I got fat

[metalicaster]

I’m very tall and I’m broad shouldered, but I still weigh far too much.

A couple of years ago I lost a lot of weight, got in shape and regularly did 10k runs.

This time last year I was at 95kg, a healthy weight for my height. But then I had a long illness that had me not moving very much for a few months and all the weight came back. Laying on your back without changing your diet will do that, my fault. I’m better now but so unfit that I lose my breath on the stairs.

My job is relatively physical but I’m one of those lazy-efficient people who knows how to be productive without moving much. Just walking around leaves me aching at the end of a shift.

I’ve just started running again but I struggle to go more than 5 minutes without 15 minutes of walking afterwards to recover. It’s going to take a long time to get out of this one.

I did a 15km walk-jog to the supermarket and back today. Thought I needed the exercise more than the car did. Took me hours.

 

[Spox]

I’m very tall and I’m broad shouldered, but I still weigh far too much.

A couple of years ago I lost a lot of weight, got in shape and regularly did 10k runs.

This time last year I was at 95kg, a healthy weight for my height. But then I had a long illness that had me not moving very much for a few months and all the weight came back. Laying on your back without changing your diet will do that, my fault. I’m better now but so unfit that I lose my breath on the stairs.

My job is relatively physical but I’m one of those lazy-efficient people who knows how to be productive without moving much. Just walking around leaves me aching at the end of a shift.

I’ve just started running again but I struggle to go more than 5 minutes without 15 minutes of walking afterwards to recover. It’s going to take a long time to get out of this one.

I did a 15km walk-jog to the supermarket and back today. Thought I needed the exercise more than the car did. Took me hours.

Similar situation, the combination of having to stay at home in 2020 and a bout of physically incapacitating ill health in 2021 and again last month and now looks like a repeat of 2021 means a lot of the flab I lost between 2016-2019 has returned, I pretty much halved my weight down to a low of 60kg but I am probably about 90kg at the moment.

It's a horrible Catch 22.

 

[nvilletele]

Re the running: Give it time. It gets better over time, so long as you stick at it. If running isn’t your thing, find another activity that you like better. But stay active and get exercise.

I was once overweight. Lost about 50 pounds by eating/drinking fewer carbs and doing regular exercise. I’m a tad under 70kg now, and have been for over 20 years.

i think a 15 km round trip walk would take anyone hours . . . Give yourself a break. You’ve started, and that’s the important thing.

 

[Jakedog]

Hang in there. You can do it, and you’ll feel like a million bucks when you get where you want to be.

I got fat over the time I was off for that which cannot be named. I was already about ten pounds more than I should have been, and put on 32 more during “stay home” time.

Summer 2021 I went back to the mountains and worked a ranch all summer. Hadn’t done it since the mid 90’s. I was there three and half months and lost 44 lbs. It was so hard at first I didn’t know if I’d actually be able to do it. I though for a minute that maybe I was just too old and out of shape, and maybe I should quit and go home before I hurt myself. But I didn’t, and holy cow I felt great at the end of the season.

Now I’ve put 12 of it back on. Time to get my crap together and not let it go any further.

 

[haggardfan1]

In the fall of 2020 I started walking to reduce stress and honestly so I wouldn't have to be in the house while my ex-girlfriend was texting her next victim lol. Long story.

I walked two miles every evening around my neighborhood, and farther on Tuesday nights while the younger daughter had soccer practice; sometimes 4 or 5 miles.

I felt great, got down to 168 pounds from about 210, and my wind and stamina improved the whole time.
In August of last year, she and her kids left, taking three of our five dogs, and I got depressed and stopped exercising for a long time. When I recovered enough to want to walk again, it was about 430 degrees in Texas so I spent all summer pretty much indoors except for mowing. I think I rode my bicycle about a mile one evening too. Between that and the poor eating habits of working rotating shifts, I'm back up to probably 210-215 pounds.

Just the other day I went for my old two mile walk, and it was wonderful. I intend to keep at it anytime it isn't too hot or pouring rain.

I know exactly how the OP feels, and we're all supporting you. You can do it, just don't try too much too quickly.

 

[Killing Floor]

You got this

 

[11 Gauge]

I'm 6' tall and weighed 180 lbs tops until I was in my early 30's.

Then I got put on neuro meds and started picking up weight. It really got bad in late '01/early '02, when I was put on Depakote, and had to travel to Missouri for work training (2 wks in Dec '01, and then 2 wks in Jan '02). While in MO, they had like a bazillion great places to eat, with many of them being buffets and such. And my new employer at the time took all of us trainees out to the Bass Pro restaurant in Springfield, near the conclusion of the training.

Towards the tail end of my stay in MO, most of my clothes didn't even really fit any longer.

I think my weight ended up topping out somewhere around 240 lb or so, in '05/'06.

It really was a struggle for me to get the weight back down, but by 2011, I managed to knock it down to just a little under 200 lb. This was with a radically restrictive diet, and I was honestly miserable. Luckily, I was no longer on Depakote or any similar stuff (that I can now recall) at this time.

Since then, it's climbed back up to be more regularly around 220 lb, but I did manage to knock it down to about 205 lb by March/April of 2020.

Now, due to stress from circumstances, I've gone down to about 213 lb, currently. Things go wrong and I just don't want to eat. I'm now also in my mid-50's, and just don't really have the desire to eat 'a lot' by my old measures. I also seem to have mostly lost my sweet tooth.

My feet are an arthritic mess, so walking/running is mostly out for me. I hate walking anyway, unless I'm away from home, then I can walk from one end of a town/city to the other, but end up paying for it with painful swollen feet.

I have dreams of thinking I might be able to get down to 190 lb one day, but they may just be that - dreams.

I really need to find some form of regular exercise that I enjoy, but I currently haven't really come up with anything. I can honestly say that I just don't like going to the gym, especially.

Sorry that this probably just reads to be my own self-depressed story, but I can definitely relate to the unhappy feelings that come from being and feeling fat.

 

[Mike Eskimo]

I don’t even wanna write the following words but they are very true :

It’s diet more than exercise.



That sucks - I know !

Four years ago or five years ago when I resumed cycling I still did the Ben & Jerry’s and the french fries and tons of carry out and all the four major food groups : Wendy’s Burger King McDonald’s and Dunkin’ Donuts.

After a couple of years of cycling I was still in better shape but then something else happened that kicked the weight drop to a new level.

My wife went on the NOOM app diet.

Then I felt guilty because all she was eating was green grapes and Icelandic yogurt so I ate less/different/healthier.

She has lost many many many pounds and was just thinking about a bikini for next summer.

And the only thing that I know about Noom and that diet is -

if your wife is on that diet, YOU are on that diet.


So definitely run, (and I would suggest cycling because it’s far less boring and it’s faster and funner than running) but do what you want.

But just know this - it don’t happen without eating less and less and less and less.

Sucks/but true.

 

[Mike Eskimo]

Also , exercise before dinner (it has been proven this is the most efficient way for older men) and make sure the last thing you eat is at 6:00 if you hit the bed at 10 or 11.

 

[blowtorch]

It’s diet more than exercise.

It truly is.
You have absolute control over what food is in your house, so make sure it's healthful.
That's like most of the battle fought and won, right there

it's like , for smokers- it's pretty important you not buy smokes, because you'll more likely than not be tempted to put one in your face and light it (they don't fly up there by themselves, yknow)

 

[bgmacaw]

My problem is...

 

[blowtorch]

unhealthful food is not good food

hey i like bad food, too.

however
i like not being fat even more

 

[Mike Eskimo]

It truly is.
You have absolute control over what food is in your house, so make sure it's healthful.
That's like most of the battle fought and won, right there

it's like , for smokers- it's pretty important you not buy smokes, because you'll more likely than not be tempted to put one in your face and light it (they don't fly up there by themselves, yknow)

I quit smoking plus or +/-25 years ago.

I miss it at least once a week.

 

[11 Gauge]

...make sure the last thing you eat is at 6:00 if you hit the bed at 10 or 11.

That's how I was able to drop 15+ lb (in just a couple of months) back in 2020 - a guy I used to work with, who is older than me, told me that was what he did.

My current problem is that my wife and I work different hours, and our 'quality time' typically is eating dinner together, and it's not uncommon for that to happen around 8 p.m., typically. On top of that, my wife has semi-chronic health issues that have caused her to lose a lot of weight (looks like she's probably a long-hauler, just w/o a hard diagnosis), so I can't push my eating schedule on her, for that reason alone.

 

[ReverendRevolver]

Consistency in changing what you eat(and drink) as well as staying on a routine for exercise ate important.

You can definitely do it. Don't slack off like I did last week. Didn't exercise, ate the same, one of my pairs if pants won't button.

Everybody's body is different as to what it takes to get where you want to be.
I've yet to see some over the age of 30 who can get there (or stay there) without staying serious about it.
Everything in life is easier and more enjoyable when you're healthier.

 

[ping-ping-clicka]

I’m very tall and I’m broad shouldered, but I still weigh far too much.

A couple of years ago I lost a lot of weight, got in shape and regularly did 10k runs.

This time last year I was at 95kg, a healthy weight for my height. But then

That's how I was able to drop 15+ lb (in just a couple of months) back in 2020 - a guy I used to work with, who is older than me, told me that was what he did.

My current problem is that my wife and I work different hours, and our 'quality time' typically is eating dinner together, and it's not uncommon for that to happen around 8 p.m., typically. On top of that, my wife has semi-chronic health issues that have caused her to lose a lot of weight (looks like she's probably a long-hauler, just w/o a hard diagnosis), so I can't push my eating schedule on her, for that reason alone.

My job is relatively physical but I’m one of those lazy-efficient people who knows how to be productive without moving much. Just walking around leaves me aching at the end of a shift.

I’ve just started running again but I struggle to go more than 5 minutes without 15 minutes of walking afterwards to recover. It’s going to take a long time to get out of this one.

I did a 15km walk-jog to the supermarket and back today. Thought I needed the exercise more than the car did. Took me hours.

I had a long illness that had me not moving very much for a few months and all the weight came back. Laying on your back without changing your diet will do that, my fault. I’m better now but so unfit that I lose my breath on the stairs.
Well, I can really relate to your description of the after effects of your Illness.
First off , it's not your FAULT. O.K.
The damage the virus that had me so I'll for over two years really aged me. walking up stairs (1 flight) levels me panting, I sleep alot, I'm fatigued easily, and its a reflection of the damage that was done to my body by the virus. I make a point to walk to the store, and use public transportation. I must remember that a doctor told me , "your lucky that you're alive."
I'm now considered elderly at 74, are you getting older?
I keep expecting to be able to go, go, go, like I did when I was in my 20's and 30's , my doctor reminds me on a regular basis "your getting older,
' not like it's my fault or that slowing down and the roadware has anything to do with fault, this happens when one grows older.
I've ut a lot of miles on this vehicle and it's starting to wear out, and that's a fact and it's not abnormal, the slowing down and the aches and pains, it is what happens.
The glass for me is better than 1/2 full

 

[blowtorch]

It's also important to remember that you are not michael phelps

remember michael phelps? he ate astoundingly huge meals during his training and still appeared thusly

 

[Toto'sDad]

It's also important to remember that you are not michael phelps

remember michael phelps? he ate astoundingly huge meals during his training and still appeared thusly
View attachment 1044847

He still bears a strong resemblance to a man who fell off a turnip truck when it was taking a turn off Main Street onto Elm.

 

[Toto'sDad]

Since I started reducing my weight gradually over a long period of time, I have now reduced my blood pressure medicine dosage from 75 mg a day, to 50, then 25, now 12.5 mg a day. If I continue to have the BP readings I have now for a week or two, I'm going to see if I can just discontinue the use of BP medicines altogether. I feel better now, than I have in a long time.

 

[blowtorch]

He still bears a strong resemblance to a man who fell off a turnip truck when it was taking a turn off Main Street onto Elm.

While I do not disagree with this-
I do think TD it's important that we remember not everyone can be such dashingly handsome men as you and I