Post by dree on Jan 15, 2013 23:05:46 GMT -5
Warning: wall of text!
I'd started to write this in the intro thread but it became a wall of text, so then I tried to just make a short intro post, and wound up making another wall of text in the intro thread. I'm not very good at short posts. D:
Anyway, I've been kind of overweight for my entire life, chubby as a kid, a bit less chubby as a teen, but it only got worse in my mid-20s, when I started working for Telus doing tech support and then became a manager for a number of years. Sitting on my ass all day long, eating horrible things and never exercising eventually got me really putting on the pounds. I left that job in 2007, moved to Toronto from Montreal, and started working for myself in design. That only made matters worse-- operating on my own hours, staying up late playing video games and then having to down a huge, sugary coffee or three before a client meeting at 8am... didn't do any wonders for my figure. I decided to try vegetarianism for about a year and a half... but all I did was eat chips and meatless pasta instead. And Pizza Nova... damn Pizza Nova and their potato wedges!
Anyway, when business sucked in Toronto I moved back to Montreal. I weighed in at 220lbs (this was the first time I'd been on a scale in most of my 20s, and I was 29 at the time). I was somehow shocked, though looking back I'm amazed I wasn't heavier with the way I ate. I decided I needed to lose weight the only way I knew how - starvation. I went back to meat, though, which helped a little. I wound up losing about 30lbs, but I didn't feel very good in general. Always tired, weak, headaches all the time. My days generally consisted of a bagel and massive iced-cap from Tim's, and something small for dinner. Unless I was making spaghetti- then I ate a mountain of it.
In February of 2010 I went down to New Orleans for Mardi Gras with some friends. The Saints had just won the superbowl and the city was insane. I had such a great time that I decided to move there permanently. I had made some friends through other friends down there, and the business opportunities were too good to turn down. Plus there was no snow and neat southern accents!
The problem with New Orleans, though? The damn FOOD! It was one thing when I was on vacation, but somehow I just kept on eating horrible, delicious things, and all of my progress quickly came undone, and then some.
In April of 2011 I was 243lbs. I decided I had to do something, and discovered about.com's CalorieCount. I figured out my caloric needs and just started counting everything. I ate Lean Cuisine dinners all the time. Cut out all the fat, too. I lost 30lbs, but it was the most depressing 30lbs I ever lost. I was always hungry and always looking for excuses to cheat.
Then, in the summer of 2011, my SO busted his knee badly (unfortunately, by being 90lbs overweight) and needed some crazy surgery to repair it. He had to get a cartilage transplant and was bed/couch-ridden for at least six months. Since I didn't drive at the time, it was Pizza Hut and Sprite almost every night for the majority of those six months. I'd occasionally go out with his mom to get groceries, but she was an hour and a half away so it wasn't all that often. Of course, the diet was off.
Fast forward to May 2012, SO is pretty much healed up and I'm now 253lbs, 10lbs heavier than my starting weight the year before. I was miserable. Had trouble getting out of bed. It felt like exercise to tie my shoes. Stairs were awful. That's when I happened upon the "I'm a fat guy AMA" and found the keto subreddit. I did a lot of reading and decided 'Why not?' It sounded too good to be true but I was ready to try anything.
I ditched CalorieCount (they kept giving me F's for everything I ate!) and found MFP. Made lots of incredible friends there!
Since starting keto I'm now down 87lbs, still about 50 to go. SO is down 78lbs. We've even converted a few of our RL friends.
TL;DR: Fat all my life, tried various diets, failed. Tried keto, victory!
I'd started to write this in the intro thread but it became a wall of text, so then I tried to just make a short intro post, and wound up making another wall of text in the intro thread. I'm not very good at short posts. D:
Anyway, I've been kind of overweight for my entire life, chubby as a kid, a bit less chubby as a teen, but it only got worse in my mid-20s, when I started working for Telus doing tech support and then became a manager for a number of years. Sitting on my ass all day long, eating horrible things and never exercising eventually got me really putting on the pounds. I left that job in 2007, moved to Toronto from Montreal, and started working for myself in design. That only made matters worse-- operating on my own hours, staying up late playing video games and then having to down a huge, sugary coffee or three before a client meeting at 8am... didn't do any wonders for my figure. I decided to try vegetarianism for about a year and a half... but all I did was eat chips and meatless pasta instead. And Pizza Nova... damn Pizza Nova and their potato wedges!
Anyway, when business sucked in Toronto I moved back to Montreal. I weighed in at 220lbs (this was the first time I'd been on a scale in most of my 20s, and I was 29 at the time). I was somehow shocked, though looking back I'm amazed I wasn't heavier with the way I ate. I decided I needed to lose weight the only way I knew how - starvation. I went back to meat, though, which helped a little. I wound up losing about 30lbs, but I didn't feel very good in general. Always tired, weak, headaches all the time. My days generally consisted of a bagel and massive iced-cap from Tim's, and something small for dinner. Unless I was making spaghetti- then I ate a mountain of it.
In February of 2010 I went down to New Orleans for Mardi Gras with some friends. The Saints had just won the superbowl and the city was insane. I had such a great time that I decided to move there permanently. I had made some friends through other friends down there, and the business opportunities were too good to turn down. Plus there was no snow and neat southern accents!
The problem with New Orleans, though? The damn FOOD! It was one thing when I was on vacation, but somehow I just kept on eating horrible, delicious things, and all of my progress quickly came undone, and then some.
In April of 2011 I was 243lbs. I decided I had to do something, and discovered about.com's CalorieCount. I figured out my caloric needs and just started counting everything. I ate Lean Cuisine dinners all the time. Cut out all the fat, too. I lost 30lbs, but it was the most depressing 30lbs I ever lost. I was always hungry and always looking for excuses to cheat.
Then, in the summer of 2011, my SO busted his knee badly (unfortunately, by being 90lbs overweight) and needed some crazy surgery to repair it. He had to get a cartilage transplant and was bed/couch-ridden for at least six months. Since I didn't drive at the time, it was Pizza Hut and Sprite almost every night for the majority of those six months. I'd occasionally go out with his mom to get groceries, but she was an hour and a half away so it wasn't all that often. Of course, the diet was off.
Fast forward to May 2012, SO is pretty much healed up and I'm now 253lbs, 10lbs heavier than my starting weight the year before. I was miserable. Had trouble getting out of bed. It felt like exercise to tie my shoes. Stairs were awful. That's when I happened upon the "I'm a fat guy AMA" and found the keto subreddit. I did a lot of reading and decided 'Why not?' It sounded too good to be true but I was ready to try anything.
I ditched CalorieCount (they kept giving me F's for everything I ate!) and found MFP. Made lots of incredible friends there!
Since starting keto I'm now down 87lbs, still about 50 to go. SO is down 78lbs. We've even converted a few of our RL friends.
TL;DR: Fat all my life, tried various diets, failed. Tried keto, victory!
