JeffreyGlen

You know, I started gaining weight my sophomore year in High School. But I never really monitored it until it was too late. I remember going to the ER because I broke my ankle trying to do something stupid on a skateboard in 2007, and then I was 350 lbs. But I just kept eating more and more every day. At my largest, I ate in a day what I eat in a week now. It is actually really disgusting to think about now.

I ate because of every emotion. Sad, eat. Happy, eat. Celebrating, eat. Commiserating, eat. Bored, eat.

To overcome this, I found an activity for each emotion to replace eating. Angry? Hit the weights. Happy? Go on a walk and enjoy the beautiful world. Stressed? Go on a walk with earbuds to have some time to decompress. That kind of thing.

Thank you for the wonderful compliments! I struggle every day with trying to be the best role model I can possibly be for my son. I was once told that a good parent always feels like they are failing. So, I guess I'm doing something right, haha!

Answers for your questions:

Yes, constant discouragement. I had to ditch the scale for a long time (~ 10 months) because if I stepped on it and I didn't have a loss, I was weakened. Also, when I hit three hundred, I plateaued for a couple of months. I felt better, and I almost succumbed to being complacent with being three hundred pounds.

To get through the discouragement I got my mind off of things. Going out with friends. Going camping. Volunteering. Doing anything and everything I could to make it so I didn't have time to think and dwell on the situation.

My friends and family were tremendous support during my weight loss. I made a pact with all of my friends that no matter how bitter I got, I needed them to keep me on the path. So we'd go out to eat, and if I ordered stupid, they would call me out right there in front of the server. It was totally embarassing, but at the same time, it made me rethink and make the right choice.

As for how quickly I modified my diet, it was a very gradual change. I'd make a cut every couple of weeks. And I never "cheated" per se. If I wanted pizza, or wings, or a beer, I had them. There's no point in driving yourself nuts over it. But I made sure that when I made a pizza, I made sure to have only one piece, instead of eating the whole thing until it was gone. Aside from that I never had any real shock of the body because I just took baby steps in fixing myself. I didn't want to diet. I wanted to change the way I lived.

Well, you are correct. I guess I didn't "exercise" to start. I was too big. I would have a massive coronary if I went to the gym and hit it hard. Hell, I was a risk for heart attack just sitting in a chair.

I spent a few weeks observing myself. It was hard. I wrote everything down. I took a picture of everything that I ate and drank on my phone. Even just a nibble here or there, took a picture. That way I couldn't lie to myself and deny that I was over eating.

I looked at what I had done in those weeks and prioritized the bad behaviors that needed to go. First was soda/juice/alcohol. The only liquid I consumed was water for the first two years of this.

Next went eating out. If I didn't cook / prepare it, I didn't eat it. This meant that eating was now a chore, and lets be honest, if someone gets to near 600 pounds, they exhibit some lazy tendencies. So since it was a chore, I stopped doing it so much.

Then I got rid of anything that was microwaved. It sounds silly, but almost anything that you can pop in the microwave and have it be a meal is not going to be that great for you.

It was kind of a wash, rinse, repeat cycle for the first year. Make adjustments, see what I still needed to improve, then improve.

After about 12 months, and down about 175 pounds, I started to exercise. I had a bunch of loose skin, so I lifted weights. That brought some mass back to my body, especially my back, shoulders and chest, which tightened up a lot of the skin.

So that's the first year of it for you. :)

Har har har! I hope I never find it again! Thank you. :)