[Obesity Discussion]

Originally Posted by Hot_Georgia

Hi. I'm Steve.
I'm 6' 2", 245lbs. Will be 47 in January.
Wonderfully happily married, 3 kids early teens.
Treated for acid reflux and borderline diabetic, doctor told me a couple years ago it's probably due to weight.

Was married 15 years ago. Up to that point I always weighed 140-145lbs no matter what I ate, and was the beginning of my weight gain.
I quit smoking at that time and since my wife is an Asian, much of my diet included rice.

I've seen my weight increase over the years and hoped it would stop to a new "Normal" but just keeps gaining. Probably 80% of my gain is as pregnant- really a big bowling ball.
Love life is definetly affected, and over the past few months have noticed a general "Tiredness" about me as I grow more sedimentary.

I work in an office chair at a computer terminal 9-12 hrs then drive 50 miles home. Typically sit and work on the computer, interact with family then sleep 4-8 hrs.

Last year I went on a self-diet- really just cutting my intake by 1/2 and lost about 6lbs over a couple months. Tired of always being nervous, light headed and hungry gave it up and gained back + a few.

I've NEVER been athletic- or exersized for the purpose of doing so. But also never been as sedimentary as of late. I don't know very much about diet stuff other than starchy things and highly proccessed food as bad.

I know I have a lot of learning to do about weight loss but not much time to spend reading books. I'm not even sure if it is a complicated or simple thing.
But I do know that it isn't going to stop on its own, and I'm growing more tired with my sedimentary life style.

I've started with getting off my a$$ and began exersizing.
I hear walking is good, and they have a 1/10 mile carpeted indoor "track" at work, so I been doing 12-15 laps every morning before work. When I finish my legs are like rubber and I feel tired and kinda high.
I understand that someday I might grow to like it.

I don't like what has become of my weight, or my said life style and want to feel healthy again. I look as if I'm in my 60's.
My grandfather lived to the age of 109- and I've used that as an excuse but he exersized every day and a rather skinny fellow.

My goal:
I'd like to eventually loose 50-70lbs. Yes I know it's a lot (for me) but I'm determined to do it.
I want to feel good about my appearance- for myself and also to my wife.

Thanks for reading, I'll be looking around this forum for information. It's the 1st time I've done such research.

Any suggestion is very much appreciated.
-Steve

Great first post, and welcome to obesity discussion!

At the end of the day, it's fairly easy to figure out what needs to be done to achieve your goals, and that is creating a calorie deficit, i.e. eating less calories than you burn each day. Exercising will allow you to eat a little more while still achieving your weight loss goals.

First you set a goal for roughly how many pounds a week you want to lose. We encourage people to shoot for no more than 2lbs a week.

Based on your activity levels, height, weight, age and gender, we can calculate how many calories your body uses each day.

From there we can tell you roughly how many calories you should be eating a day in order to achieve your weight loss goals. The key is that you will have to count your calories along the way. At the same time we can also tell the breakdown of the food you eat, e.g. how many grams of carbs, protein and fats you should try to eat a day to get you to your goals.

You are right about rice, especially white rice, starchy foods and processed foods. Not good for you overall.

Whole grain carbs are better for you.

Also be on the lookout for saturated and trans fats, as well as sugar (and of course cholesterol).

Let us know if we can help you calculate how much you should be eating a day to achieve your goals!