Sport Journey to a better life?

[KillHank]

Hey guys, I happened to stumble upon the forums yesterday when I was reading some information on a new Recipe. I started to read some threads and started to get interested in staring something to loose some weight. I have tried numerous times before and almost joined the military but then I had knee surgury so it prevented me for 6 months from going to boot. I figured I would tell you my story and see if there is any hope for me here, and if there is maybe get some advice on what I can do to start.

I am currently a 21 year old male almost turning 22. 2 years ago while in my senior year of high school I was interested in joining the military, so I got in contact with my local Marine recruiter and we went to MEPS and I passed all the test and I was ready for bootcamp. at the time I was 5'9 203lbs. I was training hard everyday doing mile runs at five in the morning also doing the routine pushups and situps crunches and pullups the normal stuff that needed to be done to prepare for bootcamp. So it was three weeks prior to me going to San Diago and I was at a park running with my recruiter and my knee poped and I couldn't walk I couldn't move my knee, so I took an ambulance to the emergency room and I found out that sometime in my past that 25% of my right knee cap was completly dead bone. so needless to say I had to have surgury on my knee to repair it and a week later i got my Discharge papers saying that I had to wait a minumum of 6 months before going back to meps and doing it all over again. At this point I got real depressed and I wasn't aloud to walk for 6 weeks, so I was setting in my bed eating all day for no reason other than I thought it didn't matter anymore and I hated not being able to do something I really wanted to do. I know there is no excuses and I am in no way trying to condone them.
After the 6 weeks were up I started to slowly start walking again and I had noticed that I put on some pounds while I was in bed. so I still had 5 and a half months to wait on me returning to the military for another go and I had just graduated high school and I had no job and no bills so I decided I was going to college. I went to one of those technical schools that lasted for 8 months and got a degree in Low voltage Electronics. During my college months I was living in an apartment with 3 other guys and we partied every weekend drinking and the likes, I still had no job at this time so I would set at the apartment and eat all day because I didnt do anything else really, when I should have been at a gym somewhere working out so I could keep my weight in check. Nope not me I was not responsible and after the 8 months were over I had gained 50+ lbs, so I was now 20 years old and I was around 270+ lbs from the 50+ from college and the weight I had gained from being on bed rest for my knee..

Things were looking bad for me but I returned home and I had to start looking for a job because I had nothing better to do and I wanted a place of my own so I went to work at this factory and two weeks into the job I fell two stories on top of a steel plate and i had re-injured my knee again. same surgury and everything 6 more weeks of not walking and more weight being added to my body.

Now I have another job working for an auction company I clean machines and postion factory equipement to look nice for the auctions. I have been doing this for about 8 months now. I pretty much live in hotels for about 2 weeks at a time and then come home for about 3 days and go back out. so that leaves the home Gym out of the question, and I have went to numerous Hotel workout rooms and they have a treadmil and if im lucky they will have like a Bowflex or something like that. never anything nice, yea the company sucks. for lunch I pack my lunch and eat Roast beef Sandwiches a bananna and a yougurt and drink V8 fruit juice. I eat a yougurt and toast for breakfast and I will most likely eat another roast beef sandwich for dinner and drink a water and thats what I do. for a workout I will get up of a morning at 5 and do Tae-bo workouts and of an evening I will do a different Tae-bo workout, but it's really not doing anything for me and I kind of feel stuck as to having more options to do anything different.

I am currently 327lbs and I hate myself for letting myself get this way and I want to do something about it, and I was hoping by getting advice from this forum that I would find a way to do it, but if not I really don't know what else I could do.

Sorry for the long drawn out story but I figured if I gave all the details you would be able to better help me out with my problem. thnx for all your time guys I appreciate it

Brandon

 

[SkianS40]

Whether it be injuries or poor choices, a lot of people here have been through similar situations as your self, myself included. Nearing the end of my senior year of college, i spent all my time partying, drinking, eating late, etc... i packed on some weight, and a few people even commented on it. So about 10 months ago, i decided i was going to do something about it. I dusted off the old weight bench stored in the garage, bought some supplements and started lifting. I wasn't too focused on my diet, but still trying to watch my portion size and eat relatively healthy food.

After a while, once i started to see results, i wanted MORE results! i started a more regimented workout plan, focused on my diet a little more, and have continued to see results. 40lbs gone, plus i added some muscle in there, so i don't know my actually FAT loss, but i'm finally to a point where i'm happy with myself.

This doesn't change the fact that i'm still driven to see more results, and i continue to set progressive goals for myself. I'm finally getting disciplined enough to drive past the fast-food or pizza joint, no matter how convenient and delicious it may be . Basically, i made the changes rather slowly in my life... and instead of being a fad for me, its now a lifestyle.

To sum it up (you can probably just read this part if you want ) Its really difficult to do EVERYTHING at once. If you dramatically change your diet, start running 5 days a week, and lifting until your arms fall off... you're going to burn out and quit. Work your way into it, arm yourself with information, and make a change in your life. You'll need to find your motivation within yourself, whether it be the trip to the beach coming up, some girl you know, or just overall good health, make sure you have something that keeps you going.

Good luck to you, and feel free to ask anyone here for help. There's people on here with a wealth of information!

 

[malkore]

Definitely take it day by day, a step at a time.
You're in a bad situation because being consistent in your workouts is gonna be hard.
Diet is the biggest thing to work on. WAY less bread, even whole wheat bread isn't that great for you. more lean protein. LOTS more veggies. Healthy fats from nuts and fatty fish like salmon (not fried fish though!)

Go walking around the hotel. Do pushups, crunches, planks, bodyweight squats. think about getting a set of PowerBlocks or similar dumbbell system that you can tote with you on the road, as well as use at home. get an adjustable bench for at home (look at garage sales for cheap exercise equipment).

And remember, it took you a while to get so heavy, so its gonna take a while to get you leaned out.

Also remember that overweight people who exercise regularly still tend to be in better health than skinny people who never exercise. So always keep that in mind, that even when progress seems slow, you are STILL doing your body/health good by exercising.

Setting short term and long term goals is also beneficial, but make them reasonable, and don't fall to pieces if you fail to meet a goal. Instead, learn from the failure: why didn't I succeed? (assuming the goal was reasonable), what can i do to succeed? was it really 'my fault'? (did you slack off, or did you get the flu and couldn't exercise for a week...controllable vs. un-controllable factors)