It's time to tell the story of my journey in hopes that it helps others and selfishly, helps me stay on track. I'm proud and thankful to report that I've achieved my goal of gaining some control over my life and health after the past 14 months. My journey begin with a starting weight of 327 Lbs, a RHR of 96, BP at 130/100.. This morning I weighed in at my goal weight of 185 with a RHR of 58 and BP at 110/70 - thanks to God. I'm no expert - there are many on this forum whom are much more knowledgeable about weight loss, health and fitness. I'm just a person who made bad choices for a long time and decided that I wanted to live longer. Here we go,...
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I'm a 54 year old male, happily married with 3 amazing kids, working in the high stress world of enterprise software sales. Although I somehow managed to achieve success in my 30 year career, I was on the path to an early ending of what most would think was a "good life", of course with the exception of being morbidly obese and in terrible health (Hypertension, pre diabetic, sleep apnoea, etc). Having always struggled with weight, I was a typical Yo-Yo dieter. going back to my youth.. Sports, working out and construction jobs while I was younger helped keep my weight somewhat in check but I'd often balloon up and then take some off. I knew from an early age that I had a problem with food, eating, etc.. After college graduation, I entered the corporate word, married my high school crush and started a family. For 30 years, my activity level consistently dropped off, I travelled for work a bunch, eating on the road, did client dinners, gorged at night, etc. I allowed my health to steadily decline and my weight to steadily increase...to critical mass. It's crazy, but after decades of this cycle, I knew that the path I would soon end - my poor health and morbid obesity were limiting the activities that I previously enjoyed - biking, hiking, fishing. I was fully aware that I was on a crash course to a very early grave, but still did very little (nothing) to change. Why after the urging of my family, after so many embarrassing and scary situations that all severely obese folks have experienced, (i.e. Arline seat belt extenders, profuse sweating, trouble getting up stairs, etc. etc), after knowing the end was near, why did I continue on this crash course? To this day, I still can't answer this question.
Fast forward to Christmas break 2020: While sitting in front of the TV, alone in my easy chair one evening, feeling severely depressed, denying the chest pains that would come and go...I cried. I asked myself a very simple question. "do I want to live or do I want to die?" I don't know what happened but a "switch" in my head flipped - it was like a fight or flight reaction. Right there, I said to myself "F*** THIS! It's not gonna end like this." I look at this moment of my life as an epiphany. As a lightning bolt delivered by God. I made the conscious choice at that moment that I wanted to live. I wanted to live a longer life with my awesome wife and kids who would soon have their own families, to again do the things I loved doing but couldn't because of my obesity and poor health.. This was the start of MY journey.
With the help of my 19 year old, health conscious nephew Joe, my wife, kids, my close friends I (we) began on 1/6/20 at 327 LBS. I travelled for business pretty much weekly prior to lock down. Finding healthy choices while travelling, in airports, hotels, etc. is difficult. Measuing, weighing and tracking food is barely, if at all possible. Finding a place and time to workout in hotels while on the road can also be unpredicitable and challenging. I'm honestly not sure I would have achieved my goal had the lockdown not occured..
As we all know, there are no short cuts to correcting 30+ years of bad habits. My nephew Joe, was my accountability partner from day 1. We began by limiting calories to ~1,500 and tracking what I consumed every day. I began exercising at home on a crappy stationary bike, and started doing a basic dumbbell routine to curb muscle loss, also at home in my garage.. Although I considered joining a gym pre-lockdown, i didn't for 2 reasons: 1) Embarrasment and 2) I felt that by having a workout routine at home would be more convienient and allow me to workout very early in the mornings At the start, I could only ride for 10-15 minutes at a clip before I needed a break. I kept at it for and pushed the duration of my sessions for minimum of 30 minutes,while keeping an eye on my FitBit heart rate and calorie burn. I was suprised how quickly I was able to increase the duration and intensity of my workouts.. About 4 months in, I literally rode the wheels off my crappy stationary bike and purchased a moderatly priced spin bike on Amazon (what a difference). The dumbell routine also increased in intensity. I was shocked that I actually started enjoying and looking forward to working out (most days). My Diet, sleep quality, HR, calorie burn and workouts were and still are tracked daily via Fitbit. I send Joe screen shots of the data daily and he'll reply with comments and feedback. Unfortunately, just prior to Thanksgiving, I began experiencing shoulder pain that progressively got more severe. As it turns out, I injured my rotator cuff and needed to limit the weight training. (still an issue today and seeing a PT. MRI Next week, fingers crossed) I'm proud to say that I'm now consistently doing 1+ hour a day of cardio, 6 days/week most weeks. I do HIIT sessions 3 days/week. I also recently invested in a Concept2 Rowing machine and love it. (I learned that your body will get vey efficient at a single exercise, and it's important to switch things up)
Early on, I got into the data that Fitbit provided and use small improvements in these metrics as motivation. I noticed my RHR began to quickly improve. I found that strict tracking of intake (energy in) and calories burned (energy out) is critical for weight loss. The preset meals FitBit offers make logging easy. It's not complicated - eat less that your body burns and you'll loose weight. Everything I consume is tracked which means weighing and measuring what I eat, most importantly the little things like sauces, a bite here and there. I logged everything and plan to continue to do so during maintenance phase. Our plan was to consume no more than 1500 calories/day during the week and a bit more on the weekends. At the start I did NO cheat meals, cheat days, etc. I did however screw up and beat myself up some. Joe, my family and friends kept my head straight and focused on the goal. Other small changed include supplements, Apple Cider Vinegar (diluted with water) and Green Tea, both of which I consume daily. Joe recommended these things. The ACV for sure curbs my appetite. I also do 16/8 Intermittent Fasting as often as possible with dinner at 5 and bfast at 9:15 AM or so (Again, very difficult when travelling for work). I'm not sure how much the ACV, Tea, Intermittent Fasting and supplements helped but the results came. I stopped eating ALL processed foods and sugar.("clean eating"). This change in my eating made a huge differience in how I felt overall. The change in the foods I ate had an immediate impact on my energy levels, moods and overall outlook, even early on.
I set mini-goals during my journey. Goals started at 12-15 Lbs/Month and now it's 5 lbs per month. The lighter and more fit you are, the less you burn at rest, hence you won't loose as fast.. Although we hit the goal of 185 my body will indicate my optimum weight, not the number on the scale. During a visit with my Dr. yesterday we discussed my current BMI and agreed that although I'm at the high end of normal weight range for my height and age, I could loose another 10 or so LBS which I plan to do. (My family says I should be maintaining which is up for debate)
After 14 months into this journey, I can say that doing this is a mental game. Although this journey will never be done (and I am so afraid of gaining weight back) I can say that life now is so much better that it was prior to 1/6/20. It's not been easy but as we all know, nothing worthwhile is ever easy. LIFE NOW IS SO MUCH BETTER as compared to that evening when the lightning bolt hit me.
It's hard for me to explain but loosing this much weight is weird...I'm not the same person (literally), Because of lockdown, I could not see folks while loosing. Last week I attended an event and saw folks that hadn't seen me in a few years and literally had no idea who I was. It was awkward for me, and them I think (Is he sick? Do I ask?). After finally buying clothes that actually fit (34 slim waist!), I saw Joe's dad last weekend. (I've seen him many times duing the journey). He was blown away and our wives took pictures of us. Again, it was weird seeing these pictures - was that me? Hard to explain these feelings....I'll admit, it's kind of an out of body experience, like your seeing someone else and then you realize it's you. The little things that change are some of the biggest rewards. I still catch myself pulling out my car seatbelt all the way and realize I don't need to do that. These little things are nice reminders of my accomlishments and work.
.These and other online forums are also VERY motivating - Check out "Obese to Beast" on YouTube...this kid is amazing. We have friends here - read this board for motivation and support. Fitbit has been a key part of my progress and changed my life, along with my family and friends. I hope my longwinded story helps others in some positive way. Good luck on your journey! God Speed
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