Obesity Discussion Forums

[boydbigman]

Hello everyone.

I am new here. I am a very over weight Male, 43 and as you are aware, they are 5 billion plus diets out there but I was looking for a message board with very obese kind, nice folks to discuss some things as well as helpful suggestions. I have recently have had a bit of some heart skipping or slowing of the heart enough to scare a person. I like many love salt. I have been using kosher salt for a long time. I have tried to totally cut out all sodium and cut out mayo and been trying to drink diet 7up and much more bottled water. I am a big guy, a good 400 plus. I have been big all my life as well as my older brother. I did loose a good bit of weight when I first got married eating only about 150 calories and taking Tenuate pills. Some days I wasn't taking in but about 90 calories and still was very very little weight loss. I then was working and was on my feet 8 hours plus each day and work included allot of work mowing of grass and weed eating generating allot of sweat but still very little weight loss. I recently went to see my doctor and my blood pressure was 130 over 80 I think, he has been surprised how well my blood pressure has been over the years and me being so obese. I am scheduled for a doctors visit and get my Cholesterol checked day after tomorrow, I hope its not too outrageous but something is causing my heart to want to once an a while skip beats or a slow pumping of blood feeling. It seems just after I eat a meal is when it does it. I also have been taking a half of an aspirin each day too. I am thinking it could be this sweetener in the new diet 7up drink too, its name is Phenylalanine and from what alarming research I have skimmed across, that it can cause the symptoms I have been having. I hope you all here may have some things said about that please. Oh, and also, what is the best medication for high Cholesterol?

Please, I hope you all will welcome me, and give me some advice and suggestions.

May God bless you and your family today.

boydbigman of VA.

[Obesity Discussion]

Originally Posted by boydbigman

Hello everyone.

I am new here. I am a very over weight Male, 43 and as you are aware, they are 5 billion plus diets out there but I was looking for a message board with very obese kind, nice folks to discuss some things as well as helpful suggestions. I have recently have had a bit of some heart skipping or slowing of the heart enough to scare a person. I like many love salt. I have been using kosher salt for a long time. I have tried to totally cut out all sodium and cut out mayo and been trying to drink diet 7up and much more bottled water. I am a big guy, a good 400 plus. I have been big all my life as well as my older brother. I did loose a good bit of weight when I first got married eating only about 150 calories and taking Tenuate pills. Some days I wasn't taking in but about 90 calories and still was very very little weight loss. I then was working and was on my feet 8 hours plus each day and work included allot of work mowing of grass and weed eating generating allot of sweat but still very little weight loss. I recently went to see my doctor and my blood pressure was 130 over 80 I think, he has been surprised how well my blood pressure has been over the years and me being so obese. I am scheduled for a doctors visit and get my Cholesterol checked day after tomorrow, I hope its not too outrageous but something is causing my heart to want to once an a while skip beats or a slow pumping of blood feeling. It seems just after I eat a meal is when it does it. I also have been taking a half of an aspirin each day too. I am thinking it could be this sweetener in the new diet 7up drink too, its name is Phenylalanine and from what alarming research I have skimmed across, that it can cause the symptoms I have been having. I hope you all here may have some things said about that please. Oh, and also, what is the best medication for high Cholesterol?

Please, I hope you all will welcome me, and give me some advice and suggestions.

May God bless you and your family today.

boydbigman of VA.

Welcome to the site boydbigman! You came to the right place!

First off, regarding your questions on Phenylalanine, I would contact member SheaGrl via private message. She has done countless hours of research on all the various sweetners on the market, and now drinks only products with Splenda. I'm sure she would love to share her results with you. Our resident nurse yuliyasha will hopefully chime in here as well. I do know that a lot of the sweetners out there do have a lot of serious side effects and unfortunately aren't tested as much as we would like.

As far as the heart problems, did this start when you started drinking the diet 7up or has this always been an issue? Did it start a long while after drinking the diet 7up? I personally would get that looked at right away by a professional in case it is something more serious.

Regarding the numerous "diets" on the market we stress that diets are really more of a temporary solution, and the only thing that will work in the long run is what we call a lifestyle change. When you say you were only eating 150 calories, and then went down to 90 calories, is that per day? Per meal? That seems WAY too low and even dangerous.

Blood pressure is great, and I look forward to hearing the cholesterol results.

Your active working didn't hurt your cause, but your eating habits at the time could have counteracted the extra activity....and also consider that those activities really don't get your heart rate up enough to get your body into full fat burning mode so to speak. More cardiovascular type exercise would really accelerate your weight loss efforts on top of what the active working would do for you.

Can you tell us more about your current eating habits (caloric intake each day, how many grams of carbs/protein/fat you eat a day, what type of food you eat, etc)? Same goes for physical activity. What's that like on an average day? How many pounds a day do you want to lose? Then we can try to figure out the best plan for you to achieve your goals.

One last question, have you been tested for hypothyroidism (which is an underactive thyroid)? Taking any prescription drugs, if so which?

[boydbigman]

Administrator

I tried PM'ing SheaGrl via private message about the research findings about sweetners she's done but sense I am new, the message board wouldn't allow me to PM SheaGrl.

Oh and yes, my symptoms of heart palpatations, slowing of the heart and skipping beats and odd scarry feelings started when I started drinking the diet 7up and regular 7up drinks. They happen to be on sale at our local store for like $.69 cents a 2 litre. I myself found some info. about the sweetner in both regular and diet 7up saying that yes, I could have side effects of the symptoms I have been having. To be more detail, when I would drink a gulp of drink with in just few secs, my heart would act up! Of course after a few times I noticed this, of course I stopped and then got to suspecting these scarry side effects might be in result of the sweetner that's in both these drinks. From the small bit of reseach I have done on my own, my findings are correct, my symptoms are in direct result of drinking these drinks with this "Phenylalanine" in them. Some of what I read of the possible side effects from this ingrediant can cause these symptoms.

I go to my doctor and hospital tomorrow to have my Cholesterol. I hope its not too bad but I suspect it will be bad levels.

I thank you so much for your post reply and hope you and more others here will continue to speak with me and post replies.

May God bless you today and I will look for other replies from you and others here.

boydbigman

[Merle]

Welcome to the site! We have a ton of great information here to assist you with your weight loss including many healthy recipes and studies. You are correct about the PMing, as the admins have put up a 10 post minimum before one can PM others in order to reduce spam.

I would drop the 7up immediately! Consider having your doctor take a look at your heart just in case. It couldn't hurt. Keep drinking lots of water! How many ounces of water are you drinking a day?

Let us know how the cholesterol tests go!

[boydbigman]

Admin hello again....

You asked:
When you say you were only eating 150 calories, and then went down to 90 calories, is that per day? Per meal?

I was down to eating only 150 - 200 calories and some days down to 90 calories a day, yep, that's true and taking Tenuate. I had to daily lie to my parents and loved ones saying I had ate more but for weeks and frew months that was all I was eating, 1 of the 200 calorie "Lean Quasean meals" per day. I can't spell too well so please forgive me. Some days, I didn't even eat even one of those meals, I wouldn't eat nothing and still hardly loose any weight. I ate only that and was working 8 hours plus and on my feet walking and working sweating like a bull out doors cutting grass and weed eating for hours and hours a day. Working as custodian at a large high school until I perminatly hurt my back at work. I now am disabled and can't hardly walk or stand due to my back injury. So, now I and bigger than I ever was because of not working and walking.

My recent doctor visit said I had 130 over 80 <-- (CORRECTED NOW, ooops sorry) and you said that was good, I use to know but what would you think a best Blood pressure I could have if I didn't have 130 over 80?

You asked about my thyroid, my doctor has had me tested and mine seems to be normal.

I guess I am a total doomed case and just flat out no hope for me. I have a loving wife and 8 year old daughter and I hate it for the most for them. I guess I am one 400 pound freight train derailing and heading for a soon train wreck with no hope. I just hope God will direct me towards some help and advise to have a little bit of time with my wife and 8 year old daughter.

Please reply more, thank you.

boydbigman

[boydbigman]

Merle hello and thank you so much for your welcome here.

I sure will let you and others here know how the Cholesterol and doctors report is.

boydbigman

[Merle]

Originally Posted by boydbigman

Admin hello again....

You asked:
When you say you were only eating 150 calories, and then went down to 90 calories, is that per day? Per meal?

I was down to eating only 150 - 200 calories and some days down to 90 calories a day, yep, that's true and taking Tenuate. I had to daily lie to my parents and loved ones saying I had ate more but for weeks and frew months that was all I was eating, 1 of the 200 calorie "Lean Quasean meals" per day. I can't spell too well so please forgive me. Some days, I didn't even eat even one of those meals, I wouldn't eat nothing and still hardly loose any weight. I ate only that and was working 8 hours plus and on my feet walking and working sweating like a bull out doors cutting grass and weed eating for hours and hours a day.

Oh dear!!! :eek4: :eek4: :eek4: You are lucky you are still alive after starving yourself in that matter!

Originally Posted by boydbigman

My recent doctor visit said I had 180 over 80 and you said that was good, I use to know but what would you think a best Blood pressure I could have if I didn't have 130 over 80?

130/80 is pretty decent, 180 is high. 110/70 would be great.

Originally Posted by boydbigman

I guess I am a total doomed case and just flat out no hope for me. I have a loving wife and 8 year old daughter and I hate it for the most for them. I guess I am one 400 pound freight train derailing and heading for a soon train wreck with no hope. I just hope God will direct me towards some help and advise to have a little bit of time with my wife and 8 year old daughter.

Please reply more, thank you.

boydbigman

You are not doomed, don't be silly! You just haven't had the right tools and resources to get you on track in the right direction. We'll have you on a great eating plan in no time, and those pounds will start coming off!

[Obesity Discussion]

Originally Posted by boydbigman

Admin hello again....

You asked:
When you say you were only eating 150 calories, and then went down to 90 calories, is that per day? Per meal?

I was down to eating only 150 - 200 calories and some days down to 90 calories a day, yep, that's true and taking Tenuate. I had to daily lie to my parents and loved ones saying I had ate more but for weeks and frew months that was all I was eating, 1 of the 200 calorie "Lean Quasean meals" per day. I can't spell too well so please forgive me. Some days, I didn't even eat even one of those meals, I wouldn't eat nothing and still hardly loose any weight. I ate only that and was working 8 hours plus and on my feet walking and working sweating like a bull out doors cutting grass and weed eating for hours and hours a day. Working as custodian at a large high school until I perminatly hurt my back at work. I now am disabled and can't hardly walk or stand due to my back injury. So, now I and bigger than I ever was because of not working and walking.

My recent doctor visit said I had 180 over 80 and you said that was good, I use to know but what would you think a best Blood pressure I could have if I didn't have 130 over 80?

You asked about my thyroid, my doctor has had me tested and mine seems to be normal.

I guess I am a total doomed case and just flat out no hope for me. I have a loving wife and 8 year old daughter and I hate it for the most for them. I guess I am one 400 pound freight train derailing and heading for a soon train wreck with no hope. I just hope God will direct me towards some help and advise to have a little bit of time with my wife and 8 year old daughter.

Please reply more, thank you.

boydbigman

Boydbigman, eating such few calories is not good for your body at all, and in fact will have the opposite effect of what you are trying to achieve (not to mention it is dangerous for your internal organs). Maintaining muscle mass is an important part of weight loss, because each pound of muscle burns 50 calories a day at rest. Your body requires certain amounts of protein, carbs, fat and calories for your muscles to keep their size during weight loss or to help them grow when you are trying to build muscle. You ate so few calories each day that your body was eating away at your muscle tissue for fuel because it had nothing else to burn for energy. When your muscles got smaller because your body didn't received the nutrients it needed, your body lost a lot of its ability to burn caloried on its own.

We emphasize making what's called a lifestyle change (like a permanent diet so to speak). It's actually very simple. You just need to create a calorie deficit (not a huge one), which means you consume less calories than you expend in a given day. You really need to write down the details on what you eat. Keep track of the calories you are consuming in a given day, and also the carbs, protein, fat, and time of day you are eating.

You burn roughly the following calories a day (based on your inactive lifestyle, height/weight/age....I guessed your height was 6ft.): 3800 calories burned a day.

Now, each pound of fat on your body is the equivalent of 3500 calories so to speak. For every 3500 calories you deprive your body, you should in theory lose one pound of fat.

You could drop your food intake to about 2800 calories a day to start and see how that works. That would put you at a 1000 calorie deficit each day, or about a 7000 calorie deficit per week. That SHOULD help you lose about 2lbs a week. You can adjust your caloric intake to meet your weight loss goals within reason. I would not suggest trying to lose more than 2-3lbs a week. Now, remember, many people don't see results immediately; this is something that could take as long as a month to see results.

If this is something you think you can do, then we can work on an eating plan for you. Could you post up what you eat on an average day? Give us every detail including dressings, toppings, drinks, snacks, etc.

For right now though it would help us adjust your diet if you recorded everything you were eating each day as I mentioned above and start posting about it here. We can make suggestions on your eating habits and go from there.

[boydbigman]

Merle and to all here, hello again.... thank you for your replies.

I swear to my loving God my Lord, I was telling the truth too about for long weeks and months my only eating 150 - 200 calories a day while working. Yes, this is NO LIE, total truth.

Please, continue to reply and thank you all here.

boydbigman

[Obesity Discussion]

Originally Posted by boydbigman

Merle and to all here, hello again.... thank you for your replies.

I swear to my loving God my Lord, I was telling the truth too about for long weeks and months my only eating 150 - 200 calories a day while working. Yes, this is NO LIE, total truth.

Please, continue to reply and thank you all here.

boydbigman

It's not that we don't believe you, we just want to emphasize to you how bad that type of eating is for your health.

[Obesity Discussion]

Boydbigman, if you give us some goals for weight loss (how much you want to lose and by what date), we can help determine exactly how much of a calorie deficit you need to achieve your target weight loss by a target date.

[boydbigman]

Hello all again,
I thank each of you for your kind input and posts. I have been big all my life, no matter what I have done or what diet. I just got back from the doctor getting my Cholesterol checked and they said I should have the results tomorrow. My brother is like me, he too is about 400 pounds and his Cholesterol is about 225. I guess mine is that too or higher just because that’s my luck. I did speak to my doctor and nurse that I suspected that some of my heart palpitations and heart slowing and skipping beats was due to the sweetener "Phenylalanine" and the doctor agreed yes my symptoms could very well be due my drinking of the diet drinks with that in it.

I have been big all my life and have tried many many diets and as for right now, my goal is to get my Cholesterol checked and get my diet with lowering my sodium, trans fats, MSG, eat no mayo, eat no high fatty foods, eat no fried foods at all, sugar by lowering all these as much as I can and not calling it a “diet” rather just trying to curve my food intake for the better. Sure, Id love it if ALL male humans was no heavier than 165 pounds as my own. But, that is not realistic. I will do the best I can. I will try to change my food/diet to a much healthier one. Today my wife and I bought and read carefully labels and ingredients and bought 100% whole grain bread, lite/low sodium salad dressings, salt substitute “NO salt”.

With God’s help and love and strength, I hope to change my eating habits and intake for the better. I do thank you all here for your support and kind helpful suggestions.

Hope you will keep me a little supported here, it helps more than you realize.

Looking forward to your other reply posts.

God bless you all today.

Boydbigman in VA.

[Steve]

If you were eating 150 calories per day at 400+ lbs.... and STILL not losing weight.... something is going on medically and you should see a doctor.

Although, I hate to tell you, it would be the first case of it's kind. Eating that few calories, even with medical pathologies, would still lead to weight loss.

It isn't acute caloric intakes that matter. What matters is longer continuums.

So, if you were eating 150 calories per day (I highly doubt this) M-F, and then on the weekends ate 10000 calories per day.... the numbers would net out.

This aside, at your weight, losing is quite easy. It doesn't take science or magic. It's simply a matter of controlling your portions and increasing activity on a consistent basis.

As much as you think you were only eating 150 calories per day, there is something called the Laws of Thermodynamics. With these in mind, it would be impossible for a 400+ lb man to MAINTAIN that weight without consuming a large quantity of food.

[William Wallace]

Originally Posted by Steve

If you were eating 150 calories per day at 400+ lbs.... and STILL not losing weight.... something is going on medically and you should see a doctor.

Although, I hate to tell you, it would be the first case of it's kind. Eating that few calories, even with medical pathologies, would still lead to weight loss.

It isn't acute caloric intakes that matter. What matters is longer continuums.

So, if you were eating 150 calories per day (I highly doubt this) M-F, and then on the weekends ate 10000 calories per day.... the numbers would net out.

This aside, at your weight, losing is quite easy. It doesn't take science or magic. It's simply a matter of controlling your portions and increasing activity on a consistent basis.

As much as you think you were only eating 150 calories per day, there is something called the Laws of Thermodynamics. With these in mind, it would be impossible for a 400+ lb man to MAINTAIN that weight without consuming a large quantity of food.

I agree, I can't imagine he was eating that few calories and not losing weight. I have never heard of anything like it either. This definitely calls for a specialist. Oh and welcome to the site !

[boydbigman]

Steve hello.

Yep, I was eating the 200 to 220 or so calories. These lean cuisine meals are 220 calories. Some are bit more, some a bit less. YES sir, 1 meal per day. I thought I remembered some of these meals being as low as 150 calories, I'm sorry. Most of the meals was I guess about 200 t0 300 calories now that I net research to remember more clearly. I didn't mean to not be more up todate thinking about these meals I use to eat all the time but it was a harmless mistake. I do not want to lie on purpose about anything, no sir.

Here is a link to the label of them, click and you'll see. I was only eating 1 meal like this per day. I am not lieing sir.

Copy N paste and goto this web link for a photo:
viruz.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/lean-cuisine-nutrition-fact.jpg

Message board won't let me post full URL of the above, sorry.

I did loose some weight yes but only eating 1 of these meals per day and the manual labor job I held was very hard. I did this for a long time but very little results. I hope you aren't saying I'm lieing, I'm not Steve.

boydbigman

[boydbigman]

Oh and no, I wasn't eating one of the 200 - 300 calorie lean cuisine meals M - F and then eating 5 million calories on the weekend. Nope, no sir. You believe what you want, everyone has a opinion.

Oh and William, yes, I did loose some wieght but not much.

To: William, thanks for the welcome here.

Hope you all like my Avatar photos of me, before I got my back permantly injured. I have been with Vol. Fire / Rescue for over 18 years or so. I miss helping the community.

boydbigman

[Obesity Discussion]

Originally Posted by boydbigman

Steve hello.

Yep, I was eating the 200 to 220 or so calories. These lean cuisine meals are 220 calories. Some are bit more, some a bit less. YES sir, 1 meal per day. I thought I remembered some of these meals being as low as 150 calories, I'm sorry. Most of the meals was I guess about 200 t0 300 calories now that I net research to remember more clearly. I didn't mean to not be more up todate thinking about these meals I use to eat all the time but it was a harmless mistake. I do not want to lie on purpose about anything, no sir.

Here is a link to the label of them, click and you'll see. I was only eating 1 meal like this per day. I am not lieing sir.

Copy N paste and goto this web link for a photo:
viruz.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/lean-cuisine-nutrition-fact.jpg

Message board won't let me post full URL of the above, sorry.

I did loose some weight yes but only eating 1 of these meals per day and the manual labor job I held was very hard. I did this for a long time but very little results. I hope you aren't saying I'm lieing, I'm not Steve.

boydbigman

boydbigman, I think what Steve and a few others have said, is that there is something very unique going on with you that you should consider seeing a specialist about, because your situation is definitely not normal. Tenuate is a an appetite suppressant meant to be taken for a short period of time as a supplement to diet and exercise. Maybe your dosage was off because your appetite should not have been curbed that much. When you eat as little as your did, it could cause your body to release hormones such as epinephrine/norepinephrine which would lead to metabolic (metabolism) disturbances, thus cancelling out your weight loss efforts. You need to eat more than you were to lose weight.

Oh, and I like the pictures, and thank you for giving so much time to the community. We need more people like you!

[boydbigman]

Originally Posted by Obesity Discussion

boydbigman, I think what Steve and a few others have said, is that there is something very unique going on with you that you should consider seeing a specialist about, because your situation is definitely not normal.

Oh, and I like the pictures, and thank you for giving so much time to the community. We need more people like you!

Hello again and OHH thank you, I have devoted so much free time, myself and my wife over the years with the Vol. Fire / Rescue. My wife and I and as well as many Vol. Fire/Rescue personel rarely ever get a "Thank you, or a job well done" coment so, yes thank you so much. You don't now how much that means to get a coment like that. To many, that don't mean much, but when we have devoted many years of Vol. and not getting paid for rescue and fire calls and not get a kind word or a thank you many times, it is very nice when we do get them. Due to the job back injury I am now unable to do rescue and fire calls now. Due to lower back injury and my being big and struggle for all my life with being obese I am bigger now than in the photo I am sorry to say. I do hold my chin and head up high when I look back at that photo and know that even though I was a big guy, I saved lives, I made a difference!

I also am a Amateur Radio operator and love communications too, I turned down a offer to be a Police dispachter but at the time working for a school system, I have many or much more benifits: retirement, paid sick days, 3 weeks paid vaction ect. so I didn't take the job. I look back and wished I knew that in the future that I would encounter this back injury, LOL, I would have taken the Police Dispatchers job. We just don't know what the future will reviel do we.

I thank you and all here for any nice, kind, and suportful posts.

God bless, and I will be looking forward to reading and comenting more.

Oh, sorry for my grammer and spelling at times, LOL.

boydbigman

[William Wallace]

Don't sweat the grammar! We do have a resident Grammar Policeman in Dustin, so beware!

Let us know if you would like us to help you setup a better eating plan....if we get you eating more calories than you have been you SHOULD start losing weight.