New here... Hi and such.

[kiruji]

Hi everyone.

 

Just joined the site so thought I'd share most of my story so far.  Apologies for the wordiness.

 

TL;DR?  I was fat, now I'm not as fat, but I'm still quite fat.

 

I've been a grossly overweight chubster for pretty much my entire life.  As far back as I can remember, I was always the fat geeky kid.  The only time I managed to lost some, I 'trimmed' down to ~18 stone (250 pounds / 114kg) when I was 18/19 years old.  From then on my weight generally moved in one direction, until I was 34 and tipping the scales at a whopping 23.5 stone (329 pounds / 149kg) as we entered 2012.  It probably goes without saying that over the years I've tried every fad diet going but nothing ever stuck

 

In January that year, one of my friends asked me to be joint best man with another friend.  I was pleased as punch but it quickly dawned on me that the other best man was a good 3" taller than me and probably 9 stone lighter and that we were going to look like a comedy double-act with me dubbed the 'fat best man' by anyone that didn't know my name.  I'm still not quite sure what happened, but something inside me snapped and I decided then and there that I wasn't going to be a hugely fat man at the wedding.  That gave me around 17 months to do something about it.

 

So, I started reading up on diet and exercise and changed my eating habits.  The trouble is, I'm not sure I've changed for the better.  Long story short, I lost around 6.5 stone (91 pounds / 41 kg) in around 8 months, eventually starting to go to the gym (something that terrified me - I had an image of being surrounded by super hot, super fit superheroes) and retaining the services of a personal trainer.  However, since then, I haven't really lost anything and my weight has fluctuated between 17st 2lb (240 pounds / 109 kg) at my lightest and 17st 9lb 6oz (247 pounds / 112 kg) as of this morning.  My body has changed shape slightly from going to the gym, although I still can't see a huge amount of difference between the photo I took at 23 stone and when I look in the mirror now.

 

The diet I started on was from the ebook Eat Stop Eat (Brad Pilon) and is based on intermittent fasting.  I soon discovered that I found it a lot easier to just eat one meal per day (in the evening), so that's what I've done for pretty much a year now.  I seem to have something wrong with me - if I don't eat, I'm generally OK; as soon as I start eating, I find it difficult to stop.  Even when I physically feel like I've been stuffed, my brain is telling me to eat more (to be clear, I've always been that way - it isn't a side effect of eating once per day).

 

Anyway, since the wedding in May of this year (where everybody that knew me as a fatty was complimenting me on my weight loss, which was pretty awesome), I've kind of coasted along and not really done much of anything.  I've cut back on the gym to the point where I'm going once a week, I cancelled my PT, I'm eating more ice cream.

 

So, as I'd be an utter idiot to give up after the progress I have made and slowly balloon again, I've set a new target of anything below 15 stone (210 pounds / 95 kg) by March of next year - my 36th birthday and going on holiday with my in-laws.  I also think I must be able to see a difference in the mirror when I'm down to that weight.  I've started going back to the gym, working back up to 5 x per week; and I've re-hired my PT.  I badly need to sort my diet out but money's tight and it's definitely cheaper to eat once per day rather than 3+ times!  Hoping I can figure something out as I read more about Paleo - I'm going to give it a go for 30 days, at least.

 

I'd love to be a ripped dude one day, but for now I'll settle for slightly chunky rather than nauseatingly immense!  I've been slowly reading through the site and getting inspired, so here I am.  Hi.

[Batwoman]

Congratulations on your weight loss That is no small feat.

 

I suggest getting into this forum as much as you can. There are a lot of great people and they will motivate the crap out of you. Also there are a lot of peeps on the Paleo diet and quite a few that are in the process of completing the Whole 30.

 

Welcome! I hope we can help you be the ripped dude that you want to be!

[kiruji]

Thanks

 

I'm having a read around the forum now - there's a LOT of material!

[Batwoman]

Thanks

 

I'm having a read around the forum now - there's a LOT of material!

 

omg. yes! Just jump in on threads where you can. Everyone is super nice and welcoming. And the more you comment and follow threads the more you will get addicted to this place.

[kiruji]

I shall do my best, although I don't know much about this stuff yet!