Time to change, enough is enough! However, I have questions

delgrand wrote: »

Hi everyone, I am new here
I am 24 year old guy. My weight is 122 Kg( 268 lbs) and height is 177 cm

Through out my life ,I was 80Kg (176 lbs) until the last 3 years where I started to gain weight due to eating like a monster !
within the last 3 years , I was 95-100kg during the 1st year, then 100-110kg during the 2nd year, and now I am 122Kg !!!

I did not really care about the weight I am gaining, until last week when my girlfriend told me that she is finding me less attractive.She has been my girlfriend for 6 years so when we started dating I was 176lbs. I did not like her comment and I got angry. I told her "if you don't like me for what I am break up with me". Yesterday I attended an awareness campaign and luckily it was about obesity. DAMN ! I did not know it is that bad ! I always thought that Diabetes causes Obesity and not Vice versa !
I Did not know that it is a risk factor for hypertension , knee injuries and ED. After that campaign + my girlfriend comments, I decided that it is time to change . I have some questions ( Sorry for taking too long time talking about myself)

I'm glad you have decided to make a change, and it's great that your girlfriend is supportive of you as you make healthy changes

delgrand wrote: »

1- How bad will the past 3 years of obesity affect my life in the future ? If I lose weight ASAP, would those 3 years increase my chances of having Diabetes, hypertension or heart problems in the future significantly ?

Since you're still quite young, I believe that the effects of your obesity can be minimized greatly by getting to a healthy weight. I will allow others to chime in with any further info on this, since I'm just giving my opinion/experience.

delgrand wrote: »

2-I know that calories counting is the key ! However, I don't live in USA where everything you purchase has number of calories. In my country most products don't list how many calories are there. In addition, most of what I eat is complex traditional food that contains many ingredients and is nearly impossible to count how much calories are there. So what is the solution to this problem ? any tips ? any other ways to lose weight ? Any suggestions?

Yep, calorie counting is key. You can actually build your own recipes in MyFitnessPal - it's very useful! You can create a recipe by listing the ingredients that you are using in your food, as you create the dish. Even though the food may be complex, it's still just made up of different simpler ingredients, so you can count the total meal's calories if you know how much of each ingredient you've added. I highly recommend getting a kitchen scale so that you can weigh your ingredients as you add them to your recipes.

As long as you eat less calories than your body burns, you will lose weight. So if you count your calories as accurately as you are able to, but find that you are not losing weight after about a month (give it time, it won't happen instantly) then you could re-evaluate your calorie intake by cutting out a little bit more food, until you are losing some weight.

delgrand wrote: »

3- While I was creating my account, MFP asked me how many lbs do I want to lose and I chose 2lbs/wk. However, when I finished doing the account, I got a chart written on it that I should eat 1660 calories, and If I do so , I will lose 5.07 lbs after 5 weeks !!! I want to lose 2 lbs/wk, so shall I cut 500 calories from the 1660 calories that MFP gave me or what?

It is generally accepted that people need at least a certain number of calories to make sure they can meet their nutritional requirements (you don't want your hair to fall out, etc!) so MyFitnessPal will not tell you to eat a lower number than that minimum amount. For women, that minimum amount is 1200 calories, so I'm guessing that you are male (men need a bit more calories). This means that even if you choose a fast rate of weight loss (2 lb per week) then MyFitnessPal will not give you a lower number of calories to eat, because they want you to be healthy. A goal of 1 pound per week would be more sustainable so that you can eat enough calories to keep you healthy while you lose the weight. Also, when people cut calories too much, many of them often end up giving up quickly because it is too hard. Choose a sustainable goal like 1lb per week, and stick to it consistently.

delgrand wrote: »

@ammo7

Thanks a lot for your detailed response

regarding your suggestion about losing 1 lb/wk. Well I am really dead serious about this, so I will not give up.
I lived with a cousin who had diabetes and I know how bad this disease is. So I am not going to take any risks and suffer from that horrible disease. That's why I am really dedicated. The problem with the 1 lb/wk plan is that I will reach my goal within 2 years !! That means that I will be obese for about another 1 and half year. Which means that I''ll be 4.5 years of my life obese, so I guess longer duration of obesity = more chance of having Diabetes

So I prefer to lose 2lbs/wk. I read that the healthy weight loss rate is 10% of your body weight , so I guess I will be doing things right as long as I am losing less than 2.68 lbs/wk. Am I right ?

Thank you again, waiting for more responses and opinions

Given your size, losing 2 lbs a week is reasonable. As you get closer to your goal (say under 200 lbs) the rate may slow a bit, but you can still make good progress. Don't go under 1600 calories a day a suggested above. Have you calculated your daily caloric needs?

Do you exercise/have an active job? Reducing calorie intake has the biggest impact on weight loss, but extra movement helps with calories burned, plus many people, as they start to move more, decide they want to move better, get stronger, etc and eat in a more healthy manner. Exercise will also help with negating the impact of being obese for 3-4 years.

You work from 8 to 5. Yet you are "really busy" Regular exercise helps prevent diabetes as well as helps maintain an healthy weight. Go walking with your girlfriend, or swimming, or play tennis, or go biking... You get the idea.

delgrand wrote: »

Packerjohn wrote: »

delgrand wrote: »

@ammo7

Thanks a lot for your detailed response

regarding your suggestion about losing 1 lb/wk. Well I am really dead serious about this, so I will not give up.
I lived with a cousin who had diabetes and I know how bad this disease is. So I am not going to take any risks and suffer from that horrible disease. That's why I am really dedicated. The problem with the 1 lb/wk plan is that I will reach my goal within 2 years !! That means that I will be obese for about another 1 and half year. Which means that I''ll be 4.5 years of my life obese, so I guess longer duration of obesity = more chance of having Diabetes

So I prefer to lose 2lbs/wk. I read that the healthy weight loss rate is 10% of your body weight , so I guess I will be doing things right as long as I am losing less than 2.68 lbs/wk. Am I right ?

Thank you again, waiting for more responses and opinions

Given your size, losing 2 lbs a week is reasonable. As you get closer to your goal (say under 200 lbs) the rate may slow a bit, but you can still make good progress. Don't go under 1600 calories a day a suggested above. Have you calculated your daily caloric needs?

Do you exercise/have an active job? Reducing calorie intake has the biggest impact on weight loss, but extra movement helps with calories burned, plus many people, as they start to move more, decide they want to move better, get stronger, etc and eat in a more healthy manner. Exercise will also help with negating the impact of being obese for 3-4 years.

Yes, MFP said that I should eat 1660 calories to lose 2 lbs/wk, however they wrote if I keep eating 1660 calories I will lose 5.07 after 5 weeks, so that part confused me ! T

No I don't have an active job. During work I just sit on my disk from 8 A.M to 5 P.M .
No I don't exercise, I am really busy, I have no time for exercise.

Thank you for your response.

If the bolded part is coming from the five week predictor when you close your diary at the end of the day, that tends to be wildly inaccurate. Ignore it. Stick with the 1660/day, or there about. If you are slightly over or under, don't worry about it.

If you are not weighing all solid foods on a food scale, you can probably get away with that for a little while, but measuring cups, eyeballs, and the weight on packages are notoriously inaccurate. So if your losses slow, you may want to seriously consider a food scale for accuracy.

You can lose the weight without exercise, but you may want to consider adding it as you become accustomed to the changes you are trying to make. Focus on food for now, so you don't overwhelm yourself.

When you are ready, start reading the sticky posts at the top of each of the forums, particularly the getting started and general diet boards. There is a lot of great information there.

delgrand wrote: »

Hi everyone, I am new here
I am 24 year old guy. My weight is 122 Kg( 268 lbs) and height is 177 cm

1- How bad will the past 3 years of obesity affect my life in the future ? If I lose weight ASAP, would those 3 years increase my chances of having Diabetes, hypertension or heart problems in the future significantly ?

2-I know that calories counting is the key ! However, I don't live in USA where everything you purchase has number of calories. In my country most products don't list how many calories are there. In addition, most of what I eat is complex traditional food that contains many ingredients and is nearly impossible to count how much calories are there. So what is the solution to this problem ? any tips ? any other ways to lose weight ? Any suggestions?

3- While I was creating my account, MFP asked me how many lbs do I want to lose and I chose 2lbs/wk. However, when I finished doing the account, I got a chart written on it that I should eat 1660 calories, and If I do so , I will lose 5.07 lbs after 5 weeks !!! I want to lose 2 lbs/wk, so shall I cut 500 calories from the 1660 calories that MFP gave me or what?

Thank you .

1 - not much at all, if you take care of it. The major significant risk of these disease is weight - address that and the risk is close to normal (but see my last point)

2 - most ingredients can be looked up - otherwise start tracking volumes and guessing. Where do you live?

3 - At 122 kgs you should be losing at most at about 2 lbs (1 kg a week) which is a large cut for you. Since you aren't active this means eating about 1200-1400 cals. Personally, I can't make cuts that big for very long without radically changing my diet and cutting out too many things. But yes, if that is the way you want to go, you'll need to focus on eating food with a lot less calorie density. Lots of vegetable ... with little sauce. It's likely that 1 lb is more reasonable and sustainable for you, ... or ...

4 - The other way to create a cut and improve on the disease risks is to exercise. You say you don't have time. Thats actually not true - you've decided you don't have time but one can actually fit in 30 minutes of exercise, 3-5 times a week to any lifestyle. It's a choice of priorities. If you do not want to exercise, ok. If you are concerned about long term risk of disease? Exercise.

delgrand wrote: »

meritage4 wrote: »

You work from 8 to 5. Yet you are "really busy" Regular exercise helps prevent diabetes as well as helps maintain an healthy weight. Go walking with your girlfriend, or swimming, or play tennis, or go biking... You get the idea.

@meritage4

Yup, I go back home and continue working on projects and stuff related to work.

Is walking considered as a form of exercise? It takes me 15 minutes walking from where I park my car to the office, so I walk 30 minutes daily, I don't know if that counts !

So you work a regular 8-5 job like the rest of the world. What are you doing at 5 AM? Most gyms, as well as "outside" are open then. Get up and do something active before work. You will find the time if you give a *kitten* about your health.

There are alot of things you can do, but are not giving much information. Where you live is important if you're eating home cooked meals that need to go into the recipe builder. Also someone from your country might chime in with some tips. Exercising is important for your health--not just weight loss. Many people lose the weight and don't like how they look (skinny fat). People can give you all sorts of exercising ideas, since many fit it into a tight schedule. That is, if time is really a factor, and not that you don't like exercise. You are right, it's time to change your life. You will be so happy in the future that you decided to change--and by the way--I'd give your girlfriend a big kiss for being honest.

delgrand wrote: »

@ammo7

The problem with the 1 lb/wk plan is that I will reach my goal within 2 years !! That means that I will be obese for about another 1 and half year. Which means that I''ll be 4.5 years of my life obese, so I guess longer duration of obesity = more chance of having Diabetes

So I prefer to lose 2lbs/wk. I read that the healthy weight loss rate is 10% of your body weight , so I guess I will be doing things right as long as I am losing less than 2.68 lbs/wk. Am I right ?

As other posters have mentioned, 2 lbs/week is reasonable for someone your size. But please don't choose that rate out of fear or because you want a quick fix. If you begin seriously addressing this now, you don't need to fear obesity related conditions/complications. Also, the deficit required for a 2 lb/week loss may be too drastic for some, especially right off the bat. To go from what you were eating to 1600 calories could be discouraging and make it more likely that you would give up, which obviously wouldn't benefit you at all. When you start at such a heavy weight, you can lose quite a lot initially on a more modest calorie deficit. I have several (female) friends that were obese and lost 50-100 lbs over the last year eating 2000+ calories.

As to your food logging issues, you need to get acquainted with the recipe builder for your traditional dishes. Find database entries for the individual ingredients (i.e.- "100g dry white rice") and put them into the recipe builder. Enter the number of serving sizes that recipe should make. Ideally, you would weigh the completed dish (minus the pan or container) and divide that weight by number of servings to establish a measured serving size for that dish. Hope that helps!