Almost at 60 Lbs Lost!

Hello everyone,

I just joined the board today because I saw these success stories while perusing the internet. I wanted to share my own to give encouragement to anyone who is a lot like me, (shy, gamer, desk job, afraid it's too late).

On Febuary 1st 2012, I went to the doctor's for the first time in 10 years. I always avoided going because I've never really had anything wrong enough to get checked out over the years. From the age of 10-20 I was an active skateboarder which kept my weight down to under 180, which even at my height of 5'6 was a lot, but I was toned. From 20-25 I got lazy, started playing more games than doing exercise to balance it.

The doctor told me I weighed 245 Lbs, and was morbidly Obese. He said i hid it very well, but the chart didn't lie. The bigger concern is my heightened blood pressure an cholesterol. (Luckily no diabetes risk, as I ate more microwavable food than candy).

This happened from years of stagnation and a poor diet. I would eat Dunkin Donuts every morning, bagels/donuts/wake up wraps, and have subs every day for lunch. Then on most nights I'd go out and get some restaurant grillings if I didn't just make pizza rolls and such for hours.

This is when i realized I had to make a change. I joined a gym, and switched my diet post haste. I tossed out every bit of food that was high in sodium and started trying to eat better.

From Feb 2nd to present I have gone to the gym 5 times a week for an hour each time. I try to do 2 cardio machines at 30 minutes apiece while 3 times a week substituteing in the xpress machines for weight lifting.

I switched my diet to 1500 Calories/1500 Sodium as the doctor recommended. he said to eat more if I felt truly hungry or weak, but this never happened. I think because I ate so many empty calories, that eating fewer full ones made me feel the same.

I eat cereal and a granola bar every morning at work, followed by fruit for lunch. For dinner I make skinless chicken with a little BBQ sauce on the side (half a serving), or i'll make a serving or two of pasta with a quarter serving of butter and quarter serving of parm cheese. Throughout the day I'll have some 100 calorie snack packs of different foods, and after dinner always some chips or a bowl of ice cream or slush. Twice a week I allow myself a meal from somewhere, be it a meatball sub or some chicken fingers, but I always get the smallest size they offer.

With doing both of these things, I still get to play as many games as I do, which is a good amount , but I stay active and eat healthier. I work my full 40 hours a week, and get 6-7 hours of sleep a night. I have never had coffee, and I never feel like I need it. I also don't smoke or drink, never have on either count.

So as it stands today I weigh 189 Lbs, and can run at 6MPH for 5 minutes straight, and do 25 pushups in a row. 3 months ago, 30 seconds of running and 2 pushups would wind me.

I'm enjoying life much more, and trying to do little activies that keep me active much more often.

If I can do this, anyone can. Just stay focused, and know your health is on the line.

Hope i can meet some people on here that want to go running or play sports or something, but even by myself i've managed to change my life for the better.

I would post before/after pictures, but I never took any before as I was so ashamed.

Best of luck to everyone