For those that havent read my post in the Newbie section, I guess I'll bring you up to speed on whats been going on with me over the last few months

Ive been overweight since about the age of 12, im now 23, so nearly half of my life has been spent in a fat "prison".

I have tried to lose weight before, start of 2007 I joined a gym, and lost a couple of stone over a few months..unfortunately my love for the gym was short lived, and I stopped going, and eventually cancelled my membership.

Then came new years eve......and unlike most I didnt set myself a new years goal of losing weight, I simply looked at a picture of myslef and my partner (also overweight) from a party we had gone too, and couldnt believe how unhappy and unhealthy I looked.

Now that might sound strange considering I look into the mirror every day, so I should now how bad things had got right??
Well wrong...I dont know if it was a form of denial or whatever, but I generally didnt think I looked as bad as I did!!!

Anyway, come February (when I saw the pics) I decided to go and buy some scales and see what the damage was....and my was there damage!!!
When I originally got on the scales, an error message kept coming up..and this was for one of 2 reasons. 1) I was so perfect, healthy and all round brilliant that the scales couldnt comprehend this and went crazy...or 2) I had exceeded the 350lb limit....no prizes for which one it was

Anyway the next morning I thought I try again, and this time it registered my weight, although I wish it hadn't....349lbs.......That was the first time I ever cried over some numbers.

That day, my life changed for the better, and like I said before Ive tried to lose weight and always failed, but this time felt different, I was determined to take advantage of this and gave it 110%.

I started by walking at lunch times, 30 mins max, and would go back to work sweating like crazy, but feeling good!!

The food aspect came so easy, eat healthy, dont eat crap....a complex philosphoy worthy of a nobel prize me thinks

Anyway over the months I stepped up the exercise, I walk to work and back every day (6 miles in total) and I started HapKiDo a couple of months ago, and also managed to get my hands on a X-trainer, try to use it for 20 mins most days.

I currently weigh 236lbs, and my inital target was 210 (to get me a BMI of 25)

I take so much inspiration from other people, like everyone on this board, and I love watching weight loss shows (The Biggest Loser is probably one of my favourite shows ever...sad, but true!!)

The great thing is my partner has done this all with me, and she has lost 83lbs, and to see her happy is more important than anything in the world!!

Anyway, Im sure this will be contender for the most boring Diary ever, considering nothing exciting ever happens in my life, and the weight is still dropping regulary, but Im enjoying every second of my boring life...

Ive also been seriously thinking about looking into a career in fitness, whether it be a Personal Fitness Trainer, or a nutrionalist..I really want to help people who are in the position I once was..

We'll see what happens....for now, I need to concentrate on getting ME fit, and I cant wait

if you're serious about it - look at registered dietician over nutritionists.. Nutritionists are a dime a dozen, require little certification or training and about the only place they are respected is in their own minds... There's a few threads around on becoming a personal trainer - search around if you're interested... and welcome to the site

Thanks for the advice

I think im leaning towards Fitness trainer more so than nutrionalist..
But the Registered dietician sounds interesting, will have to look into it.

Im hoping to look into an Open University Scheme so I can learn at home around my current job, so Its gonna be a massive commitment, but I know it will be worth it If I decide to do it.

Thanks again

Not happy today..

Ive had a very itchy rash come up on my back, legs and arms in the last couple of days, went to the doctors today and he said it might be sweat rash (eeew) which makes me sound like a pig who doesnt wash..I do..occasionally

So he's advised to not really do much exercise until the rash goes down a little, and I've been given some prescribed shower gel and a steroid cream...always wondered what it would be like on roids

Anyway, I feel lousy because I havent done ANYTHING close to exercise today....

But my food has been good, so hopefully it wont matter in the grand scheme of things!!

I cant believe im pissed off because I cant do exercise.....I like the fact that I am though.

I was reading your thread and I want to say congratulations. If you look at my ticker, you'll see my goal is similar to where your goal once was. You got any advice? How long did it take you? Shoot me a message if you don't mind. Congrats again!

Hi lohbahl,

Thanks for the congrats.

Any advice..mhmmm

Well for me it was a case of changing my lifestyle completely, dropped the crisps, chocolate, takeaways etc..basically for the first 2 months I was very strict and only ate 'healthy' foods, like oats for breakfast, lots of fruit, lots of fish and chicken...I never went hungry, because I filled up on salads and veg.

I have started to incorporate the odd treat, though to be honest I really dont fancy any of the bad stuff I used to constantly eat!!

The other HUGE factor is obviously exercise....so so soooooo important. As I said before I just started walking small distances, and then eventually increased this every so often, and now do HapKiDo (really recommend starting some from of martial arts, lots of fun, and a gret way to exercise)

There really isnt anything more I have done, you just need to make sure once you start, you stick with it...and trust me its totally worth it, I still have a bit to go, but im happier than I have ever been.

Oh and its taken me since the 8th of February this year to get to my current weight from 349lbs (which is alot quicker than I intended, but I feel great and have lost it by sensible means, so I guess its ok)

Look to lose around 2-3lbs a week, this is what most people class as a Healthy weight loss. To do this you need to work out how many calories you need to maintain your weight, then reduce it by around 500 calories..

To work out how many calories you burn just by being alive, use this ...simple?..equation!!

BMR = 66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in years)

So if you are 343lbs, and say 6 feet high and 30 years old, your calorie consumption would be 2913, so you would want to consume 2413 a day.

If you havent already, create a free FitDay.com account to track your calories/exercise/nutrition, its awesome, alot of people on here seem to use it aswell

Hope this helps, let me know if you wanna know about anything else

Today is going well!!

Well it was my weigh in this morning and Im down 3lbs

I went to HapKiDo last night, despite being advise not too sweat too much, and I worked my fat ass off (hopefully literally).

So im going into another weekend happy and positive, gonna have a nice stir fry for tea, and then planning on a pretty active weekend, so a little treat might slip its way in

Happy Friday everyone, hope you all have a great weekend!!!

Another weekend down.

Well Saturday was a bit of a disaster, had a good day until the evening, hit my calorie goal aswell as enjoying a home made Burrito for tea (yum!!)

And then came the evening...we went round my girlfriends mums to watch a film...and out came the crisps and chocolates!!!

I was quite happy with the fact that I didnt over indulge on them, but I still had more than I should have done (in regards to calories), so I was a little annoyed at myself afterwards, but during I was in a happy place

So yesterday we went on a 10 mile bike ride, mainly through woodlands, and we also met up with the family to walk the dogs, so that was another hour or so of walking...but then we all went back to my folks and had a chicken kebab!! Which in fairness is not the worst thing to have, but still I felt pretty shitty afterwards!!

Anyway, today is a new day, Ive got HapKiDo tonight, and im gonna give it 110%...I havent weighed myslef since Friday, so I dont know the damage (if any) but hopefully come this Friday the scales will be my friend, and not my enemy.

Today I brought some protein shake powder, figure im increasing my workouts so need to increase my calories and nutrients intake...we'll see if it lasts (the protein shake that is )

Kinda been feeling a little down latley, not sure why, so need to snap out of that asap!!

Done 20 mins on the ep-trainer last night, and will do another 20 mins when I finish work in a couple of hours, so hopefully that'll cheer me up

Hope all are well.

Well another 2lbs gone from my body forever!!!

Ive increased my calorie intake recently, as I was worried I was consuming far too fewer calories than I should...so far despite the worry of not losing weight/putting weight on..it seems to be ok.

Off out for a meal tonight though!!! Not too worried, I've had a good day (calorie wise) so far, and Im quietly confident I can avoid the 'bad' food and be happy with a healthier option.

Also off work now for a week So hoping to get in some more walking, jogging and cycling than usual, so really looking forward to the next few days!

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

So im getting back into my normal routine after having a week away from work, seems strange that I found it more difficult to exercise and eat well away from work!!

Anyway, the good news is I did NOT put any weight on during my week off. And the reason this is good is because I did not count any calories, I was not walking to work, so thats 6miles of walking a day I was not doing, I went out for 2 meals..and let me tell you about the food...

For the first meal I had chicken, stuffed with stilton cheese and cranberrys in a filo pastry wrap, with a BUTTER sauce...I chose fresh veg instead of chips (fries) so it wasnt all bad..plus I skipped on dessert despite them having warm apple crumble with ice cream!!!!

The next meal I had was a steak enchillada, with heaps of onions and cheese in it...I was in food heaven!!

I also had 2 slices of Birthday chocolate cake (not on the same day) covered in full fat cream, and a chocolate cookie!!!

Despite these 2 'bad' meals and the cake and cookie..I ate really well throughout the rest of the week, and despite not being able to go to 1 of my HapKiDo lessons (it fell on the gf's b/day..grumble) I still done as much exercise as I could, ep trainer twice a day, walking when I could, I even went on a 3mile jog (which for me is like a marathon)!!

All in all I had a very enjoyable week, and proved to myself that I can have the odd bad meal and it wont make a huge difference, because my lifestyle has changed, and I WILL NOT go back to my old habits!!

Also I got a Nintendo Wii for the missus, and her mum got her Wii fit....I love it!!! Ive been on it everyday, its so much fun, and it does feel like you've worked out afterwards!!!

Anyway, aiming for a big number this week, set myself a goal of 4-5lbs, just to get back on track.

Hopefully come Friday morning, back on track is where I will be

Glad to see you had a good week off from work. Keep up the good work.

By the way... that food sounds good.

Thanks buddy!

The food really was amazing..Its been so long since I have just let myself enjoy..not bad..but not healthy food, and I think mentally its really helped me overcome some worries I had about slipping back to the old me.

I really enjoyed it, but would I eat like that everyday? No..not even every week.

Im in a very happy and positive place again.

Hope your getting on well?

Nice to hear from ya again!

I have found that it is so much easier to stay good when there isn't too much time to be bad. A week off from work can be some serious backsliding. Good for you that didn't happen.

Tell me about it!!

Thanks Trops, I didnt mind not losing any weight, but would have sucked big time to put weight on!!