Starting for real this time

darksfallen
darksfallen Posts: 5 Member
in Introduce Yourself
Hey everyone.

Signed up 11 years ago when my work friends were going to do a thing and didn't, and didn't do much after that.

So 2021. I got tired of running out of breath getting out of bed or changing my clothes so... Bad I know. Covid and working from home helped my less than 200 steps a day and general terrible health over all. I told myself I would say "hi" if I managed to start something for a week! So here I am... 7 days in. Yay me!

I set two goals for the first 2 weeks, they say 2 weeks builds a habit or the foundation for a habit or something. 1: Stop drinking calories and 2: Walk quick like for 20 minutes 5 times a week. I know they don't seem like much. Also I'm using MyFitnessPal and MapMyRun.

I would drink 10-15 Dr Peppers a day so that's anywhere between 1500-2250+ calories down each day at least even if I'm not watching my eating, which I am starting to. The thought I am possibly maintaining my 344.6 pounds daily with my soda and what might happen now that I'm not drinking that will be interesting. I did get off easy on two fronts: I don't like coffee, not even the taste, so it's easier on that front. Also I don't like the taste of Hops so I don't do beer or any of the family there of or wine dunno why, just never developed the tastes.

(Not giving Covid advice here) The walking was the hardest to get going, to say I'm sedentary is an understatement. With Covid a concern and my Son having got it (and is fine now being months later) and being so afraid it took my Dr explaining it really takes being in a room and exchanging air for a few minutes to be a danger, walking outside and not being around someone else is fairly safe. But engaging in conversation outside with someone you should still wear a mask but walking around (and being asthmatic myself) you don't really have to wear one, so it's not an excuse for me as much as I was using it as one to not be walking. (again I'm not giving Covid advice here) I barely pulled off 20 minutes of continuous quick walking the first time and thought I was going to need oxygen or something.

Anyway after the week I am walking better, still panting like a dog from just walking barely faster than a normal walk, but I'm walking for longer each time, here are the times: 24min, 32min, 36min, 48min, 60min, 61min. It helps a lot listening to an Audiobook. The Wheel Of Time, The Eye of the World, excellent Series and Awesome book, anyway, works to get the mind off it. I plan on going for the whole series for an 11th time.

Anyway... Hi all, My name is Chris, nice to meet you all. (diaries are public: darksfallen)

6'1", 344.6, started on 1/12/21 weigh ins are Tuesdays (10am tomorrow morning)
Goal: 210 (anything less I look really too thin with my build) ~lose 2 pounds a week (I have a feeling some rapid loss will happen until the "soda" weight plateaus, maybe?)
I'm following a low Carb diet at this time, as members of my family are diabetic I'm sticking to a 10% Carb, 60% Fat, 30% Protein which from my reading is still healthy? Yes? I hope, please advise or point to creditable sources?
Thoughts, opinions, over-share, TMI? I'm new at this.

Replies

  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    edited January 2021
    Hi Chris - nice to see you have put plenty of thought into this.

    Notice you seem to be under-cutting your daily goal considerably, that's not really the idea and can make a hard job unsustainable. The idea is to at least get close to your goal calories, when you selected your 2lb rate of loss your goal calories reflect that choice by taking 1,000 off your estimated maintenance calories.

    Many people have a honeymoon period where big deficits "work" and then suddenly crash with massive fatigue, hunger and give up. That's both the overuse of what is a limited resource (motivation) and also physiological (what you can sustain for a short time is very different to what you can sustain for months and months).
    With a lot to lose easy adherence and long term sustainability are massive factors in your success and that success will be measured in years and not in weeks.

    I'm not a low carb eater (quite the opposite!) but would suggest if that's your choice you prioritise hitting a good protein goal and use fat as a "filler" to get up to your calorie goal. My personal preference when cutting is 1g/1lb of estimated lean mass for protein to preserve muscle mass and support my training. Examine.com is a good resource for learning about protein needs and also supplement use (or in many cases - not using!)
    Your fibre intake looks very low and where's the vegetables?

    Avoidance of excessive rates of weight loss and adding resistance training are the two other major factors apart from protein intake in ensuring the best possible proportion of your weight loss comes from fat.
  • sugaraddict4321
    sugaraddict4321 Posts: 15,863 MFP Moderator
    Hi Chris, welcome to the MFP community. :)

    Wow, 10-15 Dr Peppers a day! Good for you for cutting back. That's a lot of sugar and caffeine (and calories). Well done on gradually increasing your walking time too. Exercise is good for your health, whether you're counting calories or not.

    At your height and weight, 2 pounds a week is a reasonable goal. You'll need to adjust your calorie intake periodically as the weight comes off. Yes, most people experience a "whoosh" of weight loss early on due to water weight and then settle into a more regular rate of loss. Do remember that weight loss is not linear though, so there might be some weeks when you're sure you did everything right but the scale doesn't budge.

    If you're interested in low carb, we have an active group here:
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/394-low-carber-daily-forum
  • forestfreek
    forestfreek Posts: 5,770 Member
    Welcome!
    Just cutting out your soda has already been a huge step for you. Way to go!! I find that impressive 😊. You’ve got this if you stick to setting small, achievable goals for yourself🥳
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,111 Member
    I did write a moderately lengthy reply back to this earlier, I am really not sure what happened to it, it seems to have vanished. Anyway, the short of it was, it seems like you've made a good plan and if Low Carb is working for you and around your family then stick with it (just know it's not necessary for weight loss, if you don't find it sustainable in the long term).

    There's a great group here - Larger Losers that has very active threads which you may be interested in, though please note some groups are having issues with the Join button at the moment, you may need to enter one of the threads to find the Join button or ask one of the admins ( @NovusDies @Jackie9003) to send you an invite.

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/133315-larger-losers
  • darksfallen
    darksfallen Posts: 5 Member
    Good morning! Yep just making a couple changes every two weeks. I know that says X calories in a day there's I guess a lot going on here, a lot more than I thought. I don't even pretend to know a whole fraction of what there is to know.

    **(Just putting in my Height and Weight and 2 pounds a week if I just eliminate the soda I'm way under goal, I'm not intentionally starving myself. Then if I walk I'm then again creating a further deficit, should I disconnect MapMyRun?)

    So it LOOKS like I'm cutting a lot but I'm not really, I don't really eat that often normally a typical day. I did make 3 changes I guess(?), I guess I did not mention 3: I'm eating "reasonable portions" and just when the family eats. (4 changes?) 4-600 per meal, within an 8 hour period through out the day.

    There will be future changes, this will be hard for me I know. I don't like greens at all, I mean -at all- at all, I was one of those kids. I like broccoli, cauliflower, corn and peas and that's it. I don't like fruit, other than apples. I don't like nuts, at all. No berries at all. Things will have to change, easy things first.

    I'm just trying not to change too much at all once at the start so that I don't hamstring myself before I cross the starting line if that makes any sense.

    I take a daily one vitamin, fish oil (healthy cholesterol), magnesium (chronic migraines), B vitamin complex, C vitamin (cuz).

    A typical pre-diet day:

    5-6am Wake up
    6am-Noon ~5 Dr Peppers
    Breakfast/lunch
    Noon-6ish ~4 Dr Peppers
    Dinner
    6ish - Bed ~4 Dr Peppers

    It was very rare that I eat more than 2 meals a day, food is not really a big deal to me, it's rarely more than a "Calorie Time" really.

    Another big goal will be for me at some point is to start drinking water, I have had a Liver and Kidney function test recently because of medicines I'm on and they are normal, I have literally, and I will never lie here, I have no reason to. If you measured all the plain water I have drunk in the last 25 years it would fit in a gallon jug. I don't like it, it tastes bad, I don't enjoy it. That will change as one of my goals. I know I can tolerate it ice cold, I will need to get a couple water bottles and so on and get fixing this habit but I need to get the sugar soda out of the rotation, and work on it.

    Anyway, I have a bunch of goals, I SHOULD have a larger outline with all this on it but it's all so daunting, "Babysteps untie your hands..." What about Bob (movie)

    I can start eating more I suppose, I'm not hungry, I know feeling hunger does not have much to do with it, I thought I was eating reasonable portions which is what I am doing. The meals are measured, as I said others in the family are diabetic so it's easy to do. I can put another meal in there, it just doesn't seem necessary, the Dr said 1200-1600 calories was okay as long as it was more 1600 than 1200. I can get better about that.

    Food is not that important to me, I guess I should consider it more important and I should get a minimum amount in there, I just rarely pay that much attention to it, I tend to skip meals, not eating in a day is not that uncommon.
    Now don't get me wrong, I would drink a 12 pack of soda in that day, I would NEVER be short of calories of course, but I would sometimes go a day without solid calories and of course be at a loss for any meaningful nutrition.

    Weigh-in in just over 2 hours to end week one, so far so good. Of course I value everyone's input, should I move this post?
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,111 Member
    darksfallen wrote: »

    Another big goal will be for me at some point is to start drinking water, I have had a Liver and Kidney function test recently because of medicines I'm on and they are normal, I have literally, and I will never lie here, I have no reason to. If you measured all the plain water I have drunk in the last 25 years it would fit in a gallon jug. I don't like it, it tastes bad, I don't enjoy it. That will change as one of my goals. I know I can tolerate it ice cold, I will need to get a couple water bottles and so on and get fixing this habit but I need to get the sugar soda out of the rotation, and work on it.

    Perhaps try sparkling water with some Mio or similar in. I hate plain flat water, I worked overseas in the Middle East for around 6 years and the water used to come out of a borehole on camp, it was vile - I've not been able to drink normal water regularly since. I reckon I probably drank about the same amount of Diet Coke as you did Dr Pepper at the time.

    Now I have a sodastream machine, I mostly drink soda water with some electrolyte drops added and occasionally I've a root beer cordial that I'll have a bit of if I want something sweet. I still drink Diet Coke too, but it's down to 1-2 cans on work days and I don't generally drink any at weekends. Much better water intake and better for the environment too saves on all those cans and plastic bottles.
  • Arawra90
    Arawra90 Posts: 70 Member
    Great job coming back and starting out with realistic short term goals. Keep up the good work!

Categories