2021, weighing just under 500lbs, I decided to make what I hoped would be a permanent change in my life. I was 31 and had effectively removed myself from what is a normal life up until then, due to my weight and the various issues (physical + mental) it comes with. Of course at that weight, mobility and stamina (and many other things) are greatly impacted, but I took up boxing + weight-lifting and all things considered, did pretty well from the get-go.
Combined with diet, I was able to drop 130lbs in the span of eight months. It took me a month or two to get to the point, but I eventually ended up training daily, sometimes twice a day, at least 2-3 hours/day, combination of cardio (boxing + elliptical) + strength/weight-training. Food-wise, I went too intense... most days I kept to 1,500 cal or less... somedays, I'd just do a 500cal meal and that was it... somedays I might go a bit above 1,500, but very seldom. I'd do a cheat meal every week or two. Ate very clean, kept carbs to a minimum- didn't hate my diet. My thing is, when I set my mind on something, nothing can break my focus- it is laser sharp and fixed on a target I will attain at any cost. Also, seeing the number go down 2-3lbs/day early on got me hooked on playing the "scale game", which imo is a large part of lead to this not being sustainable.
Anyways, about a year and a half or two years into training, I sustained an awful gym accident (deadlift) resulting in four herniated discs, chronic acute sciatica, and some muscle-tears. When that happened, I fell off the wagon hard and gave myself permission to cheat more and more and more, until I eventually reverted into my old ways, eating without virtually any abandon or fear of consequence, until I found myself all the way back at my start weight of around 500lbs.
It's now been almost two years since I was in a gym... what a difference, from training daily for 2-3 hours and eating so clean to a completely sedentary life, eating like garbage... I feel infinitely worse than I did when I weighed this much before the weight-loss, partly because of those injuries which went untreated, partly because of issues the weight-gain has brought along with it (which didn't exist before), partly due to being older now... I'm constantly in some kind of sharp pain, whether from my back (mid + lower) or hips or knees or gallbladder (which will likely need removal soon) or liver (fatty) or just drenching myself in sweat from walking the shortest distances or out of breath completely and unable to sleep without constantly awaking from whatever other random sharp pains my body has, or breathing issues. It's all began taking a toll on my mental health, taking me to super dark places I don't want to explore again. On that note, being as introspective as I am, getting to first-hand witness the correlation between mind and body health was incredible- had I not experienced it myself first hand, I'd never have believed how immense it was, and how incredibly closely-linked those things are.
So here's the thing- and apologies for being so long-winding here, I wanted to be as thorough as possible-, I intend to "start" again once I wake up, in eight or nine hours time. I'm sure there are things here that ought to be addressed by a professional, but I'm not in any position to afford that and would much rather just like to start ASAP so as to get as far away as possible from where I currently am. I know I probably did certain things the first time around which were not long-term sustainable, i.e. the excessive training + too-low calorie consumption... Re: the working out, I can't do literally any of that at this point- I am effectively handicapped and almost completely sedentary. But I can start with calorie restricting, intermittent fasting (which I did before), and generally clean-eating for now- maybe in a couple weeks, once 10-15lbs down, I can attempt going for walks.
Please, kind people, I'd really appreciate your advice here regarding what I should do, maybe differently, so as to ensure this will be a permanent change this time-- something sustainable for life--, because I genuinely would not have it in me to have to do this all over again a third time... I am just not that strong mentally. I need for this to be the real thing this time; a lasting change. I cannot live like this- my experience in life has been hellish for far too long... I want to start engaging in life.
[link] [comments]
from loseit - Lose the Fat https://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/comments/1lze607/need_to_want_to_start_again_asap_but_unsure_how/
Comments
Post a Comment