191 pounds lost since January (288 total). I am no longer obese.

Hit a rather big long term goal today. On December 31, 2016 I weighed 400.8 pounds (BMI of 58) Today I clocked in at 209.2 pounds (BMI of 30) That moves me from obese to overweight on the chart.
My waist was 69 inches, chest was 62. Now 41 inches and 42 inches.

In July of 2015 I was in the hospital for a broken leg, and they took a weight on me. 497 pounds.... That was close enough to my highest, and a verifiable weight, so that makes it 288 total since that time. I lost that first hundred in the 1.5 years by still eating pizza, and fast food as the majority of my diet and still drinking coke and alcohol as my only sources of liquid. But I was eating less of it.

It has been a lot of hard work so far, and I know loosing is just the beginning. Keeping it off once you reach the goal is the real battle.

I am so dang happy. A long way yet to go. But man it feels good. Theoretically for my height and frame I should be in the 170 range. Not using BMI as a strict golden rule or anything, but it is a measurement I can compare against. I will never be "happy" with my body due to loose skin and may never loose my belly. But it gives me a set point to see where I am at when I hit it. I may decided a higher or lower maintenance weight once I am there, however that is months away, and today I celebrate!

My plan of action this year has worked!!! I DIDN'T QUIT!!! I WON'T QUIT!!!!
I eat 1400 calories a day, and have since January 10th when I started the diet for real. Probably more like January 16th took me a few days to fine tune my meal planning and really work out my measurements. I eat the same thing every single day. No variety, no substitutions, no cheating. Since the 10th I have gone over 1400 calories 3 or 4 days only. Once a month I enjoy a Chick Fil A sandwich as a treat, but I keep in the 1400 calories even when I do. I have had red meat 3 times.

For exercise, starting out in January, I could barely walk down the street 6 or 7 houses and back with the dog. I would get horrible shin splints. Slowly but surly I worked at it and got it up to a mile (taking over 25 minutes) Then I added in a second mile at night. Now I do 2 or 3 miles before work every day (under 16 min miles) along with making sure I hit at least 10,000 steps a day (average 13,000).
At 350 pounds I joined a gym, very light weight lifting and some time on the exercise bike. Now I still do weight lifting daily, and have worked up to 25 minutes at a very high pace on the stationary bike.
At 300 pounds I started riding a bike on the street. Again slow progression from just a couple of miles a day in 2 rides, up to 8 miles all at once now. Going to have to cut this back now that I need to slow the weight loss down on the advice of my doctor. Checked my fitness tracker totals the other day. Since May I have over 2000 miles on the bike!!

16:8 IF has helped me so much. Just the meal timing and structure it provides is invaluable. It cut my snacking and want of snacking to nothing. I can look at a clock and say "Oh its only X amount of time till dinner I can wait" No need to go grab a bag of chip and wash it down with a 2 liter of coke.
Even with my 1400 calorie diet I had a small bowl of bran flakes in between lunch and dinner everyday. I started just eating it with lunch because I was never hungry in between and would forget to eat it half the time.

Sorry for the very long winded post.
Feel free to ask any questions.

It is incredibly embarrassing to post these pictures, but heck here it goes. Maybe it will provide some inspiration to someone to keep going.

400 pounds


209 pounds