Background: 36 years old, father of four. Struggled with obesity most of my life. Got my weight somewhat under control last year, but have gained it all back and more.

My method: going to do the Atkins diet. I had tried it once before, lost 18 lbs in a month and then got complacent and gradually went off of it. Am hoping to be able to stick to it this time, while not eating sugar and carbs is very tough, it did make me feel a lot better in the time I was on it. The goal is to not be weak this time, figured this thread may be a bit more incentive to stay on it and remain accountable. Exercise will initially consist of daily walks, will increase in intensity as weight comes off. I will post daily food logs and weigh ins, which will either be weekly or twice a month.

START:

Height: 5'11''
Current weight (11/1/17): 290.2
Goal Weight: 200.0

My lowest weight in the past decade was 232 lbs. And while that is a huge weight for most people, I felt pretty good at that level. 200 is my ultimate goal, that would be a reasonably healthy weight for someone like me.

As usual, any/all feedback is welcome. Thanks!

Good luck! I‘m about your height and started this year at 258lbs. For a few months I‘ve been hovering right below 200 now. so your goal seems achievable.
I would recommend getting this book:
https://www.amazon.de/Body-Fat-Solut.../dp/1583333738

My personal advice is: don‘t try to change everything all at once. Changing your weight obviously will have to follow a number of changes in your lifestyle. Focus on one habit at a time (cardio, weighlifting, eating, etc.). That will make it easier to incorporate them in your daily routine and when it stops working (i.e. you have reached a weight where you current lifestyle leads to maintenance) you can think of the next step.

Hey Fatman,

I started at 301lbs and currently at 217lbs after starting a log here a little over a year ago.

My advice is not to do Atkins or any other specialized diet that you would use for a short time to loose weight. Instead start making small changes in your daily life.

If you drink soda, switch to diet. I know this immediately cut about 1500-2000cals a day for me. If you drink coffee with sugar and cream, switch to black coffee with Splenda. First eliminate any type of liquid calories. It's not as hard as you think, you are adjusted to the flavors in two weeks.

Then, make small changes to one of your meals; start cooking dinner. Start prepping your lunches. You can do this on Sunday and Wed. It saves a lot of time.

Buy a food scale immediately and make an account on my fitness pal or sparkpeople and start logging and tracking your calories. This should actually be at the top as the first things to do.

I don't have everything figured out yet, but all of the above are proven successful things to do.


Good luck!

-M

GG and MLYLT, thanks for the advice.

I don't plan on doing atkins short term. I plan on severely reducing carbs (and especially) sugar from my diet. I don't drink soda, just would binge on awful food--donuts, cookies, cake, bread etc. Atkins or no, I need to cut them out.

Been making food at home, prepping tuna salad or chicken salad for lunch at work.

I am tracking calories, have all the caloric info on the food I eat.

Day 1. 11/1/17:

Chicken: 600 calories
Tuna/mayo: 315 calories
Salami: 450 calories
Asparagus: 120 calories
Atkins Nougat Bar: 175 calories

Total Caloric intake: 1,660 calories
Exercise: walked 2.0 miles (35 minutes)

I didn't feel hungry at all, 600 calories of chicken is a huge amount of food. Mostly wanted sugar, the Atkins bar curbed that a little bit. 1200-1300 calories of protein is more than enough to "not be hungry", challenge is going to be avoiding those sugar/chocolate pitfalls. At work I am leaving all my singles in the car (avoid vending machine lol) and at home I am just trying to stay out of the kitchen at night. Watched world series game in bedroom last night to avoid mindless snacking. Took the walk right when I got home from work, instead of going right to snack cabinet. When I got home, made chicken and asparagus for dinner.

Day 2, 11/2/17:

Chicken Wings: 822 calories
Salami: 510 calories
Tuna/mayo: 350 calories
Atkins Caramel Mousse Bar: 120 calories
Sugar Free Jello: 10 calories

Total Caloric Intake: 1,812 calories
Exercise: softball game

Had 6 wings (fried) for "dinner" after softball game. Ideally would accompany that with a vegetable, but it was late. Excuses...

Felt plenty full on 1800 calories, though baking/grilling wings would be a better use of calories (though on Atkins, it says fat/frying is fine. Trying to straddle the lines between following atkins while also not getting too fry/fat heavy)

Good luck op. You seem to academically understand what you're doing. "600 calories of chicken is a huge amount of food" is the greatest thing I have heard a fat person say.

From a mental perspective, relying on will power alone to cut out all the rubbish food is an immense task. I guess the only advice I would offer here is if you fall off the wagon and eat a donut, don't let it derail your entire plan and eat 10 donuts a day for a month. Everyone gets drunk and devours a pizza every now and then. Just don't do it regularly.

I will add one thing... while I don't know the specifics of atkins. Don't neglect your vegetables. If you think 600 cal of chicken is a huge amount of food. Try eating 600 cal of broccoli.

I'm seeing some very sound advice here. When it comes to the exercise part, don't set unrealistic goals. Start by doing things you know you can succeed at. Ramp up gradually.

And see if you can drop mayo out of your menu (in most cases) and switch to horseradish on your sandwiches. Its low cal and healthy alternative.

00--Sound advice--my biggest problem (and why I am at this point) is how insane my junk food habits were. I'd polish off 2-3 donuts, a box of cookies, a bag of chips, etc like it was nothing. Could also pound 4 slices of pizza. And none of that made me too full.

I am hoping to get ride back on if I fall off the wagon, but my best bet is to just not have that stuff around me. If I don't have that crap at home, I simply won't eat it. My laziness extends to not going out and getting fast food/7-11 run lol.

The Atkins Bars are surprisingly good and filling. These use more fat and less sugar I believe. So if I have a good day (ie no sugar/carbs) I will treat myself to one of them (range from 120-210 calories). If I can stick to just eating those (1 a day max) and the sugar free jello (which has virtually no calories) I think I can succeed.

Also, you are spot on with veggies. I went to Costco and bought massive bags of asparagus, broccoli and spinach. Want to have a large portion of one with dinner.

Chippa--

60 lbs ago I used to go running 5-6 times a week min (often every day). While 232 isn't "in shape", I felt great and could eat just about anything without gaining weight. Once I stopped ruining, the weight poured back on (in addition to bad eating habits obv).

My goal is to get to a weight where I can go back to running at least every other day, which still going for walks on the non-running days. I plan on getting some form of exercise every day, even a 20 minute walk would be far preferential to doing nothing.

Good luck OP!

At the stage you're in now, calorie restriction is more important than exercise and your restriction has to be something sustainable for long term.

Plan your food!

Eat your fruits and veggies, they're filling, low cal, decent fiber and the good kind of carb you should be eating. Crudite with hummus is great and filling and I personally eat apples every. single. day.

GL with your goals. I also have a successful fat loss log on here. I got from ~170 to 123. It took about 14 months and all I can say is that it's 95% willpower. You have to want it and not stop wanting it. Use whatever shortcuts you need to get in a good groove. Try to make long term changes to your habits but do that slowly over time. It's more important that you stick to a calorie deficit than that you mainline broccoli and asparagus right now. Compliance is key.

When I was trying to beat my sugar cravings I discovered the benefits of l-glutamine. It helped me quite a bit and its pretty dang cheap.

Google it and see if its something that could benefit you as well.