SV - Finally crossed 100lb lost

First up, picture gallery.

I basically never take pictures so my only max weight before pic is my driver's license taken April, 2020 @ approximately 295lb (133.8kg). Then a couple of today pictures @ 187lb (84.8kg). Then a couple from June, 2021 @ 249lb (112.9kg) of me trying out a bike for the first time and then January, 2022 when my bike finally arrived @ 195lb (88.4kg). Then a shot of my progress graph courtesy of MyFitnessPal.

https://imgur.com/gallery/fGevmQz

TLDR

Really fat guy starts fixing things and for the large part is wildly successful. Discipline is greater than motivation. Small incremental changes are sustainable.

The numbers.

I'm a 6' (183cm) male, age 44, one leg. Actual start weight was 288lb (130.6kg) in January 2021. Actual current weight 187lb (84.8kg) in February 2022. Initial goal weight is 179lb (81.2kg). Potential (very likely) follow up goal is 166lb (75.3kg). The initial goal weight was my old army weight of 215lb (97.5kg) from when I was in my mid 20s back in the early 2000s adjusted by the average leg weight being 16.68% of total body weight. The follow-up goal is an adjusted 200lb (90.7kg) because I was always overweight in the Army Using the same adjustment, my start weight would have been 346lb (156.9kg) and my current weight would be 224lb (101.6kg).

Now the story.

In January of last year, 2021 I had my annual checkup. My weight was ridiculously high (but not as high as it's ever been) and so was my blood pressure which required not one, but 2 medications to barely get back down into normal range. Around the same time one of my friends who is about 5 years older than me required back surgery for an injury. Another friend was also dealing with back trouble. And Covid was all over everything and for which I had a huge number of potential co-morbidities. This appointment it wasn't an issue, but past ones the prediabetic blood indicator was in the cusp of needing medication as well.

All of this combined to provide me with some external motivation to get myself back on track health wise. I hate taking medication. I understand and absolutely do when I've needed meds in the past both for physical and mental health issues. But I don't like it. And this blood pressure thing was 100% something I could get off if I just applied myself and lost some weight.

For Christmas 2021, I bought myself a rowing machine. Or at least I tried to. They were on a 3 month back order. So I was in line for that. The last time I did anything remotely resembling physical activity was back in 2017 when said back surgery buddy and I started doing weight lifting. Back then I had a start weight of 292lb (132.4kg). We lifted Monday, Wednesday, Friday, always heavy weights. I rowed with no real plan for about an hour on Tuesday and Thursday. I did a 16:8 intermittent fasting schedule. After almost a year of that I was down to 240lb (108.9kg). And I felt pretty good back then.

Gyms were closed. I didn't have the rowing machine, but I did start intermittent fasting again on a 16:8 to 18:6 schedule. I cut out snacking and most all of my junk liquid calories (mostly coffee creamer, alcohol, and soda) but didn't really do much more than that at first.

In April 2021 several things came together. I had a screening for a life insurance policy at which I weighed 270lb. I was really happy with that at the time. My rowing machine (concept2) arrived and I had a training plan to go with it courtesy of the rowing sub sticky. And I decided that if I was going to be serious about the process I would have to actually start logging what I ate again because that piece is hugely important for me for mindfulness. So I paid for a year of myfitnesspal. This was in part due to me knowing myself. I hate paying for subscriptions that then don't get used. So by paying 8n advance for a year, my hope was it would help motivate me to use the app. I couldn't care less about any features that came with payment. But the 3 or 4 false starts at weight loss over the last 15 years of my life has all been logged using MyFitnessPal so I saw little reason to start all over. I also went ahead and joined the VA (USA veterans administration) MOVE program. This was a 16 week education and accountability group which met each week and required you to weigh in. Meetings were virtual so this forced me to finally buy my own scale so I could track my journey.

April, May, and June I was rowing 5x a week on the beginner Pete Plan. I set a hard limit of 1750 calories per day which was approximately a 1k deficit. I limited my take out to 2x per week and started cooking again the rest of the week. I maintained my intermittent fasting schedule of 18:6. I logged everything that I consumed and when I ran out of calories I didn't have anything but water until my next eating window. The days I ate junk, I could feel it in the following morning row. By the end of June I was down to 240lb (108.9kg).

In late June the YMCA opened up again as vaccines were being rolled out for covid. I had really enjoyed the weight lifting I had done in the past and on top of that, everything about my daily life and movement (99.98% on crutches) is easier when I am stronger. The Y had a great deal for veterans at the time so I signed up and started lifting 3x a week in addition to the rowing still 5x a week. Through the MOVE program I had access to a physical trainer. I named the routine he set up for me 'Zach Hates the Cripples". It was challenging and great! I could barely complete some days. I was back to that wonderful borderline constant soreness of muscle breakdown and regrowth. And I was loving it.

Around mid July I looked at how many meters I had rowed and how long I had left in the beginner plan. And I decided that if I just added 25 minutes of really slow rowing as a cooldown each day, I would hit 1 million meters rowed at the end of the 24 week plan. Concept2 sends you a pin and a t-shirt for your first million so that seemed like a fun goal. I also started taking my dog for walks in the 20-40 minute range every day. Through the VA recreation therapy I started playing around with biking and kayaking. Neither activity was something on my radar at all but both were extremely fun!

In September I finished my 24 week rowing beginner training plan and decided to celebrate by rowing a marathon (42,195 meters, same distance as a running marathon). It took me 3 hours and 29 minutes so cleared my goal of 3.5h by about 15 seconds. The VA ordered me q bike of my own! And I started a marathon training plan in preparation for rowing a half-century (50km) on new year's day. By the end of September I was down to 203lb (92.1kg). I was then rowing 1-1.5h per day, lifting 2x a week and still walking the dog almost daily weather dependent.

In late November I hit my new year's weight goal of 190lb (86.2kg). Then I went on a Thanksgiving trip to visit my parents for a week and decided I was just going to try and maintain my weight until after the new year and the 50k was done. I had to eat more to handle the volume of training I was doing so relaxed my calories up to around 2200-2700 a day. It didn't matter what junk I ate at these (to me after so long in restriction) insane heights. But when more of my calories were ice cream or alcohol, I still felt it the next morning on the row

On New Year's day 2022 I rowed my 50k in 4h9m. This was the same pace I had done the marathon at but held for an extra 40 minutes and 8km. I did some more travel to visit my brother. I dropped lifting for basically all of January between giving myself time to recover from the 50k and travel. Near the end of January I weighed 195lb (88.5kg). After 2 months of semi-maintenance eating and 3 holidays and 2 trips I was only up 5lb which again felt great!

But I knew I still had a goal weight and needed to get back on track. I legitimately missed the weight lifting but that first week back everything was day 1 sore all over again. I had to laugh at myself as I failed my 3x8 pull ups getting 8 then 7 then 5. And I remembered why I don't take entire month long breaks from this.

It's taken me a fair few weeks to get back in the groove. But I finally have diet reigned back in at around 2200 calories a day which is near a 500-750 deficit after the rowing. I'm working on a training plan for a 100k row which will likely be sometime around August. I went indoor climbing with the VA last week and have never had so much fun in my life. It was an amazing way to take a literal year of fitness and strength work and have it apply to a dynamic problem solving puzzle. I joined a local climbing gym yesterday and plan to be there at least 2x a week moving forward.

My birthday is 20 April. I'll be 45 years old. I'd love to hit my weight goal by then but it's not a huge deal if I don't. I am in better shape now than I have been in my entire life, including my time in the US Infantry. The rest of the weight will come off. I'm really only targeting about 1lb per week at this point as opposed to 2 simply because I'm still doing around 10-15h a week of physical activity.

My mantra this entire process has been that discipline is greater than motivation. It did not matter to me that I didn't want to row some mornings. The rower was there in my house and I sat down and did the workout. It didn't matter if I wanted to break my fast and binge on whatever. Because the snacks were counter productive to my end goals, they didn't get eaten. When I did overindulge and eat that whole bag of Doritos or that entire pizza which happens still more than it probably should, I simply wrote it in my long and remembered that tomorrow is another day to do better. My rowing almost always reminds me when I eat garbage the day before.

I know that for me maintenance means logging. It always will. I need to write it down to be mindful and accountable to myself. I also am hugely thankful for the resources I have access to. The VA recreation therapy has afforded me many great opportunities to explore my world and my physical activities despite my amputation. These groups have been amazing. I am retired and have all the time in the world to exercise and cook and prepare my own food. I know not everyone has this level of scheduling freedom. The important thing to do though is to find strategies and systems that work for you. My method won't be for everyone.

If you are all the way down here, I really hope this story has been helpful for you in some way. I believe you can accomplish your goals! I believe you can make small changes over time that make your life more fulfilling and better for you! I believe you can take a disciplined approach to change! I believe all this because looking back at where I started I can hardly comprehend how far I've come. And I know there is still so much more for me still to do and to be and I can't wait to live that life. Thanks for letting me share this with you.

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NSV / Long Read - I just celebrated four weeks of walks ✨

I was feeling completely stuck. I’d gone from sedentary to frequently bedridden. Between chronic illness and obesity, I would find myself too depressed and sore to move, and then increasingly depressed and sore because I wasn’t moving. It was a horrible cycle that just kept getting worse.

I’m sure many of you can relate.

I can’t count how many times I attempted weight loss and/or fitness programs. I would get a surge of motivation, way overdo it, and then crash. I wasn’t being realistic about what I was physically and mentally capable of. I had an all-or-nothing mindset. Until this January.

I sat down at the dining room table with a big piece of paper, a ruler, and some brightly coloured markers. I drew a massive grid of 240 little squares. I felt like a third grade teacher preparing a project for her students.

I taped it to the wall, placed a little packet of stickers next to it, and began.

To “earn” a sticker for the day, all I have to do is walk five intentional minutes. Easier said than done when you are depressed, obese, and chronically deconditioned. Day 3, my knee hurt so badly, I walked slow laps around the outside of my house.

Up went a sticker.

Day 5, I completely forgot, so I did five slow minutes on the stationary bike at 11:55pm and forgave myself.

Up went a sticker.

Most days I walk down a hill from my front door, turn around, and huff slowly back up it. Sometimes I’m in slippers. Sometimes I literally put a coat on over my pyjamas. Sometimes I wear sunglasses because I have a migraine. I just do what I need to do to do it.

Day 20, I noticed a neighbour watching from her porch. I blurted out the story of my wall chart, red-faced with embarrassment and with the effort it was taking to walk back up the hill. She cheered me on.

I’ve felt a little more pep in my step since that encounter. Did I mention I’m lugging around 90 extra pounds?

Notably, I now look forward to my walks. Sometimes I go for a second later in the day, even though I’ve already earned my sticker. In the evenings, I feel my legs start to dance a little as I settle in front of the TV. Energy stirs. Yesterday I tackled a cluttered corner of the house that’s haunted me for years. Rather than boiling up and over and putting out the flame, hope is simmering in me. Slowly. Steadily.

For the first time in forever, I look forward to the next four weeks.

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Tips on a better method?

So a bit of background about me is I started at 300lbs and am now down to 245 lbs and 6’0” after one year. However I have been told the method I am using is not the most healthy or best.

Currently I have been doing intermittent fasting (16:8) and cutting back on calories and meats/fired foods (roughly 1500-2000 per day with an app). However I have been told that restrictive eating may not be the best for me given how I am doing it.

While the methods I am using are working when I stick to them my mentality is a bit bad according to some. I tend to feel like I have to force myself to start eating again when my fasting period is over. Generally my motto is to lose weight whatever the cost and if I am not hungry for a short period I don’t feel like I’m making progress.

It’s just when I don’t have restrictive periods mentally and physically I feel bad. I’m still very overweight so I didn’t think it was that big of a deal but maybe some people could give some input on more healthy methods of weight loss unless I am fine with what I am doing right now?

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Can't eat spicy food after weight loss

I used to eat life 3000-4000 calories a day, was obviously overweight, and all of it was just junk food. I managed to lose 65 lbs and now when I try to eat spicy food, it just burns my stomach, that never happened before. I could eat all this stuff 5 times a day without feeling anything, I never even knew that people feel weird after eating junk food Now, when I finally eat like a regular human, my stomach burns even with one meal of such food. I have been eating spicy food for about 2 months now after reaching my weight, obviously in limited amount so that I don't gain weight again, but it still burns everytime. Is this normal?

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[Meta] this is a support group, but we must put things into healthy perspective instead of feeding OP toxic thoughts

I've always wanted to make this post, but I decided to wait until no one wrote such posts because I don't want mine to be directed at a certain person.

The thing I noticed is, many times OP will have such a weird and wrapped view of others, and instead of pointing out what could have been actually happening, everyone jumps and validates OP saying others are just "jealous" and "not real friend/family/partner" or OP should "cut toxic people out"

An example is when OP loses weight, make a post about how their family is concerned because of their weight loss. OP says this makes no sense as no one told them this when they were fatter. Everyone in the comment says it's jealousy. The truth is, when someone is fat their whole life if they suddenly lose weight, I would say it would be weirder if their loved ones were not concerned. Losing weight is hard and if you were fat all your life and suddenly lost it (even if this sudden was over one or two years, it's still sudden compared to being fat all your life). It could be healthy dieting, yes, but it also could be an undetected illness, cancer, eating disorder, being too stressed ..etc. acting like showing concern is always from "jealousy" and that OP should "put them in their place" is frankly toxic advice and I can't believe how many times I saw it upvoted.. OP could simply thank the person for their concern and tell them they achieved this weight through healthy means but no, OP decides to attack these people instead

Another example at the other end of the spectrum is when OP "rants" because their family compliments them in their weight loss. This is such a weird thing to do. OP could simply say "thank you" like a normal person and move on. Instead, OP is angry because the family must have always thought OP is ugly but never said it (not true) or they like OP better now that they're thinner (not true) or some other wrapped perspectives. Instead of reassuring OP and putting things in perspective for them, like how they might do it because they're impressed with OPs dedication or confidence or working on their health or bettering themselves, the comments are usually skewed towards weird out of context concepts like "pretty privilege" and society (which doesn't make sense when we're talking about your friends, who loved you even before you got thin, not random strangers) or some other equally weird comments

tl;dr: this is a support group. But we should help put things in perspective sometimes when OP fails to do so. Your loved ones being concerned over your weight loss is normal and saying things like "cut them out of your life" or "you need better friends" is toxic. Similarly, people being happy for you should be answered with "thank you". Because they might be genuinely happy or saying this out of politeness so don't misinterpret their intentions to suit your ego.

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When to start counting calories in a day?

Just for clarification, I’m eating above my BMR (by 200) and under my TDEE (by 500).

So I have the Apple Watch and it estimates that I burn about 500 calories in the day. In order to lose weight, should I be trying to burn 500 more (1000 total?) per day for a two lb weight loss in a week? Or should I continue doing just the 500 in the day for a 1 lb weight loss per week? Is that how it works?

I guess I’m not sure if the 500 cals in the day count towards the exercising cals or if we should start counting after that baseline?

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My weight loss and mataintence journey almost 3 yrs!

I began my weight loss at 210 lbs at 5'4 and when I was 19 or so. I went from a solid 14-16 dress size to a now 6-8 dress size. I began my journey when I stepped on the scale at the doctor's office and realized how big I've gotten. That day I decided to loose it. Its took me over a year to lose 70lbs and I have mostly kept it off for 2yrs now. I lost the weight with keto and I have to say it was so difficult but the main thing is, is imagining what it would be like to a healthy weight. I explored clothing items I wanted to fit in etc. Keep those goals is the best thing. Something I have faced is the fact people are a lot nicer to me now than they were before and these changes on how the world treats you will effect you in a negative or good way. But be prepared cause it's definitely there. As for maintaining weight, you need to measure yourself once a week. Don't weigh yourself else you will hyper focus on it possibly develop an eating disorder or more severe body dysmorphia. I highly recommend measuring yourself instead of weighing yourself, its healthier that way but it needs to be something you do consistently in order to stay on top of it but don't over do it....trust me I have done that and it took a lot of therapy to not hyper focus on the scale. Just eat healthy but allow yourself to enjoy food at the same time.

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