Just wanted to pop in and welcome everyone to the group. I'm new here as well, to the group, not MFP. Stick with it and stay focused on your goals and you'll achieve success. It's very helpful having friends here so participate as often as you can.

@ Kiki..............I love deadlifts too.

Welcome Suzy! This is hard work, but so worth it

Welcome aboard Winston.

Wow that is one scary story and a reminder to us all just how precious life is. Thank goodness you were as healthy as you were or you probably would not have survived. Stress however does an awful lot of damage and it sounds as though you lead an extremely stressful life and it was wise to "drop back to one job" as those grandkids need you in their lives.

Take care of yourself!!!

Congrats on a huge recovery Farback, very impressive, hope all goes well from here on!

I grew up in Bedford. Small world. Thanks for the warm welcome everyone. I did get off lucky with my heart attack. I was fit, and as a firefighter quickly realized what was happening to me. I actually drove myself to the hospital. I got TNK'ed early, and only suffered minor heart damage. I had some complications during the interventions over the next few days, and had a couple near visits with Elvis. Came out fit and ready to fight. I was running a couple miles at rehab within a month, and haven't looked back. I stepped down as Fire Chief, and technically my fire attack days are over, although I have occasionally thrown on an air-pack and gone in on attack if we're short-crewed. I try to avoid that now and just drive the big red trucks.

Farback wrote: »

I'm a 59 year old retired fire chief. (Volunteer, got a full time job too). I had an unexpected heart attack the morning after a big fire in February 2014. I was eating clean, 185 pounds, running 5K a couple times a week, but my genes simply did not care. I had a STEMI and ended up with one stent and a new birthday. I coded out a couple times through the week, my first time in a hospital. I've been dead, and do not recommend it.

I only had a couple lifestyle targets to change to avoid the next one, I live clean. I increased exercise to every day and decreased stress by dropping back to one job; I retired from Fire Chief to Driver at the end of my two year term in December.

I've been power lifting for ten months now. I figured if I have to log gym time, I might as well build a toy for the wife. Anyway, I've been feeding the muscle gain, but apparently overfeeding it a bit so I'm back on macro monitoring and wearing the Polar Loop till I hit 39" on the waist (45) and 175 pounds. (195).

I have three grown kids and four grandkids, who are the joy of my life. I intend to keep the time bomb in my chest reset daily to enjoy however much time I have with them.

Congrats on the healthy lifestyle and recovery. I had a near death experience myself so completely understand how that changes you.

Enjoy every day with renewed vigor and enthusiasm!

Thanks.....exercise does help - its' hard to stay motivated. I'm hoping to make some progress soon because it's becoming extremely disheartening to work so hard and not see any progress.....

Hi. I'm Judith, almost 66 and retired. I have been losing weight and gaining it back for decades now. And every time I gained 10-15 pounds extra in addition to the ones I had lost. I think it was a reaction to the feeling of deprivation and sacrifice. This time I feel different. For starters, I am not feeling deprived and I don't have to give myself pep talks at every meal. Usually I would have given up by now because I have not lost weight in a week. But I feel confident: I am eating the right foods (for me), in the right amounts and by the laws of science the weight WILL come off.

My motivation for losing weight is that my only health concern is pain in my joints, due to arthritis, and I know that all the extra weight I am carrying is not helping. Until recently, I used to be able to run up the 19 steps to my apartment and I want to do it again.

Hello everyone. My name is Marty, 58 years old. I am originally from Northern New Jersey and now living in South Florida. My involvement with weight loss actually started 2 ½ years ago after gaining 50 pounds after a stroke and reaching 282 pounds.
Here is the story:This actually happened Dec 8, 2008,.I just finished lunch with a coworker and was at target getting Xmas supplies for our work, where i just lost my balance and fell. then I got up and fell again. that's when they called the paramedics. No pain, even though the day before i did notice my neck hurt but just assumed I pulled something. It all happened that quick. I now know my blood pressure was 260/140/ they said i was lucky i did not explode.

I remember my stroke, not knowing if I would even walk again or even end up in an assisted living facility, as I did not know what the outcome would be.
I suppose, at that time, even the dr's were not even sure. I was in the hospital for 35 days, 14 of which were in intensive care. I was paralyzed on the left side.Started off in a wheelchair, which I was not allowed to get in or out of my self, then progressed to a walker, then to a cane and finally nothing. I went to physical, speech and occupational therapy for the last 3 weeks in the hospital, as the first 2 weeks, they wouldn't let me do it until they got my blood pressure under control. Then after being discharged, the therapy continued for about another 2 months. I remember them telling me I was lucky, well in a weird way, and showed me others that had a similar type stroke, who would always be in a wheelchair and probably never progress and then a lot don't even survive.
So I realize that i have come far. I do drive, even though that took awhile as I couldn't reach with my left arm to close the car door, so had to reach with the right arm. I would avoid drive thru's as I knew reaching was a problem. I was still eating bad,and of course not getting any exercise, so ended up gaining about 50 pounds, getting up to 282, which was one of the worst things after a stroke, because they say if you have 1 stroke, you are more likely to have a 2nd. I was was taking a lot of medication, about 28 pills a day, many being blood pressure and pain, as there was damage to the left side of my body, and still is even to this day. There is always a burnt, cold tingling feel in my hands and feet, a tightness in my legs and knee, and my balance is off especially when my legs get tired. Then a friend told me about My Fitness Pal. I never was concerned about diet or calories, which is probably why I ended up with the stroke and being here. I love computers, electronics, and challenges, and was not sure if I would last on mfp for a week. Then a week later jan 14,2013, I bought a fitbit thinking it may motivate me. Before that, I probably walked 500-1000 steps a day. I started off slow, and now have walked 4100 miles. I guess it worked.
I realize if I didn't take the steps I did, I easily would have been over 300 pounds now, possibly having another stroke. I have gone from a 48 waist to a 32 and a xxl shirt to a small. I do not have cheat days. I figure that that is what got me here. That's not to say I am perfect. Now though if I want something bad, I work for it first, then eat it. For instance, if I want a 500 calorie cheeseburger, before I would just eat it, but now I will exercise and when I burn those calories, then I will go eat it, kind of like a reward and it makes it easier knowing if I obtain that number, I will eat something I like. The one thing I didn't realize is the social aspect of this. I have met so many people from all over the world, some that I speak to almost everyday. Now that I am at my goal, I am staying with mfp to be held accountable and not to be like so many others I have seen, that get to their goal, leave and are back a year later, gaining everything back plus more.
This does work. I did it all thru watching calories and walking, as that's all i really can due because of the damage on my left side due to the stroke. I am sure a gym would have speeded it up, but I was ok with just the walking. While going thru this, I always felt this to me is more mental than anything. I just got to the point where i got more excited with losing a pound or a size in my waist, than have a piece of pizza or cake. I never let the scale bother me. I knew i was doing the right thing. If I lost great, If I didn't, to me it meant I wasn't working hard enough at it, so I was motivated either way.
I was one of those people that thought, this will never happen to me, but it did and it does, and the sad part is that i could have prevented it, but it is what it is and all i can do is try to be better and try to prevent this from happening again, To date I started at 282 pound, xxl shirt, 48" waist and now 2 1/2 years later. i am at 152 pounds, small shirt, 32" waist. I did not do anything drastic. The biggest thing for me as i am a super picky eater, was that i still ate what i liked, but just watched calories. if i was forced to eat foods i didn't like, i doubt i would have lasted on here more than a week.Just that and got a fitbit pedometer, and walked, that's it. no secret pills or foods, I ate hot dogs, burgers, fries, grilled cheese etc but tracked calories and other nutrients and it worked. i have of course been going to the dr the last 2 ½ years pretty much monthly and the dr is super happy with my blood work. I was on about 28 pills a day and now i am on less than 1/2 of that.
Hoping that maybe something that I have gone thru, can maybe prevent others from doing the same....Anyone that wants more info or just talk, feel free to email me or add as a friend anytime!!! have a great week.