@Slabb your amazing no matter what. Being alive and trying is key. My husband lost a hundred pounds one time and his sister said so you have a hundred more right. It threw him to the wolves. He gained it back because he saw himself as still BIG. he was healthy and coaching baseball and doing things he hadn’t done for years. Don’t think of yourself as big think of yourself as a beautiful loving man that is doing this for himself not others. Don’t listen to negativity. I love your journey please keep ketoing on. I can’t wait to hear more!
Formally introducing myself to the forum (400+ lbs starting weight)
Slabb
#82
@Judy1437 I have been very fortunate that I haven’t had anyone say anything like this. It’s mostly just me thinking these things. I do have the benefit of being 6’5" tall so my weight has a lot of real estate to camouflage.
Slabb
#84
Time for another post. I had a surprisingly good week last week. I was off of work for the week and decided to take my wife to Pigeon Forge TN. We got a cabin for three nights and cooked about half of our meals there. I was worried that I would fall off of the wagon a bit but I worked it out in my head that if it happened I’d have to jump back on. More importantly, I realized that I couldn’t let food take over my life. I still went out of my way to eat ketogenic. I just wasn’t worried about the scale. One place I ordered a buffalo chicken sandwich grilled but it came out fried. I didn’t want to make a fuss so I made the decision to not eat the fried crust that fell off, but I was going to enjoy the rest of it. Imagine my surprise when I actually lost 1.5 pounds in those 3 days! I kept it up the rest of the weekend and am now down another 1.5 pounds.
The 100 pound loss is within my reach and I can hardly wait! Other than weight, I’m just feeling a lot better about my body overall. I’m not as winded as I was in the past and I feel like I have bottled energy just waiting to bust out.
In other news, I can formally announce that Mrs. Slabb and I are expecting a baby in May. My wife has always wanted a child and I was always hesitant, but we tried for the past year. I really think Keto has been one of the biggest factors in our success. With both of us losing weight and becoming much healthier in the process, I think it got things going in the right direction. So now I have a new goal. I need to be fit enough to chase around a baby in a year or so.
Madeleine
#86
Congratulations!!!
Being fit enough to chase a little one around is a wonderful goal, and it sounds like you’re well on your way.
GodwinGoGo
(I Am The Egg Man ku-ku-kachoo)
#87
Congratulations Slabb! Man, you thought Keto was going to change your life! Get ready for some awesomeness! 
islandlight
(Laurie)
#88
I’ve been reading this thread with interest. I too succumbed to the “I’m still fat, what’s the use” self-sabotage.
For several years I was trying to eat mostly healthy foods (not keto) and was committed to exercise and other physical activities. Someone showed me a video of me doing one of the activities, and I was shocked at how “fat” I was, even though I was maybe only 20-30 pounds overweight. I abandoned all hope right there, and gained another 30 pounds in a few months.
Now I have to work to lose that 30 pounds, plus whatever I can lose of the other 20-30.
Progress not perfection. It’s great to be able to discuss these things here!
Gumby
(Michelle isaacson)
#90
Congratulations! Children are a wonderful part of a family! Exciting the road to better health has lead to additional happiness!!!
Love your updates!!
dlc96_darren
#92
I’m not going to allow all these warm baby fuzzies overshadow a good point, here.
@Slabb, I believe you’ve hit on an important point here.
Control.
Or rather, what do we allow to control us.
Before keto, I used to eat food I knew wasn’t good for me, but I still ate it. To an extent, food used to control me. But I was the guy who would have loved an all purpose shake, I could drink once a day, and then go on with my life. So I didn’t really feel…out of control.
Food to me was a necessary evil. I ate because I would die otherwise (I now realize I was going to die anyway, just at a slower rate). As a consequence, I rarely ever enjoyed the food I ate. There were a few things I believed to be my favorites, but I’d usually overindulge and then feel miserable later. Either way, I never enjoyed it much. But try I must, because…you know…the whole dying thing.
After starting the ketogenic diet, everything changed for me. My understanding of food is so much more informed, and my choices are driven toward what truly make me happy (good health). Not only am I making healthy choices of what to eat, but my overall mentality is so much better than it used to be.
Whenever I think about grabbing a piece of candy out of the jar at work…no, it’ll just upset my stomach.
I’ve been really good lately, what about a burrito for lunch? A salad will be much better, and later on I’ll feel better too.
Haven’t had a coke in awhile…ARE YOU KIDDING? I’d probably go into a coma if I put that much sugar into my body, now!
Come on, you know you really want that cup of coffee with heavy whipping cream.
Go ahead have some more steak…with EXTRA butter!
Three eggs or four? It’s all good…indulge!
I didn’t necessarily feel controlled before, but I definitely do now. The more we know…the more we understand about the food we eat…the more we allow ourselves to be controlled by that knowledge, to make good decisions.
It’s okay to be controlled by food, just let that control be driven by the knowledge you NOW have, and always remember it’s you who are in control of those decisions.
Now, having said that:
Congratulations on the new baby! This is so great, and I’m so happy for you and your future family! 
Slabb
#93
@dlc96_darren I think you are right on the money with this post. I hang out with a group of friends weekly and most of the time we grab some food. They all decided that they wanted to lose weight/gain muscle so they started to make small changes to reach their goals, but I wasn’t ready. I made a conscience decision to not acknowledge what I was eating. It would cross my mind that I should stop and I was full, but I was able to easily push that aside and continue eating. When I headed home I would sometimes stop and grab some food on the way home before I went to bed.
I wasn’t forced to eat like that. I made a decision. My decision was that it didn’t really matter. My friend lost 60 pounds by eating soup for dinner every night. That sounded miserable to me. There was no way that was going to happen. When people offered me some sweet treat that I knew I shouldn’t eat I would just crack a joke, rub my belly and say, “you don’t get a body like this NOT eating that” or “welllllll, it would be rude of me to say no…”
I also have the benefit of support all around. My wife has been in my corner since day 1 is still my biggest cheerleader. Now that she is pregnant she has found that eating low carb instead of keto has helped with morning sickness, so she eats a few carbs here and there. It’s actually funny because we will go out to eat and and there will be some sort of carb, like a bun or dinner roll and I’ll comment about how they look soft and probably delicious, so she will take a bite and tell me it’s not that good. I don’t know if she’s just saying that to help keep me accountable, but it works. My friends also support me every way they can. Their joke now is saying, “is (insert food item here) keto?” They say it for everything. Is cheese keto? Is this bread keto? Is this steak keto? Jokes aside, they will do some research and make something keto friendly for get togethers. It might just be a meat and cheese tray, or it could be buffalo chicken with keto crackers, but they always make an effort and I appreciate that.
Stay strong and stay tuned.
P.S. I know this isn’t really the right spot to keep this post, so if the mods feel it should be moved, taken down, or retired just let me know.
CFLBob
(Central Florida Bob )
#94
Just wanted to add my congrats for the coming Slabbebeh! (thanks @buxomlass) Missed this yesterday.
Slabb
#95
Made a new post with updates in Accountability
I figured it wasn’t prudent to keep posting in the newbie section, so I made a new post in Accountability as it seemed like a more logical place. Thanks for the support everyone!