. If you have been inactive for the majority of your life, intense activity will likely be very difficult for you. You are carrying a lot of weight, and every time you seek to get active you have to carry that around. Thus, like those above I suggest walking. Do as fast a pace as you can without running out of breath. Time wise, start out doing what you can. When I first had my stroke all I could handle after that was a walk down the street one block and back. Eventually I could handle walking around the block. Then I could extent it even further. At this point you might want to increase your pace. What you will find is that as you lose weight activity will get easier, and you will want to do more. For now do what you can.

Second, the most important part of losing weight is what you eat. More appropriately how much you eat. Food is basically energy once your body digests it. Different types of food have a different amount of energy, and the general way it is measured is in calories.

Your body burns a certain amount of that energy every day just to survive. If you didn't move at all you would still burn calories. This is called Basal Metabolic Rate because it is the base amount of calories that you will burn just to stay alive. To this is added the number of calories you burn doing your daily activities. This would be the amount of calories you burn in a day.

Thankfully you don't have to figure this out. This web site, Myfitnesspal.com (MFP) does it all for you. Set up your goals using the wizard and it will automatically based on your weight, age, activity level and calculate a reasonable estimate of the calories you would use in a day. Better yet, it will set things up so that if you eat the number of calories it suggest you will lose weight even without exercise. Exercise is still important as it will help keep your body burning calories at about the same rate, slowing or preventing the natural long term slowdown of energy burning your body will do because you are eating less calories than you are using in a day.

Since you are very overweight, you can afford a 2 pound per week goal. Don't go over that and eat all the calories that you are allowed. Trying to lose faster by eating less calories than MFP suggests is a certain way to eventually have your weight loss stagnate and be stuck at the same weight for several week or even months. Along with this remember to record all your walking in the exercise area as you need to eat those calories you burn while exercising off as well. Newfiedan's blog and posts on that are very helpful in understanding how MFP works.

As to what to eat, that is difficult to say without knowing what you like to eat, and eat right now. I would suggest seeking to eat more protein (found in meats and beans) but avoid deep fried or fried thing along with fatty meats. Mainly I suggest that not because I think eating fat is horribly bad, but because fat has a lot of calories per gram. A lot more than protein or carbohydrates. That means a fairly small serving of something with a lot of fat will provide a lot of calories and still leave your stomach empty. Instead go for lean meats.

Along with the lean proteins, eat LOTS of vegetables. The majority of your meal should be veggies. While peas and corn are technically vegetables, they have fairly high calories per serving so you want to watch your portions of them, but for other veggies you can eat of a lot of them for little calories. For example one of my favorite frozen veggie mixes around here is California mix. It is made up of broccoli, cauliflower and carrots. It is only 25 calories per serving. That means I can eat 4 servings and still only have eaten 100 calories. That will fill you up, and provide a lot of the vitamins and minerals your body needs along with a lot of fiber.

Fiber is an important thing as well. It is the part of food that your body cannot digest. It helps keep you regular, and make you feel full. Lots of fiber is good. If you eat a lot of veggies you will have lots of fiber in your diet because they have a lot in them.

Finally, water, drink lots. Yes you will spend a lot of time in the bathroom especially at first, but it helps you feel full. I don't know why, but when I drink about 10-12 eight ounce glasses of water a day or more I seem to lose weight fairly consistently. If I don't it seems to slow things down. There is not clinical evidence for this, but my personal experience is that it helps. At the very least it will help keep you full.

I am glad to help. I am not a nutritionist or a trainer, although I wouldn't mind training to become a personal trainer. However, I have not only done this for myself, but have been interested in nutrition and exercise since highschool. My problem is that I didn't use what I had learned for myself and kept putting on weight. Finally it was getting sick with pneumonia and then have a small stroke that woke me up to the fact that I was obese and killing myself with what I was eating and my lack of activity. Be thankful that so early in life you are realizing this. At your age you should have an easier time of it than older people.

Think of this as a lifestyle change where you are unlearning all the bad living patterns that you have built up over the years, and establish new patterns that are healthier. Take this time while you are losing weight to learn all you can, and retrain yourself.

If you have any questions, or if I was unclear on anything, ask. There are no stupid questions except the one you don't ask.