Calling other FAT DADs. Introducing myself

I never really introduced myself, I'll I'm going to repost a message that got buried in a thread and make the introduction formal. (and calling any other FAT DADs to Friend me. We can do this!)

I'm Jeff, a computer technician by trade... Been doing this for 25 years and as you might expect it's a LOT OF SITTING in front of other people's computers. Mostly brain activity, not a very physically demanding job.

Over the period of 2002 -- 2014, I went steadily from overweight to seriously obese.
I was 200lbs (M/6'4") when I married back in 1990, and very slim, but not very muscular.

In 2014, I started walking the dog in the evening with my spouse and noticed that I was out of breath just going up a modest hill that leads to the next block. Even climbing the stairs was noticeably leaving me breathing hard. Not good. I also noticed that my concentration was lacking, and with 3 teenagers in the house, my stress management was poor.

October 2014, I simply felt I couldn't ignore this any longer and joined the local gym/sports therapy center for $14 bucks for the remainder of the year. For the first two months, I avoided the scale completely, afraid of having to face just how bad I was. My first day "walking" on the treadmill had me huffing and puffing to complete 1 mile in 30 minutes. Dear God. One regular remarked that she was afraid I was going to have a heart attack next to her.

But.. I kept at it... First month, 1 day a week. Second month, 2 days a week, By December I was in the gym three days a week, Treadmill, exercise bike, and starting to work with some of the machines. It became a challenge to see how fast I could complete a walking mile... 22 minutes, 20 minutes, 17 minutes..

Then disaster...

I experienced a retinal tear on Christmas day. The surgery was a success, but recovery time is at least a month of "doing nothing". -- Go home the surgeon said, do nothing, and watch TV and we'll see how you are in a month.

I'd already gone from my couch potato identity (which would have loved this) to being active in the gym for at least 4-5 hours a week. (I was still hiding from the scales at this point.)

I went crazy! Cabin FEVER! Early February, I took to begging the surgeon and was permitted to start with very light gym workouts and work my way back up... slowly...

By the end of February I was back up to 3, two hour trips to the gym, and finally decided to face the scale.
311 pounds. Damn.. and I'd been busting my butt. The therapy staff said they had been paying attention to my work and were pretty sure I'd probably already lost at least 10 pounds.

I renewed my determination to conquer the scale, but it wasn't moving... Enter MFP.
The first week I lost 2lbs! As of this writing I'm on day 62 65 with 24lbs 30lbs lost!

I'm continuing to get in at least 3 days a week at the gym, with a little less walking (started getting serious knee pain from doing 2-3 miles at a time) and much more weight lifting, barbells, dumbbells, various machines. I obtained a broken exercise bike (fixed it!) and a ski machine for the weekends for at home.

I've tripled what I can manage all the way around since October. Even started Bench Press last month and have moved from 65lbs to 125lbs presses last week. I feel better and friends are starting to notice that I'm doing something. I've already been asked for my secret. For for first time in years, I NEED A BELT to keep my pants up.

I found a picture of myself last week from before I started working out.
Dear Lord! I look like I was closer to 340+ pounds. (I apologized repeatedly to my spouse.) The pic is included in my profile.

Hope this encourages someone else here. I've still got a long way to go, but I'm loving it! Friend me up!