This is one of the best threads we've ever had on this site. I want to respond to it from the opposite perspective -- the guy who has wept tears into his pillow that he couldn't gain weight

"Nonstopdrivel" wrote:

This thread is amazing. I love it when people share on this level. I have a similar story. I was 276 pounds, 4'10 my freshman year of highschool, didn't participate in PE because I wouldn't wear the uniform they had for me, not because I was a trouble maker as people thought. Every moment was like torture at school and my mind was messed up for a long time because of it, maybe it still is. I used to feel like everyone was staring at me all the time, was hard to breathe thinking like that even though it was all in my head.

I started to exercise late in Sophmore year. Grew to 5'10 and dropped about 25 pounds. Nothing great but I felt a little more comfortable in my own skin. I could play basketball and this changed my life. Started lifting weights and was as strong as almost anyone in the school of about 2000 kids.

After high school, I got heavy into basketball and became a really good athlete and lifted all the time. I was just under 6 feet tall, 195 pounds of solid muscle at one point. Close to dunking a basketball but not quite. As fast as anyone, as strong as anyone and more stamina than anyone I played with.

Then 🙂 I went to school. Everything was down hill from there. Not enough time to exercise, girlfriend was dragging me down. Went from exercising 5 days a week, 3 hours per day to playing basketball once every 2 weeks and hitting the gym every month or two. It took me a few years of that to get back up to about 260. Stopped exercising altogether, got into some other destructive habbits, (no drugs or drinking) and ballooned back up to about 280 within another couple of years. Quickly went from there to where I sit today, anywhere from 300 - 330 lbs. I still have a basketball i bought in January of 2005 and have used it less than 5 times.

The worst part isn't being this weight. I'm not so uncomfortable with it as I was when I was younger. The worst part is all of the opportunities I miss in life because of it. Went to disney world a month ago and almost died when I couldn't fit on one of the rides. Talk about a walk of shame. Also, another one of the worst parts is that I know exactly what i have to do. I know how to eat right. I have lost this kind of weight before and I know what I need to do and it's REALLY EASY and doesn't take that long at all. But I just don't for whatever reason.

Also, been really depressed for a while because of my job and financial situation. I don't want to get into a big sob story but lets just say the job i have now i wouldn't have taken it when I was 18 years old, no fucking way and while costs are much higher than they were back then, i make about 40% less than I did right out of high school. Mind you, now, I have a B.A. and lots of experience in my field. It's just so crazy how things work out sometimes. I started working out again a few weeks ago. Maybe a little to do with my disney experience. Like i said, i know what i need to do to lose the weight but it's just tough. Also, any fat person who says their happy or content is full of shit. I have no health problems but they're right around the corner. I can feel it and it sucks.

dfoster, I respect what you did at your former employer so much it's hard to express it in words. I believe in doing the right thing all the time regardless of what personal harm it may cause me(and has caused me many times) and I believe you're the same way. Much respect.

Wade, djcubez and anyone else, if theres anything I can ever do for you, let me know, send me a pm and we can talk, give eachother some ideas or tips maybe. If you want to lose a lot of weight, ask someone who's done it before, not someone who's been 150 pounds their whole life 🙂 I will get past this soon and I know sometimes it would be great if people could just talk to someone about this stuff some times, it would help them out. I don't care if we ever argued about Packer stuff before. Who cares, much more important things. Hit me up any time.

"Gravedigga" wrote:

I am willing to put my vices where my mouth is on this issue.

What was the number, 363?

I will make you a bet, Wade.

My numbers are 30 and 20.

Here are the ground rules.

If you have not done so in the very recent past, you must secure a visit to your physician in order to ensure that an exercise regimen is safe, and of course more specifically, at what levels.

You may recall that in my travels in the service, one of my jobs was as weight control/ physical appearance specialist. The simple/short version is that I was in charge of the fat-bodies.

You are going to get a posterboard, and create a grid. You will be putting 363 in the upper left hand corner, and creating a grid that goes DOWNWARD to 263... one hundred increments.

Now you are going to date it, beginning the day after your doctor's visit.

You can weigh yourself that day and replace the 363 with that number.

Now, take those increments, and date them. One each week. Graph it with a line. Post the board somewhere that you can put your scale directly underneath it.

You are allowed on that scale ONCE a week, without exception. The suspense will be killing you, lol---Trust me.

You must stay below that line. If you get above it, you must redouble your efforts the following week to get below it.

You must also report your results here, and share your plan and thoughts as you go.

My 30 and 20?

I drink a case of beer a week. I smoke a pack of cigarettes a day. I gotta draw a graph also. I'll do the beer first. (Drinking without smoking is NOT happening for me) 29 beers week 2, 28 week 3, etc. You go up, I go up. Down does not get you "extra" from me, lol. The cigs are "per day"

To the diet, you are probably an expert, I will leave you to your own devices.

To the exercise, I want to give you some tips. Document it. Create a fixed regimen that you can compare and contrast. Fixed distances, timing them, a fixed number of repetitions (on those machines that will put a new coat of paint on an old car without cardiovascular excercise)

Go to a swimming pool. (You mentioned bad knees) Walk it in the beginning. Just establish either a distance or a time. Something fixed, again, that you can document.

Why all the documentation? Why can't you weigh yourself but once a week? Why do you gotta tell us about it?

Motivation. Fear. Encouragement.

Why am I only betting 50 weeks when you have a 100 week chart?

If you do what I am suggesting, you will not need no friggin' 100 week chart. At week 50, you will be making your new chart, as an expert. You will understand when you get there, I promise. :thumbleft:

Mull it over. As to me, I will be on the honor system, as will you. The bitch for me is that folks like Non and Rock can confirm compliance by chatting with my significant other by asking her while she is playing poker online. Really. They will tell you the same thing, although I think Rock needs to deposit 5 bucks in his account in order to yap with her.

If you are not thinking along these lines, it's OK with me...I'll just continue with my guilty pleasures until something else comes along that could potentially motivate me to do something. This one motivates me because...well, because talk is cheap, and that would include my own.

"dfosterf" wrote:

This video is long -- almost 90 minutes -- but before you start a diet, please watch it in its entirety, preferably more than once. This is the most fascinating discussion on the topic of obesity that I have ever seen, and I've watched it multiple times.

Robert H. Lustig, MD, Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology at the University of California -- San Francisco, makes a compelling argument that THE primary driver behind the obesity epidemic is not excess caloric consumption, not excess fat consumption, but rather excess fructose consumption. He goes into excruciating biochemical detail explaining why exactly fructose is in fact a toxin. He states that the majority of obese people today are victims of a concerted movement by the food industry to artificially increase human appetite with the addition of fructose. (Unlike other forms of sugar, fructose does not stimulate an insulin spike, so the release of the appetite-suppressing hormone leptin is not released, so people who consume fructose-containing foods and beverages eat more than those who don't.)

I am hard to surprise, but this is the most revolutionary nutrition information I've ever encountered. In many ways, it's reshaped my worldview when it comes to diet.

[youtube]dBnniua6-oM[/youtube]

"Nonstopdrivel" wrote:

This video is long -- almost 90 minutes -- but before you start a diet, please watch it in its entirety, preferably more than once. This is the most fascinating discussion on the topic of obesity that I have ever seen, and I've watched it multiple times.

Robert H. Lustig, MD, Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology at the University of California -- San Francisco, makes a compelling argument that THE primary driver behind the obesity epidemic is not excess caloric consumption, not excess fat consumption, but rather excess fructose consumption. He goes into excruciating biochemical detail explaining why exactly fructose is in fact a toxin. He states that the majority of obese people today are victims of a concerted movement by the food industry to artificially increase human appetite with the addition of fructose. (Unlike other forms of sugar, fructose does not stimulate an insulin spike, so the release of the appetite-suppressing hormone leptin is not released, so people who consume fructose-containing foods and beverages eat more than those who don't.)

I am hard to surprise, but this is the most revolutionary nutrition information I've ever encountered. In many ways, it's reshaped my worldview when it comes to diet.

[youtube]dBnniua6-oM[/youtube]

"Nonstopdrivel" wrote:

Just wanted to chime in that my blood test results are looking really good. Almost all of the measures are within the normal range. I think I'll continue with what I'm doing, but the doc just says to exercise even more than what I'm doing now.

"TheEngineer" wrote: