Too Fat To Give Blood

[Bearlee]

Sorry for the dramatic topic title but I wanted to say what brought me here to the Nerd Fitness forums. I've been reading through the NF articles for a few months and I started making a lot of little changes. On the first day of spring I was feeling very excited because I had hit my first major goal of losing 10% of my body weight, little knowing I would be devastated later that day.

I work off shift but that day I had class to attend for work during the day. At my work place Red Cross was having a blood drive and had their blood bus parked in the parking lot. After I finished my class and I was feeling good about myself I thought "Hey let's help someone today." I got on the bus and was asked to go into this closet sized room where I thought I may have to do some paper work or something. Then the technician ask "Excuse me sir, but how much do you weigh?" At first I was stunned because I was not expecting this question. After a moment I replied "I'm 350 pounds" since I had just weighed myself that morning. Then came "Sorry sir, we can't let anyone on the bus that is over 255 pounds." Then I realized that I was having my "Kevin Smith moment", he was too fat to fly, I'm too fat to give blood (on a bus anyways). The look of shame/horror must have shown on my face because the technician looked at me pitifully and embarrassedly. I then had to walk the length of the bus past several technicians and blood donors that had the same looks on their faces.

After I got off the bus I wanted to scream. How could this happen!? I've been doing so good lately. I've lost 39 pounds. I'm no longer 389 pounds like I was before. I didn't know what to think or what to do. Unfortunately I knew where I had to go to next, the grocery store since I had planned to go there after work.

Fortunately I had a shopping list that I had made up before work that consisted of all the good food I've been eating lately. I may have gone overboard with a little too much good food. But that cookie dough was really calling to me (my emotional bad food). After I checked out and was heading to the exit I saw a Salvation Army collector that I had seen many times during the holidays and was surprised to him still there. The thing about this collector is that he is wheel chair bound and unable to talk. I just about cried and thought to myself "You damn jerk! Here you are bitch'n about a situation you put yourself into and here is this guy that had something external happen to him to profoundly change his life and he's trying to help others." I went over to him and gave him whatever cash I had in my wallet. Where upon he signed thank you and I used one of the few signs I know to say thank you. What I really wanted to do was to give him a hug for putting my life in perspective. I may be in a bad place but I can do something about it.

After I got home I signed up for the Nerd Fitness Academy which I was planning to do later after I had finished the tutorial level, but I needed to do it right then because the first day of Spring is going to be a memorable day for me for the rest of my life and I wanted Nerd Fitness to be a part of the experience (the positive, hopeful part). I'm now down to 338 pounds and have made even more positive changes in my life. I'm doing more cardio than I was before (stationary bike) and I'm doing more strength training (still the tutorial but with more sets now). And I'm looking forward to my first 6 week challenge. I actually started on April 14th but just haven't posted my goals on the message board. This is also my first post ever on any forum so I hope I haven't broken any protocols or made any noob mistakes. Hopefully you will see me a lot more on the forums.

[Teros]

I used to be 360 pounds man. I hear ya loud and clear. I think my sobering up moment was when a child was talking about me.  I work at a grocery store doing rotation/stock and I heard a mom and child wheeling a cart behind me.  The kid said, "look!  he's so fat! why is he so fat?!"  She was saying it LOUDLY about 2 feet behind me. I could hear the mom try to hold back a giggle and kept walking.    That was the moment that I was mortified.  Had to hold back a couple of tears for the next 4 hours while at work. I just felt so disgusting. 

 

I never even bothered going on a plane or giving blood or doing anything really because of the fear that I was too fat to do it.  About this forums: You get out what you put in.  My first post was roughly a year ago.  Since then I've embraced the community here and they've done the same. Lost 45+ pounds last time I checked, lost 3 pants sizes, I can do REAL push-ups now and I held a minute-long plank just yesterday.  When I got here- I couldn't hold a plank for a second, and I could only do wall push-ups.  Trust me, you're at the right place.

 

Welcome.

[Dimia]

Welcome to the forum!  I'm also new here and it's a great place to get the support you can need.  I really identified with your story because I'm a big girl and though I haven't had the same experience, I've had fears for a while about such things happening.  Being told that I'm too fat to do something even when I'm working on losing it and improving my life.  I have a lot of weight to lose myself so I know what it looks like seeing that long road ahead of you and thinking that you just have to keep trudging along.  I wish you the best of luck on your journey and if you ever want someone to chat with who's facing a similarly long road give me a shout!  

[Colossus In Progress]

Hey Bearlee,

 

The fact that you've managed to lose so much already is a great inspiration, and I'm sure you'll just keep losing more and more. Let us know when you post a challenge thread or a battle log so I can follow along!

[Bearlee]

Thanks for the comments, I appreciate it.  Teros I know what your talking about.  Two days ago I went to pick my kid up from day care and one of his classmates asked me if I was prageant.  I can't get too mad at very young children for being curious, but adults on the other hand is a different story.  Which leads me into why I started to lose weight in the first place.  During a very bad ice/snow storm last winter I was over at my brother-in-laws house and I went out to warm up the car and scrap the windows.  While I was doing that some annymous person drove by and yelled "Fat-Ass".  I didn't even acknowledge him, I just went into a deep contiplation and remembered back to a couple of years ago when I was walking on trails near my house and a different person driving by yelled "Oh My God".  I stopped walking after that or doing anything outside that might look like me trying to do something physical.  Now here I was in the same situation and I thought if people are going to yell things at me for doing something and not doing something I might as well be doing something and improving for myself.  Screw those people that throw out insults, I'm going to live my life and I'm going to live it well.  But thanks again for the encouraging words and may your journeys kick ass.

[Manok]

Welcome to the forums Bearlee!

 

The fact that you've decided to make a change for the better and are starting to do something about it says a lot about you, the fact that you've already lost 10% of your weight says a lot more! If an adult decides to insult or something, just know your middle finger is always there to give a simple, clear and effective answer!

 

In here you'll find a lot of support and people just willing to help (that's the main difference with most forums, where people are with their measuring tapes out all the time, or trolling or badmouthing) for the sake of helping out! So just put your goals in paper and keep doing what you're doing!

[Guzzi]

Bearlee - I salute you man. I don't care that you're overweight, or unfit, or even if you're unhealthy, coz you know what...? That shit is history. It just doesn't know it yet.

If you have the right mental attitude, the determination, and the support of people like the ones on here, you will transform your life. It might take you a year, or even longer, but don't let that put you off.

There are so many inspirational people on here and it is such a supportive community. I'm sure that you will find everything you're looking for.

Good luck man. I hope to see you around, looking forward to seeing your success.

[Haikoo]

Welcome welcome!!!

 

It sounds like you are off to a fantastic start. I can't wait to see your progress in the future.  

 

As for those who would put you down or say nasty things-- I say, pity them. What a sad life they must lead when they hate themselves so much that they have to put others down  in order to bring themselves up. I'd wager they are missing some wonderful things in their lives that you have (or on the path to finding). 

 

Spring is the season for awakening and fresh beginnings. I'm so excited for you! 

[Bearlee]

Thanks for the comments everyone.  I'm getting excited to take my measurements today.  It's been a month and a 10 days since I've joined the Nerd Fitness Academy.  Would have measured at a month, but thought trying to remember to do measurements on the 20th would be more difficult than on the first of each month.  What I do know is that I've dropped from 350lbs to 344lbs in six weeks which I'm happy with, but I'm more excited about how loose my clothes are now.  I've gone down from a 4x shirt which at times was tight to a 3x shirt that fits right.  I've also gone down from a size 46 jean to a size 44, but I still fasten my pants under my gut.  My big goal is to wear a size 40 regular around where my waist is suppose to be.

 

I've also been proud of myself for keeping to a fairly regular excerise routine.  I've been doing the beginner body workout 2-3 times a week for the past 6 weeks.  At first I started off only being able to do one set and thinking I was going to have a heart attack and I don't know how many times I had to pause to do 30 jumping jacks.  Now I've been adding an extra half set every week or two and I'm now up to 2.5 sets that I can do fairly comfortably but challenging and no more pauses when I'm doing jumping jacks.  I've also been riding my stationary bike 5-7 times a week.  I started doing this back in January and have been pushing my self to do either a little more time, a little more difficult, or a little more further each week.  I know Steve says cardio doesn't help that much with weight lose compared to strength training, but I like riding my stationary bike and watching anime on cruchyroll.  And I figured it's better to do it that way than sitting on the couch stuffing my face full of chips.

 

Speaking of food, I've noticed a complete transformation in my eating habits since November.  I remember stopped drinking any carbonated beverages and instead drank sweet tea.  Doing that alone helped me lose 15lbs in a month.  Then one day I decided to try regular tea and decided I liked that.  Then I started bringing in frozen burritos and PB&J sandwiches to work instead of eating fast food twice a day.  A few more small changes here and there over the months and now I'm eating 2-4 servings of vegtables (which I had zero before), 2-3 serving of fruits (zero before also), and at least one lean protein per day.  I'm still not great, but I am vastly improved.  And I'm surprised and how easy it was when I just took it gradually and thought about what little tweek I could make.  Most surprising thing I found is that I love roasted asparagus.  Well here's to looking forward to finding out more surpises in the future.

[Guzzi]

Oh. My. God!!! That is fantastic!

I think you're doing everything right. Small changes, one at a time, with a goal of getting healthier is far more sustainable than trying to jump in feet first to a drastic diet and lifestyle change.

Don't worry about what kind of exercise you do, as long as you're doing something you enjoy, then it's right for you. If that's cycling whilst watching tv, then Damn Straight that's better than sitting on your butt.

Total congrats on all the progress so far, I can't wait to see how you get on. I'll give you a *highfive* right now, and just leave this here...

Keep the awesome up!

[IronGlider]

Amazing! Congrats on mustering the strength to start (and share) your journey with us, this will be the start of something spectacular! :-) 

 

Best of luck! And welcome to the rebellion! ;-)

[Bearlee]

Thought I would share how I'm keeping track of my workouts. I've been using a calendar that has pictures of places I would like to go to in the future. It really helps to keep me accountable because I hate seeing empty days on my calendar not marked off. You'll see several days missed this month due to sick kid, sick wife, or fixing the car. Only one day was missed because I was too lazy to do anything that day. I like how I keep track of my cardio stats but at the moment I've only been keeping track of how many sets I do of strength training.

[Haikoo]

Looks like April was a great month for you!! 1 lazy day? That's awesome! Keep it up, you are on a roll!

[Manok]

That is awesome man!

 

have you been taking names with all that ass kicking you've bee doing?

[Bearlee]

So I got around to doing my measurements yesterday. I was a little surprised that I actually gained a half inch around my chest 51 inches to 51.5 inches, but I think that is due to actually having some muscles now. My waist went from 58 inchs to 57 inchs but I'm experiencing what I'm calling a "gut-slide" because a lot of my fat in the upper and side abdomin is visably smaller but the skin and remaining fat are hanging lower around my belly button. Then I got to my thighs and I nearly fell over in shock. My right thigh measurement went from 36 inches to 32 inches! Thats a four inch loss in just one leg, meaning there is a total of 8 inches lost on my legs WOOT! I didn't get the rest of my measurements last time because I didn't know exactly what I was doing, so here are my current measurements for other areas: hip 50.5", neck 17", shoulder 57", and right arm 17.5". I would have liked to have known what my last hip measurement was because my pants keep wanting to fall down. I think that would have been a big number also. The thing I like more than the numbers is that I can actually see and feel muscles now, especially in the legs.

And I have a forum question allso. Should I keep posting here or is there a better place to post my progress from here on? Thanks to everyone that's given a shout out or like, your support means a lot to me.

[Impetuous]

Bearlee you are a legend man!! Im also a newbie to the forums and your post is the first I've read. Searously keep it up and im going to do the same with my calendar! Keep up the good work and be sure to keep posting your progress man.

Cheers

[Teros]

Oh man, that's what it's called? I didn't know there was a term for gut-slide.  I have the fat in the middle; but the sides are starting to have big indents so I can visibly see chunks of my fat are gone; but my pants sizes aren't going down at the appropriate speed. 

[Guzzi]

Awesome progress there my man! Woot woot!!!

In regards to the forum, you could either start a thread in the Woot Room or if you wanted to keep updating with a record of your workouts, you could start a Battle Log.

In fact, it might be an idea to ask one of the mods to move this thread to one of those places for you. Save you writing it all out again, and anyone who's following it will still see it in their "content".

I'm definitely subbing, so if you do start a new thread, send me a pm with a link would you.

[Dimia]

Wow!  You are doing amazing so far.  Keep up all the awesome work.  It's such an inspiration to hear your story and see the changes that you're making in spite of all those haters.  I'm excited to follow the rest of your journey and see how you go.  I'm subscribing to updates as well.  Congratulations on your achievements thus far and I'm eager to see what the future holds!  

[Latsu Swagneel]

[Manok]

Where ever you end up putting this, post the link. I wanna follow that like crazy.

 

You're a big inspiration man!

[Jessikuh]

I feel ya, brother! I had the same thing happen to me sorta....

I used to do every blood drive in high school. I tried donating plasma six months ago, and they didn't say I weighed too much, but they couldn't find my veins. The only difference between high school and six months ago was about 30 pounds. My arms were too chubby for them to find my veins. Since then I've lost 23 pounds, and am substantially more hydrated now, and when I hit the 30 pounds lost mark, I'm going to go back and donate.

 

It sounds like you're off to a great start! I hope to see you lose more weight and get strong! Believe in your strengths, good luck.

[Ricardo8p]

Welcome to the forums 

[ASDBigMomma]

I used to donate blood all the time, and then I got diabetes. No more welcome for me. I cried too. You want to do good, and you find other ways.

 

Your progress is a total inspiration, thanks so much for posting your story, its not easy to share, but its great to get it out there.

[Bearlee]

Hey Teros thanks for your comments. I don't think "gut-slide" is an offical term but I thought it was better to call it that than a "fat-alanche". I'm thankful for Joe sharing his pictures of him losing weight so that I know what I'm going through is normal. If you check out his picture progression I'm going from 1 to 2 in his journey. I just can't wait to get to his final picture. But slow and steady is the way I want to go. Life long changes I can live with. I've lost weight before with taking appetite surpresent pills and very restrictive diet and it was nice to be be smaller but I eventually got heavier than I previously was. I'm trying to learn from my mistakes.

I also wanted to send a note to you guys and gals for the supportive comments. It really makes my day when I see them. It also made me realize that I want to leave comments for others and hope the same great feeling I get.

I also wanted to share my experiences of this past weekend. I took my 4 yr old to the zoo for a quick dry run before I fly him out to Californa later this month to take him to see the ocean. Good thing I did because I need to remember to bring sunscreen. I tend to forget about these things when I haven't been outside for the past 6 months for any amount of time.

I was also excited because I set a new PR for my stationary biking also. I actually stopped earlier than I needed to so I didn't set too high of a bar to beat for this week. And this week is starting out strong. Biked for an hour while watching season 4 episode 2 of Game of Thrones, and all I can say is yay. I even got out and did 45 minutes of yard work. 1h45min of exercise in one day, unthinkeable a year ago. This week I also bumped up my tutorial work out to 3 full sets. I was shocked when I completed all three in 25 minutes! I think it took me that long to complete 1.5 sets just a month and half ago. And I know that it took me 45 minutes to complete 2.5 sets two weeks ago. I've also improved on my push-ups. I was able to do almost 3 half ass regular push ups in my last set but considering I was only able to do incline push ups when I started it's much improved and I'm also able to do 10 knee push-ups with no pause. So I'm well on my way to being able to do 5 good push-ups in each set.

It was also a great weekend because somehow I lost 3lbs WOOT! That puts me 3lbs away from hitting 50lbs lost. I'm hoping I can lose those three pounds in the next two weeks before I go to California. But I'm not going to do anything radically different to try to hit that goal. Steady has been working for me and I don't want to screw with that.

Thanks again everyone for your comments and I'll keep you posted how things are going.