Monday, March 21, 2016

81 pounds lost: A bit about my weight loss journey

Hit a real milestone last week, reaching the 80 pounds lost flare. My weight loss journey started in January/2015 when I reached the heaviest weight of my life at 270 pounds from a healthy weight of 170 pounds just four years previous in 2011 (I gained 100 pounds in four years 2011-2015). At 270 pounds I was finding it a major challenge tieing my shoelaces from a standing position, felt fat and unattractive (the former was certainly true. With a BMI over 37 I was definitely fat), would get sweaty, sore and out of breath with any physical exertion at all, had high cholesterol, lower back issues, high blood pressure and was pre-diabetic. If I continued eating the way I had been for the last four years my weight gain had no end in sight it seemed.

In January/2015, deciding that enough was enough and that I was going to commit myself to losing at least some of this weight I gained, I started my weight loss journey. I began walking 3-5 days a weeks and started to eat healthier, replacing many of my cholesterol, fat, sodium and calorie ridden fast food meals with healthy, home cooked meals. My portions were still far too big though and even though I was exercising regularly with a too high calorie intake in the four months from mid January to mid May I only lost 10 pounds. This was disappointing but gave me hope as well as I had reversed the weight gain to actually losing weight (albeit a modest amount), was eating much healthier overall and was in much better physical shape with my regular walking.

In the later half of May/2015 with ten pounds lost I discovered fitness/calorie trackers, the first one being Sparkpeople. I began tracking my calories reducing the number of calories consumed a day, continued cooking the majority of meals only having fast food as the occasional treat, 2-4 times a month as well as continuing to exercise. The weight started coming off much more quickly. In the month of June alone I lost a healthy 8 pounds. In July, I knew that I could and would get my weight down to my goal weight of 170 pounds.

Fast forward five months and I was down to 216, moving from the obese to overweight category of my BMI. This was a weight loss of 54 pounds from my starting weight of 270 in January/2015, the majority (40 pounds) lost in the five months from May/2015 to October/2015. Don't get me wrong, my life problems certainly didn't disappear with my weight loss but I felt great, with increased confidence getting complements from co-workers, friends, family, etc. on my weight loss, was in better shape than I had been in a long time not feeling like I was running a marathon when walking 3 km to work and had gone down from a size 40 to size 36 pants size and a size XXL to L-XL shirt, depending on the brand and style.

One week ago today I weighed in at 290 pounds, with a whopping 80 pounds lost since January/2015 (70 pounds of those lost in the 9 and a half months since May/2015). Today, weighing in at 189 pounds, my GW of 270 pounds in well within sight with just 19 pounds to go to reach my GW. I have gone from a size XXL to L, actually getting pretty close to medium in some brands as well as a size 40 to 34 pant size. As I said previously, losing the weight has certainly not solved all my life problems (I still have shitty days or even shitty weeks at work, etc., and it hasn't cured my anxiety and depression). It really has increased my self confidence though and increased my quality of life. I just purchased a mountain bike and now and doing the 3.5 km commute to work on my bike, am going on longer walks and planning on joining my local hiking club within the next month.

Just wanted to share this in the hope of giving hope to others that are 100 or even 200, 300 plus pounds overweight that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Losing weight, increasing your health and quality of life is indeed possible, though I know when very obese this can seem like an unattainable goal. It certainly did to me anyways. Best of luck to everyone and keep slogging.

submitted by /u/chrisinpbc
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