Formally introducing myself to the forum (400+ lbs starting weight)

(Jackie Blue) #41

Touche’, Darren. Touche’!

(Jackie Blue) #42

Slabb, then you owe about 18 years’ worth of back child support. Where the hell have you been? The first 2 just started college last week and do you have ANY idea how much 2 Mac laptops cost??? This explains a lot. Now I guess I know who must be responsible for the 6 fingers and toes on the 3rd child! :stuck_out_tongue:

#43

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

#44

Check is in the mail! Trust me :slight_smile:

(Doug) #45

Right on, man - this is such a huge thing for many of us. :slightly_smiling_face:

(Aarn Farmer) #46

I started at 400 lbs and didn’t lose a pound until I was north of 40 years old. I lost 200 lbs with the ketogenic diet over about 3 years time. Just keep going and it will happen for you!

(Running from stupidity) #47

Yeah, a major reason to not buy Apple stuff, certainly.

(Consensus is Politics) #48

@Slabb

Sir, it’s been a week since you started this thread. I’m on pins and needles waiting to hear how you are doing.

I thought I was doing good with my own weight loss. I feel like I was the opening act, and you’ve come in and stolen the show! Bravo! AWESOME SAUCE!!

I haven’t set any goals myself. Instead I just like to get the surprise in the morning when I get in the scale and I’ve lost another 5 pounds :cowboy_hat_face:. Then it’s like, “ok, what did I do differently this week? I need to keep that up.”

My wife keeps trying. For nearly a year now I’ve been harping on carbs. How that bowl of rice might as well be a bowl of sugar. She just rolled her eyes. But now, after nearly a year, and she see’s how much I lost initially, and I’ve been holding steady not gaining it back. Wearing clothing I hadn’t worn in over ten years, because it was too small when I bought them :rofl:, now fit rather nice :sunglasses:.

Hope to hear more from you, sir. Next time you see Mr James, say hi for me. I’m not intentionally avoiding him, I just don’t need to visit him anymore. :sunglasses:

#49

@Robert_Johnson

Well, this week was a roller coaster for weight. I’m down about 1/2 pound from last week but It’s gone up and down wildly in that time. I weigh daily, and sometimes multiple times a day to try to understand how some foods affect me. I don’t get worried about the number change, but I try to make corrections. Thursday I went to work early and grabbed some sunflower seeds to snack on before i ate breakfast. I ended up eating all that I brought in the span of my workday. When I stepped on the scale that night I had gained 5 lbs! Must have been all the salt holding excess water because I was eating lazy keto, but I wasn’t eating too much. I was back down on Saturday morning, but then during the day I ate a little too lazy keto and by Sunday morning I was back up another 4 lbs. I just told myself to reel it in a bit and be more conscience of what was going in my food hole along with increase in water. Today I was back down and actually down 1/2 lb.

Realizing that food and water affect my body made it easier for me to keep my chin up. My BP is improving. I want so badly to be off meds someday and I think I’ll get there. I forgot to take my meds on Saturday and didn’t realize it until I was going to bed. I checked my BP a few hours before and was a bit disheartened to see that it was 137/79. Not bad, but I want that top number to be in the 120’s. Last night after taking my meds it was 122/74, so I call that a win.

I picked my mom up from the hospital and she’s back at home so things are slowing down, which means I’m going to start hitting the “James”. I don’t need to look like I was carved from stone, but I’d like to be half as strong as people think I am solely due to my size and stature.

On a personal note, I have been overwhelmed by all the support here. I never imagined I’d have such a response. I was expecting to see a total of two responses, and just planned on keeping updates for myself and maybe a few people that came across this post in the future. Everyone has been great and supportive. Makes me want to keep up my progress for myself and my family, but also for you guys. I’ve never been great with self discipline but the support makes it much easier.

For someone that hates writing, I sure to write a lot on here…

(Jane) #50

Thanks for sharing your story - very inspirational!!!

And yes, that is why I always insisted on taking all the pictures… not because I was a better photographer, but if I had the camera in my hand nobody could take a picture of my fat ass!

Now, I don’t mind so much.

(Uche) #51

Isn’t that the best feeling in the world! I go “YESSSS! with my fist in the air when I finally see the empty box in the trash can.

(Central Florida Bob ) #52

The support is because you rock, Slabb!

(Consensus is Politics) #53

I do the same thing with my weight. It fluctuates about 5 pounds, sometimes as high as 10 pounds. But seems to be fairly regular in the morning at its lowest point.

Something to watch out for is that sneaky little bastard insulin. If you are eating multiple meals a day, and snacking counts as a meal, then you could be keeping insulin levels high enough that you can burn fat. Maybe not gain, but can’t lose it either. Try having a good fat meal in the morning if you have snack attack’s later in the day. Also, if you were like me having “food” cravings, but not really hungry, you just felt like eating, try some salt on the tongue. I scoffed at that the first time I heard it. Then I tried it. Worked like a champ. I beleive it has to do with electrolytes being low. Your body craves salt, which normally comes from regular meals. So you have this Pavlovian response to eat, so you can get the sodium. I used about a quarter teaspoon, and let it just melt under my tongue. Takes about 5 to 10 minutes for full effect. Just don’t go swimming for about what? Half an hour? (Princess bride quote). If you are like my wife, she can’t stand raw salt on her tongue, chase it with some water. Or just make some ketoade. Search the forum for it. Its pretty good.

So Keep Calm and keto on.

And have fun storming the castle. :sunglasses:

#54

Update: Last Saturday I hit another big milestone in the quest for a healthier me. I stepped on the scale to read 343.0 lbs. That’s an odd goal, but looking back through my medical history, it’s the lowest weight on file in my adult life. Sunday I was 342.0. Amazing! But it wouldn’t stay there. Monday morning I stepped on the scale to see 346 again and honestly, it bummed me out quite a bit. I talked to a buddy of mine that evening and told him about the short lived win and he said something that hit me right where it needed to. He said, “Slabb, that was just a sneak preview. You saw that number, so you know it’s possible.” I needed to hear that. There were many times when I wanted to lower my resolve. I’ve seen fluctuations on the scale over the past few months, but for some reason this one punched me in the gut.

I did manage to keep my head on and keep moving forward and today the scale showed 342.2! I am back to my lowest recorded weight again. I have just 11 pounds now to hit my next big milestone, 100 lbs down. I know that’ll be just over half way to my ultimate goal, but it’ll be a huge win for me.

Lately I have been feeling a little lightheaded when I stand up, so I’ve been making an effort to stand up a bit slower. I thought it might have something to do with my BP, so I’ve been checking it a few times a day. With meds it’s around 125/75. I tried not taking my BP meds one day and checked my BP to see that it was 141/85, so I’m not there just yet. I’ll have another Dr. checkup in a month in a half so hopefully I’m looking forward to seeing what he has to say. Overall he’s very supportive of me and I think he will lose his mind if I show up 100 lbs down from the end of May.

Since I’m using this as an open diary of sorts, I might as well say that I’m torn between being proud of my resolve to be healthy and shame. I am so excited to be where I am and genuinely looking forward to the future, but there’s also this feeling of hesitation. I know I’ll never be the ripped stud and I’m ok with that. The shame comes from the fact that people notice my weight loss, and I excitedly tell them I’ve lost over 85 lbs. When I say that their jaws drop like a cartoon. “Wow! That’s great! That’s like a 10 year old!” In the back of my mind I always end up thinking how I’ve dropped so much weight and I’m still big. I let myself go for so long. I didn’t care. Weight was just a number to me and after I couldn’t weigh at home due to scale limits, I didn’t really know how much I weighed. I chose to bury my head and not think about it. Anytime I would think about my weight, I would get so down on myself, and the only thing to do was eat until I was moderately uncomfortable and then go to bed. This went on for far too long. I’m still working on dealing with these feelings of shame. Maybe it’ll go away and maybe it won’t. Either way I can’t go back and change the past. I can however change the future.

(Running from stupidity) #55

More to the point, you ARE changing your future for the good. It’s more than can, it IS.

#56

Re the shame: I don’t know if this helps at all, but from my perspective someone who works their way out of obesity is incredibly inspiring. I’ve never been overweight, and although I can probably claim some credit for that - I’ve generally paid attention to food, sleep, exercise - most of it is basically inertia. I’ve always been surrounded by fit people, I’m used to doing certain things, and I’m used to seeing myself in a certain way. That combination of habitual action and thought are a pretty comfortable place for me, so it’s not a big stretch for me to tweak things here and there to improve.

When I work on making a significant shift in other areas of my life, I often will read stories like yours for inspiration. Your willingness to change, the courage to try something different… I don’t even know how to describe my admiration, but I get chills thinking about it. :star_struck::star_struck: You have really, truly earned your weight loss and your improved health, and I can’t wait to see what the next year brings for you.

(back and doublin' down) #57

I am grateful you have! Thank you for your ongoing inspiration and powerful example of courage, not just for you - you have your whole family on board and impacting their health as well! Love the humor~ will be watching for your updates!

And, my PCP (who did bariatric surgery herself 12 years ago) explained that the surgery throws one into ketosis. So…when someone else I know decided to have surgery, I decided I’d do keto so I wouldn’t be jealous of her weight loss. She’s since moved out of the area. I’m 45 lbs down and headed to Onderland and thankful for this forum.

This place rocks!

(KetoQ) #58

Hi Slabb –

First of all, congrats on your progress and taking control of your health. It is great to hear a story like your’s and see someone making positive changes in their life.

Like you, I’ve been hitting new weight loss lows, then gaining some water weight back. But as your buddy said, and he’s right, hitting those new lows shows it’s within reach. Keep doing what you’re doing and soon 342.0 will be so far back in your rearview mirror.

Good luck,
Q

(Joe Average) #59

Thank you for the story. Your’s is the first Keto story I’ve read. We are currently similar weights. I won’t race you b/c I’m just getting started and must put in the study time to help reshape what I eat. Some foods have just become habits. Darn food pyramid! :wink:

Am currently riding an electric bicycle all over town. Love it but also would like to have the option of shedding the battery and motor and still enjoying the ride like I did when I was a teen. When I switch off the power some days it feels like I dropped an anchor.

Thank you for the great story with details. When I read those weight loss stories on the mainstream media websites they seldom offer any insight into what they did beyond changing their diet (to what?) and going to the gym (James). I don’t want to go to the gym - I want to walk, hike and bike. :wink:

(I Am The Egg Man ku-ku-kachoo) #60

You and I are necks and necks! I am also a gnat’s hair from achieving that goal!

I swear, if I wasn’t reading this on your post, I’d think I wrote it. I very much get this. In the beginning, I wanted someone to notice my loss, now I’m leery of saying “I’ve lost 95 lbs” because I’m sure I can hear them thinking “You’ve lost 100 lbd?! And still look like this?”

You are killing it. Keep up the efforts. You’re right, we can’t change the past. But you’re not only changing the future; you’ve changed your now.