Introduction

276.6lbs

Hello and welcome to my blog. While I primarily am using this just as a journal of sorts, it will be great to have others along for the ride.

So, about me...I have been overweight virtually my entire life. I have lost and gained the same 50lbs. over and over. I have attempted or been on every diet under the sun since I was 12 yrs. old. I have been on, from my memory (and not necessarily in order): The Beet diet, the Grapefruit diet, Nutrisystem, Weight Watchers, The Lemon Diet, Hydroxycut, and even hypnosis. My BMI is 42 which puts me in the "obese" column. I am 5'8", as of this posting 276.6lbs. I am African-American and have quite a rack. Which is great, except I am also- male. As of last Saturday I attended (online) my first Food Addicts Anonymous meeting. As of today, I started Dr. Gott's "No Sugar No Flour" diet- which I don't really consider a diet, but an actual change in eating habits. So what led me to this point, where I have joined a support group and a rather restrictive eating regimine?

What let me to this point was dodging a bullet. Not a literal one, of course. About a month ago, I had a really bad headache. I have high blood pressure and had an idea that maybe it was related. I wasn't taking my medication but I hate pills, and usually I pop three Excedrin and it goes away. I've *always* had headaches. However this one was different- It lasted for three days, and *nothing* was making it go away. I started to get scared. One day at work I decided I should go to the emergency room. I'm glad I did. I don't remember the exact numbers, but when they took my blood pressure I remember one of the numbers being in the 200's, the other in the 100's. Stroke-level basically, and at least five people in the hospital told me so- and that I was lucky. They ran the usual series of tests. Everything came back fine, thank God. No signs of diabetes even. I decided then and there that if I was going to live and have a decent quality of life, I had to lose the weight or die. Or even worse, be alive but not able to fully function- and it would be my own dumb fault. So that's the medical part.

The other reason- vanity, pure and simple. I've never been exactly proud of my "physique" but over the past couple of years I have absolutely hated the way I look. I was about 210 or so when I moved back out to NJ from Chicago. I have gone up steadily since. There is a mirror above my dresser, across from my bed, and I disgust myself. I hate the way I look in pictures. I try not to take them if possible. As you can imagine this does not bode well for the self-esteem. I am already short, which I can't change. The combination of short and obese...just not good. I'll go into some other things later but I absolutely do not take my shirt off in public, for any reason.

So today is Week 1, Day 1. I went shopping tonight- incredible how much stuff contains high amounts of sugar or is made from flour! I wound up getting steak, pork chops, lettuce, and ground turkey (lettuce wraps!), some seasonings, salad, and ginger dressing for the week. I made the jerk-spiced porkchops. ONE gram of sugar, from the seasoning, and I'm pretty sure I cooked that off. I was very proud of myself though I had an actual portion of a chop and rice. I had sausage for lunch. Just had water to drink all day, and did one hour on the elliptical at the gym. We're off to a good start. I have decided to make a change, to dedicate myself to losing weight and getting healthy. I know I have a long way to go and that it will not happen overnight. However thanks to FAA I am more focused, more determined, and more hopeful than I ever have been before. However, every journey like this starts off great. That's one of the reasons I started this blog- to help keep me accountable, even after I find a sponsor. :) I hope you enjoy the trip if you are riding along with me!