Two years on MFP

I’ve been logging with MyFitness Pal for the past two years as of today (7/11/2019).

Where I was: I was 354 pounds. I was so out of shape that walking from the garage to the mailbox would make me breathe hard. I was resigned to life as morbidly obese. I would compare myself against other people and tell myself that I wasn’t as big as they were. By doing that, I allowed myself to believe that I was perfectly healthy. Whenever my wife would mention my weight, my typical response was “I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. I don’t do drugs. Something has to kill me. Might as well be what I eat.” I was convinced that it was impossible to lose weight and that it was too much effort to get in shape.

What changed it all: In June of 2017 I was struggling with my depression and the medicine that the psychologist gave me was making me extremely suicidal. I got in to see a general practitioner to have my testosterone checked. During that check, he pulled my A1C and said I had diabetes. I had a A1C of 6.7, which technically is diabetic but, as I learned later, stress can push your glucose level up. For some reason, I was soooooo mad at being diagnosed with diabetes, especially by this doctor (who I thought, and still thnk was a complete jerk). Something in my head clicked and I became determined to beat diabetes. That diagnosis got me in front of a wonderful dietician, who explained to me that losing weight is best accomplished by making small changes that I could live with.

That changed my life. I felt stupid changing from mayo to mustard. I mean, how much weight can you lose just with such a small change? After I got used to mustard, I changed my fries into a side salad or broccoli. Meanwhile, I stopped drinking soda and went to Water Joe (caffeinated water) and Propel fitness water. Months later, I started drinking diet soda (Coke Zero and Diet Dr. Pepper mostly). Then I started eating sirloin instead of hamburgers. I stopped getting appetizers. I (mostly) stopped ordering desserts though I ate some popsicles at home. For months, I made small changes to my diet. After two years, my diet is quite different than it was (although, you can take my pizza out of my cold dead hands).

I also started to exercise in small increments. I walked to the mailbox for a couple of weeks a few times a day. I started walking to the end of the street for a couple of weeks. Then I added another street every couple of weeks until I was walking two miles a day. That took six months or so. Then winter set in. I am not an outdoors person and I definitely am not a cold weather person so I talked my wife into buying a treadmill. Now I use the treadmill almost exclusively and walk eight miles a day on it. I don’t run, cycle, swim, or anything else. I just walk.

Where I am two years later: I have lost over 150 pounds and now weight 200-205 lbs. At 6’3” this just barely puts me on the overweight side of the BMI (199 is the highest for normal weight). I can get down to under 200 but I can’t stay there (okay, I just don’t want to). As said earlier, I can walk eight miles a day plus another mile or mile and a half with my wife in the evenings. Now I can do the grocery shopping. I have so much energy that I have to go find something to do on Saturday or Sunday. I can’t just sit around and play video gamesall day anymore (although I do still play video games during the week for a few hours). My blood pressure was sky-high (180/120ish) and now is normal (118/74 last doctor’s visit). My A1C is now 4.8 and well out of the diabetic range. After a year and a half of sub 5.5 A1C, my doctor now believes that I was mis-diagnosed with diabetes as well. My cholesterol was also high enough to be taking Atorvastatin but now I am completely off of that medicine. My HDL (good cholesterol) was always low but is now in the normal range (just barely). My GERD is completely gone! My sciatic pain and lower back pain are 95% gone (occasionally, I have back pain but not often and never as bad as it used to be).

Bad parts of losing weight: I lost my gallbladder and the surgeon said it was probably from losing weight too quickly. I have corns and blisters on my toes because of walking so much. I am cold A LOT more often than I ever was before. I still think of myself as fat (as in, I wonder if I’ll fit in a booth or I’ll step way out of the way of someone who is walking toward to me) but I know I’m not anywhere close to where I was before.

I would not change the past two years for anything. I’ve been in maintenance for the past six months and I still log every day. I expect that I will log my calories for the rest of my life. It keeps me accountable and it doesn’t take any time to do. Plus, I like to see the numbers.

Tonight, my wife and I are going to go out and celebrate with a big dinner and some dessert(s). I know it’s going to be a big meal. Unlike when I started losing weight, I’m okay with a day going over my allotment of calories. Over the years I’ve learned that one day (good or bad) isn’t going to undo all the hard work I have done.

The bottom line: I lost 150 pounds in two years. I’m in much better shape. When I started, I thought that no one could really lose weight. Now I know that anyone can lose weight. It isn’t always easy but it is doable. It just takes dedication and willingness to start over when you make mistakes (yes, I made several of them). I hate this statement that I’m about to make but in this case it is true. “If I can do it, so can you.”. Thanks for reading this. Good luck with your health goals.