%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
 |
My journey from fat to fit! |
|
I’ve been trying to lose fat and get fit for a long time. This will be my blog about my fitness journey! When a lot of people go from extremely fat to healthy and fit, they usually leave a lot out of their story. For instance, in online articles someone might have one paragraph describing when they were 300 pounds and sneaking fast food on their way home before eating a regular dinner with their family, then in the next paragraph they’re out running 5K’s and 10K’s. I want to show the fitness journey from beginning to end, with a lot of details and the philosophical outlook I’ve come up with on my own to guide me on my fitness journey. Hopefully, my experience can help others. |
| On Sunday morning I was 270.6 pounds, my lowest weight of 2025. Sadly, I seriously cheated on my diet that same day. My issue was that I didn’t have a wide variety of different foods, and was craving carbohydrates. I bought some stuffing and Mac and cheese. First, I cooked the stuffing with avocado oil instead of butter and ate it. I cooked the Mac and cheese with ground turkey and onions, and it satisfied me. I only ate half and saved the rest for the next day. I also bought two packages of cookies, and ate most of one package that day. I want to buy some Garafolo whole grain pasta from Costco and use it with the liquid cheese from the Mac and cheese boxes, instead of the enriched pasta that originally came with it. That way, I’ll be avoiding simple carbohydrates and eating healthier. It still isn’t completely healthy, but it mitigates some of the damage. According to bodybuilding champions Jay Cutler and Dennis James you should train heavy on high carb days, and that is what I want to start doing. I was supposed to train with weights that day, but the packages came too late in the day and I was starving, so I overate and was too full to work out. On Thursday I reached a high of 274.6, and Friday morning I was back down to 271.8 pounds. I’ve been eating popcorn the past couple of days, so I think that helps. It’s air popped, so there’s no butter or salt. |
| When I woke up Monday morning I had decided to skip walking for an hour, because I was expecting an important phone call at 10 a.m. After watering the plants I changed my mind, and went for my one hour walk. At one time, I made excuses not to go on my walks, but now I usually trade that way of thinking for a more victorious frame of mind. A champion doesn’t make excuses, he follows through on what needs to be done. You have to get rid of stinking thinking. I was in the low 290s three months ago and now I’m in the low 270s, it would be nice to hit the 250s three months from now or sooner. I’m exceeding my weight loss goals from June 13th, maybe I can keep it going. On Monday for the first time, I had spaghetti with ground turkey, tri-tip, zucchini and onions, and Tuesday morning I woke up at 271 pounds, my lowest weight of the year. I lost almost a pound and a half! I need to start eating that more often. I’m modifying my budget so I can buy tri-tip every time I go shopping. Ironically, someone gave me two slices of a medium pizza on Monday, and I ate them. I’m going to try that when I buy pizza, eating two slices at a meal instead of four. I can eat veggies of some type with it. |
| Now that I’ve figured out an optimal way to lose weight, it occurs to me that it would’ve been better to have figured this out two years ago. I don’t want to think that way, because two years from now, I’ll be grateful that I figured it out this year. I chose not to buy cheese when I went shopping, because my weight loss slowed down because of it. There is a lot of trial and error in dieting. One week it might seem like something might work, then some other time I might try something else. |
| I’m moving down in weight slower than I was previously. When I got paid, I wanted to eat things for lunch that were outside of my normal diet, like ground turkey burgers and on other days, spaghetti. On Saturday I got back to having three hard boiled eggs and one pouch of brown rice and quinoa. That is what I had for lunch during the days when I was losing the most weight. I didn’t weigh myself on Wednesday because the trash gets picked up and I needed to get up at 5:45 am to make sure the trash bin didn’t get knocked over. On Thursday I was having a problem with my scale, so I didn’t weigh myself, but Friday morning I put new batteries in and it worked. I lost a total of 3 pounds this week. We weren’t meant to sit around eating and not exercising, our ancestors moved around a lot more than we do, and we pay the price if we don’t follow their example. If someone let themselves get fat, they can’t fight or flee from danger if it arises. Walking for an hour daily and eating more vegetables is helping me get healthier. Discipline is something that is strengthened. Just as I once could only curl a 20 pound dumbbell, then worked my way up to 40 pounds, strong discipline is something you’re not born with, you gradually build it up over time. |
| I had a strong craving for cheese and pizza on Sunday. It got to the point where I was planning out how to make home made pizza with cheddar cheese I planned on buying from Costco. I made spaghetti instead, with about 12 ounces of ground turkey, and the cravings went away. If I gave into every craving, I would never lose weight. I’ve got to try to work these things out somehow. I believe that if I went whole hog and stayed completely away from all bad foods, I would eventually binge and regain the weight. My plan is to buy a package of small pieces of cheese and have one a day, to alleviate cravings. There are two ends of a spectrum, eating too many junk foods and staying completely away from them. There has to be a happy medium. I woke up 2.2 pounds heavier on Monday compared to my record low on Saturday, so I need to try to get back on track. Update: I went shopping and bought a package of rectangles of Tillamook mild cheddar cheese at Costco, and overdid it with them for several days. On Thursday, I finally cut down to having two with dinner, so I made progress. My weight was 276 pounds on Thursday morning, and Friday morning I got down to 275.6 pounds. |
| I hit record lows for 2025 this week, I hit 271.8 pounds, but I’ve still got a long way to go. I was looking at some old photos of myself, and even though I weighed much less than I do now, I was still extremely obese. In the photo it was May of 2017, and I checked the date of the photo with what I weighed on my weight log for that date, and I was 259 pounds. It’s good to keep records of my weight so I can go back and see what I did right or wrong at that time. I started eating boneless skinless chicken breast with cabbage, onion and zucchini cooked with avocado oil, and my weight shot down faster than usual. It’s weird how I seem to have weight loss figured out now, but I couldn’t find a solution all the way back before 2017. The diet and exercise plan I’m on now seems to be working, I wonder why I couldn’t figure any of this out sooner. I guess that’s the lament of anyone who lost weight. Hind sight is 20/20. On Sunday night, someone gave me some sherbet ice cream after I had eaten all of my calories for the day. For most of my life, I would’ve eaten some of it or all of it as soon as I got it. I put it in the freezer for another day. I’m looking forward to seeing the scale at a lower weight each morning, and that is more important to me than the temporary thrill of eating something sweet. When I did finally eat some, I only had two thirds of a cup, the suggested serving size. We only get one body, and if we want to live as long as possible we need to eat right and exercise and maintain a healthy blood pressure. Thinking in those terms can be the difference between succeeding on a diet and failing. I went to do laundry and stayed away from the burrito truck and the convenience store. I checked my blood pressure the next morning and I was 124/94, which is the best reading I’ve had since getting my blood pressure monitor. From now on, I’m going to focus on how my choices will affect me the next day. |
| I can feel the difference at 277 compared to 297 pounds. At 297, I had trouble bending over from a seated position because my belly got in the way, but at 277 I was able to more easily. I’m also able to kneel and stand more easily. I displayed an image of my diet for one day from MyFitnessPal at a bodybuilding forum online, and someone pointed out that my macros were off. I needed to bring up my protein levels and bring down my fat for the day, so the next time I went shopping I bought some plain nonfat Greek yogurt and low-fat cottage cheese. I’ve also started putting a scoop of whey protein in my oatmeal in the morning. I only eat one measuring cup of cottage cheese a day. I also bought some shrimp from Costco when I went shopping, and had it for dinner. I’ve been eating broccoli every day for the past couple of days. I’ve got enough so I shouldn’t run out before I go shopping again. I’ve remained in the 270s. |
| Getting from fat to fit on your own is like trying to navigate a maze at night, blindfolded. One realization that motivates me is that once I achieve a fit physique, I want to spend more time as a fit person than I did as a fat person. I believe I was meant to be muscular and I’m cheating myself out of my destiny by being fat. If I visualize what I want to look like in a year, then that affects my daily decisions. Having a piece of junk food seems unpalatable if it will prevent me from reaching my goals. Having that mindset is the difference between success and failure. Being in the habit of overeating takes you down a road some never return from. This isn’t just an empty axiom or catchphrase, it’s a way of recognizing the problem and dealing with it. If overeating is a way of life for you, then you need to reevaluate your life choices and change your mindset. There is no intrinsic value in eating more than others. It won’t help you make money, and will jeopardize your health in the long run. You need to trade in the cravings for things like ice cream and replace them with cravings for vegetables like zucchini and broccoli. When I was younger, I equated eating a lot as a status symbol, but what I didn’t know back then is that it only has value if you’re lean and muscular. Even then, that would only happen on specific rare occasions and not consistently. There’s no reward for eating more than others, you just get fat over time. I hit the 270s on Wednesday and maintained it. |
| On Wednesday I went to go do laundry and there are two restaurants I’ve been to near there. One of them is a place where I can get a really good cheeseburger and fries, but I decided not to because the high sodium would be bad for my blood pressure. The other place is a burrito wagon, and I bought two bean and cheese burritos. One for lunch, the other for dinner. I also chose not to get a cup of horchata. Making healthier choices like these may seem insignificant, but over time they add up. For instance, on Tuesday, July 22, the day Ozzy Osbourne passed away, I walked for an hour in the morning and half an hour at night. I was going to skip my night time walk because I walked so much in the morning. This is the first time since I started doing my walks that I walked an hour and a half total during the same day. If I had been lazy, I wouldn’t have accomplished that. I reached my lowest weight so far of this year at 280.8 pounds on Friday, July 25th, 2025. I was reading an e-book written by bodybuilder Dave Draper, he said he got into lifting weights as a kid. It makes me wonder what would’ve happened to me if I had gone that route, instead of getting into drugs and alcohol. Figuring out how to get in shape has been like solving a Rubik’s cube. Just when I thought I had it almost solved, it gets more scrambled. I’ve slowly figured out how to set things right during the past five years. Going to bed early and waking up early every day during the summer so I can walk has been part of that solution. |
| When I went shopping last week I bought two pints of ice cream, and I think that having it and eating it helps because once it’s gone, I can’t have any more until I go shopping again. That allows me to go longer without sweets so I can lose more weight and still give in to cravings without going overboard. If I had a steady supply of ice cream my weight would go up or stay around the same, but by having small amounts, my weight spikes then goes back down. Eventually I would like to eliminate sweets completely, or to get as close to that ideal as I can. I would also like to avoid eating pizza. If I visualize winning the natural Mr. Olympia, it makes me want to take my diet more seriously. I bought bananas and froze some of them, that’s a lot better than thinking about ice cream because I can make protein shakes with them. I hit my lowest weight of the year so far on Thursday, July 17th. I was 283.6 pounds, and Friday, July 18th I was 283.4 pounds. |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
has oddly set off a motivating dopamine reaction that gets me going. Weights I can do at the house when I wake up or before bed. I'd like to be able to walk more, but my schedule is not that wide open where I can walk consistently. Right now I'm fighting a touch of a cold that's settled in my throat/sinus area so weights are good for me now. I'm also tracking on Weight Watchers since I started last DEC. While, I'm happy with my tracking habits, I do need to focus on more zero or 1 point foods. I agree - getting in shape is 90% diet. Sending you good vibes for meeting your goals. 
