Marion

I just found this site through “Get Rich Slowly” and I’m glad I stopped by. Your commitment is admirable and your openness and honesty is to be commended. I’m in a different situation; a one time martial artist who loved to exercise, I blew out my back and have been physically disabled since Sep 2004. For a while I was in a wheelchair, but surgery in March of 2010 has me back on my feet! Not a total cure, but better.

One thing you said did concern me though. You talked about being concerned with how people felt about you, or maybe saw you. May I give you three reasons to be healthy that don’t include how others see you? I know it’s not your only or main issue, but it did catch my attention.
1. If you can’t take care of yourself, how can you take care of your spouse or kids?
2. As a former paramedic and trauma nurse, I can tell you that those who are fit can handle emergencies better than those who are not. Although obvious, not many think it can happen to them, until it does. being prepared starts with a prepared body.
3. A healthy body doesn’t show up in the doctor’s office nearly as much as a sick one. Again, obvious, but I can’t tell you the type of folks I meet at the doctor’s (and I have to go–a lot) and I wonder why they bother. So many people don’t do what the can or even suppose to do. It’s a shame, and it’s a sign of self-disrespect.

You seem like a great guy and I wish you all the best. I hope hackers don’t shut you down, this appears good for you and a lot of others here. Maybe someday we can also discuss why weight is the worst indicator of health, but that’s for another time. I’ll pray for your continued success.
Tom

The thing is, if you’re a parent, the effects of obesity go beyond your personal health. In fact, obese parents are the leading predictor of childhood obesity.

September is Childhood Obesity Awareness Month. Thought you’d be interested in what we’re doing to help parents be healthier role models: The Coalition of Angry Kids (COAK) – http://COAK.org.

The weight thing, particularly if you have done very little in the way of exercise before, could simply be a case of fat being replaced by muscle. I know that with a simple exercise programme my love handles started to disappear, but my weight stayed the same!

As for measurements- this may be merely one of those odd things that happens as fat is replaced by muscle. You may be losing fat, just not in the places you are measuring, or the muscle underneath is adding a little width under the fat.

Keep at it, eat sensibly, and as you get fitter, and you can do more and more, your body will respond.

Set some short-term goals to keep up your motivation (the choice is yours- whether it be able to get five or ten minutes more on the trainer by date x, or whatever, is entirely up to you).

Speak to your doctor about the anti-depressants too- many medicines do have side effects, as we all know, and perhaps it is a contributing factor. Try to knock smoking on the head (it can be hard I know- I’ve been fighting with the addiction for years myself, but think I’ve finally cracked it), but don’t replace cigarettes with snacking- some people do, and that’s why giving up smoking is often equated with weight gain!

I’m sure your doctor will also be impressed with your efforts to get fitter (doctors love their patients when they take charge of their own health and well being in this way), and as you have probably discovered,exercise is a great stress-buster and mood elevator, so in time, perhaps you can be free of the anti-depressants altogether.

Anyways, I’m digressing. Keep up the good work, and don’t be discouraged either by the scales or the tape measure.!

Self-sabotage is easy to do for a couple reasons. First, it’s very easy to get too focused on what your weight is at the moment. Tracking this measurement can easily lead to disappointment, if only because the number tends to vary. One of the big reasons for varying weight is water, as you don’t really have an easy way to determine how much your water content varies from day to day. Weighing yourself is therefore like standing on the scale with a gallon jug into which someone puts some amount of water that varies each day. This is why using something like a moving average is a better way to track weight, as it tends to smooth the numbers out.

The other easy way to self-sabotage is with food. It’s very, very easy (and I speak from experience) to tell yourself things like, “Hey, I went an extra ten minutes on the treadmill today. I deserve that extra scoop of ice cream!” People generally tend to underestimate their caloric intake, and overestimate their caloric burn rate. To be certain you’re not doing this, take a few weeks to log EVERYTHING you eat, and use a calorie calculator to help determine how much you’re actually taking in. This will help considerably in determining how much you need to do to offset that.

Good luck!

“Becoming” fit is all about changing how you think and act and that is not easy.