My Weight Loss Success Story - A New Begining

I know I am not alone. I have struggled with weight loss my entire life. I have had success but have failed much more than I have succeeded. I am 39 years old and father of two young boys ages one and four. Although I am what I like to call functionally fat, I am still fat, and need to make significant changes in my lifestyle if I am to see my sons graduate from college and to hold their children. I am writing this series of hubs to add a little accountability to my journey with hope that my struggles and successes will inspire others. This will be a weight loss success story. My promise to myself, and you the reader, is that I will be honest and report my failures as well. I want this to be a "real" experience for me and the reader. I want the reader to know every step in the journey so you can offer suggestions and hold me accountable.

Well if you are going to help me you should know a little more about me. I am a 39 year old medical sales rep. My office is my car. During the day, I am constantly on the road, in and out of many medical offices and hospitals. I call on individuals and groups and when I do a group presentation food is often involved. Sometimes it's baked goods other times it's a full lunch. I really don't eat when I am presenting and I never eat the lunch or goodies I provide for the meeting but afterward I usually pig out on something cause I am so hungry.

I have a lovely wife and two scrappy little boys ages one and four. My wife is a stay at home mom and she is running all day to keep up with my sons. However tried she is, she always has dinner ready when I get home and we eat together at the table as a family. I know I can count on her for support.

Our dinners are pretty well balanced but also kid friendly. That doesn't mean we exclude veggies as we have done a good job getting my son to eat them daily. He loves broccoli, or trees, as he calls them. However there are normally lots of carbs involved.

So overall we are a pretty busy family. Always something to do with the kids and it is usually all hands on deck when playing with them and caring for their needs.

As you can probably surmise my problem is self control. With my job and my family life there is a healthy amount of stress in my life. No more stress than any other middle class father of two experiences; but stress just the same. I cope with stress by......and this will come as a shock......eating. My food to snack on during the day is usually doughnuts. When I stop to get a coffee I usually always get a doughnut. They might even be the crappy prepackaged doughnuts you get at the gas station. Eating them makes me feel calmer. I know that eating them eventually will cause more stress symptoms but I do it anyway.

Before or after sales presentations I usually get some of these little balls of hate because I "feel" hungry. I know this isn't logical because I ate breakfast and probably lunch but I feel the need anyway. It is usually between tasks that I eat.

My typical food consumption goes like this - a big bowl of cereal, usually frosted mini-wheats, and two peices of toast with peanut butter and jelly in the morning. (Mmmmm peanut butter). Then for morning snack I get some gas station pastry when I get my water or coffee. Sometimes I get Tim Hortons. Lunch usually includes something from the dollar menu at a fast food restaurant or I don't eat at all. Afternoon snack is usally a repeat of the morning snack. Dinner is usually a well balanced meat/veggie/starch combo. Problem is I often hammer down at dinner having second and third servings. I try not to eat after dinner but if there are cookies in the house forget about it. Cookies and Doughnuts are awesome!!!

Okay so here are the cold hard stats, or in this case the big mushy ones!

Height 6ft. Weight: 324lbs BMI 43.94

Dress shirt neck size: 20 inches. Pants Waist Size 52

I don't mean to make light of this because I know these numbers are serious. It will cost me more money, more time and years of my life if I maintain my current path. I MUST CHANGE.

When doing research for this Hub I found some great resources for Calculating BMI (Body Mass Index) BMR(Basal Metabolic Rate) and charts for breaking down calories in food. My research has found that my BMI of 43.94 has categorized me as Morbidly Obese, level 3 in fact. I don't say this with any amount of pride but with surprise. Just by living my life I have let things get this out of control.

My BMR is the amount of calories I need to eat to maintainmy weight. So the idea of course is to eat less than that per day. According to the scale, the more you exercise the more you can eat but I can't afford any luxuries or cheats. I want to lose 100lbs in one year. That is roughly 2 lbs per week.

What I Will Eat?

I plan on achieving this by limiting my calories to 2592 per day. Seems like plenty but It will be a quite a cut considering I was eating 3280 calories a day to maintain all 324 lbs of me! The 2592 calories I plan on eating will consist of 4 meals with a balance of 251g of Carbohydrates, 194g protein and 72g fat. I have a meal plan which consists of oatmeal and egg whites in the morning. Fruit, dairy and lean meat for lunch and grilled chicken and broccoli for dinner. Everyday. Of course having kids at home with force me to vary from my dinner plan on occasion but at that point I will practice portion control.

What Will I Do?

I am going to exercise 30 minutes 3-4 times per week. I have plenty of exercise equipment at the house, so I will be able to do a variety of exercises with out going to a gym. I don't want to leave the family during the evening to work out and I want my sons to watch achieve this goal.

I will write weekly Hubs about my progress and additional research I am doing on the topic. All Comments and feedback are appreciated as they will help me and others who are experiencing the same challenges. If you are going through the same thing, let me know about it.

I will be as honest as I can and will even write about my failures. Hopefully the accountability I have to you the reader will be that additional push I need to achieve my goal.

And so the story begins........