For the Underappreciated

Hi, my name is Paul, and I currently weigh 405lbs. You have no idea how proud I am to share that with you, because it means that I am within pounds of reaching a huge milestone for myself. If all goes well, and it will I will soon be under 400lbs.

When I joined this site in January of 2011 I weighed, 435 lbs. By early summer of 2011 I was down to 420 and by October of 2011 I was back up to 440. From October to December I hovered up and down between 425 and 435 lbs. This year over all has been a slow decline in weight loss, but still net loss nevertheless.

I can't tell you when the last time I weighed 405lbs was because before January of last year I didn't go to the doctor unless I was feeling near death. So it had been years. If this sounds depressing, keep reading because it gets better.

In the last month I've gotten more serious and knocked off 15 lbs. I can tell you that in the year that I've had ups and downs, the best successes I've had have been with sticking with the program. The times I gained, I wasn't watching my calories.

Over the year many around me have worked out, done their diets, and taken off huge amounts of weight quickly, only to put it back on. They get all the praise and all the compliments in the world. They also always put it back on.

People don't tell me how much better I look day to day. My compliments are few and far between. But my clothes fit better, I feel better, and I am high energy. I even occasionally find a muscle under this flab. LOL

Bottom line, people aren't going to be supportive, they don't change, they'll drink their soda and eat grease right in front of you, you've been dealt the ****ty end of life's stick. You get to the point where you look at those people and say "F*** it. I'm not doing it for their approval, I'm doing this for me."

It's important to drop your expectations of others too. For me I found my desire for the approval of others almost as debilitating and codependent as eating. Also, if people are unwilling to tell you things that you don't want to hear, why would you trust them when they're saying something positive? In the past I've allowed people's compliments to settle me into complacency.

Don't do it for me, don't do it for your kid, don't do it for your boyfriend/girlfriend. For crying out loud, do it for yourself. You owe it to you to be selfish for once in your life especially when it's something as serious as your health and well being.