Obesity Discussion Forums

[Obesity Discussion]

Weight Loss Stories

I thought it would be very interesting to hear everyone's stories about their weight loss journey....specifically when did you start trying to lose weight for the first time, and what triggered it?

I'll begin the weight loss stories...it all started when I got to college, I ate nothing but pizza, soda and fast food every day my first semester. I was active physically, so my eating didn't catch up to me as bad as others, but I saw all my friends and others in general put on the dreaded Freshman 15 and thensome. Starting 2nd semester, I cut out all the crap, cold turkey. Still ate a lot of food but ate nothing but healthy food. The difference it made was amazing. I must have lost 20lbs of fat that semester and put on 10lbs of muscle. The difference was night and day. It was at that point I realized how important it was to eat healthy. I felt/looked so much better and never turned back.

What are your weight loss stories?

[MichaelB]

College was the start for me as well.

I was always active in my youth...played sports in high school and was 215 pounds when I graduated and headed off to college.

College was harsh. Long hours spent studying, crazy hours, lack of sleep, and way too much junk food left me up 40 or 50 pounds at the end of my first year. I lost most of it over the summer, but the same thing happened the next year. And the next. When I graduated after four years of college, I left with a degree in my hand and 290 pounds hanging off my frame.

Shortly thereafter, I hit 300 pounds and went on Deal-A-Meal for the first time. The first week of that program was quite the shock -- 1000 calories a day isn't much for a 300 pound dude. I really don't remember how much I got down to -- 240? 250? -- but I eventually stopped paying attention to my weight and began to head back up again.

In 2001, I was up to 320 pounds again and went on "Johnny" Craig (). In 5 or 6 months I'd lost 80 pounds, and maintained 235 for about six months before finally dropping to 225.

Here's what that looked like.



Life was good. And, in June 2002, my dad had an accident...

We were out hiking, scouting out an off-trail route up a ridgeline when he slipped while crossing a riverbed. I watched him slide over the edge and heard him scream as he fell 140 feet down a waterfall. I got him out of the riverbed, stopped most of the bleeding, but found a large gash on his leg. It was like something out of Saving Private Ryan...8 inches long and straight to the bone. I gave him my dry jacket, hat, and gloves, tied a windbreaker around his leg just to keep the skin together, turned him around so his legs were uphill, grabbed my cellphone and car keys, and took off running.

To make a long story short, it was a long day. I left him at 10:30am and didn't get back with a rescue party until 5:30pm that evening. We got him stabilized and they airlifted him out with a Blackhawk helicopter. Stitches for the leg, arthroscopic surgery for some torn cartilage in his knee, and he and I were back out hiking a month later.

But I didn't let go of it that easily. I hadn't fallen, but was still a little traumatized...I blamed myself for his fall, felt guilty that it hadn't been me. It altered my mood and I ultimately sought comfort in food. I started looking into grief couseling when I hit 300 again, and eventually stopped the upward trend around 320 again.

The following years, were pretty repetitive. I'd diet a bit in the early season, losing some weight, so I would be ready to go out and hike in the summer. I'd usually get down to 250-260, one time 240, one time only 270. During the course of the hiking season my weight would drop slightly, but, like clockwork, the trend would reverse and I'd put on that weight again over the winter.

Fast forward to this year. 2008 was a bad hiking season...a late snow melt meant that I'd never really gotten in shape and hadn't really done much hiking. And the winter that followed was a bad ski season, which meant that I wasn't even getting the bit of exercise that downhill skiing usually provided. When I finally decided to weigh myself, I was 337 pounds, too heavy for my own scale. I needed a radical change.

I decided I'd focus on diet and exercise.

For my diet, I decided to do something along the lines of the South Beach diet -- high protein, fat is fine, low-carbs. I'd tried it once before and was really impressed -- it worked like magic. Weight loss was quick and painless, I was eating the foods I liked, and I didn't feel hungry.

For exercise, I picked up a Wii, Wii Fit, and Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party. The Wii Fit would be used mostly for core strengthening and tracking my weight loss, the DDR was excellent for aerobic exercise.

Four months later, I'm down 93 pounds and feel like a new man.

Here's that chart:



This time around I plan to lose the weight and keep it off.

What's different this time? I think the realization that activity is really key to long term maintenance of weight. I plan to keep active regularly 2-3 times a week even after I reach my goal weight, so that my metabolism continues to work not just on the weekends, but all week long.

Also, diligence is important. I'll be weighing myself regularly, just trying to keep in touch with my weight and general trends. And if I see something going awry, I plan to jump right on it, rather than waiting until my weight has gone up 20, 50, or 100 pounds only to start the cycle anew.

[Obesity Discussion]

Now those are the types of weight loss stories that make me go

I can't believe your dad survived! That's absolutely amazing!!! Nice save on your part too!



I do see a common recurring theme here with your type weight loss story....weight gain in college, a lot of fluctuation as different types of diets are tried, and at some point in time coming to the realization that a permanent lifestyle change is what's needed.

Great job charting everything. Did you put that together just for this weight loss story or did you already have it saved?

[MichaelB]

Thanks for the kind words, OD. I was worried I'd killed the thread before it even began, scaring people off with a multipage manifesto.

Yeah, the rollercoaster ride up and down and up again has been disheartening, but the realization that a "diet" is just not sufficient is what really sunk in this time around. I fully intend to keep active in one way or another to maintain this weight loss long term.

I find the charts helpful in keeping track of progress and encouraging myself with the general trend (and future projections). I'm a digital packrat of sorts, and had the old one sitting on a hard drive, just begging to be resurrected for a thread like this.

[Amy2310]

Well done Michael.
I have always been slightly chubby since I was small, but since moving to Cornwall 3 years ago I've put on about 3 stone during college and just unhealthy eating. It was actually my mum that really made me decide to start loosing some serious weight, she's always been on the heavier side, but over the past year she's lost a lot of weight and is currently a stone heavier than me, which really got me into gear.

[veg_head]

I'm proud of you MichaelB! I have bee doing very well the last few months but when I found out my mom has terminal cancer I lost focus You and this site are my inspiration

[SentinelBasch]

Lots of inspiration in this thread!

My own journey began last year, when I was planning to fly a friend into town for a week in Gatlinburg, TN. For any of you who might have been, you'll know that you while you can drive throughout the city, it's generally not preferred - most people walk.

Although I didn't have chronic joint or back pain, I was highly sedentary, and tired out easily. I didn't want to have to stop every so often to catch my breath during the trip, so I started to exercise. Weight loss really wasn't the goal at that time - just some extra stamina and endurance.

The weight loss did come, though, and I suppose I liked the feeling enough to keep going. I hovered in the 330's for a while until I decided to kick it into high gear and make some serious changes. The rest is history...and it needs to remain history!

It's always interesting to see what makes people start these kinds of journeys. Some start it because their life depends on it at that time, for others, it can be something simpler, like a class reunion, or not wanting to buy that next clothing size, etc. Regardless, I salute those people who reach their goals and stay there, and hope to become one of them someday. These journeys certainly tell us a lot about ourselves.

[SunShine]

My weight gain began when I got married and started learning how to cook all that southern country food that my husband loved like potatoes and gravey, fried chicken etc. Everything was fried in lard and had brown gravey on it. The desserts did it in for me because I loved sweets and in the south there was apply pies, peach cobbles etc. You know all the things that had cups and cups of white sugar in it.
He was from South Carolina and thats how his family ate and still eats to this day.

Weight can creep up on you fast if you do not do something about it right away and thats what happened to me. I tried dieting but would always fall off it because I was around so much food all the time. I felt trapped somehow, that the food around me was controling me.

But as I got older and more health conscious I did lose some of my weight but would always gain it back and now I know it was because I did not change my life style, only my eating habits for a short time, and that does not work for me, I have to make it a long term lifestyle change in order for it to work for me and thats what I am doing now.

[MichaelB]

Originally Posted by veg_head

I'm proud of you MichaelB! I have bee doing very well the last few months but when I found out my mom has terminal cancer I lost focus You and this site are my inspiration

Thanks Veg Head... Really sorry to hear about your mom...

The only advice I'd have there is to spend as much time as you can with her now... Take a ton of pictures. Encourage her to fight, and help her live her life to the fullest. The fact that you're there for her, helping her, and rallying with her will keep her motivated, in good spirits, and help her really enjoy these days she has instead of the alternative: just shutting down, hiding away, and waiting for the inevitable.

Regarding my story, food was always where I went for comfort when I was feeling down, and when I was feeling a bit depressed after my dad's accident, that's where I went. The problem is that the "comfort" doesn't last for long, but the related weight gain does...and what originally felt like comfort, ends up leaving you feeling worse and worse than when you began.

To anyone: If you're feeling down, don't make the same mistake I did and put off counseling until the weight gained is significant. The counseling took a while, but it does eventually help, and once you can move past that, you're going to be better able to deal with whatever other weight issues you may have.

Thanks for sharing, and again, my condolences regarding your mom.

[Obesity Discussion]

Originally Posted by veg_head

I'm proud of you MichaelB! I have bee doing very well the last few months but when I found out my mom has terminal cancer I lost focus You and this site are my inspiration

I'm in the exact same boat as you.....gotta still focus on yourself, no matter what's going on around you. Your own health has to be a priority. Besides, that's what mom would want you to do I'm sure.

Originally Posted by MichaelB

Thanks for the kind words, OD. I was worried I'd killed the thread before it even began, scaring people off with a multipage manifesto.

Yeah, it's like, gee how do I top that?