I've read this site quite a lot since I suddenly woke up one morning 3 months ago and discovered I was fat.

I thought the very least I should do was to post and thank everyone for all the advice they generously give here that I've found so helpful and to wish luck to all those like myself with a little way still to go.

Congrats on the weightloss!

Thats awesome

For me, I knew I was fat, but I didn't do anything til a student of mine told me the back of my neck looked like a package of hotdogs

Haha, good for him. That's what friends are for.

Not nearly as awsome as losing 84lbs Darth! You must feel fantastic now.

You know I sort of did know I was well over-weight but I'm fairly big, 6'2", and other people kept saying I was fine. Even when I'd just lost 10lb about 2 months ago and was weighed by the nurse at the docs she said "Quite heavy, but you're a big guy".

I knew that most of that "big" was pure fat. Knew it for sure when my wife took a photo of me out and I wondered who the fat old guy in the picture was.

I'd never been on a diet before in my life, thought I was immune from getting overweight, and thought losing weight was going to be so complicated. Must put a lot of people off. With the help of these forums I found it was so simple, all I had to do was eat less - especially those cakes and pies that became a habit.

I've always been active, walk our dogs several miles every day, but getting up those hills was getting harder and harder. Now I can near jog up them without having to pretend I'm not gasping. After losing 84lbs you must feel you're floating. Fabulous effort. How did you do it?

congrats keep it going

Looks like you are doing great! I love inspiring people!!

I actually let myself look in the mirror SIDEWAYS...eeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!

Thanks Pat and Jillzy! But don't be too nice to me, I'm already way more pleased with myself than I really should be.

The real reason I decided to lose weight was because I had high blood pressure and didn't want to be "a patient" doing as I was told by a doctor and taking drugs all my life. I also read that a side-effect of the drugs I'd been taking could be to cause diabetes. I just stopped taking the drugs, which was a stupid thing to do suddenly I later realised because my blood pressure initially shot through the roof, but now my blood-pressure is already back to the same level it was when taking all those pills.

I didn't expect to feel so much better as a bonus. My wife's as fit as a flea and trying not to look wasted while she raced up the hills and hoping she'd need to rest before I came to a halt wasn't good for all that pride us boys are cursed with. Now I can do the manly thing and wait for her sometimes. (Or perhaps she's just humouring me.)

Better still, without so much baggage, all those little aches I came to expect on a long walks I no longer get.

So go for it, you are going to be so proud of yourself.

Dude that is brutal. I hope you failed that kid.