Weight loss and perseverance

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Ddaddy

Ddaddy

Just doing what I do
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SW of Philly PA
About 16 months ago I decided that I had enough of being overweight and it was time to get serious about fixing it. I have lived with a bad back and two wrecked knees that had seriously curtailed my physical activity and cause my weight to ballon over a decade.

At 315 lbs, I made my mind up to fix it. Enough being overweight, and now it’s time to lose it.

The difficulty is that losing it too fast can totally screw up the body’s metabolism (it took decades to gain and the body has adapted to it).

So I chose a simple 300 calorie per day plan to always make my caloric intake 300 calories less than my burn rate. That should equal about 9000 calories per month lost...or about 2.5 lbs.

Here’s where I started at 315 lbs 16 months ago.

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About 6 months later, I had lost 17 lbs and looked like this.

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A little over a year later, I had lost 30 lbs and looked like this.


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I had lost 2 shirt sizes and over 5” off my waist.

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Now, exactly 16 months later...I look like this.

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I have lost 38 lbs in 16 months. No change in anything I eat or drink (pizza and beer are still on the menu), I am just maintaining an average 300 calorie difference between intake and energy expenditure. My average is 2.4 lbs per month weight loss, very close to as I had planned.

I still have another 2 years on this plan to get to where I want to be...but it is working and I will stay with it. I have more energy than I have had in years, my knees don’t bother me anymore and my back is far better than it was. Perseverance pays off.

Just thought I would share.
 
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You're still takin it off faster than you were puttin it on. ........and yall were hollerin about my mug. Damn.
 
First off, congratulations.

I'm not overweight, but I have noticed a few things in my life that I feel are worth noting. I've been fortunate enough to travel quite a bit and have noticed eating habits and food wherever I have gone. To preface this...I'm not a doctor...and might be crazy or stupid.

I've noticed three major differences between us and the rest of the world. I don't know which one is MORE important, but I think they all play a part.

1. Corn!!!! Everything we eat has corn in it. Read the label. This is how we fatten up livestock!

2. Hormones! Girls around the world don't get their periods at 11yrs old like here. Also transgender issues aren't as prevalent.

3. This is a big one. Portion control. In the US we eat to get FULL! This isn't necessary. Other cultures eat to not be hungry. My wife is from Central Europe. She would never super size it...or order an extra thing off the menu because she "can eat it". You just need to eat till you're not hungry...not till you are full.

I apologise if I'm way off with this. I think that a lot of this is a cultural problem here. We are all victims to it, to one degree or another.
 
I banged on 190+ the other day, heaviest I've ever been, several factors.....

1....Broke those ribs, been takin it "easy."
2...."Easy" winter ....so far......barely touched a snow shovel
3....I ALWAYS creep up in winter, less active
4...."Jumped" off the wagon a few times.........the diet wagon, that is

Last summer I was down to 175 for awhile, which is what I "usta" weigh for decades. Here I iz at about 50, and about 170 is what I weighed then. I was close to 50, then, 70 now

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2-3 years ago I took a BUNCH of stuff off my tower. Slow and easy. I just got down off it here, I'm tired. I likely weighed about 180-185 here Not the best posture in this photo LOL

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Wow, thank you for the inspiration. I was 195 when I retired from the military in 1995. I now weigh 317 and I am mad at mysely every day. Like all of us, various injuries, 3 knee replacements, 5 layer back surgery, and had half a lung removed from cancer. I need to stop making excuses and get my fat *** in gear.

Thanks for the kick!
 
I know how hard it is, I've battled it since I was in my mid 20's. People without the problem have no idea of how difficult it is. I've heard "just eat anything, but in moderation" forever. Could you quit smoking if you had to have three cigarettes a day, everyday and not want more. I'm up and down between 305 and 205 for the last 30 years. I'm 6'1" 275 at 69 yrs.old. Knees hurt, backaches if I'm on my feet or walking more than 15 minutes and STILL battle this BS. Winter is difficult as I'm in the house more where in the summer I'm always outside. >> Great job, hang in there. I've been working on it since the new year. 24 days in, about 11 lbs.
 
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Going through the same thing at 59. 225, knee pain, etc. My wife dropped 50 lbs. in 10 months. I started a month ago to try to get back to my fighting weight of 190. It aint easy, and the food manufacturers and processors don't make it easy. So true about the GMO corn, Pascamp. Avoid any hybrid corn. Congrats Gdaddy. What you did takes determination. So many things play a role in it, getting married, working long hours and eating out, just grabbing whatever is available when hungry, etc. You have to do this religiously and avoid the urge to eat after dinner. For me the deadly hours are between 7 -11 pm. Don't hit the snacks, guzzle the milk, eat the cookies, etc.
 
fratzog lover said:
Going through the same thing at 59. 225, knee pain, etc. My wife dropped 50 lbs. in 10 months. I started a month ago to try to get back to my fighting weight of 190. It aint easy, and the food manufacturers and processors don't make it easy. So true about the GMO corn, Pascamp. Avoid any hybrid corn. Congrats Gdaddy. What you did takes determination. So many things play a role in it, getting married, working long hours and eating out, just grabbing whatever is available when hungry, etc. You have to do this religiously and avoid the urge to eat after dinner. For me the deadly hours are between 7 -11 pm. Don't hit the snacks, guzzle the milk, eat the cookies, etc.
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Yup..Grazing after Supper is my biggest problem.
 
You are doing great. I have a friend that had been overweight all his life and a couple years ago decided to do something about it. He went from 300+ to 180 and is loving it. He always vacationed on a lake but never did anything due to his weight. Last year he was mountin bike riding and kayaking. Keep up the good work.
 
One of the things I have learned over the past 16 months is staying focused on the plan and the goal when I hit a weight plateau as my body tried to fight back and keep the weight. Several times I would only lose a pound in a month, but staying with the plan pushed me through and I made up for it in the following months as my body readjusted. I also learned not to feel guilty about the times when I might eat extra like parties and holidays...just made sure to get back on the plan the next day.

For me, there was no one part of my diet that was an issue, it was just total overall intake being more than I was burning. I focused on just reducing 50-100 calories at each meal and 25-50 calories on any snacks. I figured out quickly that shaving a few calories here and there wasn’t hard, I just had to stay focused on doing it. It’s too easy to eat a couple of extra bites at each meal and fall off the plan.

I also weigh myself every morning. It’s not because I expect changes overnight, it’s to make sure I remember to stay focused on the plan for that day.
 
Very cool. About 5 or so years ago i dropped 40 pounds in about 6 months. Biggest thing was portion control. I still ate cheese steaks and all the crap that got me fat only on better portions. Since then I have improved my diet so that I only treat myself to those things once in a while. Funny once used to a better diet you do t really miss that junk food. I hade gone from about 212 pounds to 172 pounds. I was too skinny looking. So I added calories and worked out a little different and got to about 185-190 pounds. I feel stronger and look much better at this weight.
 
I don't post up here much but I have a similar situation in regards to changing my eating habits.
I am currently going keto-a lifestyle change more than a diet. I am not sure that this is the best way to go for everyone out there but I did pick up a few thoughts that everyone can use in their day to day eating.
Number one-sugar. Eliminate it at all costs. That means sugar that everyone adds to coffee and in baking but added sugar in your processed foods and sugar you don't think of in juices (a glass of OJ that has the juice of 10 oranges also has the sugar of those 10 oranges), fruits and vegetables.

Number two-sugar. It really is terrible for you that is why I list it twice! Watch the documentary "Sugar Coated". Definitely eye opening for me.
 
Lots of sugar in soda too, Ian. I gave up soda about 10 years ago, except for a few times a year when its all that's available when eating pizza. The soda industry not only has a tremendous markup, it is also a drink that has zero benefits. Diet soda is even worse. Don't buy into the marketing propaganda. Diet soda will NOT help you lose weight.
 
Here is another thing to remember about weight loss and metabolism. Just being heavier means you burn more calories doing what you normally do. As you lose weight, that caloric burn goes down. It takes more energy for your body to move the larger mass around.

If you burn 3000 calories per day when you are 300 lbs, the same level of activity at 200 lbs will only burn 2300 calories. This is why you need to continue to decrease caloric intake and/or increase physical activity as you lose weight in order to continue to your weight loss goal.

Most on-line calculators include inputs for current body weight so that you can more accurately calculate your burn rate as the weight loss progresses.

The equation always remains simple, burn more than you take in and you will lose weight. What you eat is irrelevant.

Staying healthy with a balanced diet is a different discussion.
 
The Keto diet is really just an updated and copy of the Atkins Diet and everyone laughed at him 40 years ago. Fact is it works. Zero breads, sugars, potatoes, etc, etc. on a very low carb diet after a week your craving for sugars will slowly decrease but you can not cheat. Eat cheese, steak, chicken, burgers no bun, etc as often as you want. It’s easy but hard at the same time but it does work. It’s worth reading his book.
 
pittsburghracer said:
The Keto diet is really just an updated and copy of the Atkins Diet and everyone laughed at him 40 years ago. Fact is it works. Zero breads, sugars, potatoes, etc, etc. on a very low carb diet after a week your craving for sugars will slowly decrease but you can not cheat. Eat cheese, steak, chicken, burgers no bun, etc as often as you want. It’s easy but hard at the same time but it does work. It’s worth reading his book.
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But those diets have all been proven to ultimately achieve weight loss the same way...fewer calories consumed than burned.

If it works for you, then by all means do it. But don’t be confused by the claims as to how it works. They are all designed to take advantage of feelings toward food as a way to get you to reduce caloric intake. But in the end, that’s all they do, reduce caloric intake.
 
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