nfdfiremedic
New member
AHi everybody, this is my first post. I am in need of some help getting started with a weight loss program. I don't want to bore you with a novel about my life, but here's some data about me:
I just turned 28. I am 5'9" and male. I have always been a "big" person. I was the fat kid in high school who dreaded gym class because #1 it was an exhibition of my utter lack of athleticism and #2 it meant I had to get changed in the locker room with all the 'normal' kids who tormented me. I've lived with a certain degree of self image issues all my life, and at some point or other came to terms with the fact that I would always be this way.
Like most fat people, I have a scale in my bathroom and I put myself through the indignity of stepping onto it daily (despite the fact that I'm really not doing anything at all to change what it says.) For the past year or so, it has read between 255 and 260. This is about what it's always been, since I was a teenager.
When I make this next statement, you're probably going to think I should know the answers to all my own problems. I work in healthcare. I spend 99% of my life wearing baggy "one size fits none" hospital scrubs. I am in the field of emergency medicine, and I spend countless hours fixing everybody else's medical issues while neglecting my own. I generally work from 6pm to 8 or 9am. Since I am "up all night" I am on a very strange eating schedule, which is certainly contributing to my problems. Generally speaking, I eat one meal a day. It's typically some kind of garbage fast food around 5:30pm on my way to work. I then work all through the night without a meal break. Some mornings I stop for greasy fast food breakfast on the way home (more out of desperation and lack of culinary skills than anything else) and then go right to bed. I sleep from maybe 10am to 4pm-ish and do it all over again.
On the days I don't have to work, I still only eat that one mid-afternoon/evening meal, but I generally prepare it at home. Overall, I purchase mostly healthy foods. I don't have much in the way of fatty junk food or snacks in my kitchen. I drink mostly bottled water with occasional diet soda, but really not too much. A 2L bottle lasts a week or two in my fridge. An average home-made meal consists of some sort of meat (usually a steak, chicken breast, or boneless pork ribs/chops,) often one of those microwavable 90 second rice sides, and a frozen vegetable side. Admittedly, the portions of the sides are larger than they should be. I don't really like reheating leftovers, and I live alone. As a result, the entire package of veggies or rice tend to make their way onto the plate.
My activity level is virtually zero. This is surely my biggest problem. When I'm not at work, I'm at home 100% of the time. When I'm at home, I'm sitting at my computer. At the risk of sounding like a depressed nutcase (which I'm not, I swear!) I think I stay home when not at work because I'm embarrassed to be seen in public looking the way I do. If I had a little bit more self confidence, I'd be out of the house doing all kinds of things. For one thing, I've been a guitarist for years and if I felt a little better about how I looked, I'd love to be in a band and performing on a regular basis. Good luck finding "rock star" clothes in fat guy sizes though, haha.
The bottom line is I've been "this way" all my life. I had a real wake up call today when I went to the store to buy some clothes for an upcoming trip (since I wear hospital scrubs whenever I'm out of the house I don't have too many "civilian" clothes that fit.) After rooting through the entire place, I was horrified to find that both the 40 and 42" waist pants were too snug to fit comfortably. I ended up buying 6 pairs of socks and two shirts and I still don't have any pants to take on my trip. I think that's what motivated me to come home and look for a website like this one... the realization that I have to go to a "fat guy" store to buy clothes because I'm too big to buy anything at Kohl's.
I want to change but I don't know what to do. Yes I know the answer is "exercise and smart eating." I didn't need to go to med school to learn that. I need to find a way to translate that into actual day to day changes in my life. If I have to throw money at the problem and pay some trainer to write out a schedule and menu for me, I'm willing to do it. I think that's what I need: a defined schedule and explicit instructions that outline exactly what I should be doing. I don't want to go to a gym because, like most fat people, I'm embarrassed to walk through the door. I'd like to come up with things I can do at home for now.
What can I do right here and now to break this 28 year cycle? What exercises can I do at home and what changes to diet and lifestyle will help make a noticeable change in not only the way I look, but also the way I feel?
I just turned 28. I am 5'9" and male. I have always been a "big" person. I was the fat kid in high school who dreaded gym class because #1 it was an exhibition of my utter lack of athleticism and #2 it meant I had to get changed in the locker room with all the 'normal' kids who tormented me. I've lived with a certain degree of self image issues all my life, and at some point or other came to terms with the fact that I would always be this way.
Like most fat people, I have a scale in my bathroom and I put myself through the indignity of stepping onto it daily (despite the fact that I'm really not doing anything at all to change what it says.) For the past year or so, it has read between 255 and 260. This is about what it's always been, since I was a teenager.
When I make this next statement, you're probably going to think I should know the answers to all my own problems. I work in healthcare. I spend 99% of my life wearing baggy "one size fits none" hospital scrubs. I am in the field of emergency medicine, and I spend countless hours fixing everybody else's medical issues while neglecting my own. I generally work from 6pm to 8 or 9am. Since I am "up all night" I am on a very strange eating schedule, which is certainly contributing to my problems. Generally speaking, I eat one meal a day. It's typically some kind of garbage fast food around 5:30pm on my way to work. I then work all through the night without a meal break. Some mornings I stop for greasy fast food breakfast on the way home (more out of desperation and lack of culinary skills than anything else) and then go right to bed. I sleep from maybe 10am to 4pm-ish and do it all over again.
On the days I don't have to work, I still only eat that one mid-afternoon/evening meal, but I generally prepare it at home. Overall, I purchase mostly healthy foods. I don't have much in the way of fatty junk food or snacks in my kitchen. I drink mostly bottled water with occasional diet soda, but really not too much. A 2L bottle lasts a week or two in my fridge. An average home-made meal consists of some sort of meat (usually a steak, chicken breast, or boneless pork ribs/chops,) often one of those microwavable 90 second rice sides, and a frozen vegetable side. Admittedly, the portions of the sides are larger than they should be. I don't really like reheating leftovers, and I live alone. As a result, the entire package of veggies or rice tend to make their way onto the plate.
My activity level is virtually zero. This is surely my biggest problem. When I'm not at work, I'm at home 100% of the time. When I'm at home, I'm sitting at my computer. At the risk of sounding like a depressed nutcase (which I'm not, I swear!) I think I stay home when not at work because I'm embarrassed to be seen in public looking the way I do. If I had a little bit more self confidence, I'd be out of the house doing all kinds of things. For one thing, I've been a guitarist for years and if I felt a little better about how I looked, I'd love to be in a band and performing on a regular basis. Good luck finding "rock star" clothes in fat guy sizes though, haha.
The bottom line is I've been "this way" all my life. I had a real wake up call today when I went to the store to buy some clothes for an upcoming trip (since I wear hospital scrubs whenever I'm out of the house I don't have too many "civilian" clothes that fit.) After rooting through the entire place, I was horrified to find that both the 40 and 42" waist pants were too snug to fit comfortably. I ended up buying 6 pairs of socks and two shirts and I still don't have any pants to take on my trip. I think that's what motivated me to come home and look for a website like this one... the realization that I have to go to a "fat guy" store to buy clothes because I'm too big to buy anything at Kohl's.
I want to change but I don't know what to do. Yes I know the answer is "exercise and smart eating." I didn't need to go to med school to learn that. I need to find a way to translate that into actual day to day changes in my life. If I have to throw money at the problem and pay some trainer to write out a schedule and menu for me, I'm willing to do it. I think that's what I need: a defined schedule and explicit instructions that outline exactly what I should be doing. I don't want to go to a gym because, like most fat people, I'm embarrassed to walk through the door. I'd like to come up with things I can do at home for now.
What can I do right here and now to break this 28 year cycle? What exercises can I do at home and what changes to diet and lifestyle will help make a noticeable change in not only the way I look, but also the way I feel?
