Anyone 300 or over? I need help...

Hi.... at my highest, I weighed 280lbs... that was about 12 years ago. I've been overweight my entire life. When I turned 50 (12 years ago) I made the decision that I am not going to live the second half of my life like I did the first half. I will not lie. This is a daily struggle. It will always be a struggle. I don't have a magic pill or a genie in the bottle to wish the weight away. But, here's how I got to where I am today: First of all... I made that decision to lose weight. I was ready. You won't succeed if you are not ready mentally. Secondly, I cut out carbs: namely popcorn. Popcorn is my comfort food. It is my go to food when I need a hug. I air pop it so no added butter, oil etc... but the carbs were a killer for me. When I go on a popcorn binge, I can almost feel the inches on my waist. Secondly, I did reduce my fruit intake to those that have fewer carbs... I love my fruit... but a bag of apples or oranges a day is not healthy for anyone. Cutting the carbs also resulted in reduced calories. Maybe carbs isn't your issue... for me it is... take the time to investigate what your trigger is and start there...

Over the course of a few years, I managed to lose one whole "me". I do struggle and realize that for me, the less time I have to spend on food prep and planning, the better I am... I am currently using Nutrisystem... not for everyone, but it is good for me because I happen to be an emotional eater. When my emotions get the best of me, I tend to gorge on whatever I can find. With Nutrisystem in the house, I am not as tempted.... NOT advertising this product, just saying it works for me.

Just take each minute of each day -- one at a time. Focus on YOU and put yourself first and foremost. Hard to do that when you got a 6 month old in the house... but your daughter will forgive you :-). Take care of yourself and you will succeed... it is possible!

This thread has some great advice! My highest recorded weight was 279 pounds. I've been at this continually for 5 months and lost 50 pounds. I think it is easiest to do one thing at a time. Start recording everything you eat and weighing it with a food scale. Don't even worry about meeting your calorie goal. Just get in the habit of logging and weighing. Then, when you have that down, shoot for that calorie goal and see what foods are helping and hurting so you can make adjustments. Pretty soon it will be second nature.

Most important, don't beat yourself up over slip ups. You will not be perfect everyday. You will go over your calories everyday for a week straight. You may get busy or lazy and not log for a period of time. You won't always be able to resist eating that tray of cookies someone brought in. That's all okay. It's what you do over the long run that counts and all the little good decisions add up.

You don't have to exercise to lose weight, but the extra calorie buffer is nice. I understand the pain of trying to walk with a lot of extra weight. If you have access to a pool that is a great way to get a good burn with no weight stress. You can water walk, swim laps, or take classes. Riding a bike is not too bad either. Strength training is great for everyone and can be done at any size. I think adding a lot of muscle to my legs has made being heavy much easier on me. Just do what you can, and combined with the weight loss you will feel better and be able to walk longer. Last year I was cycling and exercising in the pool because it hurt to walk. Yesterday I ran three miles. You will be chasing your daughter all over the park before you know it.

iangibson135 wrote: »

Hi, I gave up sugar on the 1/1/17 (138kg) and have lost 11.6 kg (126.4) there are a couple of books, Sweet Poison and the the great Aussie bloke slim down, they aren't diet books they lifestyle changes, give up sugar and you and will loose weight, it works, good luck

Nope. Not necessary at all to give up sugar. This way of thinking automatically goes to the notion that sugar is the sole cause of obesity even though it isn't.

I started ~330 (don't know the exact weight as my scale didn't go that high). I started with a fitness tracker and exercising a bit more using a coat rack I had in the basement that was actually a treadmill in disguise. Walked on that for a couple of weeks and kept looking at this link on the trackers website to something called "MyFitnessPal". Finally followed the link and started tracking food, but still didn't really understand what I was doing. Found the forum, read the stickies and have slowly figured it out (somewhat). So I'm a bit backwards to most who have replied.

Once I got the whole CI<CO thing figured out, and started tracking my food intake, the pounds started dropping off. In 3 months I was down ~45 lbs, and am now down ~ 70. It was pointed out that a food scale is key, and in fact if there is one thing I think is essential to losing weight with MFP, it's the food scale.

Start by logging what you are currently eating. Put your stats into MFP and just see what it gives you for an expected change. Then figure out which foods you need to cut back on, if there is anything you need to cut out and what you may need to be adding. Don't worry about the macros to start, just the calories. You can work on macros later. Now, you don't need to cut out any foods, unless there is a medical reason to do so. You don't need to give up sugar, go low carb or any of that. You can choose to if it helps you hit your goals. I gave up pop (soda) as I just can't seem to fit it in my calorie goals, but did not give up wine or the occasional beer. But I did start eating more veggies, just the few ones I actually like.

As I said, I started with walking. Both on the treadmill in the mornings and going with my wife to walk the dogs some days. I would turn on the tv and just walk. Then I started walking faster, walking at inclines, then intervals where I jogged and Jan 1 I started the C25K program. I'm now planning on doing some 5K's this year. One thing I've avoided is joining a gym. Still might in the fall, but I'm not sure.

When I started walking, I had no real pain so I didn't have that issue. Take it easy to start. A short walk is better than no walk if you can manage it.

Good luck