546 pounds...

tommiebear14 · July 2017

I am a rather large guy. My entire upper half (mostly the belly) is my largest part. It creates back problems and makes shopping for clothing nearly impossible.
I am wanting to lose nearly half to 3/4ths of this body weight. I'm 5'9 in height. I want to weigh somewhere between 225-300 the max. I have stopped drinking soda for nearly 2 and a half months. Drink nothing but water 95% of the time, if I'm out it's sweet tea or this SoBe water. That's a rare treat usually on the weekends for that.
I'm wanting to start exercises that can start to help me. Right now walking hurts my back after just a few minutes. I want to be able to take my life back. Any suggestions, videos even, would help.

ShrinkingViolet1982 · July 2017

Cutting out soda was an excellent choice. I did too, and it really makes a difference. It sounds like you would benefit from exercise that can be done sitting down, to minimize strain on your body. A google search came up with loads of exercises done in a chair or couch, and if you combine that with serious food control, you could be well on your way! Good luck, add me if you want support

edlanglais5 · July 2017

Consider joining a gym. Stationary bikes are great for low impact. Many with severe weight issues are apprehensive of gyms but everyone there will end up being supportive, I trust.

CharlieBeansmomTracey · July 2017

all you need is a caloric deficit to lose weight. enter your stats into mfp and how much you want to lose and eat to that calorie goal. log everything you put into your mouth. then when you lose some weight you may be able to increase your walking time. up it slowly and work your way up then when you feel like you can handle something else try that,but again start out slowly. swimming is low impact and can help. exercise is good for your body but its not needed to lose weight. But I second checking into sitting exercises. There are many videos online that are free..

noirelb · July 2017

1 - If you have the money, buy a recumbent stationary bike (MUCH easier to sit on with a big bum - I include myself in this comment!). Any show you watch (I'm assuming you watch TV), tell yourself you are not allowed to watch a thing unless you are on that bike pedaling. Otherwise you have to be working, making healthy food and chores...
2 - In a set of plate (dishes) there's normally at least 2 sizes. Take your big plates and hide them away for a long time. Take the small plates and only allow yourself 3 meals on that and 2 healthy snacks during the day. Make sure the plate contains lean protein and half of it is covered with vegetables.
3 - Drink LOTS of water, it helps a lot with weight loss and you will be walking to the washroom every 30 minutes. I mean 1 gallon-ish of water or more.

Just these 3 things will make you lose lots of weight without being overwhelmed. Once you lost enough that you are very motivated and hurt much less because you weigh less and are healthier, then start calorie counting and incorporate other activities.

Also if you do cheat (dinner party, Christmas, birthdays) have a cheat meal, not a cheat day.

noirelb · July 2017

** if you don't have as much money, get a used recumbent bike! - Kijiji?? not sure if that works in your country!

noirelb · July 2017

Oh also!! Take a full body picture in your shorts - no need to show it if you don't want to but I regret not doing it and it will motivate you tremendously when you look at it in a few months from now.

bruby28 · July 2017

Good job cutting out soda , you should see weight loss just from that since soda is so high in calories and sugars. I would suggest joining a gym maybe doing water exercises at the pool , stationary bike and work your way up to walking a little more each week . You can do a lot of arm exercises seated and leg exercises . Log your foods , everything on mfp and stick to good old water and lots of it ! You can do it

DevilsFan1 · July 2017

Forget about exercise for the time being. At over 500 pounds your sole goal should be to stop eating so much and get your diet in check. Exercise can help a bit with weight loss but diet is the primary way you lose weight.

At your weight, your goal should be to lose four pounds a week. This will probably be very easy for you to achieve if you simply start eating better. Stop or severely cut the number of times you eat out per week. You don't have to make drastic changes at first. Simply start eating more fruits and vegetables and less junk. If you eat junk, start eating half the amount you do right now.

Start weighing yourself every morning when you get up. Track this number and average the values for the week to give your weight. Do the same thing the next week and the next week and the week after that. If the numbers start going down, you are on the right track. If they go up or stay the same, you need to eat even less.

There's no magic pill. There are no shortcuts. It took you years to get to this point. It will take you years to get where you want to be. You just need to develop the discipline to attack the problem every single day. Every time you are tempted to eat, you need to decide what is important to you: a moment of pleasure followed by hours of regret or the feeling of accomplishment knowing you resisted temptation and made progress toward your long-term goal.

Good luck to you!

AliceDark · July 2017

Great job cutting out soda! Have you started logging your food yet? If not, I'd highly recommend that as a next step. Weight loss is far more influenced by diet than it is by exercise, so you can start seeing some real progress just with food first, which will likely make exercise easier as you go.

Chair exercises would be great. If you have access to a gym, riding a recumbent bike or just walking in the pool would be good as well. If you can walk for a few minutes, start doing that. Stop before it starts to hurt, rest, and then try again when you're ready. It probably seems really overwhelming now, but little things will add up quickly.

Have you spent any time in the Success Stories forum? Some MFP users have lost crazy amounts of weight and have been really successful. You're not the only person who has started from 500+ pounds -- I was trying to find CyberEd's site but it looks like he's not running it any longer, but this thread has some of his story: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1357291/super-obese-why-isnt-the-weight-falling-off-me/p6

noirelb · July 2017

https://www.amazon.com/My-Weigh-XL-550-Talking-Bathroom/dp/B0014ZQH84?th=1

https://www.amazon.com/Extra-Talking-Scale-Glass-15X12/dp/B007AZ77HC/ref=sr_1_17_s_it?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1501180720&sr=1-17&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_two_browse-bin:7059739011

and get a scale on amazon! Again, if you have the money

trackercasey76 · July 2017

I was 420 at my heaviest. I don't drink any calories, that is a huge step. You don't need a gym at this point, just be HONEST with your food log and move. I actually joined a Taekwondo class at 420 and couldn't do most of it but the instructor is great and encouraged me to keep trying. I have since dropped nearly 100 pounds and earned my Black Belt and am starting my own school Tuesday. Find something you enjoy doing that requires movement, my family discovered Geocaching as a great way to get exercise without feeling like we are working out. Just Move, being that big the first 50+ will fly off and you will start to feel amazing! Add me for encouragement if you'd like.

sarahmariedaigle · July 2017

Great job taking control! Cutting out soda should have a positive impact. Log everything you eat. And if you really want to try exercising start small. Maybe sitting and lifting weights. It burns more calories than you think even with just lifting two pounds! Good luck to you. Add me if you'd like!

tommiebear14 · August 2017

Thank you all for all the positive advice. Yeah I don't work at the moment so I try to get things when I can convince my parents to get it if they can afford it. We live paycheck to paycheck right now since I'm not working and that bothers me alone right there.

noirelb · August 2017

tommiebear14 wrote: »

Thank you all for all the positive advice. Yeah I don't work at the moment so I try to get things when I can convince my parents to get it if they can afford it. We live paycheck to paycheck right now since I'm not working and that bothers me alone right there.

Ok that's perfect in some ways because you can focus on weight loss and clearly cannot afford a bike but just simply walking a bit once you lose 20-30lbs will be doable. If you follow the dieting tips up there, losing 30lbs will be super easy for you!!. Once you can start working you can then think of getting a bike for home or gym membership. Also, eating less will make the bills go down and just helping your mom with dishes and laundry or vacuuming will make you move and lose calories.

noirelb · August 2017

also, make your weekly goal on MFP based on 2lbs/week. it says to eat over 3000 calories for the moment but if you add 500lbs at 5'9'' with 2lbs/week loss it's about 2800 calories which is plenty. You will be able to sustain that and lose weight!

Also cheap things to add to your diet, ask your mom to get:
- bananas (cheap, filling)
- rice
- eggs (very filling)
- canned or frozen vegetables

stanmann571 · August 2017

bruby28 wrote: »

Good job cutting out soda , you should see weight loss just from that since soda is so high in calories and sugars. I would suggest joining a gym maybe doing water exercises at the pool , stationary bike and work your way up to walking a little more each week . You can do a lot of arm exercises seated and leg exercises . Log your foods , everything on mfp and stick to good old water and lots of it ! You can do it

Swapping soda for Sweet tea isn't necessarily helpful.

try2again · August 2017

Agree that you just need to be concentrating on your calories right now, but just thought I'd share this. I had a friend on a different weight loss website that started out very obese and with little mobility. She simply made it a rule that she had to get up & walk down the hall & back during commercials on t.v.. Many months later, she was walking several miles a day. Don't underestimate the power of simple movement.

noirelb · August 2017

try2again wrote: »

Agree that you just need to be concentrating on your calories right now, but just thought I'd share this. I had a friend on a different weight loss website that started out very obese and with little mobility. She simply made it a rule that she had to get up & walk down the hall & back during commercials on t.v.. Many months later, she was walking several miles a day. Don't underestimate the power of simple movement.

That's an awesome idea, especially if you stay home all day. Plus if you drink 4 liter plus of water per day you may have to add washroom breaks as well.

Penthesilea514 · August 2017

I just want to add my congratulations on taking the initiative. You can totally do this. I started just with walking because I couldn't do much else- it really does help a lot. You got a lot of good advice above, just remember that you don't have to make lots of huge changes all at once- starting with small goals (water, walking, etc.) and they will start to add up. Good luck!!

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