Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Locked thread
30 Goddamned Dicks
Sep 8, 2010

I will leave you to flounder in your cesspool of primeval soup, you sad, lonely, little cowards.
Fun Shoe
Hey now that Twee is no longer around (but for how long?????) I just wanted to say that I have PMs and if anyone needs encouragement or wants to talk about stuff not out in public in this thread I'm happy to listen.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Tinestram
Jan 13, 2006

Excalibur? More like "Needle"

Grimey Drawer
Hopefully he'll be back soon. In the meantime, I'm also open to PMs.

CuddleChunks
Sep 18, 2004

Victory Yodel posted:

up to 150 pounds on my "heavy" day. My point here is that walking is the easiest thing you can do. Start there and add weight (lift something heavy). To be truthful, I'm not sure where to go next as the vests are at their max and walking around with 3 vests seems a bit too Mad Max for me.

This is seriously funny as hell and good job on your fitness routine. Now stop being a little wuss and get your ultimate mega weight vest on!

For your next weight increase just add a fey post-apocalyptic twink to your vest:



Keeping him balanced on your back will also help strengthen your core.

satanic splash-back
Jan 28, 2009

You'll also notice I have PMs.

ProperGanderPusher
Jan 13, 2012




I too am a recovering fatty (and I've got a ways to go). At my largest I weighed around 235 lbs. at 5'11. This largely happened around age 22 as a result of living completely on my own for the first time and having frozen pizza and White Castle a few too many times a week, plus making fourthmeal a regular thing. It had little to do with depression and more to do with being lazy and developing bad habits as a kid (I prided myself on how much I could eat and thought of myself as buff rather than fat even though that's hilariously not true in retrospect). I also saw health-conscious people as a bunch of neurotic wieners and the overall spergy nature of various dieting communities made weight loss appear far more complicated then it actually is.

Eventually I began noticing my gut spilling over my belt even when standing up, and I also began getting taunts from small children, so I slowly decided to "do something about it". By that, I mean half-heartedly begin thinking about what I was eating, which of course did jack poo poo. About a year later, in a bout of desperation while looking for a place to stay in San Francisco, I settled for a place with a health nut roommate. Now, when I say health nut, I mean the first words out of his mouth during my interview visit were essentially "You look like garbage. You have to make an effort to improve your health or this isn't going to work out between us." While I was taken aback by his forwardness, I was *really* desperate for a place, and decided to suck it up and open myself up to his advice. While I did learn some genuinely useful things from him in terms of just how dangerous obesity is and how to construct a good workout routine, he tended to be a bit of a control freak and went *way* overboard with fatshaming (he would say things like "I guarantee your family secretly hates you because people are biologically incapable of truly liking fat people" and "no decent woman would be caught dead with someone like you."). He also told me to dump all my overweight friends and stop going to church and was very angry when I told him no. He also tried to constantly sell me fish oil and Chinese herbal medicine and likewise got really pissy when I refused to buy from him.

When I finally left a year later, I began overeating almost out of spite for how miserable he made dieting for me. By that time I was about 195. I'm up to 210 or thereabouts again, but it's been steadily dropping again as I've begun dutifully counting my calories and trying to exercise for at least an hour each day. I still really need to get into lifting so I don't look awkward and doughy when I get closer to my goal of 175 (my ex-roommate wanted me to aim for 140). Overall, I feel my new attitude and overall experience of what works for me and what doesn't may result in eventual progress.

I've slowly gotten hunger under control in three ways. First, I've learned to stop eating when I'm not hungry anymore, rather then when I get to Mr. Creosote levels of "I'm loving full". Second, I've made more of an effort to eat food high in protein and slow-burning carbs (which just happens to include numerous kinds of vegetables that I avoided before I discovered they're much more amazing when covered in garlic, salt, and oil, and left to bake for a while). Third (and this one is surprisingly tough since I'm fighting against what I was told as a kid because omg you'll have to pee too much), I drink plenty of water.

I still fall victim to my trigger foods more often that I'd like to (I will eat an entire pizza in one sitting like it's nothing). I also lack patience when it comes to cooking and wind up chowing down on those slightly better-than-average microwave dinners from Trader Joe's fairly often.

Other posters have hit the nail on the head on motivation and discipline being key factors, as well as patience. For a while I began limiting my caloric intake to 1200 a day because I loving hated myself and wanted to stop hating myself as soon as possible. Needless to say, that didn't last long.

Hoshi
Jan 20, 2013

:wrongcity:
So I just got a little wake up call. I was working on a computer in a wellness training room, and I decided to step on the scale (last weight was 330 in January).

380 lbs.

This kind of sucks a lot :( but I helped the head if the athletic training program a lot earlier this summer and he still remembers my name, so I emailed him about it and he's offered to meet with me and go over possible programs my school can offer.

This sucks pretty bad. I'll update after we meet later this week.

Birb Katter
Sep 18, 2010

BOATS STOPPED
CARBON TAX AXED
TURNBULL AS PM
LIBERALS WILL BE RE-ELECTED IN A LANDSLIDE

Godsped posted:

So I just got a little wake up call. I was working on a computer in a wellness training room, and I decided to step on the scale (last weight was 330 in January).

380 lbs.

This kind of sucks a lot :( but I helped the head if the athletic training program a lot earlier this summer and he still remembers my name, so I emailed him about it and he's offered to meet with me and go over possible programs my school can offer.

This sucks pretty bad. I'll update after we meet later this week.

Godspeed Godspeed

Tinestram
Jan 13, 2006

Excalibur? More like "Needle"

Grimey Drawer

Godsped posted:

So I just got a little wake up call. I was working on a computer in a wellness training room, and I decided to step on the scale (last weight was 330 in January).

380 lbs.

This kind of sucks a lot :( but I helped the head if the athletic training program a lot earlier this summer and he still remembers my name, so I emailed him about it and he's offered to meet with me and go over possible programs my school can offer.

This sucks pretty bad. I'll update after we meet later this week.

That's a great first step. Getting help from a pro will make a big difference, in lots of ways.

Think positive. You're young, so turning this poo poo around isn't gonna be as hard as it would be if you waited another couple of decades. Or years even.

Stop telling yourself that you suck and this sucks. Think about how important a step it is to acknowledge you have a problem, seek help, and get started along the path. That's AWESOME.

Naramyth
Jan 22, 2009

Australia cares about cunts. Including this one.
I'll chime in here.

From my now defunct log:

This is me in July 2009.



I didn't look much better in May of 2011, even with a machine gun in hand.



Years of WoW and other video games, lovely diet, call center work, pizza driving, and finding my wife while in high school made me pretty fat. On top of that I justified it with "well my dad is built the same way and he is a farmer." I was dumb. Then we bought a house and decided we should get life insurance so in case one of us dies, the other one can pay off the house. We go in and get weighed and have blood work done. The bill comes back and it is $gently caress. My fat hit me in the wallet, and that sucked. That was October of 2011 and I was 290 5'9".

So I started using our clothes rack elliptical nightly and weight started to come off. I dropped down to 255ish before I fell off the wagon just before the Yoopshoot in May 2012. This is how you golf in the upper peninsula.



I got back on the wagon that December 2012 and watched my food in addition to doing all the cardio. Here I am May 2013, I was ~230.



I haven't taken a break now though. I lifted 3/week all of last year and have now started crossfit 5/week in June. I'm 202 today, but have been as low as 195 because water weight is weird. Here I am shirtless before tubing with my power lifting lady friend who can squat waaaaay more then me.



I went from being winded going up stairs to being someone who can keep up at our crossfit box. From doing maybe one pullup last year and it being max effort to doing pullups while having conversation with my roommates. From sitting around eating McDonald's breakfast on Sunday mornings to going for a 10 mile Sunday morning coffee bike ride. It's been work. It's been hard to keep my food under control. I still drink too much from time to time and will eat everything put in front of me if I'm not careful. It's been a process. I've been keeping at this in one form or another for 3 years and have a lifetime ahead of me. Not every change happens right away. Yeah I get frustrated that I still have this spare tire of fat and loose skin but I am so much happier with who I am and what I can do then I was when I started this. Hopefully I'll have abs by the time I'm 30 (June of next year) and be some sort of god by 40.

What made you turn it around?

Life Insurance. It costing 3.5x as much as my ex-wife was just unacceptable.

How did you start to lose weight? What exercises could you do, or was it all diet initially?

Elliptical. I wish I dieted as well. Weight loss totally happens in the kitchen.

What do you think someone could have said to you to make you want to start earlier? What do you think you could say to someone in a similar situation?

I don't know what could have prompted me to get off my rear end. Even the threat of an death didn't really get to me. I tell anyone who may be interested in losing weight that they have to want it. Being a big guy who is now not as big and am very active I think is an inspiration for others. I keep that blue shirt picture on my phone so I show people when I tell people that I've lost 90+ lbs and I think my favorite reaction was "well you obviously googled for "fat guy with a sparkler" and just show that to people, there is no way that's you". :3:

Did you encounter chubby chasers? Did anyone tell you they found your obesity attractive? On your way up the scale did you think you were attractive for a while or never?

Nope. I never thought of myself as attractive before. Now I think I look great and am only getting better so I take pretty much any opportunity to be shirtless. :v:

Naramyth fucked around with this message at 22:07 on Aug 7, 2014

meataidstheft
Jul 31, 2005

Yous a lady Skwisgaar!
Good on you ya handsome bastard!

Hoshi
Jan 20, 2013

:wrongcity:
I visited the coach today. He's asked me to walk 30 mins every day, and to send him an email after I went on the walk about how long I walked, what I saw, how I felt afterward. He also recommended a nutritionist who has helped a lot of students learn to eat well on required student meal plan.

Stuffs happening. It's cool.

Gindack
Jan 30, 2010

Godsped posted:

I visited the coach today. He's asked me to walk 30 mins every day, and to send him an email after I went on the walk about how long I walked, what I saw, how I felt afterward. He also recommended a nutritionist who has helped a lot of students learn to eat well on required student meal plan.

Stuffs happening. It's cool.

Hell yeah man that is awesome, I have been going to a Dietician through work and they are helping me a ton as well. Just so you don't get discouraged like me, I ended up losing 12 lbs the first week and the second not a drat one but found out that was normal. This is the third week for me and everything is getting easier just be wary week two blows.

Proteus Jones
Feb 28, 2013



Godsped posted:

I visited the coach today. He's asked me to walk 30 mins every day, and to send him an email after I went on the walk about how long I walked, what I saw, how I felt afterward. He also recommended a nutritionist who has helped a lot of students learn to eat well on required student meal plan.

Stuffs happening. It's cool.

I just want to chime in and say:

a) that's awesome! Keep it up!

b) I'd make sure the person is a Registered Dietician. Dieticians are licensed, where just about anyone can call themselves a "nutritionist". I'm not saying all nutritionists are bad, but there's little recourse if one is. Some states do require both to be be licensed, so it may not apply.

Hoshi
Jan 20, 2013

:wrongcity:

flosofl posted:

I just want to chime in and say:

a) that's awesome! Keep it up!

b) I'd make sure the person is a Registered Dietician. Dieticians are licensed, where just about anyone can call themselves a "nutritionist". I'm not saying all nutritionists are bad, but there's little recourse if one is. Some states do require both to be be licensed, so it may not apply.

I've already set up an appointment so I wouldn't procrastinate but I'll do this.

Bifner McDoogle
Mar 31, 2006

"Life unworthy of life" (German: Lebensunwertes Leben) is a pragmatic liberal designation for the segments of the populace which they view as having no right to continue existing, due to the expense of extending them basic human dignity.

Weener Beater posted:

-Several people have said it is difficult to change. Why? How is it difficult when you know it will improve your situation over time

It's extremely easy and extremely common to convince yourself that this is not the case, that those 30-40 extra pounds are just part of how you are built. This often goes so far that many, many people beleive that being a healthy weight on the BMI is an unhealthy weight for them. Most of the posters in this thread are/were chunky because they are/were depressed, but that really isn't always the case. I suspect that there is some selection bias in this thread that's going to tilt towards people who recognize and take responsibility for their own well-being but I wouldn't assume that this sort of perspective is common among the morbidly overweight. Depression is common, but not as common as being overweight (think about how many people have to be overweight for that to be true).

The FiB thread is full of the worst examples of this, but as society keeps getting fatter being fat becomes more and more normal. People have started to regularly compare themselves to pro-athletes to excuse poor health. People have assumed health problems endemic to thier entire fat loving families are genetically inherited, and that their obesity is natural and inherited as well. It may seem ridiculous that an entire family living on biscuts and gravy, one with an average BMI of 33, one with chronic IBS and heart problems and an average lifespan of 72 can fail to put two and two together.

THAT SAID, rationalization by the lazy isn't a good excuse to just treat fat people like poo poo. This thread is a great example of how being a shithead to fatties is largely counterproductive and how it's just makes things hard on the people most determined to better themselves. Yeah, for every person with a sad story there's one person behind them hiding behind rationalizations to excuse their poor lifestyle. But being lovely to all overweight people just reinforces an us-vs-them mentality and makes you look like an rear end in a top hat. There's only one good way to counter the mindset that fat is normal: losing weight successfully (the YLLS transformation threads did it for me, at least).
When you get in shape or help someone get in shape you completely destroy the idea that being fat is inherent to your genetic code. Its hard to keep saying that your weight and health problems are genetic when your brother has gotten in shape and isn't suffering the same health problems as everyone else. It helps reinforce the idea that everyone can lose weight, that there are indeed ways to lose weight and (most importantly) inherently spreads the techniques that will actually help one lose weight.

It also has the hilarious side effect of making fat activists lose thier poo poo and show thier true colors. Apparently it's not health at any size, it's health at any size that helps them feel better about themselves.

If you want to help fight obesity? Help those around you fight it as people and don't be a dick about it. Maybe show them that fat person whose legs are rotting from fat induced fungal infections or tell the about the diabetic whose dick turned black and fell off. Nobody deserves those sort of health problems.

Victory Yodel
Jan 28, 2005

When in Jerusalem, I highly suggest you visit the sexeteria.

Bifner McDoogle posted:

It's extremely easy and extremely common to convince yourself that this is not the case, that those 30-40 extra pounds are just part of how you are built. This often goes so far that many, many people believe that being a healthy weight on the BMI is an unhealthy weight for them. Most of the posters in this thread are/were chunky because they are/were depressed, but that really isn't always the case.

This is so very true. I've always been chunky (although never depressed as far as I know), and for the longest time I had convinced myself that I was just "big boned". Now I do have a large frame but at 6'1" and I carry weight well, but there is no way that a 42 inch waist is due to big bones. I now go by the "jiggle test" where if it jiggles, it's fat. I've managed to get rid of most of the jiggles on my arms and legs but am still working on the belly. The problem I face now is not one of recognition but action. I find I like to eat. I like to eat a lot. And that simply isn't compatible with a slimmer waistline. I'm working on it, but it's a lot of 2 steps forward, 1.95 steps back right now.

But like I said before, I keep from giving up by focusing on the fact that I'm going to be around next year, 2 years from now, hopefully 40 years from now. Slow and steady is my watchword.

UnfortunateSexFart
May 18, 2008

𒃻 𒌓𒁉𒋫 𒆷𒁀𒅅𒆷
𒆠𒂖 𒌉 𒌫 𒁮𒈠𒈾𒅗 𒂉 𒉡𒌒𒂉𒊑


Yeah I'm 6'1 and had convinced myself that 200lbs was my ideal weight because I'm broad shouldered etc, but I looked even better when I got down to 172.

Pinky Artichoke
Apr 10, 2011

Dinner has blossomed.
I've been reading this thread with interest for a while and thought I would chime in. Super long and probably completely uninteresting, I apologize in advance.

One of my very early memories, when I would've been about 4 years old, is my mom crying about being 120lb. Obviously at that age I didn't even know what that number meant, but I think seeing parental distress always has an impact. My mom is not a tall lady, but that weight still would've put her BMI at about 22. So I learned early on that being fat is bad, and also that 120lb is fat.

Fast forward 10 years, and the first time I started to be called fat by people in an authority role -- strangely I never got it from my peers that I noticed -- I weighed 112lb (BMI of about 22 then, I'm a bit taller now). My parents were also struggling with their weight, normal sedentary 40+ year old person stuff, nothing extreme, and while they were usually pretty careful not to say anything negative to me I did get splashed with some of their frustration. I remember distinctly my dad telling me I was "just out of shape" once when I had an asthma attack, which is pretty crazy when I think of it now. I was in regular dance lessons and a swim club, I'd walk 4 miles home from school when the weather allowed, cross country ski, ice skate many winter afternoons, etc. so while I wasn't an especially athletic kid at this point, I was certainly active. But I still took it to heart. The thing is, none of this shame was actually accompanied by anything useful. My dad eventually lost weight through extreme exercising, but my mom continued to have pretty disordered eating until I was out of the house. So even if I was fat (who is fat with a BMI of 22?!) there was nothing to do about it but feel like a bad person and periodically try to just not eat at all. I ended up gaining maybe 30lb over the next 2 years through the magic of starve-and-binge, but I was hardly even aware of it. I was already fat, anyway.

At around the same time that I was suddenly officially fat, I started to get sexual attention from grown men. My tiny hometown was fine, but every time we left town it seemed like I got catcalled, offered drinks, followed in the airport, hit on at the amusement park, etc. (keep in mind I'm talking preteen/early teen here and not mature for my age). The reaction from my parents was sort of this tight, quiet, freaked-out anxiety. I, again, internalized this as a reason to be ashamed, as well as scared.

I went abroad as a foreign exchange student, and I lost a lot of weight in my host country, back down into a healthy range. I was also suddenly, bizarrely, athletic compared to my peers after being pigeonholed in the bookish smart-kid role, partly because I was far away from my native allergens so I could breathe well all the time. It's lonely and scary to be in a foreign country, though, and I didn't get along well with one of my host families who I later learned had not wanted to host a kid but got strong-armed into it. That is when I can first remember eating alone for comfort when I felt bad. Sometimes I would skip the family dinner to hide in my room and eat crap from 7-11. Since their house was also the farthest away from my school, I was easily burning everything I ate and more with my daily commute.

When I got back for my final year in US high school, there was no place for me in my old extracurricular activities, and most of my friends were gone. I also experienced a couple of scary incidents that I would characterize more as bullying with sexual undertones than sexual assault: being thrown up against a wall or down on a floor with sexual threats, but no actual sexual contact. Once a friend's boyfriend trapped me in his car and tried to force me to blow him, but he ultimately didn't have it in him to be that much of an rear end in a top hat when I refused. Adults had zero interest in doing anything about it, so I ended up withdrawing from my activities further to get away. Basically I ended up spending my after-school time at home alone, watching TV and eating granola bars.

So that's what my experience of being a healthy weight was like: shame and fear from getting sexual attention, and yet at the same time shame for being a fat rear end. Really, there was nowhere to go but up.

I gained some weight later in my college years thanks to depression and antidepressants, but I didn't start *really* gaining weight until I was out in the real working world. I still had my eating for comfort bad habits but at first I didn't have a car so I lost weight. Once I got a car, and not only stopped biking but also got to work longer hours, that turned around quickly. I wasn't especially aware of the weight gain at first, except when I needed a dress for the holiday party or similar. I think in part because I was (as far as I was concerned) already super fat before I started gaining, it didn't really phase me. Eventually my weight settled into the 190lb-210lb range. I usually still had some sort of active pursuits -- running, going to the gym, dance classes, hiking, rock climbing, once I realized my swimming endurance was for poo poo so I took a swim class -- and periodically I'd actively try to lose weight, but usually the eating portion just didn't come together. Most of my tastes are pretty healthy, but the comfort eating/binging (as far as I know I never ate enough to qualify clinically as binge eating, but it was still pretty bad) was always enough to blow things up. After a while I was convinced that I could only lose weight if I had the time to walk an hour or more per day, since the times in my life that I'd lost weight "by accident" that was part of my lifestyle.

I gained a lot more weight a couple of times, due to extreme misery. The first time, I was just in a lovely job and far from my friends. I'd jumped on an opportunity that turned out to be nothing like what I expected, I hated my boss and felt trapped and isolated in a hostile office. I was not only eating to discomfort in my unhappiness, I was even drinking water to discomfort. I still walked 4 miles/day and played ice hockey once or twice a week, but my eating easily overcame that. I believe I got up to about 225lb. When I left that job, I lost 30lb without even thinking about it.

The second time, I suffered a pretty bad concussion and also went basically insane and metabolically deranged thanks to a bad reaction to hormonal birth control. I'm not sure what part of the depression was caused by the injury and which was caused by the hormones, but it was all bad. My HMO was worthless and my attempts to get help were repeatedly brushed off. In addition, because of the concussion I couldn't do all of my usual activities. I still lifted weights, but generally anything else I tried aggravated my head. My situation at my workplace also became untenable in part because I was so messed up. I eventually got rid of the birth control and left my job, and again easily lost a pretty large amount of weight. I took a year off work, and just spent my time taking classes, playing hockey, going to the gym, cooking interesting healthy food, etc. It was pretty blissful. I eventually got down to a low of 180lb, which I think would've ben about a 40 or 45lb loss from the high point. At the tail end of that time I met my current SO.

The third time, I reached my all-time high weight of 242lb (BMI of just under 46). I was in a period of inactivity because I'd hurt my back and for 3-4 months my left leg didn't work right, and by the time it recovered all of my time was taken up with other things. I was commuting about 50 miles round trip and my newish relationship also took up a ton of my time as well as disrupting my sleep most of the week, so I perpetually felt cracked out and stretched thin. Whenever I got time alone at home I felt like all I did was fall into a big comfort meal and do laundry. At first my SO also gained up to a similar weight (at a much taller height), but he lost it well before I did. At 242lb I really did start to become scared about my health, and went on a low calorie diet, eventually losing 30lb. After that, I found my current gym and ultimately got back into hockey, and lost another 40lb. I've since had a very rough spring and summer emotionally for various reasons and regained about 10lb, so I sit at about 180lb today (but have stopped gaining). Among other things, I am the king of self sabotage, and since one of my interim milestone goals -- 75kg, so I would no longer be in the super-heavyweight class for weightlifting -- was within my grasp I completely lost my ability to continue like a normal human being. I'm working on the self-sabotage thing, but I suspect it will be slow going.

To tell the truth, other than at that peak of 242lb -- and honestly I think inactivity and the recurrent back injury had more of an impact than the weight then, too -- I never felt particularly bad physically. I wasn't particularly good at any of the sports or activities I got into, and would've been better at most of them at a smaller size, but I felt fine. Sometimes I felt pretty fit. I think in the absence of my own emotional issues and social bullshit I probably could've been pretty happy at an active 210lb or so (BMI of about 40). Although without my emotional issues I probably would never have gotten to 210lb in the first place, so there's no way to know.

I do honestly believe that part of why I have been able to lose 70lb over the last few years is because I'm older now and I feel like it really doesn't matter at all if I'm eventually a size that would've been attractive to creeps in my younger years. I also have a protective significant other, so for the first time I know that somebody has my back if someone is threatening or gross to me. I've had serious relationships before, but not with guys who have this protective quality. My relationship also makes binge eating much less feasible (although he is not judgmental at all, it is 100% about how *I* want to be seen in our shared space).

As far as the "convincing yourself a bigger size is OK" issue goes...I honestly have no interest in getting back down to 112lb or even 130lb. Partly because doctors have told me to shoot for 140lb (BMI of about 26.5), and I trust their professional judgment; partly because my aesthetic role models tend to be athletic women who have a BMI of 26-27. Imagining I ever get my mental issues reined in well enough to get and stay there, I doubt that being that size for (hopefully) some number of years or decades is more damaging than having been morbidly obese in the first place. Especially considering the top end of the healthy range was 27 until the mid-90s.

Ramaroot
Aug 24, 2008

I AM THE FIRE
The following post is very sad and pretty pathetic. I'm sorry about that, the next one will be better.

I'm currently at a BMI of 53; 5'5" and 320 lbs. My triglycerides are high, my blood pressure is normal, my fasting blood sugar was last tested at 109. I've been fat since birth (born 10 lbs and uphill since then) and was put on my first diet in the 5th grade. Jenny Craig for 10 year olds! I was a social and outgoing child but it was pretty much bullied out of me. In high school I was probably depressed but nothing was done. In college I started binging my senior year and gained about 75 lbs (which offset the 50 I'd lost when I spent a semester overseas being very physically active).

I've had physical medical problems since my mid-20s due directly or indirectly to weight. (We'll skip the mental for now.) It started with kidney stones in 2007. In April of 2013 I went to the hospital with pancreatitis thanks to gall stones blocking my bile ducts. (Worst pain ever btw. Get rid of your gall bladder if you have stones. It's not worth it!) I weighed 275 back then so in a year I've gained 50 or so lbs. Currently I have difficulty with many things; getting in and out of my car, sleeping, going up and down stairs, walking any significant distance, getting nice clothing and keeping nice clothing stain free, cleaning and tidying, making and maintaining relationships... it goes on.

I hit 300 lbs for the first time around March 2006. I started exercising and counting calories. It became an obsession and was the entire focus of my life. I lost 100 lbs. In 2009 a series of unfortunate events (gently caress you lemony snicket!) led to my first post-college binge and from there, it spiraled. I posted awhile back about getting the eating disorder diagnosis ('sup Emily Program buddy from page 1).

Since then I've undergone intensive outpatient therapy (IOP) twice, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), a few post-IOP groups, a social anxiety group, and, currently, a bariatric surgery group specializing with patients who have/had eating disorders. I am in the initial steps of bariatric surgery, as in I've attended the initial required information session and met with the surgeon. I hope to get down to my pre-kindergarten weight. (Alright so maybe closer to 150 lbs which I didn't hit until later.) I have weekly therapy and nutritionist meetings.

I still struggle with over-eating, but have not had a large binge (let's say 5k+ calories in a sitting) in at least 6 months. Depression, anxiety, and self-esteem (lack thereof) are the biggest (har) factors with my weight. Eating is the only source of pleasure for me. I don't have sex and I can't masturbate (I can barely wipe...so gross), my hobbies are too much work, the only friends I have are my family members and oh god I'm making myself cry now. I am scared of opening up to people because in my experience, people cause me to be unhappy. (Since this forum is mostly semi-anonymous, it doesn't count.) I am so ashamed of myself that I avoid mirrors, avoid photos or I make faces in every photo. When people see me in pictures they will think "haha silly ramaroot is making faces on purpose!" or "hey she doesn't look as bad in person!" rather than seeing a photo and cringing.

My ultimate goal is to remove food as a source of pleasure and replace it with other, healthier things. This is why I am choosing bariatric surgery. There's a stigma surrounding it and it's a scary permanent change so admitting it to myself, my therapist, and my family is very difficult. Congrats! You guys know first!

Got a bit carried away but I'll be happy to answer any specific questions. Oh and I don't look at the fat-shaming thread because I have enough shame.

Naramyth
Jan 22, 2009

Australia cares about cunts. Including this one.

Ramaroot posted:

My ultimate goal is to remove food as a source of pleasure and replace it with other, healthier things. This is why I am choosing bariatric surgery. There's a stigma surrounding it and it's a scary permanent change so admitting it to myself, my therapist, and my family is very difficult. Congrats! You guys know first!

I wish you the best, however surgery doesn't fix habits. If you don't change your lifestyle and relationship to food you will have a serious risk of breaking the band or causing further complications. I know a guy who had it done but didn't change how he ate so his band broke on him and he gained all his weight back. It's not the magic bullet you want it too be.

Rhymenoserous
May 23, 2008

Naramyth posted:

I wish you the best, however surgery doesn't fix habits. If you don't change your lifestyle and relationship to food you will have a serious risk of breaking the band or causing further complications. I know a guy who had it done but didn't change how he ate so his band broke on him and he gained all his weight back. It's not the magic bullet you want it too be.

I'll say ditto to knowing a guy who this backfired on.

When he went on the band he lost weight at an insane pace, and decided he was too good for his old wife. Divorced her, broke his band, ballooned back up to the same weight he was before and now lives alone because no one wants a whale and he insulted the one woman who loved him enough to put up with it before.

Belly bands are no replacement for discipline.

Toadsniff
Apr 10, 2006

Fire Down Below: Crab Company 2
Just start exercising a poo poo load more. If you are fat, you are lazy, so stop playing games or watching tv and get a bike or go to a gym. Stapling your gut shut isn't going to make you stop your vices.

Self-discipline + Willpower = Whatever the gently caress you want yo.

mrbass21
Feb 1, 2009
So here's me:

SA has oddly always been the last push that I needed to get over some life hurdle.

My freshman year of college I started losing my hair. I wore hats everywhere, and it got to the point that I had panic attacks about leaving the house without one on. Can't find a hat before class? Skip class. I absolutely dreaded the national anthem at sporting events and wedding invitations.

I found the A/T thread about going bald, where they said "gently caress it, shave your head. If it looks bad, then you can figure something out. You know you're just going to wear a hat anyway". So at 2 AM, I did it. Slowly I got to the point that I was fine with my baldness, to now I can joke about it and it doesn't trouble me at all.


My weight has always fluctuated, but I only remember kindergarten to first grade where I wasn't overweight. My remember being uncomfortable and feeling overweight in high school, where I was 180 lbs and 5' 9". In my junior year of college I ballooned to about 240. I wanted a girlfriend, and convinced myself that I was a "nice guy" and "gently caress them if they can't look past my weight".

I started reading the OKCupid thread, cause I was mildly interested in trying online dating. I read about a lot of the encouragement they gave, and the transformations people had in that thread. It was then that I realized that there is no such thing as girls not wanting the "nice guy", and I was making excuses for myself. I didn't find myself attractive and had no confidence. How could I expect a girl to like me, if I didn't like me?

I started eating better and started working out. I bought new clothes that weren't 8 years old. I had been petrified of talking to girls, because I could get rejected, or "they would see through me that I was hitting on them".. OH NO! I forced myself to strike up conversations with girls around campus, just to get over the fear. I got rejected plenty, but I also realized that this thing that was really scary to me before was not a big deal. I also signed up for OKCupid.

I didn't really meet anyone from OkCupid, but I had convinced my room mate to join. A girl he was dating had a room mate, and they introduced us. We are getting married this October, and I can't imagine being with anyone else.


Now we finally make it to what this thread was created for. Since I met my fiancee, I stopped giving a poo poo about how much I weighed. I ate whatever I wanted. Life was a loving celebration.

I have had comments from dentists and other doctors that my blood pressure was high. This runs in my family and "they have medication" who no problem, right? My mom has diabetes, and I'm sure at some point I'll get it. Can't stop it, and they have meds, right?

Heart attacks happen pretty frequently up my family line. My mom's dad died in his early 50's. I'm almost 30. I'm not "invincible" anymore. I sometimes joke with my fiancee that "my life is half over", which is hosed up. She hates it, and I think the only reason I joke about it, is because I believe it will actually happen and I don't know how to deal with that.

I started reading this thread because I was bored, and hey, I'm fat. After reading some of the brave, honest posts from some of the users about what high blood pressure and diabetes really entails, I started to really second guess my choices. I didn't even know how much I weigh. 253. gently caress. How did I get back here?

Why settle for feeling lovely when I know I can feel better?
Why resign myself to get illnesses I can completely prevent with minor effort?
But more, I DON'T WANT TO DIE. How can I sit here and absolutely believe that I will die in my 40's or 50's, and be okay with that?

I've just started trying to lose weight. My fiancee has been trying for a while and she has willpower problems, so we are doing it together.

I've done it before, and I know when I commit myself I can do it. More activity and calorie counting for now, but that's to ease us into the motions.

No one could have shamed me into this. I either would have gotten depressed and start eating to medicate, or say "gently caress you" and ignore them. Getting old and realizing what's down the road has done it for me. It's because of THIS thread, so thanks for everyone who shared. I just started, so I'm not going to make some grand promises about what I'll do; Actions are louder. I'm even trying again because of your bravery. I hope I come back and post later that I lost all this weight and am healthy.

A tip for anyone thinking they would try because of this thread,l here's a tip.

If you're out to eat, lots of times you don't know how to do calorie counting or what's okay to eat. Get something and split the portion in half, ask for a to go carrier and put half your food in there. Get it off your plate. That helped me. My grandmother drilled into me "if it's on your plate, eat it. Don't waste food". That tip really helped me the first time.

30 Goddamned Dicks
Sep 8, 2010

I will leave you to flounder in your cesspool of primeval soup, you sad, lonely, little cowards.
Fun Shoe

Toadsniff posted:

Just start exercising a poo poo load more. If you are fat, you are lazy, so stop playing games or watching tv and get a bike or go to a gym. Stapling your gut shut isn't going to make you stop your vices.

Self-discipline + Willpower = Whatever the gently caress you want yo.

:sotw:

gently caress you. An eating disorder isn't just "being lazy" and overcoming it takes more than "Self discipline and willpower".

Mix in depression and it's a goddamned miracle she can even get off the couch.

On a lighter note,

mrbass21 posted:

Why settle for feeling lovely when I know I can feel better?
Why resign myself to get illnesses I can completely prevent with minor effort?
But more, I DON'T WANT TO DIE. How can I sit here and absolutely believe that I will die in my 40's or 50's, and be okay with that?

I've just started trying to lose weight. My fiancee has been trying for a while and she has willpower problems, so we are doing it together.

I've done it before, and I know when I commit myself I can do it. More activity and calorie counting for now, but that's to ease us into the motions.

That's AWESOME! Having someone as a buddy on the journey makes things a lot easier- stay committed to each other and to your goal and I promise it'll make your relationship stronger as well.

30 Goddamned Dicks fucked around with this message at 02:44 on Aug 23, 2014

Ramaroot
Aug 24, 2008

I AM THE FIRE
Thank you, 30 Goddamned Dicks (...a statement I'd never thought I'd say or type). Willpower and discipline are not problems. It's the greatest misconception and most condescending (that means to talk down to) bullshit that gets repeated over and over. The most disciplined and will-powered can't seem to wrap their disciplined brains around it no matter how much willpower they use.

It's amazing how many conclusions/biases/judgements people jump to when you mention bariatric surgery. Anyone who approaches it thinking it's a cure is not ready for it. I'm currently not ready for it. It takes a long time to get ready, but when I am I won't have to wait as long. I'm not expecting it to be a miracle change or a fix. I'm expecting it to be a hell of a lot of work, painful, and difficult. Like I said, I took the first official steps recently, but this has been a thought for awhile now. I've stopped binging and now I need to focus on prescriptive eating. My body is so messed up right now that hunger/fullness signals are completely lost. Recovering from an eating disorder isn't cut and dry, but my therapist believes, and I believe, that surgery could help me obtain my ultimate food goal which is, as I stated before, to remove (or at least dramatically decrease) the pleasure aspect of it. Food should be fuel and that's it.

Emotions can be painful and feelings are difficult. Take a macho man and tell him to express some his more difficult emotions. Chances are he will mock and laugh at you rather than even attempt it. (Must be his amazing discipline :downs:)

CuddleChunks
Sep 18, 2004

Ramaroot posted:

Emotions can be painful and feelings are difficult. Take a macho man and tell him to express some his more difficult emotions.
No time for emotions, too busy singing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AO43p2Wqc08


Good luck to all of you as you tackle your weight problems. Holy poo poo it's so easy to balloon up these days. Fortunately, there is hope. This thread is proof positive of that.

Zilkin
Jan 9, 2009
Some background first I'm 186cm/6"1 tall, and two months ago I weighed about 158-159kg/350 pounds. I spent large part of my childhood on a farm, loved sports, especially football in the summer and ice hockey in the winter. Those things kept me in good shape and I was never a fat kid. At around my late teens I started getting fatter as I didn't do nearly as much sports, while eating and drinking more. Thankfully we still have mandatory military service here, as that forced me to lose weight and get back in shape again. Which is now the last time my BMI was under 25. That diet didn't last long though and in retrospect I realize that I didn't really learn to eat healthy back then, though couple things like eating lot less junk food have stuck with me.

After I got out of the army I was in good shape and full of confidence, and next few years were really great in many ways. Slowly though my weight had started climbing and even though other people told me they had noticed it too I didn't really care. At some point I decided to go to university and that too started really well, but then because of few things I started getting depressed. Which lead to me not wanting to leave my home, just eating poo poo, and sitting at my computer all day long. I won't bore you with all the details, but after a looooong while I finally quit the uni, and moved to another town. This basically leads to my answer to the first question.

What made you turn it around?

I could write a ton here, but I'm just going to cover last couple years for the sake of brevity. I won't go into too much detail, but basically it started with generally feeling better about life. Once you are down enough you don't really care about how you look, or about your health. Actually one of the stupid things I did when I noticed I didn't fit into my old clothes anymore is thst I started telling myself that I was a stronger person for not caring how I looked in my new bigger, and bigger clothes.

After I got my spirits up I started thinking about my weight A LOT. Like almost daily, and I decided to start dieting today, tomorrow, next Monday, or whenever easily hundreds of times before I actually did. Usually this happened during work, but when I got off from work I just felt like I deserved to be rewarded for enduring another day at my lovely job.

Couple things finally basically scared me into action. First of all last year I had mysterious chest pains for a long time, I got myself checked of course and nothing was found. Eventually those chest pains just went away. Then this summer I got weird eye pain that lasted couple months, again nothing was found and eventually that went away as well. Both of those things lasted so long that I had lot of time to think and conjure all kinds of horror images of diabetes making me blind, heart attack, etc. I also have a small birth defect in my heart which doesn't help either. The absolute final straw was my birthday 2 months ago, I just felt like this poo poo couldn't continue another year and went for a walk. Did that the next couple days also, and then on 3-4th day I started tracking what I was eating. Since then I've lost about 25lbs, and still got another 125lbs to lose...

How did you start to lose weight? What exercises could you do, or was it all diet initially?

I've never been so fat that I couldn't do anything other than sit on my arse. I quickly even tried jogging, but that was simply painful so I decided to go with walking. Since starting I've added bit of cycling, and lastly some weight training. I'm thinking of maybe starting more serious weight training at some point.

Anyway I don't really wanna talk about excercising too much because of weight loss is more about what you (don't) eat. Currently my weekly calorie decifit is about 3/4 not eating things, only 1/4 extra physical activity.

What do you think someone could have said to you to make you want to start earlier? What do you think you could say to someone in a similar situation?

I did have people say to me many times that I should lose weight, and I whole heartedly agreed with them. The thing is though in the end you really need to find the motivation in yourself, and while I completely agreed with what other people said I simply wasn't motivated enough at that point.

Did you encounter chubby chasers? Did anyone tell you they found your obesity attractive? On your way up the scale did you think you were attractive for a while or never?

Not that I know of, and honestly if someone had said that to me I would have thought they were loving with me.

Were/are you a picky eater? I asked this before but no one responded. Is this a bad question?

No, if anything I really love trying new foods. I'm not going to force myself to eat something I've discovered that I really dislike though, but those foods are few and far between.

Do you have a physical goal in weight loss (assuming you want to lose or are losing weight) like "I want to be able to do a particular activity or exercise" or "I'd like to fit into a size __"

I'm so early in the process that I just try to set myself goals that I can achieve in about two months max. Currently my next goal is to lose bit over 5kg more to reach the point where I have lost 10% of my starting weight. Ultimately though I definitely have things that I want to do that in my mind at least would be easier, or less embarassing, to do if I was thinner. Those things range from having easier time buying clothes(don't really care which size as long as I can buy it from normal store!), to having more confidence when meeting new people, or travelling abroad, etc.

Also I really want to go back to university next year and get my masters degree. Thanks to living in the socialist paradise of Finland that's actually pretty feasable as university education is free. I might even get a small stipend from the state.

How do you see food? (No, not literally.)

I have very bad relationship with food, but in a bit different way than some of the other people in this thread. I can go months without eating junk food, I drink soda maybe 1-2 times/month, alcohol at about same frequency. I just ate huge amounts of relatively healthy "normal" food. Probably the biggest single article was rye bread of which I could eat 300-400 grams/day with all kinds of toppings. Also whatever I bought from the store I usually ate that same day. My fridge was usually rather empty.

Food is something that I've used to reward myself, it helps cheer me up. I especially have a very hosed up relationship between watching tv shows, movies, etc. and eating. If I'm eg. watching a movie my body physically feels like something is missing if I don't have anything to eat. I know this isn't healthy and I've partially broken the habbit, but not completely. What I also try to do is instead of eating drink coffee, or something.

For those who are still at the start of or haven't started their weight loss (or don't want to lose weight), how do you feel about other people's success stories? Does it make you feel bad that you haven't done what they have done, or feel good to know that it's possible no matter what size you start at?

Reading about other people successes is fun and inspiring. It does make me feel a bit bad about the state I'm in, but in the best possible way and also very happy for the people who have succeeded. Can't say that I've ever though that succeeding was literally impossible so thats not a really something I need to be proven wrong about.

I also every now and then lurk the FiB thread to scare myself.

Well writing all that took a while, just wanna thank everyone who has contributed to this thread. It has been a really interesting read.

Toadsniff
Apr 10, 2006

Fire Down Below: Crab Company 2

30 Goddamned Dicks posted:

:sotw:

gently caress you. An eating disorder isn't just "being lazy" and overcoming it takes more than "Self discipline and willpower".

Mix in depression and it's a goddamned miracle she can even get off the couch.


Sorry, I thought I was posting in GBS I won't bother you peeps again. But I did want to say something and I hope all you fat people (or those that are still fat and want to lose weight). Please please please do not overdo your cardio, I understand the need to shed lots of lbs fast (I've been there!). Consistent cardio is your best, fastest way of losing poundage but keep your heart safe and don't go over 140 - 150 bpm. Your heart has a finite # of beats in your lifetime, so when your heart is back in good health you'll notice your resting heart rate lower, thus extending said lifespan. Doing cardio eventually stops having such a toll on your heart. Take it easy, don't rush, consistency and moderation is key. That is all. Good luck.

30 Goddamned Dicks
Sep 8, 2010

I will leave you to flounder in your cesspool of primeval soup, you sad, lonely, little cowards.
Fun Shoe
A- yeah I figured you wandered in by mistake. Internet fist bumps and no hard feelings all around. (PS I miss the Fat is Beautiful thread)

B- Finite beats in your lifetime is probably the dumbest theory I've heard since someone said you have a finite number of times you can bend your back before a disk herniates.

C- jury is out on steady state cardio being "the best way to lose weight". I suggest everyone take a walk, lift a thing, and do some yoga- that is what I have personally found to keep me as tippy top shape as I can be. Oh and eat really well. That too.

pigdog
Apr 23, 2004

by Smythe

Toadsniff posted:

Sorry, I thought I was posting in GBS I won't bother you peeps again. But I did want to say something and I hope all you fat people (or those that are still fat and want to lose weight). Please please please do not overdo your cardio, I understand the need to shed lots of lbs fast (I've been there!). Consistent cardio is your best, fastest way of losing poundage but keep your heart safe and don't go over 140 - 150 bpm. Your heart has a finite # of beats in your lifetime, so when your heart is back in good health you'll notice your resting heart rate lower, thus extending said lifespan. Doing cardio eventually stops having such a toll on your heart. Take it easy, don't rush, consistency and moderation is key. That is all. Good luck.
Nobody's died from excess heart muscle mileage. Your resting heart rate is lower when you're fit because the heart is stronger and has less work to do. Keeping it under 150 bpm is a good idea, but mainly because going over becomes uncomfortable and thus a bit counterproductive.

Lyndon LaRouche
Sep 5, 2006

by Azathoth
Growing up and through high school I was always skinny. I was moderately active as a kid and actually played outdoors. Riding bikes, football in the park with friends, etc. Moving on to high school and getting a car, you would think I'd start getting fat at that point, but I managed to stave off the inevitable through sports and actually taking the mandatory PE classes seriously. I'd also like to think my mom did a decent job of cooking and controlling my portions. My first year of college finally did me in though. I stopped working out and started eating all the worst food in the world. One year was enough to turn me into a fat gently caress, and thus I proceeded as a fatty for the next 6~7 years of my life. As a 5'9" guy, I ranged between 200-230 lbs at this stage of my life, which is not healthy by any standard.

Along the way I did some things that probably kept me from going morbidly obese. I had a couple years where I played Dance Dance Revolution regularly (and feel free to mock me endlessly for that). While it didn't really result in my losing any weight, it kept me stuck in the 200~210 range. After that I moved to Hawaii to finish up my bachelors degree, and had a roommate who turned me on to swimming and smarter eating for a while. That brought me down to right about 200, and there were times I even dropped below that point. But after he graduated I went straight back to old habits and stopped swimming.

I kept convincing myself that I carried my weight well and that I had nothing to worry about though. I made it through to graduation in May 2009 and was up to 230 lbs by that point. From there I moved back to the mainland with my parents temporarily while I tried to figure what was next in my life.

What made you turn it around?
It's hard for me to pinpoint exactly what it was. Just a combination of factors most likely. I had gotten to the point where I was tired of being fat. I had been reading TFLC logs and other YLLS threads leading up to my turnaround point. Seeing the ultimate transformation thread and real goddamn goons losing a shitton of weight served as some inspiration. I was thinking that running would be the way to go. Eventually boredom of living at home without a job took its toll on me and I just up and decided to go do it one midsummer night.

How did you start to lose weight? What exercises could you do, or was it all diet initially?
I slowly worked my way up to running 5km over the first couple of months, but I had read enough by then to know that managing diet was just as important. I logged every piece of food that I shoved into my mouth, and eventually found all those hidden calories and junky poo poo I could do without. Changing my snacking behavior to fruits and veggies made a big deal, as was being strict about portions and being anal about figuring out how many calories were on my plate, especially when eating out.

After 3 months I had dropped from 230 down to 200. I moved back to Hawaii and really started amping up my running. I signed up for my first race in early 2010, and coupled with being very strict about my caloric intake I made it all the way down to 180 lbs by May 2010. Later that year I moved to Japan for a while. I signed up for and ran my first marathon, and then another in early 2011. All the while, I kept the weight off and kept being careful about my diet. I made it down to 170 before leaving Japan in August 2011, and it was about then that I was convinced to do a triathlon.

In June 2012 I did my first triathlon (half-Ironman distance, 70.3 miles total). By that point I could actually stop being anal about my food intake. I did only one triathlon in 2012, but I came back with a vengeance in 2013 by doing five different triathlons, and wrapped up the season by doing my first full Ironman triathlon. This year I've gotten to the point where I can win my age group, and I finished third overall at a local race a few weeks back. I'm down to 160 lbs now, which is probably about where I should be. I eat like a fatty still, but my caloric needs are so great now that I almost have to rely on cheap, empty calories just to fuel myself.

What do you think someone could have said to you to make you want to start earlier? What do you think you could say to someone in a similar situation?
Honestly, nothing. This was something I had to figure out for myself. Once I made the decision to change my lifestyle though, it's pretty much snowballed from there. I couldn't have told any of you five years ago that I would be racing triathlons and drat near winning some of them. Maybe I had some decent genes I didn't know about, or that fitness I had from high school was still dormant, but I think anyone who makes the conscious effort to change their habits and become serious about fitness/diet can achieve something similar to what I have. However, I don't think it's my place to push it on anyone. I'd love to eventually get to coaching and helping others who are in a situation to what I was reach their goals through triathlon, but it's something you've got to really, really want to do.

BobbyDrake
Mar 13, 2005

I've never really talked about this to anyone else before, so if this seems rambling and incoherent, that's because my brain is rambling and incoherent.

My family is all overweight. My mom, my dad, my brothers and sisters, all of us pretty fat. However, when I was a young child, I was skinny. As in, "Oh God do your parents ever feed you" skinny. At 3 years old, my mom had to buy me the smallest pants she could find to fit my legs and still have to take them in so they wouldn't end up around my ankles. What little I can remember of that time in my life, it seemed like my mother was always stuffing food down my throat to try and fatten me up a bit. I can remember one incident when I was maybe four or five. The family was at the mall shopping, and some old woman passing by stopped my mom and yelled at her. IIRC the words were, "Jesus, you fat cow, put the cheeseburger down and feed your poor child!" What can I say, it was the early 80s and people were ruder then. Anyways, like I said, food was practically shoved down my throat for those years. I can remember not wanting to eat any more and having to sit at the table until my plate was clean.

Now, I did stay skinny until I was about 7 or 8 because I was a very hyperactive child. Your typical ADHD kid, I was never seated, constantly in motion. So yeah, my parents fed me a lot, but I was really active, so I stayed skinny. Until the third grade, that is. In the third grade, I was put in the Cleveland Public Schools' Major Works program, which is a program for advanced students. Apparently, it was ok to put a woman who was deeply depressed in charge of a bunch of bright, motivated intelligent students, because she would take her depression out on us. Every day, we were told that we were worthless, that we'd never amount to anything, and that she couldn't believe that we were put into the program, because we were so desperately stupid. The absolute worst part was when I had told her my opinion on something, I don't quite remember what, and she instantly pulled me into the hallway and began to rip into me. "You little moron, you don't get to have an opinion on anything ever! I rule this classroom, and you don't get anything again!" I was isolated from the rest of the class for the rest of the year, my desk pulled to the corner of the room, not allowed to socialize with my friends, nothing. I didn't get to participate in class, if the class got a treat for whatever reason, I didn't get any. I even lost recess, I had to sit at my desk with my head down while the rest of the class was either outside or had free time in class. The worst part is, she encouraged the rest of the class to treat me the same way. This went on for probably six months. I told my parents after a while, and they initially believed me. When my parents insisted on a meeting, it was too late. Oh, for the day, my desk was back with the rest of the class, and I was allowed to participate. But she had already trained the class to hate me, and she flat out lied to both my parents and the principal. To make a long story short (too late!), she got away with it. By the end of the year, I was pretty depressed, and to make matters worse, I was gaining weight. I don't know numbers, but I know my mom had to buy me new clothes several times that year because I filling them out too quickly, and I mean horizontally, not vertically.

To make matters even better, I stayed with those same classmates for 5 more years. By the beginning of the next year, it was too late. They hated me, and we all know how cruel young children can be. Of course, now I wasn't just the stupid kid, I was the fat kid too. I remember in the seventh grade, my mom bought me a Batman shirt, because the Michael Keaton Batman movie had just came out. I wore it to school, proud of how awesome my new shirt was and this had to be the thing that would finally make the other kids like me. Well, that day, two of the popular kids thought it would be funny to act like how cool my new shirt was and that they wanted to be my friends. By the end of the day, my new shirt had been torn off of me, ripped in half, and stomped into the mud. That night, after I hid the scraps of my shirt in the garbage, I decided that I was done, and took a handful of Ritalin so that maybe I could die and not have to deal with it anymore. It didn't work, just gave me a panic attack. I never told my parents or the doctor what I had done, because I was so ashamed that I was such a screw up that I couldn't even kill myself correctly.

After that, I gave up, basically. Food became the only good thing left in my life, and my parents, remembering how thin I used to be, were more than happy to supply anything I wanted. It was nothing for me to eat a large pizza by myself at 12 years old. I got fatter and fatter until as a senior in high school, I was 205 lbs. at only 5' 7". After high school, I didn't go to college. I lived with my parents, working dead end coffeehouse jobs and dating sporadically. There have been some bright spots since then. I do have almost meaningful, full time employment now. I did recently get married to a wonderful woman, and we just bought a house two months ago. But I'm still a goddamn buttertroll. I'm still about 5' 7", but now I'm pushing 300 pounds, if I haven't broken that lardass milestone already. The worst part about it is that I'm too afraid to weight myself.

I've lost weight in the past, mind you, the most recent last year, when I hit the gym for a solid 6 months and lost probably 50 pounds. And then the depression hit again. I didn't get out of bed for a week. And I stopped going to the gym, and gained all of that weight back plus more. I'm the fattest I've ever been, and it's killing me. It hurts to wake up. I'm so loving fat it hurts to lay down, even. I get out of breath so easily. My knees ache all of the time. My wrists have gotten so bad that I can't feel my fingers half of the time. My sinuses are constantly congested and ache. I have high blood pressure, and severe anxiety problems. I had a heart attack scare this past April about a month after my 36th birthday. 36! I'm bald and fat and miserable. There's a bright spot coming up though, although it took something horrible to make it happen.

Growing up, one of the few things that made me happy other than stuffing my fat loving gob was anything by Robin Williams. Here was a guy who personality wise, was just like me! He was energetic and hyper and crazy and people loved him! Maybe, just maybe, I could be the next Robin Williams! Of course, as a kid, I didn't know that he, like me, suffered from severe depression as well. If I had, I probably would have obsessed about him a bit more, cause there was another personality trait that we shared! As time went on, and he faded from celebrity a bit in the late 90s, I forgot. I forgot about Robin. Oh, I'd catch something that he was in, like the episode of SVU he guest starred on, and would remember for a little bit and be temporarily boosted. But I'd forget again. And then came August 14th, and the news that he had committed suicide. That is and was the final straw. I'm not going to let that happen to me, not again. I've scheduled a psychiatrist appointment and will be seeking therapy. I'm scouring craigslist for cheap weights so I can start lifting again. I'm researching nutrition. I will make the needed changes.

Even now, though, as I type this out, I can feel the depression trying to fight back. I keep thinking about how I've failed before and will fail this time too. I keep thinking about how if Robin Williams couldn't beat it, how can I? I keep thinking about how I should just give up and drop out of the world again. I can't do that again, I have people counting on me now. I have a wife and hopefully within the next year, a child depending on me. I have to lose this weight so I can play baseball with my son, or play dress up and have tea parties with my daughter. Or baseball with the daughter and tea parties with my son, if that's what he or she will want. I have to.

...wow. I didn't mean to type a whole fuckin book about my lovely life. Feels good tho, man.

tl;dr: Fatty is fat cause he's depressed, took Robin Williams killing himself to make fatty try and fix it.

Naramyth
Jan 22, 2009

Australia cares about cunts. Including this one.

BobbyDrake posted:

took Robin Williams killing himself to make fatty try and fix it.

It doesn't matter what inspires you to fight through your bad headspace to get healthy. Just as long as you do it and keep doing it.

pigdog
Apr 23, 2004

by Smythe

BobbyDrake posted:

...wow. I didn't mean to type a whole fuckin book about my lovely life. Feels good tho, man.
Hey, appreciate the effortpost.

Start reading YLLS, start working out with weights and cardio, and break the addiction to crappy (high carb+fat, mostly sugary) food. You need to do both, working out and watching what you eat, otherwise it won't work. Find the right groove, eat right, make exercise a habit, persevere, and you'll find losing weight is easier than it first seems. Working out helps against depression, it's a fact that's proven scientifically, as well as from personal experience for what it's worth.

Your heart attack scare was probably an anxiety attack. It's scary but unless diagnosed by an actual doctor, don't worry about it. Cool thing is that losing only 15-20 pounds will do wonders to your resting heart rate and uncomforts.

ps: Get enough sleep.

pigdog fucked around with this message at 23:03 on Aug 27, 2014

Tenchrono
Jun 2, 2011


Naramyth posted:

It doesn't matter what inspires you to fight through your bad headspace to get healthy. Just as long as you do it and keep doing it.

This is true, I started at 300 lbs and I'm down to 209 right now. Losing 100lbs is like a night and day difference in how you feel emotionally and physically. I've been able to do so many more things right now than I was able to do in high school. Plus attention from both men and women is flattering as hell even though you're already married.

messagemode1
Jun 9, 2006

FAT CURES MUSCLES posted:

This is true, I started at 300 lbs and I'm down to 209 right now. Losing 100lbs is like a night and day difference in how you feel emotionally and physically. I've been able to do so many more things right now than I was able to do in high school. Plus attention from both men and women is flattering as hell even though you're already married.


What a deceptive username.

TapTheForwardAssist
Apr 9, 2007

Pretty Little Lyres

FAT CURES MUSCLES posted:

This is true, I started at 300 lbs and I'm down to 209 right now. Losing 100lbs is like a night and day difference in how you feel emotionally and physically. I've been able to do so many more things right now than I was able to do in high school. Plus attention from both men and women is flattering as hell even though you're already married.


What weight did you get married at? Was it like you lost weight and landed a good wife, or was it that she married a fat sack out of love, and is now ecstatic that you got hot?

Tenchrono
Jun 2, 2011


Oh whoops I meant getting attention will still be flattering even if you're already married, I'm too young to get married :shobon:.

Flaky
Feb 14, 2011
Probation
Can't post for 3 years!

BobbyDrake posted:

...wow. I didn't mean to type a whole fuckin book about my lovely life. Feels good tho, man.


In addition to reading YLLS, your cheapest and best option is probably to buy a 2nd hand squat/power rack with bench, decent barbell and 2.5, 5, 10 and several 20kg plates. You should be able to get that 2nd hand for under $1000 (practically nothing when your long-term health is at stake) and suits your situation (you have a house to keep it in). This eliminates hidden costs like transport, apparel, memberships, time in transit, sunk costs in equipment etc. It is those hidden costs which will stop you making progress towards your health goals, so best to eliminate them asap. If you find the weights are not for you you should be able to flip them relatively easily. Cardio is obviously good, but with barbell weights you are less likely to give yourself a chronic injury/imbalance from being out of shape to start off with, and the 'gains' from cardio (aka. weight loss) might tend to not be as visible until you sort out your diet, whereas newbie muscle gains are really great motivation as you feel your body responding to exercise. Keeping yourself motivated is 80% of the battle.

ed. something like this: http://www.gymdirect.com.au/shop/packages/1000-1500/package-deal-3-power-rack-fibev-flat-incline-bench-olympic-bar-and-80kg-olympic-weights/

(sinking $1000 upfront will encourage you to seek a return over time, which is just that much more motivation. Feels great to know you are increasing the value of your purchase every time you use it.)

Flaky fucked around with this message at 06:02 on Aug 28, 2014

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

BRAKE FOR MOOSE
Jun 6, 2001

Flaky posted:

In addition to reading YLLS, your cheapest and best option is probably to buy a 2nd hand squat/power rack with bench, decent barbell and 2.5, 5, 10 and several 20kg plates. You should be able to get that 2nd hand for under $1000 (practically nothing when your long-term health is at stake) and suits your situation (you have a house to keep it in). This eliminates hidden costs like transport, apparel, memberships, time in transit, sunk costs in equipment etc. It is those hidden costs which will stop you making progress towards your health goals, so best to eliminate them asap. If you find the weights are not for you you should be able to flip them relatively easily. Cardio is obviously good, but with barbell weights you are less likely to give yourself a chronic injury/imbalance from being out of shape to start off with, and the 'gains' from cardio (aka. weight loss) might tend to not be as visible until you sort out your diet, whereas newbie muscle gains are really great motivation as you feel your body responding to exercise. Keeping yourself motivated is 80% of the battle.

ed. something like this: http://www.gymdirect.com.au/shop/packages/1000-1500/package-deal-3-power-rack-fibev-flat-incline-bench-olympic-bar-and-80kg-olympic-weights/

(sinking $1000 upfront will encourage you to seek a return over time, which is just that much more motivation. Feels great to know you are increasing the value of your purchase every time you use it.)

What the gently caress? This is plainly horrible advice; you do not go from zero to swole by throwing $1,000 in equipment at your problem, especially when your problem involves depression and a terrible relationship with food. Awful advice like this is what causes people to get overwhelmed and just give up before they even start (or two weeks in), when just addressing the psychological aspect is going to cause the pounds to melt off. YLLS is all about lifting and for very good reason, it's the most efficient way to reach a goal of looking good and is necessary long-term, but small steps towards improving health are better than going all-out on a home gym.

  • Locked thread