Friends? Support ? Helloooo

tonyculo wrote: »

Hi RED, I've never ever responded to anything before... I would just read and be inspired by the Pals on here. Something inside me said, " talk to this guy". Just a warning that this might get lengthy but I'll try to keep it at a reasonable length.

On May 14th, 2018, I got on my scale and it read 275 lbs. I'm 5'8" ! I was in a car accident 21 years ago, suffered some pretty good physical and psychological injuries. Back then I weighed 175 LBS. I gained weight due to medications, limited ability to do physical activity, and sheer laziness. I've yoyo'd up and down over the years, heaviest was 298 LBS in 2011. In 2015 I got down to 205, then chronic pain and depression took hold of me and I let them win again!

In 2017 I promised myself that I would get back down to 175 by my 50th birthday which will be August 9, 2019.
As I mentioned earlier, I was 275 May 14th, I got pissed off at myself and said enough is enough and that week I lost 5 LBS. May 21st, I had a heart attack and I should be dead.

It was a "nice wake-up call" to say the least. Smoking, BIG time stress, being overweight and inactive for too long were huge factors.
This time I told depression and chronic pain to go where they belong...OUT OF MY LIFE FOR GOOD! Easier said than done, but I'm doing it slowly but surely, I now weigh 239.6 LBS ( losing 35.4 Lbs since being released from hospital).

I always ate well but my portions were all wrong. I started walking and cycling at a leisurely pace averaging about 6 miles a day or a good hour of some type of exercise about a week after my heart attack.
I started Cardiac Rehab and have learned a lot so far. I learned about portion size and what to eat and avoid.
What struck me hard with your post is when you wrote DIET. The best way to look at healthy changes is to change the words from Diet and Exercise to Fitness and Healthy Eating Habits. It's a complete lifestyle change and by using the words I prefer puts me and I hope others into a better mindset when trying to get healthier.

In my opinion, If there is a "diet" to follow it would be The Mediterranean Diet or The Mediterranean Lifestyle would be a better term for it.
It tells you to concentrate on certain foods more than others, having friends or family over for dinner and how many times a week you should be eating these foods. Being an Italo-Canadian this was easy for me because I've been doing it all my life, just that I was overindulging with certain foods and not eating enough of the other foods and sitting on my fat *kitten* for too long.

Red, you're already doing things properly by starting to get healthier not only for yourself but also for your little man. Congratulations on that! You'll have your ups and downs, slight variations on weight from day to day but don't let that get you down because that's normal. Keep pushing along, never quit, and keep up with the lifestyle changes forever! I wish you the best. If you need a quick reference on the Mediterranean Diet I'll try to post a pic of their pyramid which is much different from the Canadian or American eating pyramid. Let me know.
Salute to your health!
-tonyculo AKA Steve

P.S. I will be a fit 175 or close to it in a years time.