Ok welcome to my belly busting weight loss diary. I am MintSauce and I want to change my life in a positive manner and I hope by sharing with you my eating habits and feelings we can support each other and make a difference.

I am a 31 year old male from the UK. I have always been overweight but gradually over the years the pounds have ever increased along with my belly. Now the belly is not beer based. I am not a big drinker. It is mainly a combination of too much fast food and generally not looking after myself. And it not all just belly, everywhere else is big too, but the belly is what I hate! I have tried so many diets but motivation has always been my failing. I have lost weight and then put it back on, classic yo-yoing I guess. The difference now is that I have come online to get some support and this is a new thing for me. Life has just reached a critical point.

A month or so ago I was rushed to hospital with serious pains in my abdomen. I have two gall stones and seriously messed up my insides. I have a pre-op on the 8th of February and therefore an operation very soon. I want to be healthy for that and be able to recover quickly.

After the operation, fingers crossed it all goes well, I want to keep myself healthy and then start to loose some weight. Every time I have lost weight in my life I have felt happy. Actually that is a lie, when I have eaten and lived life healthily I have felt great, even without loosing weight. I want to start by feeling good, sort my body out and then take up the weight loss challenge. At the moment I don't feel happy and I feel my mental health is just as important, if not more so, than the physical.

The combination of poor health and depression has affected other parts of my life including my libido and mental focus. I want to change and I will be able to use this diary to keep myself motivated and on the right track.

So look to the positive and lets all work together to make a change in our lives. I see so many happy people on the forum with a serious reduction in their weight loss ticker. I want to be one of them in the future. I will be one of them in the future.

FYI my ticker shows my weight in kilograms, sorry I just don't get the old Imperial measurements. Also my target is still quite heavy but I am well built and don't want to loose much more than that at the moment. One step at a time they say...

Bring it on.

What is your current height and weight?
Around 120kg (264 pounds), 177cm (5'10")

If you were at an ideal weight now, what would that weight be?
95kg (210 pounds)

At what weight would you like to be at four months from now?
110kg (242 pounds)

Why do you want to lose weight?
To have good physical and mental health.

What obstacles could get between you and your weight loss goals?Lack of motivation and support. Work taking over life.

Why do you think that you now have a weight problem?
Eating and drink too much during the student years. Bad habits and a love of pizza.

What lifestyle changes do you think would help you lose weight?
To start some regular exercise

Have you lost weight in the past? If so, what has worked in the past to help you lose weight?
Yes. By doing some regular exercise and counting those calories
Why do you believe that you did not lose weight or you gained the weight back? Work taking all my time and depressive periods during which I eat!

What, if anything, has not worked for you in the past in helping you to lose weight? Why do you think it did not work?
Crash diets don’t work. I see very quick results but when it stops after a couple of weeks I give up.

Would you try writing down all food and drink consumed for a given period of time?
Yes that is what I will be doing with this diary.

Do you cook at home often? If so, what do you cook?
I enjoy cooking but often don’t have the time or motivation. I love to cook pasta or pizza

How often do you go out to eat? Where do you go?
Now and again. But not that often. Might go out for a meal in a pub.

What are your three favorite foods?
Pasta, Pizza, extra Cheese

What are your three favorite restaurants?
A good Italian, Jumbo’s “Eat as much as you want Chinese”, Pizza Hut

What are three things you can do differently when it comes to food?Drink lots of water with my meal, cook less, put less on my plate.

If you woke up tomorrow and your body was exactly the way you want it, what would be different?
No fat man’s belly, slimmer face and legs.

Do you eat when you are not hungry?
Yes

Do you binge eat (large amounts at a time)?
Yes

Do you hide your food or eat in secret?
Sometimes when I am at home on my own

Do you eat when you are sad, nervous, or depressed?
Yes

Do you eat as a reward?
Yes

Do you eat while watching TV or using the computer?Yes

What do you normally eat for a meal?
Fish (or other meat), roast vegetables, yogurt

What type of snacks do you eat?
Crisps, biscuits.

In terms of exercise, what, if anything, are you currently doing?
Nothing

Where do you go for exercise? A local public gym? School/work gym? Home?
Swimming and local gym.

What, if anything, are your three favourite types of exercise?
Walking, swimming, badminton.

What is your daily/weekly/monthly/yearly motivation to move towards your goals?
Daily – energy to do my job and live well
Weekly – to keep going and stick with the changes
Monthly – see and feel a difference in my body
Yearly – to get to my ideal weight and live to tell the tale

Do you have rewards for certain goals?
No

What obstacles could get between you and your weight loss goals?Work taking up my time so I forget to eat regularly. My partner coming home
stressed with junk food.

Hello! Welcome to the forum!
It really sound like you're getting into the right frame of mind to lose some weight and keep it off. This forum is a great help for me and hopefully will be for you too! Make sure to check out all the stickies as they contain a great deal of information on healthy weight loss and how to keep it off.
Good luck with your surgeries, I hope you have a speedy recovery!

Well on Friday I had my preop. A lot of boring form filling in took place and a fair collection of general body fluids with a sprinkle of swabbing and cold handed prodding.

The outcome was good and I have been given a clean bill of health. My blood pressure, pulse rate and oxygen blood levels all looked good. Lets hope they find nothing horrible in those fluids, yuck.

I was weighed at the hospital as they need to give me the right dose to put me under. But this was the first time in ages I have measured the old mass and I am at 119.9kg. So my starting weight on my ticker has now been lowered ready for a proper go at the weight loss after the operation.

Until the op I am trying my best to eat lots of fruit and veg and drink plenty of water. The doctors have not asked me to loose any weight before the operation but I still want to make sure I am feeling 100% and ready to go.

I have had my operation. The gall bladder has gone! I will soon be able to start reducing my food intake and get to the gym... the "diet" awaits. And of course start my diary here on the forum properly.

I will have to wait until I am fit again though. The surgery went well and only keyhole was required. My blood pressure was really good and the doctors were happy with my health before and after the procedure. I now have four holes in my belly and plenty of staples. The staples come out on Tuesday and after a week or so I can get back to work. It is amazing how tired you get after surgery. I am walking around slowly and after a couple of hours out yesterday in the car and walking about town I totally flaked out!

Well at least I have the time now to get reading through the forum and finding out some tips.

MintSauce

Hello everyone!

I am back. Fully recovered and well after the operation. My fitness is much better now and the diet has started!

The operation really put me off track. I knew it would but I just got tied up with work once I was back and failed on the healthy eating. I teach and have just had the last week off as it was half term. I did loads in garden and felt really good about it. I also decided it was the time to bust my belly and have made some simple but strict rules to play by.

I went to the doctors to get my monthly drugs. I suffer from severe migraines and get a tablet to help sort this out. I talked to the doctor about any help he could give me to help dieting. Has anyone else here tried appetite suppressants? Anyway he took my weight at 125kg (I prefer 0.125 tonnes) and said if I loose some weight in a month by changing my eating habits he might be able to prescribe something.

I am only on day three now but I feel happy and alert. I am currently feeling that retained water depletion which makes the old trousers and shirts fit better. :o)

So that kicked me into gear and here is my current menu and rules:

Rule - Get up at the same time every day

Rule - Drink plenty of water

Breakfast - Porridge or cereal with chopped banana

Snack - 200kcal cereal bar

Lunch - Simple protein based sandwich with fruit and nuts and packet of something naughty (I love Cheddars at only 129kcal)

Rule - Plan all meals for the week ahead and stick to it (this saves money at the supermarket too and stops you buying rubbish when you are there)

Dinner - Small amount of meat, potato or pasta and boiled vegetables.

Rule - get some good sleep

Thanks for reading :o) MintSauce

"Rule - get some good sleep" - I better be quick at this post then eh!

I am feel great at the moment. Clothes are fitting better. Pupils that I teach are noticing a difference. One kid even asked me if I had been "hitting the gym". Well I haven't yet but the comments from the young and innocent have made me feel good.

But I really hate the skinny people I work with who keep bringing in cakes and biscuits. They are traumatising me!

I will have to book my next appointment with the doctor. My new migraine drugs are working well, this really makes me happy, and I am really looking forward to the weigh-in. I want to step on some scales now but really want to see if I can hang on for the next 10 days or so. I want to be happy and surprised at the results. I just hope I am!

MintSauce