TL;DR: 6’5" 431lbs man starts Keto June 1st, 2018. Loses 80+ lbs in just under 4 months. Proceeds to write a long diary post. Thanks in advance if you read the whole thing. Felt good to get it out there.
Edit: I have replies of updates and my personal thoughts of starting over 400 lbs and making the journey to a healthier me.
Second post here, but decided to introduce myself to the forum and tell everyone the story that got me here
today.
Stats: 33 year old male 6’5" tall and starting weight of 431lbs. I have been “tall and all” my whole life. I have also been big my whole life. When I was a teenager I was tested for giantism but turns out I’m just a big guy. I have always been severely overweight but for the most part it didn’t stop me. After high school I’d hang out with friends and eat just about anything that I wanted. I just didn’t care because my identity was the “big guy”. I got married at 21 and shortly after my brother convinced me to go work out with him. My weigh in at the gym was a whopping 382 lbs. back then. I worked out probably 5-10 times over the next year, but it didn’t do anything because I was still eating like crap. I went to the gym so infrequently I still called it James. Over the next 10 years I tried to lose weight but it never stuck. The smallest I ever weighed as an adult was 343 lbs almost 9 years ago after a few months of logging my food and walking after work.
Then in January 2017 I got sick and went to the doctor. My blood pressure was 168/112. She told me I was in stroke range, and that upset me quite a bit. I tried to rationalize it because I work in a stressful sedentary job, and my mother was currently in the ICU fighting the flu and pneumonia. I started tracking my BP and after a month, they put me on my first BP medicine. After 6 months I went back and my BP still wasn’t good enough, so they upped the dosage. By this time my mother, grandmother, and nephew moved into our house so we could be primary caretakers for them. They were unable to maintain their house and it was just easier.
Fast forward to February 2018, and I went back to the doctor. My BP was still not where it should be, and by this time I was up over 400 lbs. My doctor put me on a second BP medicine and talked about losing some weight. Sure, I’ll jump right on that… and I didn’t.
I went back to my doctor May 29, 2018 for my 3 month follow up appointment. I weighed in at 431 lbs and for some reason, that number hit me right in the gut. I’ll never forget what my doctor told me that day. He said, “I could keep prescribing you medicine all day long, but until you chip away at that weight, I don’t think it’s going to make much difference.” I went home that night even more depressed than I have been in the past year.
The thing is, I couldn’t really rationalize what it meant to be 400+ lbs. Only people on t.v. were that big in my mind. In my eyes I was fine. I was still able to provide for my family and I was fairly mobile. Maybe my back and knees were hurting occasionally and sure, my ankles had been hurting for a few months. That’s just life. Life for me was being self conscience of eating in front of people. Standing in groups because I was afraid chairs wouldn’t hold me, and somehow rationalizing my eating habits. I had just about ZERO self control and I knew that. I wasn’t planning on living past 40. (even typing that out now hits me right in the feels).
So back to my story. I went home from the doctor’s office that night and told my wife I had to do something. I told her I had to cut carbs. I had success in the past when I limited carbs and ate more meat and veggies. The next day I kept thinking about a friend who started keto the year prior and he said he lost over 60 lbs. I began looking into keto and read stories on /r/keto. On June 1st, 2018 I officially started the ketogenic diet. I decided that if I was going to be successful I need to treat it sort of like a game and set up mini goals instead of just looking at the finish line. My first goal was to be able to weigh at home. My scale only went up to 405 lbs so every day I’d step on the scale to check… “Err” Then after 2 weeks, Err was replaced with 402.8. I hit my first goal. With 2 weeks under my belt I felt like Forrest Gump. I went this far, I guess I’ll keep going. My wife joined me at this point and she’s doing fantastic.
Keto had it’s ups and downs. I miss convenience the most. I miss being able to run into a drive through and grab food on the go. I don’t miss any of the carbolicious foods that I ate before, and if I do, I’ll make a keto friendly version of it. My relationship with food is beginning to change. I don’t like zucchini or spaghetti squash but if that’s the vegetable of the night, I’ll eat it without hesitation. I eat fantastic food and I feel full without feeling sick. I drink powerade zero a few times a week when I feel wonky, and my lack of gallbladder has not done me any favors, but I manage.
Yesterday I stepped on the scale and achieved my 4th mini goal. In just under 4 months, I am under 350 lbs.! When people ask about my weight loss I tell them what I’m doing. I know it breaks the first rule of keto but oh well. I’m too excited. They always ask the same second question of “well how do you feel?” I FEEL GREAT! I eat great tasting food and I’ve learned that my role model shouldn’t be Kirby from Nintendo.
If you made it this far, then you have unlocked a mini goal yourself! CONGRATULATIONS! I realize this is more of a diary post than anything else but it feels good to get it all out there. The people with similar stories or starting weights motivated me the most, so I want to reach out to anyone else out there that has a lot to lose. I just hope they find the same motivation I did in the other posts. If you need someone to bounce something off, or just need a “big guy” in your corner cheering you on, reach out to me!
Lastly, a few encouraging words that I’ve read on here and /r/keto:
You didn’t gain it in a week/month/year, so don’t expect to lose it in a week/month/year
Sure it’s water weight, but you still counted it in your weight right? Why wouldn’t you count it in your weight loss?
KCKO
