What was your rock bottom?

My passport photo ...

When I had two slices of cake and potato chips one day.

To a lesser extent, when I was 15 and realized hydrogenated oils were the equivalent of trans fat even though the nutrition label laws permitted the scumbags from omitting them from reflecting that in the numbers. Turns out all those Quaker's Oats bars were poison.

When I got diagnosed with idiopathic intracranial hypertension.

BackupFridge wrote: »

To a lesser extent, when I was 15 and realized hydrogenated oils were the equivalent of trans fat even though the nutrition label laws permitted the scumbags from omitting them from reflecting that in the numbers.

They aren't. Firstly, a fully hydrogenated oil is neither a cis nor a trans fat - it lacks any double bonds which could be cis or trans (that's why it's "fully" hydrogenated). For example, the new crisco shortening is a mix of an oil and a fully hydrogenated oil, and contains no trans fats.

Secondly, partially hydrogenation can lead to trans fats. If it produces trans fats, they do have to label it unless the amount is small enough that it's below the threshold they have to use. Anything with more than 0.5 grams of trans fat must label it, unless it's a natural trans fat (which hydrogenated oil isn't).

rankinsect wrote: »

BackupFridge wrote: »

To a lesser extent, when I was 15 and realized hydrogenated oils were the equivalent of trans fat even though the nutrition label laws permitted the scumbags from omitting them from reflecting that in the numbers.

They aren't. Firstly, a fully hydrogenated oil is neither a cis nor a trans fat - it lacks any double bonds which could be cis or trans (that's why it's "fully" hydrogenated). For example, the new crisco shortening is a mix of an oil and a fully hydrogenated oil, and contains no trans fats.

Secondly, partially hydrogenation can lead to trans fats. If it produces trans fats, they do have to label it unless the amount is small enough that it's below the threshold they have to use. Anything with more than 0.5 grams of trans fat must label it, unless it's a natural trans fat (which hydrogenated oil isn't).

I just want to verify and have you peruse this:

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-cholesterol/in-depth/trans-fat/art-20046114

"But most trans fat is formed through an industrial process that adds hydrogen to vegetable oil, which causes the oil to become solid at room temperature.

This partially hydrogenated oil is less likely to spoil, so foods made with it have a longer shelf life."

Just about every page I'm looking at say they constitute trans fat. Are you only touching on the difference between partial and full hydrogenation? If so, that isn't in dispute. The bars I was eating fulfill every all the criteria I'm looking at in the provided link. If I'm confused then please do clarify (I'd actually like to be wrong about this, haha).

Finally: you're echoing what I said about the nutrition labels and how they can exempt themselves from being precise. I was scoffing at the law, not saying they weren't abiding by it or anything like that. I just hate misinformation. I think consumers should be able to decide what is and isn't a relevant limit for themselves, and they should be able to extract accurate data and do what they will from there onward.

About a year ago I started having increased depression and anxiety and was dealing with it all by emotional eating. I would lie to myself saying it was because of my job and I didn't have time to eat healthy when I was constantly in the car driving. Drive Thru's were easier and it "made" me feel better. Fast forward after a year of living like this and getting as high as 240 (all time high for me) I started having medical problems. Horrible headaches which I attributed to stress turned out to be caused by swelling in my optic nerves which was caused swelling/pressure in my brain. Immediate fear for several weeks while I went through tests to rule out brain tumor, MS, and several other things. I was eventually diagnosed with a disorder called pseudotumor cerebri something that is most common in obese women in their 20s. This was like a slap in the face because until this point I figured my weight wasn't a problem health wise meant it wasn't really a big deal. I started the day I learned I might have pseudotumor cerebri and haven't looked back. Medical issues are scary but it was definitely the kick in the pants I needed to take weight loss seriously.

Over two years ago I was at an event and felt really jealous when my husband bumped into a high school (female ) friend. He did nothing wrong and I realized it was my insecurity. Then two months later I saw pictures of myself at another event and that's right when I started to change my habits.
It's been a long two years and a slow crawl but I'm roughly ten lbs away from
Goal.

Realizing I looked fatter when my son was 9 months old, than I did when I came home from the hospital with him. And having to do up my pants with an elastic, because I couldn't afford to buy a third wardrobe in a year.

Seeing photos of myself at an event where I had to do some public speaking in early August...followed up by a visit to my doctor who told me that I'm a candidate for cholesterol and BP meds in addition to being borderline pre-diabetic. Ughhh!

I turn 50 next year and I want to be active, not sick and debilitated.

My rock bottom was June 10, 2010. I was 265 lbs, 58 years old, retired and enjoying overeating and not much else. I was mowing my sis-in-law's lawn after lunch in the North Texas heat (105, I believe) with a push mower and started feeling nauseous. I literally lost my lunch behind the lawnmower but CONTINUED TO FINISH THE LAWNMOWING! (what an IDIOT!). I drove 30 mins home, still feeling bad, took a shower and laid down. I finally realized that "this ain't normal" and asked my wife to call the ambulance (1st time in my life). They came, loaded me up and took me to the local hospital. I HAD HAD A MILD HEART ATTACK THAT AFTERNOON WHILE MOWING THE LAWN! I was admitted and prepped for a stent the following morning. My cardiologist, Dr. Wahid (bless the man!) went in my inner thigh, looked around my heart and stopped the stent insertion. Back to my room with a big question mark as to what the hell just happened. In about an hour, he came in to tell me I was scheduled for triple-bypass surgery the next morning with Dr. Jett (another angel sent!). When he went in, he found three of my coronary arteries 90% blocked and adding a stent to one was NOT going to do them any good. I've never been so scared and so depressed in my life! I put on a brave face for my family but I've NEVER had a longer night of no sleep and prayer and anxiety and anger at myself for slowly letting myself get to the poor condition I had gotten into.
To make a long(er) story short(ish), I got out of the hospital a week later and swore NOT to die a sick, fat old man. The day after I got out of the hospital, I went out for a walk with my wife, went about 100 yards from my house and had to sit down on the curb and rest before I could walk (VERY slowly) back. In the 5+ years since then, I'm at 222 lbs today. I've steadily increased my aerobic exercise so now I do CrossFit 5 days/week, walk my dogs every day and try to improve my food intake daily (I now call that Fueling). I'm currently experimenting with the Paleo way of fueling and looking for ways to lose body fat. My goal is to get my body fat down to 20% initially and settle my weight at whatever it might be at that body fat level. If my dream comes true, one day I can visit Dr. Wahid and Dr. Jett and tell them my body fat is in the single digits.
I hope to use this and other forums to use YOUR expertise to find the most efficient journey from here (40% body fat - Category OBESE) to my primary goal (20%) and the onto my DREAM Goal (9% Body Fat). I have faith you all can help me be the fittest, strongest, bestest me I can be. The Journey Continues.

I had a Come To Jesus at the doctor and stopped at the grocery store to but some veggies and lean, white meat before I got home.

It was a Friday, got home, went upstairs to change, came back down and then something happened. I had to sit down, sweat pouring down me, struggling to breath and had chest pains. my body was telling me that all was not well. The pains got worse so decided to visit my doctor. She sent me to the ER straight away, I was very quickly seen by a Consultant who carried out tests. I did not want to tell my wife as she was at work. The consultant called me in and said very simply, that if I did not change my lifestyle, he gave me five more years. very simply I was killing myself. Going back to my car, I realised now that life is not a rehearsal, I needed to act now. My Journey has now started.
After tellng my wife, she said that only I could change this and of course she was right. I grabbed the laptop and sat down. So how was I killing myself?, for one week I wrote down how much I was eating and drinking. The results were frightening I was consuming up to 4,000 calories a day, add that to the fact I was not even exercising, nothing more to say. My weight was 276lbs, pulse rate 77. My blood pressure was normal.
A new diet was planned, out went hamburgers, take aways, junk food. No more drinking alcohol, and eating between meals. The fridge was completely emptied and replaced with fresh fruit, vegetables, salads, chicken, fish. Cans of coke were replaced with bottled water. Extreme you might say but time was not on my side. Eating beteween meals was a problem so each morning I would get a bowl and chop up some melon, apples, raisins, add some celery, nuts and raisins. Now whenever I was hungry instead of having crisps or chocolate I would reach for the bowl. Drinking water before each meal helped to curb my appertite.
Ok thats the diet sorted but now exercise, being so overweight this was not going to be easy. I just started going out for walks around the block, the first time after twenty minutes I had to stop I was so out of breath. But gradually as each day passed i just incresased it. Weight loss was slow so i checked my diet, reducing my intake to 1200 calories, this suited me but may not suit everybody. My BMI was 49% so the body had enough fat to live off. The next stage of getting fit, I decided to purchase a mountain bike. OMG what a sight seeing me trying to cycle, confidence was low, and made worse by other cyclists making nasty comments, this just made me more determined. I was hooked on cycling and went out every day increasing the time I spent out on the road. The same cyclists passing me by asking if I wanted a push. My time would come.
My weight was starting to melt away and i started to feel good about myself so the next stage was to invest in a road bike. I did this and started cycling furtther and further. Ok 2014 was not good i got knocked off my bike no less than four times, but was determined to carry on. Easter this year I decided to enter a road race, a 130km race. The weather conditions were the worst I had encountered but was determined to complete the course. Oh so what happened about those cyclists who were so cruel to me I can here you ask? The next time i went out on the road I saw them in front of me approaching a hill. As they started to cycle up it they were all breathless, I pulled along side them and said. would you like a push? I then left them struggling, looking over my shoulder they knew who I was.
So 105lbs lighter and a healthy pulse rate of 45, BMI now 25.5, everything was going good. Until about 12 weeks ago, after a long cycle I returned home feeling unwell ok I thought it was caused by the long cycle but it was not. After a visit to the doctor and some blood tests, I was sent to ER to see a consultant. Who just by looking at me suggested I may have Kidney Cancer, leaving the room my wife just looked at me with tears in her eyes. Comforting her I said lets see what the scans show. Two days later, after two scans the best results ever, I did not have cancer. There was however a problem with my Kidneys. I have been told that an operation will cure the problem, I am still training only after speaking to the surgeon. I have a 160km cycle planned for November this year which I should be fit enough to compete.
One final thing to mention. Not only has my wife stood by me and supported me but also my MFP friends. in my early days when I was not eating enough and over training there was one friend who has followed my Journey for a long time and has just been there.
Thank you for letting me share my Journey with you all. It is an Endless journey and it will continue. Remember, life is not a rehearsal, you do not get a second chance, so dont waste it. Your body is a temple so look after it.
Good luck to you all as you take the first step to a healthier you.